X360 Crossfire Wireless Gaming Receiver - Mini Review!

[Sumanji]

Hey,

Just got mine in the post this morning, so I thought I'd do a mini review for you all.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/suman.grandham1/pics/DSC00002.jpg

Cost me £12.99 delivered which isn't bad at all. The receiver itself is tiny (approx. 8cm x 4cm x 2cm). Average build quality; plastic and not very heavy at all. Comes packed with a driver CD and some manuals:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/suman.grandham1/pics/DSC00004.jpg

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/suman.grandham1/pics/DSC00006.jpg

The software is not bloated at all. Just seemed to install some drivers and a tiny applet as far as I can tell. It starts up one new service (XboxStat.exe) which uses up a constant 10MB of RAM. I can confirm that it DOES work on Windows XP x64, which is ace! Once it's installed you can plug your Receiver in to a free USB slot and the green light should ping on:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/suman.grandham1/pics/DSC00008.jpg

Connection is pretty straightforward; turn on your controller with the "X" button, press the button on the Receiver, then press the connect button on your controller. After they sync, you can press the "X" button to bring up a tiny little status app that shows the controller's status:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/suman.grandham1/pics/DSC00011.jpg

[Sumanji]

Some screenshots of the software application and other stuff:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/suman.grandham1/pics/360app1.JPG

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/suman.grandham1/pics/360app2.JPG

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/suman.grandham1/pics/360app3.JPG


A summary of things I've noticed so far:


PROS
~ Great range & reception (worked from 10m away through a couple walls!).
~ No wireless lag that I could notice.
~ Ridiculously easy to set up.
~ Can be used in an XP x64 environment! (not tested on Vista x64)
~ Compatible with ALL Xbox 360 wireless accessories (though I have only tested control pads).
~ Headset can be configured with Voice chat programs like TeamSpeak (see House's post (http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=8779453&postcount=8)).

CONS
~ Force Feedback does not work (as of the latest driver/program release).
~ Possible problems with some button assignments (see kidkhaos' post (http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=8779870&postcount=14)). Although I have not had any such issues.

ISSUES
~ Have to resycn controller to X360/PC every time you swap between them (i.e. control pad can only be linked with one device at a time).
~ No way to manually power off control pads (have to physically detach battery, or wait 10 minutes for auto shut-off).


Will keep this updated with any other bits I discover... hope it is useful to everyone :)

Cheers,

Suman

[Drunner611]

Racing games would be decent with this pad, better than a mouse anyway, but I'll still take you on in CS 1.6 anyday with my G5.:p:

[Sumanji]

Racing games would be decent with this pad, better than a mouse anyway, but I'll still take you on in CS 1.6 anyday with that thing.:p:

Yeah, I bought it to use with racing and sports games... who on earth plays FPS games with a joypad on their PC though?! :p:

[Drunner611]

Yeah, I bought it to use with racing and sports games... who on earth plays FPS games with a joypad on their PC though?! :p:
Ah, that came out wrong. Haha, I meant if you had that silly pad for a FPS and I had a mouse. I look like an idiot now, but whats changed. Haha.