PowerA Winter 2024 Hardware Accessories Review – Big Bag o’ Loot
Kat
Peely Fortnite Wired PowerA Earbuds Officially Licenced for Nintendo Switch
When gaming, sound is so important and you can not go wrong with a new pair of headphones. Yet, apparently you can. I was really excited to try the Fortnite Peely Headphones. They look swish, they have a very cute matching silk drawstring bag to keep them in. Unfortunately, the cute silky drawstring bag is the best thing about this entire product. I have always preferred in ear earbuds than the classic looking Airpods or original style so I thought these would be lovely to add to the collection.
The description boasts the below:
- Dynamic Speakers – 8 mm drivers to deliver the audio of your favorite games
- Ergonomic – In-ear design with 3 swappable tips so you can find the perfect fit
- Wired Connection – No batteries or recharging needed. 3.5 mm right angle jack for a lower profile design.
- Inline Mic – Chat with your squad and mute the mic the via a switch
- Cable Organizer – Adjustable slider to keep the wire tangle free when using the earbuds or storing them
- Storage – Includes a drawstring bag to protect your earbuds when not in use
- Officially licensed for Nintendo Switch
Sounds great right? Well first of all, these are possibly the most uncomfortable headphones I have ever had the displeasure of trying. I might as well as put a tampon in my ear, because that’s how “ergonomic” they felt. The design itself is made up of an in-ear design, but the design of Peely on the outside, makes this so difficult to do in the first place. It is thick and about an inch wide so playing around to find a comfortable position was a nightmare. I just ended up jamming them in. I thought maybe my ears were too small, but when Miles also tried them he had the same issues. I felt as if they were going to constantly pop out at any moment. I can get past that however, as I am sure like anything you can get used to them and was happy to persevere. What I can’t get past, is the fact that 45 minutes of wear I started to hear static coming from the audio as if I had worn them for months on end. You know that annoying thing that happens to wired headphones eventually, where your jack has to be a in certain position to be perfectly sounding out of both ears or static will happen or the earphone will cut out.
Well, the audio didn’t cut out, but depending on how the wires would move, would depend how loud the static I heard was. LESS THAN AN HOURS WEAR PEOPLE. These headphones are more novelty than function, and maybe good for kids but for £19.99 in retail price, I would not recommend when Sony or Panasonic will offer better quality, longer lasting and will be offered at a cheaper price. It’s very possible I got unlucky with a faulty pair, but take my words with caution.
PowerA Nintendo Switch Protection Case – Peely Fortnite
This officially licenced case is the best thing out of this bad bunch of banana’s. The case is slick, sturdy and dons a vibrant yellow making it hard to lose anything you may put in here. The sturdy outer shell (although I didn’t test this) probably is strong enough to sustain you or someone else dropping/throwing in a rage your Nintendo switch.
It certainly feels that out of the bundle this is the main event. The case also comes with a nifty little feature that allows you to set up your Switch for table top. Whilst fiddly at first to manover how this is done, once completed it is ideal for those who don’t want to link it up to the TV but perhaps still want to use a controller for play. The inside is padded and will be sure to keep the gamecards protected and mostly dust free as well as including the mesh lining the original cases have too. If you have a desire to learn to the physical copies of games than the online store ones, the case can fit up to nine game cards within its storage. The design of Pevely’s face on the front is 3D and a rubber like texture, and so isn’t cheaply printed on and therefore unlikely to flake off. This would make a cool gift for anyone a fan of Fortnite (or Banana’s in general) and certainly a look I will be donning for my Switch going forward.
PowerA Enhanced Wireless Controller for Nintendo Switch – Peely Fortnite
Before this was sent out, I had been searching high and low for my controller part that allows the switch to turn into a handheld controller. So I was pretty excited to test drive this and give it a spin to see if it holds up my first place run on Mario Kart 8. My initial thoughts were that it was very lightweight. Not lightweight in a sense of feeling slick, but more that feeling of a cheap McDonalds toy lightweight. There was something so off putting about how light this controller feels in your hand. The plastic screams – I made this as cheaply as possible and feels hollow to the touch. Whilst the controller boasts a wireless aspect with Bluetooth technology, my Switch had a really hard time connecting to it. I think I managed to get it to do it once, before it cut out, confused itself and needed to be used as a wired controller.
As a wired controller, it does the job just fine. The ergonomic buttons feel as if they would be really useful during games that utilise the whole pad. I don’t want to put the blame fully on the controller for it not connecting, my switch is a few years old now, it could be a host of reasons, but for the price point it is a shame that it felt very temperamental. You certainly won’t lose it with the vibrant yellow colour, and the charging lead is a reasonable length so that you won’t be sat inches away from the screen. If you are a fan of the design of this, then this controller will be just fine, but don’t expect it to be the streaming ready piece of kit that you desire for your gaming twitch dreams.
Greg
PowerA XP-Ultra Wireless Controller
It’s far too easy nowadays to get bogged down in all the Pro and Elite controllers that sometimes you want something simple. The XP-Ultra is pretty much that: a wireless controller for Xbox, Steam and mobile. Boasting a battery life of sixty hours, which did take a few charges to adjust to, it’s a strong contender for longevity.
In its “standard” form, the XP-Ultra is pretty comfortable. It’s got two additional paddles on the rear hand pads, but good luck trying to figure out how to programme them. The attachable mobile clip is pretty sturdy, didn’t drop my phone on my face as I lay back on the sofa testing it. As far as connectivity goes, again can’t grumble.
The only real oddity is that, should you want to, you can detach the hand grips and use it as some kind of… mini controller. At first it was novel, but soon became an ergonomic nightmare. Maybe it’s for compact travel play but it’s not like the clip on “outer” shell is massive.
Overall, it’s great as an additional basic controller for whichever platform you use it for. But with limited instructions for the extras, and the weird micro controller mode, just make it slightly more faff that will get ignored.
Rossko
PowerA Wired Xbox Controller Midas Fortnite
Wired? A WIRED controller? In 2024? Well, yes. Fortunately for you lot third party controllers are still cheap and cheerful and definitely helpful when needing an extra pad.
Now of course the big sell of this pad is the Fortnite branding, of which this is probably the best of its kind (certainly better than that recent Fortnite edition PS5 controller which is, frankly, repugnant), focusing on in-game character Midas and his golden goodness, with a variety of mini shapes and whatnot related to his character dotted around the front. It’s aesthetically pleasing indeed and any long-time Fortnite fan will recognise the style immediately. God that was a good season of Fortnite.
Aesthetically away from the visuals you can see it’s pretty much an Xbox controller, which is no bad thing particularly this gen, where I have always thought the controller was awesome. The notable differences are on the back where you can adjust the sensitivity of the triggers to suit your particular playstyle, along with two ‘Elite’ like buttons at the lower half of the controller which you can map to your hearts content.
Having shoot and reload down there was a personal highlight and made it feel particularly solid. Even if the muscle memory had to be discarded fairly quickly in order to make any kind of progress. The mapping system is fairly easy, and you can adjust these buttons on the fly whenever you want to switch them up, so if it isn’t working for you it’s easy enough to switch back. It’s a neat touch though and certainly makes the controller feel more ‘Elite’ than you might have expected.
So if you’ve got a Fortnite fan in the house who needs another controller you could do far worse. As mentioned, it is wired, but with a 10ft cable connected it’s not like you’ll ever really notice. Go Midas!
All of the above products are available now at selected retailers.
Disclaimer: All products were provided by PowerA for review purposes.
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