Nacon Revolution X Unlimited Controller GBAtemp review
Hardware
Product Information:
- Official Store: https://www.nacongaming.com/en-GB/revolution-x-unlimited
Review Approach:
The Nacon Revolution X Ultimate controller pulls no punches with its advertising blurb. "Frag them all" is the line they chose, and I have to admit it's a catchy little strap-line. But does the £179.99 weapon grant you any tactical advantage, and does it live up to its hyperbole? Nacon has kindly provided a unit on loan for me to drill into, not literally like Jerry Rig everything, only figuratively.
Tremendously Well Presented
When Nacon sent me this to review, I was a little sceptical. Understandably, any peripheral that is coming out for any platform is hyped up to gain as many sales as possible, however, I feel that having worked in the gaming sales industry for a while, I'm quite well versed at cutting through the jargon and stats to expose the core pillars of an accessories use and value.
In its purest form, this is an Elite Xbox Elite V2 controller. It's professional-level technology, with adjustable weights, stick heights, dead zones, remapping, as well as housing additional claw-style buttons, lockout triggers, and further additional buttons ergonomically placed on the rear. It's quite the package.
The Nacon RXU's most notable unique selling point is that it touts a full colour screen that displays easy and intuitive customisation, mapping programming, and audio source mixing. This is a paradigm shift from requiring a companion application installed to modify anything, and then switch back into your game on PC, for example, and on Xbox, it is brilliantly handy and easy to implement meaningful tweaks on-the-fly.
Technical Specifications
- PC Mode Ultra-responsive
- Customisation through the app and screen
- triggers Adjustable instant
- Technology Hall Effect
- Wireless: Yes
- Wired: Yes
- Cable included: Yes
- Cable length (cm): 300
- Software: Yes
- Headset jack: Yes
- Storage case: Yes
- Cleaning cloth: Yes
- Joystick position: Asymmetric
- Profiles: Yes
- Embedded profiles: 4 Xbox, 4 PC
- Configurable buttons: Yes
- Programmable triggers: Yes
- Configurable joysticks: Yes
- Customisation of joysticks: Yes
- Directional pad: 4 directions / 8 directions
- Shortcuts: Yes
- LED player indicator: No
- Adjustable weight: Yes
- Screen: Customisation via the screen
- Compatibility: Windows/XBOX Series/XBOX One
- Release Date: 23/04/2025
- Battery life: More than 10 hours
User Manual: https://media.nacongaming.com/media/downloadable_media/XBXREVXU_IB_20241223.pdf
Galvanising First Impressions
Opening the package, you are met with a gorgeous protective case that could survive a bomb blast. The shell is shaped and crafted intricately to show off the emblazoned Nacon logo, and it is as solid as a rock.
Unzipping the case, you are greeted with a plethora of items including a box of six pairs of weights, two pairs of joysticks, and a 4-direction D-Pad, the RF dongle is tucked underneath, a 3M braided USB-A to USB-C cable is sowed in the netted compartment in the top half of the case, a micro fibre cloth is present to keep everything nice. Oh, and the star of the show, the Nacon Revolution X Ultimate controller, sits proudly amongst its humble accessories, ready to rock.
Holding the controller is like trying on a tailored suit. While it needs a few, ever so slight personalisations, your initial feeling is that of quality. Every surface is textured, grippy and tactile, and this bodes especially well for those of a sweaty-palmed disposition.
The stock configuration comes with no weights in the prongs, the 8-way D-pad and the concave stick toppers. I swapped them out for the 4-way D-pad and the raised sticks, but immediately, I felt that my ideal set-up would be the 8-way and the OG concave sticks, but with a little more weight added to the back, so I reverted the loadout and added two 10-gram weights for good measure.
What Nacon has provided here is hugely impressive, right out of the gate; everything is easily adaptable, and very well devised to be effortlessly applied or quickly swapped out on the go.
I will always praise the magnetic brilliance that are Hall Effect sticks, and the RXU stands on the necks of its competitors by doubling down with Hall Effect sticks, triggers and mouse click precision buttons, plus it throws gyro aiming into the mix in addition to its intuitive software, which I will touch on soon. Gyro aiming is nothing new, but I have recently swung to the side of agreement on the use of it in-game. I remember playing Splatoon on Wii U and using gyro aiming, but it was never quite right. Nowadays, it's something I always toggle on in the majority of FPS games I play because it works so well.
As mentioned before, the controller had two claw grip buttons on the top, just past the triggers, and four, yes four, additional buttons on the rear that are all fully mappable to whatever you want. These six buttons, are a hundred times better than the crappy triggers on an Xbox Elite controller, and that's a hill I will die on. I despised the Elite controllers "triggers" they were crap. These buttons are more tactile, more enduring, and far less annoying to use. Every single button clicks satisfactorily , never skipping a beat, and falls under your fingers ergonomically, emphasising the comfort and efficiency in finding them in the heat of battle. You become one with the controller, it's truly an extension of your hands and fingers.
PlayStation Users Will be Jealous
As a PlayStation 5 Pro main and PC secondary, I can appreciate the juxtaposition of the two. While Xbox and PC have a plethora of interesting accessories, Sony seems to have boxed off their technology in a way that there are no decent third-party offerings that incorporate or improve on the existing features, such as the haptic triggers, for example, and definitely none with this level of interactivity, nor a screen.
The onboard firmware, the brains behind the Braun, is minimalist and to the point. Tap the share button on the top of the controller, by the USB-C socket, and the screen springs to life. Here lies the main settings for audio, thumbsticks, button mapping and general pad settings. Audio controls things like the game audio mix and microphone volume. Thumbsticks allow you to adjust the deadzone and gyroscopic control. Button mapping allows you to pick a button and change its function on the fly. Lastly, the general settings contain things like Bluetooth audio levels, RF/BT pairing, and battery-saving methods like timeouts and dimming.
I fully appreciate the simplicity behind the categorisation of the display. Everything is so effortless and uncomplicated that performing any tweaks and changes, even switching profiles, is painless. You also have four profiles on Xbox and four profiles on PC, so you can have one dedicated for shooters, racing, RPG games and whatever the heck fourth genre of game you choose!
Battery Vs Screen
The only downside to having a screen onboard is the inevitable battery drain. While Nacon manages to eke out a solid ten-hour battery life with this one on avgerage settings, you always have the option to reduce the brightness and reduce the time it takes to auto power off etc. Using RF uses less power than BT, and you can connect wired too, which has another beneficial side effect, that it reduces input latency further from 2ms to 1ms, while you play and charge up for your next wireless session.
Having a screen on board is a niche that some people will not want, but that's fine. I didn't think I would like it either, but I'm completely sold on its benefits and the exponential ease of use Nacon's implementation demonstrates.
Nacons Revolution X Unlimited is a breath of fresh air in a sea of controllers that are attempting to carve out a niche and stand out from the crowd. The difference is that the RXU chisels one out and takes it one step further in every direction, redefining everything that is expected of a pro-level controller, but making everything simple, accessible, and meaningful.
I can only hope that the PlayStation 5 gets something this glorious, because as good as it is on my PC and as a Bluetooth controller for mobile gaming, I would love something like this for my PS5 as well!
Verdict
- The on-device screen is excellent.
- Hall effect everything!
- Mouse click clickiness.
- Adjustable weights and joysticks.
- Charging case.
- No PlayStation equivalent yet
- 10-hour battery life (because of screen)
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