Bought the GuliKit Hall effect sensors sticks as soon as they released. Loved the (almost) zero dead zone and their drift resistance.
But I quickly realized, that the GuliKit sticks have a square ouput zone, which makes them borderline unusable in first person games, as they reach their max output way before they reach their physical movement limits. That makes aiming horrible.
Yesterday I found out that a new player has entered the Hall effect stick game, Elecgear. I ordered them and put them into my Steam Deck, as they have a circle zone, the same as the original OEM sticks do. They feel SO much better because of that.
So If you want to change your sticks, I highly recommend the Elecgear ones over thei GuliKit counterpart.
I’ve heard that the newer versions of the gulikit thumbsticks (the ones that support types a & b with no soldering required) have also fixed the square output zone issue.
I don’t personally have them so I can’t confirm if this is true though.
edit: did some searching and couldn’t find the post I remembered saying the output zone was fixed. I did find a post saying the top half of the new thumbsticks still has a square output, but the bottom half is a circle. Overall I’m not sure, proceed with caution.
I couldn’t find anything online that confirms (or denies) that… If you figure it out, be sure to share!
If only they offered a solderless version.
The soldering is super easy, as it’s only a small cable. I’m pretty sure that anyone who is able to open their Steam Deck can also solder that without any problems.
I don’t even own a soldering kit, and don’t trust myself enough with it (yet). Not everyone can do everything.
I hear you. But, the specific soldering task for this is really simple. You could watch a YouTube video and have this specific task done really fast.
I used to think this until I helped out on a robotics site. Some people are absolutely hopeless at soldering even after tons of practice. It is what it is.
Thanks for the tip!
Hi Zulasas Do you still like your ElecGear sticks?
Hey. I gave my LED version with the Elec Sticks to a friend of mine, as I bought myself an OLED Deck.
I really liked them though, as there is almost a 0 deadzone and (more importantly) a round one.
My friend also likes them, as he didn’t want me to switch them back to the OEM sticks.
Would you say the quality feels as good and reliable as the OG sticks?
Yeah, I don’t feel any difference. The stick cap stays the same, as you need to reuse the stock ones.
Do these look like the correct ones?
https://www.amazon.ca/ElecGear-Replacement-No-Drifting-Controllers-Potentiometers/dp/B0BTGW7MZ1
Those look like standard sticks, not hall effect. It looks like these are the hall effect ones.
ElecGear Hall Sensor Joystick Replacement for Steam Deck, Electromagnetic No-Drifting Left and Right Thumbstick Unit Module PCB Assembly for MEDA and MHDA Controllers, Repair Tool Kit Included https://a.co/d/4umTCuS
Can’t find it in Canada but I’ll keep an eye out, thanks for the post!
Just wanted to leave this here. For those who want to ensure that the Gulikit sticks will match the SD max physical input sensor range, there is this (well hidden) utility: “thumbstick_cal” - https://ifixit.com/Guide/How+to+Calibrate+Steam+Deck+Thumbsticks/150415?lang=en - it helped fix my sticks!
Tried that with mine. Sadly the square zone didn’t change. Strange
