Nacon are one of the third-party controller manufacturers that do a decent job of bringing the feel and performance the real deal in at a lower price point. The company often includes little extras to sweeten the deal. Nacon Revolution X Pro follows this path, a near-perfect wired take on the Xbox Elite controller with some added sweetness for less than €100/$100.
First Impressions
Inside the box you’ll find a controller hardcase. The outside has a fabric feel to it and it seals with a zip.
Read more: Nacon Pro Compact Wired Controller (Xbox) review – Aggressively Priced
The accessories to modify your Nacon Revolution X Pro come in a small plastic hardcase that sits in recess in the controller’s hardcase. A microfibre cleaning cloth is also provided.
The level of quality and the thought put into Nacon Revolution X Pro’s carrying case offers quite a first impression.
The shape of the controller is quite a departure from the original Xbox Elite series. The black with silver accents ties the Nacon Revolution X Pro to the product it’s offering an alternative to.
The ‘classic’ mode LED shines a vibrant Xbox green. The inner of the hardcase and some of the thread on the zip that closes it also show the partisan green. These are small details that hook the product to its intended market.
Where Nacon Pro Compact’s white model created pleasing contrast that accentuated its minimalist detail, Revolution X Pro goes for a thoroughly ‘gamer’ look.
That said, a large area in the middle with its Share, Menu, Capture and Xbox buttons spread wide apart are common to both controllers. As it the embossed, subtle and aesthetically pleasing ‘Nacon’ logo that occupies this space.
These details tie the brand together and offer the type of marque visual harmony you expect from a high-quality manufacturer, like Nacon.
The use of a detachable cable is a nice touch. Replacing will be easy since it’s of USB-C standard and it helps fit the controller into its case.
Quality Build
The device feels pleasantly heavy though not quite a blunt weapon like the Xbox Elite or Xbox Elite Controller 2. The chassis is stiff, and the plastic feels rugged and thick. The sticks move easily but have a tangible and linear resistance.
The face buttons they have a firm snap to them. While they do wiggle a little more than the original Elite, it won’t affect you play.
Like Nacon Pro Compact, the D-Pad is a little mushier than the real thing but still mostly usable. Shoulder buttons have a reliable click to them and activate flawlessly in frenetic play.
The triggers are wholly usable but seem to have a little less travel than the first-party pad. They also use a stylised inward angle that eats further into the ability to make accurate movements along the triggers’ axes.
The use of the truncated and angled triggers on Nacon Pro Compact made sense in the context of the titular compact design. On Revolution X Pro, it interferes a little with precision with no benefit to its comfort or bulk.
Elite Impersonation
Most of the Xbox Elite Controller series’ features are brought to Nacon Revolution X. The underside buttons are here and are fully mappable with the Revolution X app by Nacon. They four have a sharp and tactile click to them. The middle fingers land intuitively on S1 and S3 while the ring fingers find S2 and S4 easily. These buttons aren’t removable like on the Xbox One Elite.
The extended thumbsticks of the Xbox Elite Controller are replaced with different rings to place on under the thumbpads on the sticks. This changes the amount of travel in each stick, just like on original device, allowing for more precision or faster turning depending on your preferences.
The concave and embossed thumbstick nubs can be replaced with lightly textured PS3-style convex nubs.
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Another feature missing from Nacon Revolution X Pro is the ability to physically lock trigger travel. The easy-to-use and tactile switches of the Xbox Elite are replaced with implementation via software. The app can alter the 0% and 100% points along the full range of the triggers’ travel.
High Profile
The pad features five modes in total available for players with the press of a button or the slip of a slider. Underneath the pad is a mode switch.
‘Classic’ mode disables the underside buttons and features a default progressive stick and trigger sensitivity. Thumbsticks in ‘classic mode’ feels a little different to a regular first-party pad but nothing you won’t get used to quickly.
‘Advanced’ mode features four default profiles that can be swapped, duplicated, edited through a well-featured, and even better implemented, app for Xbox and PC. Without the app, the four profiles do still cover quite a lot of ground.
Nacon’s FPS, Racing, Fighting and Stealth profiles can all be switched between on the fly without touching the app. Players can even map buttons on console without using the supplementary software.
The functionality baked in to Nacon Revolution X Pro is impressive, offering some useful options at hand. But should you fancy a delve into the app, you unlock a wealth of functions.
App Unleased
Nacon Revolution X Pro comes with its own app. The Revolution X app is available on PC, Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One. The app uses the same clean style and straightforward layout as Nacon Pro Compact’s offering.
There are four core profiles that can be duplicated, edited or created. Each has different response curves and dead zones for the thumbsticks. Each has two-part adjustable sliders for the left and right triggers.
There are a lot more options to go with the premium Rev X Pro, however, and the hardware allows players to switch between a ‘classic’ controller mode and four profiles of ‘advanced’ mode.
Players can also adjust the activation curve of both analogue sticks to taste and per profile.
Vibration can be adjusted for the grip and trigger motors. Each is adjustable for the left and the right, for four zones to customise.
More App Unleashed
Revolution X app also features audio and LED-light customisation. The audio option is a really nice extra that adds much to the headphone capabilities of Xbox consoles in particular. It doesn’t mention the audio suite on the box and it’s not readily visible on marketing/promo material.
If you don’t own fancy gaming headphones with an Xbox app for audio control – this adds a lot of that experience to any decent headphones or earbuds you plug in to Nacon Revolution X Pro.
A 3D-soundstage enhancement, five-band EQ and input/output gain are very welcome.
It’s a testament to Nacon’s desire to keep adding value that they would add such features when they absolutely did not have to.
Nacon Revolution X Pro – Alternative at an Attractive Price
Nacon does a fantastic job of carrying over features from a model that costs seventy or so quid more. It performs comparably to the Xbox Elite controller series and the base first-party pad.
The differences in stick resistance, trigger travel and default stick activation curve are not major nor are they even objectively worse. The ability to map certain functions without using an app is a useful consideration.
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The app itself features a range of useful customisation options and some welcome extras. And Revolution X Pro does all of this at €99.90/€99.90.
Review unit provided by PR
