>>TL;DR
It's a nice and casual replacement for mouse + keyboard that'll be worth your time and money once, or rather if, a second revision is ever released that would make the controller work as an actual controller. It's not bad so I don't really want to give it a thumbs-down, however it neither truly works as a console-style controller nor as a mouse replacement and most definitely not the "one controller to play them all" kind of thing many had hoped it would be.

Waste your time on my wall of text to find out why.


>THE HARDWARE

You won't feel like you completely wasted your money on the controller. The hardware is nicely built, solid and is rugged enough to take a plunge off your desk. It features 2 touchpads, 1 stick, a standard 4-button pad, double shoulder buttons, and unusually 2 grip buttons on the backside. It lies comfortably in your hands assuming you're a grown person with grown hands. All in all very comparable to modern console controllers though with a few twists and a definite focus on the touchpads.

Those pads are very similar to touchpads you find on laptops. And though they're not equal in fidelity compared to a gamer mouse with high DPI, they are pretty accurate and tactile. Using the controller's pads feels more responsive than using the average touchscreen anyway, possibly because of the faint haptic feedback the controller gives off (more on that in a bit). The other components are also well produced, buttons don't get stuck in the controller's case, the stick moves smoothly in place, it feels good in your hands and doesn't falter under your fingers either.

One of the bigger changes when compared to normal controllers is the haptic feedback. Rather than having the classic rumble feature where the controller shakes around in your hand, it features a very slight feedback, half sound - half haptics, which accompanies most touchpad inputs. The sound can be roughly described as a cat sharpening its claws on a rug, not loud or obnoxious but definitely audible. It seems off-putting at first but since the feedback comes in proportion to how fast you move across the touchpads, using the pads becomes a very natural mouse-like input over time.

Another big change compared to normal controllers is the layout of the Steam controller - and that is where most of my praise ends.
The button pad and the movement stick are both placed fairly inward on the controller and take some effort to reach, which makes the controller feel unnatural when playing console-style games.

Now, the controller is designed for touchpad use however a lot of games are built natively around classic (console-style) controller input, any Dark Souls for example. Native double stick inputs and strong use of the button pad will leave you unhappy with the controller's layout, guaranteed.
The touchpads (and everything else) can be configured to act as virtual sticks, d-pads and buttons to make up for that.
However, like trying to ride a kid's bicycle as an adult, emulating inputs onto virtual sticks and d-pads feels wobbly and unresponsive at times, for example adjusting the camera in Dark Souls III. Using the right touchpad as a virtual stick felt so consistently wrong, no matter what the config, I had to change back to my X360 controller.

On the other hand: playing games made for mouse + keyboard can work better than you'd think. I've enjoyed hours and hours of Civ with this controller, as most of Civ can be controlled with just a mouse. I can see other games work rather well in much the same way but in the end it really depends on how casually the game can be controlled; don't expect to do well in FPS games with this controller!

Oh yea, it can play sounds from some sort of internal speaker as well, though you really only notice that when booting it up or shutting it down.


>THE SOFTWARE

The software IN the controller (the firmware) works just fine however a lot of the software AROUND it does not. Having the controller connected to your computer means every Steam game will launch in Big Picture mode. All the controller configuration options are found exclusively in Big Picture mode. I understand the controller is meant to be a companion to Steam machines and HTPCs and the like but it could have worked just fine without Big Picture mode. Big Picture wouldn't even be a problem if it didn't regularly fail or freeze when Alt+Tabbing or if it weren't so sluggish for the little it actually does or if the games recognized it as well as they do the normal Steam game overlay. Alas...

The configuration process can take anywhere from 10 seconds to literally hours (per game). Really depends on whether you use a pre-made config compiled by someone else or sit down and fine-tune every last aspect of the controller yourself. When I first tried to configure the controller I was positively surprised by how much you can actually configure and emulate. Want the buttons to translate into literally any other Direct-X input? You can! Wanna set deadzones and even cheaty fast triggers? No problem!
But then it hit me: I'd have to repeat this mildly arduous process for every game I'd ever play with a Steam controller, not just the general setup process but all the fine-tuning like deadzones, special button combos, etc. There really is no fast way to compile a config completely to your own liking. You'll have to download someone else's config and play around with that instead, slowly building a config that suits you OK.

Luckily most games will have at least one config scheme made by other players, so it's likely you'll not start at 0. Many games even feature a number of schemes for you to play around with.


>SUMMARY

It's nicely made and the hardware is of high quality. It's made for adult hands and doesn't make your fingers hurt even after longer play sessions (for me at least).

It's definitely NOT the controller to rule all controllers as many had hoped it to be. Instead it's a considerable contender to those weird keyboards with integrated touchpads. Because that's pretty much what it is: a compromise between PC configurability and console feeling presumably made as a companion to "entertainment station" PCs. Sadly though it doesn't excel in either regard nor does it make for a must have hybrid.

Most of that comes from the layout. It's just not compatible to today's controller layouts and you'll quickly notice that when trying to play console-style games that make use of the full controller. Casual PC-style games can work very well but don't expect it to work with very fast games or games that require high accuracy.

They should have shipped the thing with 2 touchpads, 2 d-pads, 2 sticks and a button pad, all the exact same size so you can modularly interchange them; set the layout of the controller as you please, not just in software but in hardware as well.

I feel like the configuration process should have been more modular as well, allowing you to quickly configure one of your pads, no matter which one, with config archetypes or some config snippets of sorts. As it is right now you'll either have someone else configure the controller for you or you'll go crazy setting everything up yourself.

Wait for a hopefully modular revision 2 (when/if ever) and get that instead.

It smells good.

After using the controller for 3 months I would like to add my views to the mix.

PROS
I love its big bold chunkiness - it feels awesome in my hands!
I love its configuration abilities - to be able to swap around what every button does within game really adds plus points to the controller
I love that it's made for steam! - it just works!

CONS
It needs a second thumb stick
The trigger buttons have a design flaw - the mechanism underneath the physical button is too flimsy and has broke for me the same button twice leading to having to wait for a replacement

Conclusion
A really good idea which has a few flaws that could do with ironing out for V2

This is the Linux of gamepads. If you're willing to put the time into setting it up for EACH game, and you're playing in Steam, you'll probably enjoy it. Only time will tell if I wind up using this more often.

It doesn't really replace a XBO/360-pad properly, out of the box, so don't buy this as a potential replacement.

Observations from the first couple hours of use:

PROS:
- Feels good in the hand, overall.
- The single analog stick feels great. Grippy.
- Wireless is optional. I wasn't sure about that going in, but sure enough, you can play it wired, without batteries.
- The right touchpad uses a clever combination of tactile haptics, and input behavior to simulate a trackball... and it really feels like one. Bravo to whoever got this going. The best part of this thing.
- Adorable, configurable musical ditty on power on/off.
- When the stars align, and you get a great config... it can be a really decent alternative to a traditional gamepad.

CONS:
- Solid, except for the triggers. They're easily the weakest part.
- The XYAB buttons are positioned very poorly. Unless you have much larger hands, they're far too much left for comfortable use. Which is why I said this isn't a 360 replacement -- it feels more focused on being an FPS/mouse replacement, where it generally excels.
- Can't use rechargeable AA batteries that are charged via the USB port. (So I've heard, at least.)
- Out of the box, every game, you'll almost certainly be A) picking an input config from the community, B) tweaking that config, C) wondering why the ♥♥♥♥ it's not working, D) fiddling with ♥♥♥♥ everywhere, E) giving up OR finally playing. Or if you're adventurous, F) hunkering down for a bit and creating your own config.

I had been thinking about buying a new controller and I saw this on sale a little while back and said sure, yolo.

Initially I was mixed between disappointed and impressed by the dual touch pads. I really liked the idea of two touch pads so I wanted to like the controller even though it felt really weird in my hands. It certainly took time to get used to, but I'm glad I did, because I tend to have a much more enjoyable experience gaming experience because of it (and notice the word tend).

PROs
Feels like a good quality build - it's lightweight yet durable.

Extremely customizable - you can map pretty much anything anywhere. Have your joystick send d-pad commands or key(board) presses, it doesn't freaking care. You can also set a hotkey that changes what inputs will be sent (e.g. holding the left grip could turn your d-pad into a joystick input if you wanted). There are also community templates that are uploaded, and generic templates you can customize yourself. Lastly, you can save your configurations to your steam cloud so you won't need to worry about losing them.

Grips - Two buttons where your fingers already are. This is super convenient for many reasons (easy reloading, jumping, mode switching, etc)

Gyro (physically turning the controller to send input) - I'd never used one on a controller before and it is just an awesome thing. With a small amount of tinkering with the settings, I immediately noticed how much easier it was to aim precisely. I couldn't imagine a first person game (or anything that involves aiming really) without it now.

Touchpads - Relatively precise, but mainly good for swiping and getting the general angle of things. I did notice that after using them for a little while now I can navigate my computer using the controller fairly easily. In game however, combine a touchpad with the gyro to be golden.

Haptic Feedback - It's pretty much everywhere. But in a good way. The gyro gives you haptic feedback so you know how much input you're sending, the touchpad does the same, the d-pad can also do the same, the joystick can "click" (haptic feedback) when you set certain thresholds, and you can set how much haptic feedback you want from each thing (or none if you hate it). It goes on. Moral = easy to feel how much input you're sending.

How it holds - I personally like how it fits in the hand. My hand's are probably between small and medium closer to medium, but some controllers make my hands feel jammed up especially when my fingers are touching and it's just weird. But more of this will be in the cons.

CONs
This list probably isn't going to be as long but overall I like the controller so that makes sense right?

Physical Button Layout (personal con) - The d-pad/touchpad thing is on the outside, and the joystick is on the inside. This is inconvenient for me, because typically you use a joystick to move, and for many games I can usually handle most of the other inputs with my right-thumb (including d-pad), depending on the game obviously.

With the dpad being on the outer edge my thumb can't get to it, so I'm currently trying to get used to having the left touchpad act as a joystick while treating the joystick as a dpad. The main problem is, without this setup, it's difficult to keep moving while continually sending inputs from both the d-pad and buttonpad. TLDR this con = the button layout is a mind never gonna give you up to my playstyle Edit Note: This isn't an issue with most games, and there are other solutions you can come up with yourself (e.g. hold a grip to have the buttonpad send d-pad input, or even something more complex)

Customization - I saw someone post it as a con in some other review that too much customization was bad because it takes time to fine tune each configuration. I agree to an extent, it can be tedious to get that layout and you may spend a decent chunk of time just trying to get the controls how you want them, but you may also end up with very intuitive controls.

Force Big Picture Mode - I like big picture mode when I'm just finna chill n game n shooot, but this may be a turnoff to people. However, I did just run the Witcher 3 from .. not... big picture mode... and it auto overlayed the ... big picture mode... overlay... without having to turn on big picture mode. So you'll be forced to use the overlay but at least you won't have to enable it before entering a game. Or something. This was a grammatical disaster, sorry?

Overall
I would recommend this to anyone who games often with a controller. If you, like, occasionally sit down on the couch to play... Plants Vs. Zombies? or something, this may not be for you, as it will definitely take getting used to.

Congratulations if you made it through this review, I'm surprised I did. I'll update this if my opinion changes.

EDITS: Clarity

This is awsome for my boy who is 5 as he is really into gaming like myself, unfortunately i have a broken neck and can only do basic gaming but this steam controller along with my mouth controller make it brilliant for my son & I to enjoy a good relationship through gaming as the controller emulates mouse and keyboard as well as your normal controller needs.

Thanks steam it's most likely that i'll purchase several of these for backup as nothing lasts forever.

Happy gaming.

Peace.

It takes a little bit of transition time, but I think it's a pretty good controller.
The touchpad rumble is really responsive, and somehow totally changes how the pads feel while in use.
I love how rediculously customizable the controllers button mapping can get, fine enough to give fiddling with SFM some real consideration, but that's just me.
The 'ergonomic' design takes some getting used to, it doesn't hold in the hand like a 360 controller, and certainly not like a PS4 controller, you gotta just roll with it and it grows on you.
Did I mention it has a hello and goodbye beep? Little tunes and whatnot, purley a e s t h e t i c but a very nice touch.
The batteries really put the weight where it should be, feels nice in the hand.

All in all, if you're interested in trying an alternative controller, and you're the kind of person that wants some freedom to do more than just play games with their controller, AND have a spare $50 that you decide to just use, (or if it's on sale like when I got it), I'd say it's worth it.

Perfect for the lazy. work on your computer from the comfort of your bed. Sadly wasn't available where i'm from, and had to order it through amazon.

The advertising really sold me on this product. It seemed like a perfect fit for the HTPC I was building at the time. Unfortunately reality did not meet my expectations.

First off the overall design is tremendously off-putting and the feel in-hand is uncomfortable. The functionality was also terrible. It's clearly designed to be used with Steam OS and nothing else. Using it properly on any real OS is a struggle and requires that Steam Big Picture mode be minimized in order to get your personalized keybindings to work or to use the keyboard which in and of itself is also tremendously buggy. (Often appearing over the area you're trying to type in or even on occasion full screening itself for no purpose) In fact, far too frequently the controller would just stop working altogether. (Still on and giving haptic feedback, but resulting in no actual input being registered by the computer.)

Many people say that it's better once you get used to it, but after trying my best to like it I realized that I wasn't getting used to how great it was, I was getting used to it being inferior. For my HTPC I now use an Xbox controller along with Controller Companion. ($2.99 on Steam) You can save yourself some time and skip to that part.

First, I bought this controller at a discount during the latest summer sale, figuring it might be worth the discounted price. It's not. It's uncomfortable to hold, updating it was a problem, and the worst sin? It insists I use the "big picture" mode in steam "for best results". Which is fine, ignore it and just use it in games, right? No. It REQUIRES you to go into that mode to update the device drivers. There is absolutely no reason for this that I can think of.

Which, as a PC player, is something I did once and will never again in life do. It makes everything more cumbersome and iritating.

This device is most likely going in a box and coming out (maybe) for car racing games and the like the few rare times I feel like playing them.