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If I buy the official dongle for PS4 / XB1 controllers for PC, which one is easier to use?

jigglet

Banned
I'm using my DS4 controller on my PC right now via a third party bluetooth dongle (it's a really high quality Targus one). It's annoying as hell, every time I use it on my Playstation then back to my PC I have to resync it. Or if I take a break and come back an hour later, the DS4 goes into standby, and sometimes it glitches out and Steam / my game won't detect it and I need to fiddle around with it to get it working again.

If I buy the official Sony PC adapter, is it much easier? Or is it just an officially branded version of the bluetooth adapter I already have? If it's the same amount of trouble, then I might as well buy the XB1 pad (I used to have this but I sold my XB a few years back). However I'm wondering if it suffers from the same problem? Or is it a little bit more robust?

Please no console wars shit here, I love both pads, I just want it to be perfectly seamless transitioning between console and PC and I want the easiest solution. Thanks.
 
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jigglet

Banned
Ds4 is not really implemented well on pc and many games don't even have prompts

I know with a third party BT adapter it's not great as I've discovered, but the question is really...is the official Sony PC adapter better? Or just an officially branded version of the same shit?

I'm talking about this thing below. Does this make it as good as a XB controller on PC? (ignoring the button prompts, I don't really care about that). If it's not then I'm switching to XB:

iu
 
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Nikana

Go Go Neo Rangers!
I'm using my DS4 controller on my PC right now via a third party bluetooth dongle (it's a really high quality Targus one). It's annoying as hell, every time I use it on my Playstation then back to my PC I have to resync it. Or if I take a break and come back an hour later, the DS4 goes into standby, and sometimes it glitches out and Steam / my game won't detect it and I need to fiddle around with it to get it working again.

If I buy the official Sony PC adapter, is it much easier? Or is it just an officially branded version of the bluetooth adapter I already have? If it's the same amount of trouble, then I might as well buy the XB1 pad (I used to have this but I sold my XB a few years back). However I'm wondering if it suffers from the same problem? Or is it a little bit more robust?

Please no console wars shit here, I love both pads, I just want it to be perfectly seamless transitioning between console and PC and I want the easiest solution. Thanks.

You'll have to resync with either one if you are going from PC to console often. Neither one has any type of dual source functionality to my knowledge.

The official dongle for xbone controllers works the best in my experience in terms of connection quality and latency.
 
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jigglet

Banned
You'll have to resync with either one if you are going from PC to console often. Neither one has any type of dual source functionality to my knowledge.

Thanks a lot for that, that's the key info I was after.

I'm still curious about that Sony adapter, I don't know if it's just a Sony branded generic BT adapter or whether it's much more robust?
 

Rikkori

Member
The Sony one is just generic, don't waste your money. Sadly bluetooth controllers on PC are annoying in terms of issues, nowhere near as flawless as on consoles. I end up just keeping mine wired, but got a short setup so it's no biggie.
 
The Xbox one version works great for me generally. Perfect support, range and functionality while playing, but I find that the controller often doesn't connect to the dongle, and I need to push the pairing button or pull the dongle out and put it back again before it starts working again.

(I don't have an Xbox One, and only use the controller for PC)

Maybe it's just my dongle, don't know.
 

Nikana

Go Go Neo Rangers!
Thanks a lot for that, that's the key info I was after.

I'm still curious about that Sony adapter, I don't know if it's just a Sony branded generic BT adapter or whether it's much more robust?

BT adapters are definitely something that can range from quality. Some will be super shitty with spotty reception and others will perform much much better. If I had to guess the Sony branded one should be on the good quality spectrum but I don't have any experience with it.
 
I just use a wired Xbox controller for my PC so I never have to worry about pairing and all that. I dont sit that far from my tower when I'm at my desk anyways so never really saw the point of going wireless.
 

jigglet

Banned
Ok thanks guys. Ok that settles it I’m switching to XB. I suppose I might as well wait a few months for the new model. I like the idea of a slightly smaller size. I always felt the pad was a tiny bit too big. It has the best triggers though. Oh god I loved them.
 
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jigglet

Banned
The Sony one is just generic, don't waste your money. Sadly bluetooth controllers on PC are annoying in terms of issues, nowhere near as flawless as on consoles. I end up just keeping mine wired, but got a short setup so it's no biggie.

Oh crap I forgot Sony doesn’t even support RF connections so their dongle is obviously always going to be the same Bluetooth crap. Ok then that makes my decision a lot simpler.
 
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LostDonkey

Member
The Xbox one version works great for me generally. Perfect support, range and functionality while playing, but I find that the controller often doesn't connect to the dongle, and I need to push the pairing button or pull the dongle out and put it back again before it starts working again.

(I don't have an Xbox One, and only use the controller for PC)

Maybe it's just my dongle, don't know.

Mines the same. Maybe once every 50 times it will refuse to sync and so have to just pull my dongle right out and then slip it back in nice and firmly and deep and then it syncs up nice.
 

GHG

Member
xbox.

is this a serious question? of course xbox has better support than playstation on PC lol.

Someone didn't read the OP properly.

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jigglet jigglet the only way around the resync issues if you decide to then use the controller on the consoles again is to use the controller wired.

Or you can just have multiple controllers and use one specifically for console and another for your PC.

Also look into a pcie Bluetooth card, USB Bluetooth dongles are notoriously inconsistent in terms of performance. Pcie Bluetooth cards are much better and all the Bluetooth issues I was having disappeared after switching to one. Don't need it anymore though since my new motherboard has Bluetooth built in.
 
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jigglet

Banned
Someone didn't read the OP properly.

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jigglet jigglet
Also look into a pcie Bluetooth card, USB Bluetooth dongles are notoriously inconsistent in terms of performance. Pcie Bluetooth cards are much better and all the Bluetooth issues I was having disappeared after switching to one. Don't need it anymore though since my new motherboard has Bluetooth built in.

Good tip! I don't have any PCIe slots anymore but I'll definitely remember this for future builds.
 

nkarafo

Member
Only use XBOX controllers with the official dongle. Also, use the new, smaller dongle instead of the older, huge one.
 

iHaunter

Member
PS4 one is buggy as hell. Xbox on PC for sure. Xbox has the luxury of being Microsoft so they make drivers directly for your PC.
 

Schmick

Member
I use both (DS4 for PS Now for PC and Xbox for pretty everything else, although occasionally i'll use the DS4 if it I fancy it for games like Fall Guys). I use a USB cable. The beauty of both controllers is the fact you can interchange easily as they can be disconnected at the controller end and because i use USB i dont have to worry about battery life or how consistent the connection is.
 
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