Ralan Wireless Controller

Hardware Type: Controller

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Review:

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

(Note: I have also seen this gamepad sold under the brand name Lyvix.)

After the many Nintendo Switch controllers I’ve reviewed, if there’s one notion that I feel has safely been debunked, it’s the idea that budget controllers are always low-quality. Quite the contrary, a budget controller, the ECHTPower Wireless Switch Controller (ES01), just won eShopperReviews’ pick for 2024 Hardware of the Year, and the Ligame Switch Wireless Controller, the Donajia Switch Wireless Controller, and the ECHTPower Wireless Switch Controller (ES03) were all listed among the runners-up. There’s a strong argument to be made that there has never been a better time to be a cheapskate looking to buy a Nintendo Switch controller.

The flipside of that, however, is that the bar has been raised that much higher for budget controllers now (and higher still for mid-range and high-end controllers), so any controller aiming to be worth picking up in this market had better bring its A-game. So naturally the question that leads to with the Ralan Wireless Controller, also released in 2024 and yet another budget Pro-style Nintendo Switch wireless controller, is how well this shapes up to other alternatives on the market.

As with many of the Pro-style controllers released for Nintendo Switch, Ralan’s controller is pretty comparable in size and shape to Nintendo’s own Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, with a comparable button layout, and asymmetrical analog stick placement. However, Ralan’s controller weighs less, and has some nicely-textured grips, and overall is probably one of the more comfortable Nintendo Switch controllers to hold.

The analog sticks use a similar convex top with a rim at the edge, though unfortunately they are also similar to Nintendo’s controller in that they are not hall effect sticks, meaning they can potentially “drift” over time.

The D-Pad and primary face buttons work well enough here, being a tad farther on the “clicky” end of the “squishy-clicky” spectrum than Nintendo’s own controller but still fairly responsive. I did notice one minor frustration when testing this out with Fighting games, in that it was far more difficult to consistently perform half-circle motions with the D-Pad (the “hadouken” motion), but otherwise I have no complaints here.

The secondary face buttons are all more or less in their standard spots comparable to Nintendo’s Pro controller, and there’s also an additional turbo button dead-center in the controller, which operates just as you’d expect for a Turbo button.

The L and R shoulder buttons seem to stick a bit, which I’m not thrilled with. As for the ZL and ZR trigger buttons, these are analog buttons, which means they may be a bit less precise on Nintendo Switch, which cannot detect analog trigger input, but it makes them more ideal for use on other platforms this controller supports, most notably for Racing games, which tend to make use of these inputs.

When it comes to the other features of Nintendo Switch controllers, this controller drops the ball in multiple ways. On the positive side of things, Ralan’s controller includes the ability to wirelessly wake the Nintendo Switch from sleep mode. And while it has no Amiibo functionality, this is rare in third-party Nintendo Switch controllers so I don’t hold that against it. The problem here is that while other controllers either offer HD rumble or adjustable rumble, Ralan’s controller seems to have neither, just offering a basic bare-bones rumble feature. What’s more, while Ralan’s controller does have gyroscopic motion control, it’s jittery, seeming to cut in and out.

Flipping the controller over to look at its underside, we see… well, not much of anything. There’s a button used to adjust the controller’s lighting, and not much else. No macro buttons or programmable buttons, no platform sync switch, nothing.

There is one thing Ralan’s controller manages to get right, however – its connectivity with Android devices, and both wired and wireless bluetooth connectivity with PC, all seem to work flawlessly. In my experience, this is somewhat rare among multiplatform Nintendo Switch controllers, which often struggle to get a good wireless connection with PC.

So, after all of that, what’s the final verdict on the Ralan Wireless Controller? Honestly, it’s a mix of good and bad. On the one hand, the controller is comfortable to hold, the D-Pad and face buttons mostly work well (though not for Fighting games), and both PC and Android connectivity is great. On the other hand, the bare-bones rumble, the sub-par gyroscopic control, and the overall lack of extra features here is pretty disappointing. If you had asked me a few years ago, I might’ve told you that this is a decent low-end Nintendo Switch controller. But compared to the other controllers I mentioned at the start of this review, Ralan Wireless Controller has too many flaws and too few features to recommend wholeheartedly.

tl;dr – The Ralan Wireless Controller is a Pro-style controller that offers a low price point and has good PC and Android connectivity, but is otherwise feature-poor, with mediocre rumble and sub-par gyroscopic motion control, and a D-Pad that is less than ideal for Fighting games. While this controller does some things well, there are too many better options in this price range to recommend this.

Grade: C+

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