Mobapad A1 Switch Dock

Hardware Type: Dock

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Review:

(Note: This product was received at no cost for review via the Amazon Vine program.)

While early third-party docks for Nintendo Switch focused mainly on just working without “bricking” the Nintendo Switch (something unfortunately not all of these docks succeeded at), more recent third-party docks largely seem focused on trying to get the size and cost of the dock to a minimum, resulting in docks like the Genki Covert Dock Mini, the Dnkeaur Switch Dock, the Gmeaou Switch Dock, and the RuntoGOL USB C to HDMI Adapter. Amongst these competitors, Mobapad A1 Switch Dock, released in 2024, aims for something different, asking the question, “what if your Nintendo Switch dock also allowed you to dock your Pro Controller?”

Based on this concept and the above image, I feel like the notion of what this dock actually does may be a bit misleading in a few ways. First, this dock does not allow you to just drop your pro controller into the dock and just start charging it, easy-peasy. Rather, the dock comes with two small USB-C dongles, which attach to the top of the controller and allow it to dock with this device.

Even worse, you can’t just use these dongles with any Pro-style controller. The only controllers that will work with the controller dock are Nintendo’s own Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, and Mobapad’s own Chitu controller. Other popular controllers, like the 8BitDo Ultimate Bluetooth Controller, won’t work at all, even though one of the two dongles technically does fit it.

Oh, that’s another thing – each of the two dongles is meant for a different kind of controller, one for Nintendo’s controller, and one for the Chitu controller. This means that if you have two of Nintendo’s controllers, they’ll either need to share a dongle, or you’ll only be able to dock one of them.

At the very least, the dongle is light and small, and doesn’t affect using the controller for playing games at all, so if you want you can just snap it on and forget it. However, the issue with this is that this dongle doesn’t have a USB-C passthrough, meaning that if you ever want to charge the controller with a cable or attach it to a different Nintendo Switch, you’ll need to detach the dongle again. A small complaint perhaps, but by now this is just the latest of many small complaints for a feature whose only selling point is that it’s supposed to be a convenience.

Okay, let’s get away from the controller dock and talk about this device’s function as just a Nintendo Switch dock. To start with, I need to point out that this dock does not come with an AC adapter or a HDMI cable, meaning you’ll either need to buy these separately or cannibalize the ones that came with Nintendo’s dock. This fact really does detract from the prospect of value this dock presents, with the $50 price tag already being on the high end for third-party Nintendo Switch docks even before you add in the cost of these needed cables.

The Mobapad A1 Switch Dock is slimmer than Nintendo’s dock, which means this will take up less space in your entertainment center when your Nintendo Switch isn’t in it, but this comes with a downside too – you need to kinda’ slide your Nintendo Switch left and right to get it to slot into the USB-C connector at the bottom of the dock, far less convenient than sliding into Nintendo’s dock. Even worse, when you go to remove your Nintendo Switch, the Mobapad AI grabs onto it, meaning you have to apply a little force to separate them.

There is one more issue with this dock that I need to address, and that is that while Nintendo’s dock comes with two USB ports in the front and one on the back in the inside, and the Nintendo Switch OLED model comes with two USB ports and a network port, the Mobapad AI dock only has one USB port at the rear, meaning that other than the docked controller, you’ll only be connecting one other controller or a wired network adaptor.

Despite all my complaints and frustrations, the Mobapad A1 Switch Dock does still work as a dock, and it more or less does what it advertises, but with so many caveats and minor frustrations that the small convenience it offers is rendered largely moot, and with the features you’re giving up and the added expense of buying additional cables to make this work, you might find yourself asking if it really isn’t better to spend the $30 more to just get Nintendo’s dock. Or alternately, to look into one of the other third-party dock options – by this point, you have plenty to choose from.

tl;dr – The Mobapad A1 Switch Dock is designed to not only be a dock for your Nintendo Switch, but also for a Pro Controller. Unfortunately, this comes with a lot of caveats – it only works with Nintendo and Mobapad’s Pro controllers, you need to attach a dongle that doesn’t have a passthrough, and on top of that, fitting your Nintendo Switch into and out of this dock is awkward, it has fewer USB ports than Nintendo’s dock, and doesn’t come with a necessary AC adapter or HDMI cable. With all of these issues, I feel like this Switch Dock is ultimately more trouble than it’s worth.

Grade: C-

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