I’ve got an 8bitdo Pro 2 that I use primarily for retro/emulated gaming with retropie. I love the ergonomics of it. Shaped sorta like they combined an SNES controller with a PS2/3 dualshock, but smoother curves. It feels really solidly built, a little heavier than the Sony controllers. The texture on the back feels quite nice as well, it’s grippier than Sony controllers but not as rough as the back of the Xbox Series controllers. Honestly it’s probably the best feeling controller I’ve ever used.

I got the 8bitdo ultimate 2 wireless to replace my Xbox one controller. Other than the confusing as hell naming scheme, I like it, but it has its quirks:

-Gyro works fine, but only in Bluetooth mode, so I can’t use it on my PC with the 2.4GHz dongle.

-The firmware upgrade software is not on Linux, so you need a windows machine to update it.

-Sometimes it bugs out, holding the last joystick position, and you have to reboot it to fix it. Almost got me killed on a honor mode run of DOS2.

Also, I wish it had capacitive joysticks to activate the gyro. But other than that, it’s pretty feature-complete.

It seems that the upcoming Steam Controller does everything this controller can, and fixes my problems with it. So I’ll probably get one of those next. But the 8bitdo still is the best controller I’ve had so far.

Edit: actually, if anyone else is interested, you can actually update the controller on linux, through a bit of hackery. I followed this guide, which I’ll copy:

In this guide i will teach you how to run 8BitDo Ultimate software v2 under Linux
Some people tried running it under clear wine and failed, i found out the issue, you need tts-ms-win10
https://github.com/streetsamurai00mi/ttf-ms-win10 All you have to do is follow installation guide on this repo
After you successfully launched your software, you have to map udev rules
At first, type lsusb. It will list your usb devices. Find your device there. I am using keyboard as an example
Bus 003 Device 013: ID 2dc8:5200 8BitDo 8BitDo Retro Keyboard
Do the same for wireless usb dongle
Now, we have to create the rule. I am using Kate as an example
kate /etc/udev/rules.d/99-8bitdo.rules
Input your rules there, here`s an example
SUBSYSTEM=="hidraw", ATTRS{idVendor}=="2dc8", ATTRS{idProduct}=="5200", MODE="0666"
SUBSYSTEM=="hidraw", ATTRS{idVendor}=="2dc8", ATTRS{idProduct}=="5201", MODE="0666"
idvendor is the first line in bold text, idproduct is second
5200 is my keyboard, 5201 is usb dongle
Now, reload udev rules and your done
sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
sudo udevadm trigger
If you found this guide helpful, upvote for others to see it!

I may actually be able to use gyro with the dongle now :o

Edit 2: indeed, gyro works! I had to follow another guide though.

The important bits:

• Turn the controller on in DInput mode by holding B while pressing the home button to turn it on.

• Add these udev rules in /etc/udev/rules.d/71-8bitdo-u2w.rules:

# 2.4GHz/Dongle
KERNEL=="hidraw*", ATTRS{idProduct}=="6012", ATTRS{idVendor}=="2dc8", MODE="0660", TAG+="uaccess"
# Bluetooth
KERNEL=="hidraw*", KERNELS=="*2DC8:6012*", MODE="0660", TAG+="uaccess"

And reboot or reload the rules (sudo udevadm control --reload)

Might not be what you are looking for, but my experience with controllers:

Razer Kishi v1 - lightweight, good placement of buttons and sticks. Large thumb sticks like on Xbox controller. Unfortunately the plastic/rubber is starting to fall off after 2 years of use.

Gamesir - I don’t remember the model name, I sold it quickly because of the annoyingly loud clicky buttons, and the app requires invasive permissions.

Stadia controller - best controller ever, but I can only use it as a generic bluetooth controller now.

I had to replace my Logitech G F310, so I got the 8Bitdo SN30 Pro for portability and I also thought it was cute