Hey everybody it's Lon Seidman
and we're taking a look today at the Steelseries Stratus XL
for Windows and Android.
This is a very versatile game controller
because on the Windows side, it supports the Xinput standard
so this will appear like an Xbox controller for your Windows games.
It's pretty flexible. We'll be checking that out in a minute.
And it's very compatible with Android games too.
It will work on the Mac -- not for everything on the Mac,
but most games that support a standard game controller on the Mac side should work
I would say the same for Linux as well, but it does not work with iOS
They actually have a separate controller also called the Stratus XL that works for iOS devices
like Apple TV, as well as the iPhone and iPad.
Now, I should mention in the interest of full disclosure
this came in through the Amazon Vine program
free of charge to the channel.
However I had no direct contact with Steelseries
nor Amazon, for that matter. And all the opinions you're about to hear are my own.
Nobody is paying for this review
and nobody is reviewing this video before it is posted.
So let's take a look at the hardware
and then we'll get into some examples as to how it works.
Pretty standard controller layout here.
Unlike the iOS version, it does have clickable thumb sticks on here
Very comfortable. They feel pretty close to what you might find on an Xbox controller.
Really nice and again, clickable.
Pretty decent D-pad here
I've dinged the other iOS version of this controller because it has the same D-pad
There is a bit of a distance between the left and right here.
It's not too bad, but it does take a little bit of getting used to, at least for me.
But it does work pretty well. I do like the directional pad on the Xbox One controller a little bit better.
You've got your standard button layout here.
You've got an indicator light here for its Bluetooth settings.
This is a fully Bluetooth controller, even with those Xinput settings.
You've got two triggers here as well as two shoulder buttons.
This is a battery indicator, and this is what you push to get it connected via Bluetooth.
The only problem I've seen with it is that
when you want to pair it up with your Android device
you have to basically reset its relationships, essentially,
and have to pair it up manually each time.
So after you're done playing with your Android device
you've gotta re-pair it to your Windows device.
It would've been nice to have a switch or something
like we've seen on some keyboards out there
to make that process a little bit easier.
But unfortunately you're gonna have to pair it up each time.
There is a switch here on the bottom to turn it on and off,
which is nice, so you have an actual hard switch
for power and it runs on two AA batteries.
They do give you a pair of AAs in the box,
but I like to use rechargeable AAs for this kind of stuff.
They work pretty well there.
So that is the hardware.
It's looks like it costs about 60 dollars on Amazon right now,
So that should be about what you should be paying for it
There are some third-party sellers that sell it for more
because it is in short supply right now
but hold out for the 60 dollar price tag.
Now we're going to boot up my Windows machine,
we're gonna take a look at its Windows compatability
and then we'll take a look at Android.
Now I figured the best way to demonstrate how the Xinput
functionality works is to actually stream a game from my Xbox One
which is behind me.
So we're able to stream the Xbox One, of course, over out local network
with Windows 10, so we've got that running right now.
And it's working fine because this controller supports Xinput
which is what they require for Xbox One streaming.
So as far as this Windows computer is concerned,
this is an Xbox-compatible controller.
My Xbox button here is the zero button here.
So I can switch back and forth here between our live game
and some of the menus here as well.
Now in order to get that though,
you do have to have the Steelseries software running in the background
on your Windows computer.
It doesn't take up all that much resources, but you do have to have that software
installed and running for this Xinput functionality to work.
It must kind of sit in the middle of the Bluetooth connectivity
and the Xinput API.
So you'll need to get that software installed.
And it does give you some pretty neat configuration options too,
so let's check that out.
Now the Windows software also gives you some fine-tuning controls for the two thumb sticks
as well as the triggers. And the thumb sticks have a lot of sensitivity options here.
So I can adjust the dead zone of the sticks, for example.
I can also set their sensitivity as well as the maximum values that get pushed out to them.
So if I didn't want it to ever go beyond 50%
even if it's in the full and left-hand position here.
I could set it that way to really get some more detail to my movement.
So you can do a lot of fine-tuning on these two thumb sticks
to get it exactly where you want it to be.
You can also set dead zones on the triggers too
which I'll demonstrate in a second.
Let's take a look first at the dead zone on the thumb sticks.
So right now I've got a game of Broforce loaded up here
and right now those dead zones are set pretty low here
So I don't have to move the control stick very far to get my guy to move.
But if I go back over here
and set a really high dead zone
You can see now, that that movement is no longer going to be picked up.
So I have to move the control stick all the way over
to get him to move now.
So you can make very nice fine tuning controls
and then immediately switch over to your game and see what the impact of that was.
I would've liked for this screen here to actually show you the results of those movements
inside the app. Unfortunately, it does not do that.
So you have to kind of switch back to your game to get it to where you want it to go.
Now you'll also notice here I turned the dead zone way up on the right trigger.
So you can also see what that does.
So if I push down our right trigger here
-- Let me just get a better angle on it for you --
I have to push it all the way down
to get him to start firing.
So if I go back to the app now
and then adjust that dead zone
to be less of a dead zone
and go back over to the game now
you'll see I don't have to push it as far to get him to start firing off there.
So there's a little bit less you can configure
on the triggers
You only have the dead zones,
but you can do something with them
which is pretty cool.
Again through the software here.
Another neat thing is that you can set configurations
for specific games.
So you can get everything configured the way you want it to be
in a certain game, and then have it automatically launch that configuration
profile when that game launches.
So you can spend a lot of time on this
and you can save it so then that way you don't have to keep tweaking it in the future,
and get it set the way you want it to, and then you can load it back up whenever you want.
Now these settings do not work on Android though,
so you don't have the same flexibility on Android.
But, the controller works great on Android.
And we're gonna check it out right now with my Android tablet
after I move the Windows PC off the desk.
Let's take a look.
Alright, so I've got the controller paired up with my NVidia Shield Android tablet here.
As you can see it's working pretty well.
This is a native Android game we're playing right now.
This is Sonic CD, which is a remastered version,
but it is running in native Android.
And it picked up the controller right away
without any configuration necessary beyond the initial pairing.
And it seems to work pretty well.
There's very minimal input delay.
I'm not really detecting much here.
You can take a look at that as I'm pushing the button.
So it does seem to work nicely.
And it's got all the Android controls mapped,
so I can push the home button there to go back home,
the back buttons are also mapped properly
and the forward buttons.
So you can pretty much get an Android experience out of this.
And then, once you unpair it from here
and re-pair it with your Windows computer
you get an Xinput device
that works just like an Xbox controller.
So if you are an Android and Windows gamer,
this is a great controller
because it's comfortable to use, first of all
-- I really like the way it feels.
And it works natively with the Windows and Android platforms the way a controller should,
which is really cool.
So you don't have to have two different controllers
for two different platforms.
Now, if you have Apple stuff
you will need to buy the Apple version of this
because Apple does not allow cross-platform controllers to work with their devices, of course.
Unfortunately it falls short there
but that's not Steelseries' fault.
My only gripe is that I really wish there was a switch on it
so I could very easily go back and forth between my devices
without having to re-pair.
We've seen that feature now on a lot of new Bluetooth keyboards
which is really nice.
You can set up a bunch of pairings initially
and just switch between them with the switch.
That would've been a nice thing.
But this doesn't do that.
So you will have to unpair and re-pair
every time you want to move between different devices.
That was my only real gripe with it
but other than that it's a nice controller
very comfortable
really nice to have something that works across platforms
because once you get used to a controller,
you wanna use it.
So now I can use it on my Android devices as well as my Windows devices too.
It will work on the Mac, as I mentioned
but not with everything.
So games on the Mac that support a standard Bluetooth controller appear to work.
But I found that Steam on the Mac doesn't work with it.
So if you're playing Steam games on the Mac
this will not function.
You'll need to go with a PS3 controller or some other compatible controller.
So that is the Steelseries Stratus XL for Android and Windows
and I like it!
This is Lon Seidman, thanks for watching.