PlayStation, or Xbox? Usually when you talk about the difference between the two you’re looking at all the different games available on both. But let’s be honest, they don’t really have games this time around. So when you’re picking a platform you’re picking your controller. Asymmetrical or symmetrical sticks? Which do you prefer? What if you could choose on a whim?
When Nyxi offered to send over its new Flexi controller, I wanted to take a look to see if this “do it all” could really do it. Or if it was just a gimmick. So join in as I figure out if the Nyxi Flexi is worth your money.
Nyxi did send the Flexi over for a review, but all of these words on a page were written by me. These bad thoughts and opinions are all my own.
Nyxi Flexi Specs
Off the bat, let’s get pricing out of the way. At $60 you’re right in range of most first party controllers. However, with a controller that can be used on all of them, it may be worth the savings overall. But, for $60, do the specs make sense?
- Sticks and Triggers: Hall Effect
- Face Buttons and D-pad: Clicky / Mechanical
- Extra Features: Gyro, M1-M4 Back Buttons, Adjustable Vibration, Swappable Face Buttons, Swappable Stick positions (Left)
- Battery: 800mAh (Rated for 8 Hours, RGB On)
- Polling Rate: 1000Hz Wired, 1000Hz 2.4GHz, 100Hz Bluetooth
- Connectivity: Bluetooth/2.4GHz/Wired
- Compatibility: PC / iOS / Android / Switch
- Weight: 257 grams
Nyxi Flexi: What I Like
One of the big things that I like about the Flexi is how well built it feels. Usually if I don’t say anything about build quality it’s because the controller feels completely average. Unexceptional is really the norm.
But using the Nyxi Flexi, it felt like a genuinely solidly built controller. At 257 grams it’s lighter than both my Xbox Series, and Beitong Zeus 2 Elite controllers, but the weight is balanced well. The parts that make up this controller feel sturdy, and don’t feel like they’re about to break down if I look at them wrong.
The control feels. While I’ll get into this a bit more with the control testing, overall most of the controls work well, especially if you like clicky face buttons and D-pads. But on top of that, I just appreciate the modularity of this controller.
You can swap the face buttons around if you’re using this primarily on Switch, and you can put that left stick/D-pad combo wherever you’d like. There are other controllers that do similar things, but having this one full chunk of control to move around has been a pleasant experience.
Nyxi Flexi: What I Don’t
The honeycomb grip on the front. In case you missed the craze in gaming mice, they added holes to the body to make them lighter. This in turn brought up concerns over sweat, dust, and general gamer grip cheese getting into those holes.
On the Nyxi Flexi, these honeycombs bring the same concerns, but none of the benefits. It’s grippy holes to trap dust and show off corny RGB. I don’t like it, and a few friends told me the Flexi was a no-go for them after seeing it.
The other big thing I’m not a fan of are the triggers. Again, I’ll get into it more later, but in short they’re awkward. They’re angled at an odd direction, and depending on how you rest your fingers, you could consider them pretty pointy.
Control Check
D-pad and Face Buttons
I’ve condensed the control checking down to just two categories for this review, I’ll see if it sticks going further.
I’m not going to cover the placement issue as I think that’s personal preference, just know that for D-pad centric games I did swap the module to the top, and I think that helped a lot. Doing my Celeste gauntlet, I ran a trio of runs from base camp to summit. Along the way I found that the D-pad gave me minimal to no issues on the run.
The clickiness allowed me to know exactly what I was aiming for and I found myself getting no missed diagonals. In total I was landing around 2:50 with around 4-6 deaths across my runs.
The face buttons worked equally well. Overall, I find the face buttons and D-pad to be a bit too stiff for my personal liking, however the minimal travel on the face buttons make it great for getting buttons pressed quick. It’s a really nice setup there.
Sticks/Triggers
Here we’ve got some good, and some not so good. Getting the good out of the way first, the sticks are practically as good as you can expect. They’re super smooth, and responsive, and helped me through a good few runs of AK-olotl. I do worry about longterm stability as it feels like they’re plastic on plastic sticks. But my testing revealed no wear on them after my gameplay.
As for the not so good, it’s once again the triggers, and a little bit the shoulders. The shoulder buttons first and foremost, make a small click when you press them, but they feel like membrane buttons. A little bit odd, but I can tolerate it. What I’m not a fan of are the triggers.
Yes they’re Hall Effect, and yes they do everything you need them to, but they’re not the right size or angle. And we just needed one. If they were flatter, I think it would’ve been fine and not quite so pointy. If they had been wider instead, I could see the angle working. My fingers wouldn’t feel like they’re physically gripping the trigger.
Overall they’re fine. It’s all fine, and my gameplay in Forza just worked. But man those ergonomics specifically bug me.
Final Thoughts
$60. For that you could get a triple-A game (maybe), one of Anbernic’s dozen XX devices, or like; 20 Beefy 5-Layer Burritos. If you’re looking for a controller though, I think it’s a solid option, but be aware of the competition.
At this price you could grab a first party controller, or a third party one that comes with a charging dock. The 8BitDo Ultimate controllers come to mind, as does the GameSir Cyclone 2. Both great controllers that don’t need to be plugged in to charge.
So ask yourself. What features are you looking for? 2.4GHz and multi system support. Are you looking for swappable buttons and adjustable stick positions? Or something simple that’ll just work on whatever you have. Just grab it and go. The Nyxi Flexi surprised me in a lot of good and bad ways, and while your opinion might differ, I don’t think it’s just a gimmick.
It might really be good to you.
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