Should I give in and get a gamepad for my PC?

which is why you should buy a pad that can switch between directinput and xinput

 

I have the Xbox 360 wireless controller which requires a USB dongle receiver which I also have. It works very well. I use rechargeable AA batteries which also work very well, are very cheap, and can be used for other things.

 

I prefer separate rechargeables. Get a 4-pack of Panasonic Eneloops with charger ($18 at Amazon US) for (less than) the price of a Play n Charge kit and you’re golden: one pair in the controller, one always charged for a quick swap, no cables, higher capacity. Or pay a bit more for a “Power Pack” (old, new) and you’ve covered most remotes/mice in your home.

 

Yeah Eneloops are great and last longer than your devices.

 

Well they sell them in packs of 4 so just recharge 2 and use the other 2

 

This just made me sad. The Amazon Basics AA and AAA batteries used to be rebranded Eneloops. Then a few years back they started mixing in Chinese made rechargeables (that were significantly worse). Now it appears they are all Chinese made rechargeables.

That makes me a sad panda as the Amazon Basics relabled Eneloops were a lot (and I mean A LOT) cheaper. Granted they used Eneloops that were a generation older than the newest Eneloops, but that was still better than most rechargables on the market.

That said, it's now definitely worth it to pay the price premium for genuine Eneloops versus the relatively crappy ones that Amazon Basics now uses.

Still, I'm a sad panda for the passing of a great bargain hunter's era in rechargeable batteries. I should have bought more of them when they were still using rebranded Eneloops.

Regards,
SB