Saitek P3000 Wireless PC Game Pad & Docking Station Reviews

• dont buy this

  
  By ADFYUXII4ICVX on 2004-09-06
  The Good
  The controller has ample buttons which make it so you wont need your keyboard or mouse. The controller itself is constructed well, and has a great feel to it.
  
  Problems:
  1. Wireless - although it says 30 feet, i have found that it needs to be within 3 feet of me for the best results. If its more than 5 feet away, forget it. I had to buy a USB extension cable just to use it, which canceled out the need for it to be wireless. Nothing on it says what gigahertz it is, so i am guessing its not even 2.4GHZ.
  
  2. Although the base is only 2 feet away, in the middle of a game it just starts trailing off in one direction. This is solved by using the keyboard, escaping out, and reloading the joystick software. Its very frustrating when your playing a game like Far Cry and it hasn't saved.
  
  Issues
  1. Batteries - this is probably luck of the draw, but i was shipped with one defective battery which should have been caught in quality control.
  
  2. Not all games automatically work with joysticks, so you will need to program it. The Saitek 3000 controller comes with really good programing software to do it. But be prepared to spend up to an hour of programing before using a game, and continually fine tuning it as you play. I dont mind, i just wish they had more scripts on their website for download. I think they have about 12 games only.
  
  Update:
  I tried buying the Saitek P2500 which was the same gamepad but not wireless. My game profiles i made on the P3000 didnt carry over. Worse, the P2500 stopped working within the first 6 hours, and I had to exchange it, and that one had problems with the SHIFT button. Finally i returned that also.
  
  Conclusion:
  I just bought the Logitech Wingman Wireless Rumblepad, its by far a better gamepad. Its 2.4GHZ, so it has distance. The software to program custom scripts is miles ahead of the Saitek SST software. When you load the profile, it automatically loads the game which it corresponds with.
  
  Please, if your looking for a game pad, get the Logitech. Save your self the 3 weeks on pain I had to go through.
  
  

• Saitek J64 P3000 Wireless Pad

  
  By on 2004-03-23
  I have had the pad for 3 months and am disappointed with not only the pad but also the lack of customer service that Saitek provides. The indicator light, on the base always shows that it is charging, the pads battery strength is either all, or the pad goes dead. The strength indicator is fake or does not work. Also the pad looses communication with the base at, what seems to be the worst possible time. Even when I have the base with in a clear 4 inches of the unit they loose communication on a regular basis. I contacted customer support at Saitek over a month ago and never received ANY reply to my email. I do not recommend buying this and furthermore recommend Logitec products. I have one of their force feedback joysticks and am happy with it.
  
  

• Awesome Gamepad

  
  By on 2003-11-01
  Good feel to it and very light. Rubber handles are a nice touch. Highly recommended gamepad. 1 small quibble, the CD with the drivers on it came warped so I downloaded them from the saitek website, it the only thing that kept the P3000 from earning 5 stars from me.
  
  

• P3000 Wireless - Good deal for the money!

  
  By AO9982FFBLAAN on 2004-07-13
  I purchased the P3000 from Saitek last weekend and have enjoyed using it. It was real easy to hook it up and I am enjoying the gaming freedom of playing without an additional wire hanging around.

  It has a good feel to it with grips on the handles and a sturdy sense for the buttons (six of them) and joysticks (2 analog with that also act as buttons).

  Saitek also includes software that lets you program in various commands for the buttons which is an added bonus.

  This is the second Saitek product I own - the Cyborg Evo is also a great product.
  
  

• wish i read these reviews before buying

  
  By A2DLHAPPOJ5UW4 on 2005-09-24
  bought this particular item from another website. should've checked out amazon's reviews first. like everyone else, i received a defective battery. i actually shipped the gamepad back and got a replacement from the vendor. and the replacmenet sucks just as bad.
  
  while the batteries seems to work, the gamepad has massive calibration problems, even with Saitek's recommended fixes. it takes me about five minutes of fiddling around the analog sticks, unplugging/replugging the batteries, for it to work properly. i've only had it (the second gamepad) for a few weeks, and it only seems to get worse.
  
  this is the worst product i've ever bought, and i will never buy a product from Saitek again.
  
  (btw, if you include the return shipping charges, i've spent over fifty dollars on this gamepad. last week, circuit city had a rebate for it to make it less than twenty total. hey saitek - you suck!)
  
  i strongly urge amazon to discontinue carrying this product.
  
  
• Buyer Beware
  By A3TH048VYY15NF on 2005-11-23
  I've gone through three of these, and they all had the same problems. A quick view of these reviews and reviews on CircuitCity's website shows the same problems. What makes it even worse is you'll see threads stating the same issues on Saitek's support forums, with their main support guy vehemently denying that there are problems with this gamepad.
  
  The batteries are cheap. They're often dead out of the box (meaning they can't take a charge). They die with minimal use. If you fully charge them too often, the charger kills the batteries.
  
  The analog sticks have a LARGE dead zone, and suffer from calibration issues. The dead zone seems to have been thrown in to hide the calibration issues, so you'd have to hold the stick all the way in one direction to get any response. However, even with that, each stick seems to pull in a direction by default, due to the calibration issues.
  
  I've heard of problems with their range (earlier models were 900mhz, newer ones are 2.4ghz, I own a 900mhz). To be honest, I got mine responding fine about 25 feet away. So while others may have had issues here, I had none.
  
  The main reason to buy a Saitek over, say, a Logitech had to be the grip. Unlike Logitech, this gamepad doesn't feel like a PS2 controller. Personally, I never liked the Playstation brand controllers, so that was the main selling point for me. However, in terms of functionality, I wish I'd have gone with the Logitech.
  
  If you're looking for a gamepad, please follow my advice. First, decide if you want wired or wireless. If you're hooking up your PC to your televison and playing across the living room, then maybe wireless is for you. However, if you're just playing at your PC, please just get a wired controller. Due to the way the base station has to be plugged in, it's practicly the same anyway.
  
  After that, go to CC or Best Buy and FEEL the controllers. The main advantage of a Saitek over Logictech, for example, is that Saitek's don't feel like PS2 controllers. If you love the PS2 style, get a Logitech. If you can't stant the PS2, consider a Saitek or Thrustmaster.
  
  If you do decide on a wireless controller, do NOT buy this one. It has nothing but flaws.
  
  
• Poor quality in battery life and operation
  By AOUCHDMSA8098 on 2005-09-15
  I purchased this unit and the two batteries stopped charging after 2 weeks. I was sent 2 more from Saitek and after 1 week these both stopped as well..... This is not worth the time and effort, look into other products
  
  
• Great feel, one prob
  By A3RKSLPPQGSVKX on 2006-02-08
  I love the feel of this gamepad...after trying several others this is the best. The wireless works ok, i was 20 feet away and it was working.The batteries are what needs improving according to many posts. I thought i had a dead battery but it ended up being a bad connection inside. With a small screwdriver pushed up through the bottom can take apart the battery case. on the positive side of each battery there are two small pieces of plastic. you just need to push these down so the battery has a better chance of connectiing. i also found new batteris at interstate battery store, 1 dollar each. The analog sticks could be a little tighter, but i like the d pad. wireless is great!
  
  
• battery problems, poor performance
  By A7V1733OX1ID8 on 2005-01-02
  1 of the 2 rechargable batteries it came with didn't work right out of the box. After over a month, the second battery started having problems; for example, I'd have to keep on re-inserting it into the gamepad or the recharger before it recognized it was in.
  
  I contacted customer support about the problem. They said my batteries were defective and that they would mail me new ones. I never received it, and this was months ago.
  
  There are other problems too. The calibration of the analog sticks gets messed up during gameplay occassionally. Sometimes, the buttons aren't responsive; you press a button and it either doesn't register or registers late. Lastly, the rubber on the analog sticks wear out badly after a year (I don't even use it that much b\c of the battery problems).
  
  The feel of the gamepad alone is good though. The buttons are in comfortable places, and there are enough of them to be able to setup most games. Unfortunately, the performance\quality isn't good.
  
  
• Problems
  By AVD4QLM3YQSS9 on 2006-02-21
  After 3 days of having this controller, it already started to have problems. The docking station would not pick up charges from the battery anymore making my controller useless. For the amount of money I spent, I am very disappointed.
  
  
• This one's a dud.
  By A2U2D9H21YZZQ6 on 2006-03-26
  I love the Saitek 880 wired gamepad. So I figured the wireless would be that much better. Unfortunately, my next purchase will be another wired pad to ensure no problems. There's nothing worse than the few times I really need two gamepads that the wireless one poops out. I bought this and the batteries died. I sent Saitek an e-mail and they sent me two new ones. Great, they worked! Then they died soon after. Hopefully their new wireless, which runs on one AA battery will not have any issues. However, this one's a dud.
  
  
• Shoulda read the reviews
  By A2WBEJH71SND3T on 2007-02-20
  I got two of these as a gift and right out of the box I had problems with them.
  
  I've owned 2 P880's (the corded versions of this controller) for over 2 years now and they are great, the included software for Saitek controllers is brilliant as well. The controllers are well designed and fit comfortably in my hands, they're like the perfect balance of Playstation and XBox size. The only downside is that they only have 1 shoulder button instead of 2, but you get used to that.
  
  So why not go wireless?
  Well the only reason I wouldn't recommend these is that the batteries are very poorly designed. Saitek has even recocgnized this on their site and will ship you a free pair of batteries. I got mine a couple weeks ago.
  However that still wont solve the problem and like most reviewrs I've tried and tried to get these pads to work with little to no avail.
  The individual battery packs actually contain 2 batteries inside; one for the wireless connection and one for the controller display.
  The problem is that if one baterry is full when the other is not the charger will not continue to charge the drained battery. so while you may get a display on the controller, you wont get a connection to the PC or vis versa.
  
  There is no easy solution to this problem either. The user must find a way to drain the batteries without damaging the battery pack and hope that they stay in sync after that (which is very unlikely).
  
  If you really like Saitek (like me) I'd wait for a newer model of wireless controllers. Till then stick with the cords or go with a different brand.
  
  As of this date Saitek has seemingly started to release newer versions of their game pads so hopefully there's a more functional version out there soon if its not out already.
  
  Be warned that the 2.4GHz version of this pad is prone to the same problems.
  
  
• Batteries are horrible
  By A2QQ06GUU1APAY on 2005-09-05
  The proprietary battery packs have horrible cells in them which you can immediately tell if you open one up. Unfortunately they are non standard length... shorter than a AAA so they cannot be replaced without serious modifications to the pack... more trouble than it is worth. Both of my battery packs are bad and I have hardly used it.
  
  
• Buy Something Else
  By A47A537GM4M0E on 2005-07-14
  This controller is a piece of junk. One of the two batteries took one charge and then went totally dead. The other battery works fine as long as you charge it right before you play. If the battery sits in or out of the controller for more than an hour, it loses it's charge. This means that even with two batteries, I have to plan ahead to use it, so the battery will have some juice in it.
  
  Saitek claims it works up to thirty feet away from the base. The key phrase is "up to". Mine works from five feet away IF I have line of sight to the base. (Which I don't get since it's RF not IR.) With no line of sight, you need to be right next to the base and might as well have bought a nicer wired pad.
  
  The pad itself is well designed, has plenty of buttons and comes with easy to use software. If the wireless part worked half as well as they claim, it would be a good buy. But it doesn't and it's not.
  
  I have since bought the Logitech Wireless Controller, and although the pad itself is not as comfortable to use, has fewer buttons and doesn't have rechargeable batteries, I'm MUCH happier with it. The Saitek Wireless Pad is a good idea gone horribly, horribly wrong.
  
  
• Forget rumble and wireless, work on making a better D-pad!
  By A2NFLHENCYAXGD on 2005-10-28
  1: How many PC games out there use rumble/force feedback? I can't think of many, maybe Need for Speed or something. Vibration motors only add more weight to the controller.
  
  2: Wireless just means time spent recharging. Besides, you're often in a chair right in front of your computer! Unless you've got great vision and a TV out card you don't NEED wireless.
  
  3: The D-pad is poorly made: Saitek's making a new P990 model, adding two more L and R buttons but they're keeping their D-Pad, why? Because they said customers like it, hah! They obviously haven't read any of the reviews here. I'm afraid I'll snap mine. The diagonals make an annoying, loud popping sound too.
  
  I'm NOT being forceful, I try to be as gentle as possible. Logitech's designs aren't much better. Saitek's D-pad is too raised and clunky, Logitech's D-pad is so recessed, its more like clicking a mouse button and diagonals are impossible.
  
  Whatever happened to quality input methods that were rigorously tested? I miss the SNES "cross" d-pad, the Turbo Touch 360's "touch sensative panel" d-pad. And even the PS2 pad. There ARE adapters to let you turn SNES and Playstation to USB, but you can burn out the controller if it doesn't get correct voltage. I shouldn't HAVE TO go through such trouble.
  
  Just make better D-pads you guys! Sure, you make your stuff for First Person Shooters, but the majority of folks buying these pads are emulation gamers looking for a way to play NES, SNES and Sega without always having to use their keyboards.
  
  We're gamers as much as anyone else.
  
  
• Battery can be fixed
  By A8ARGDA1E7P9I on 2006-05-10
  The only major problem is the battery. It "dies" after a while. Actually, it doesnt die, it's just loose inside the casing and eventaully pops out of its socket. To fix it, slide a screw driver into it to break the glue. Put the two batteries back in place, and slide the top back on. It works now!
  Even though it's easy to fix, it's basically a defective product until you fix it yourself. You get 3 stars. (very fun with working battery)
  
  
• Battery Issues
  By A1Z4FRRJDWLZD3 on 2006-09-24
  As all of the other posters state this controller has a serious issue with its batteries. I, too, contacted the company and without any question they sent two replacement... no qualms with that kind of service, but the new batteries died just as quickly. I even tried removing the back cover (which was successful) revealing 2 NiMH 1.2V 280mAh batteries. However, the were both seated in the casing properly. I may try and replace them, however the bottom line is that I shouldn't have to go through all of this hassle. My recommendation is to buy a wireless PC gamepad that works the first time... am I not wise? :-)
  
  
• PROS & CONS
  By A37R358WAXR4M on 2007-01-05
  First let me say the controller is pretty good.The controller handles great and its very light but a bit slippery The install is a bit troublesome but great support will get you up and running.The only cons i believe is you must have the docking station in view or in a least a couple feet The wireless not to strong And the battery well they have issues they dont hold a charge very long So you need more than one battery and you may get a bad one from them just sitting around But SAITEK online support is very good and they will work with you on them issues or any one you may have.
  
  
• Problem with the analog sticks
  By A2JM28WN88TONK on 2007-01-10
  I don't know if this problem is with the product or my computer, but the analog sticks stick from time to time. For no reason at all the left stick will make my character move in one direction or the right stick will cause the camera to spin in circles. I have to disconnect and reconnect it until it stops doing that. It doesn't happen too often, but it is annoying. I had a similar problem with another game pad from a different manufacturer, so it might not be a problem with the product. In general, I like the idea of a docking station, an extra battery pack, and battery meter. The game pad just sits loosely on the docking station so it will fall off if I bump into the desk. In conclusion, it has some good features but there's room for improvement.
  
  
• Battery issue
  By A261NLORHXX5BV on 2007-01-10
  The gamepad itself is a well engineered product. It fits the hand well, has many buttons and the joysticks are also a nice touch. My problem as with other reviews I have read is the battery packs. One of the two refuses to take a charge. Who knows how long the second one will last. It appears there should have been more engineering with the batterys, or at least as much as with the rest of the gamepad.
  
  

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