Manba One review: “The power of a PC app in the palm of your hand”

Every time I unbox a pro controller like the Manba One, I have to sift through an origami-folded user manual to find out how to program its back buttons. Either that, or I need to head to the manufacturer’s website, update some firmware, and download an application that lets me control its various features. It’s a task that always feels like annoying admin, and I doubt it’s the easy, carefree thing people want to experience when they first unbox a new controller.

The Manba One feels like a true counter to that. Its creators have clearly been watching the best PC controller market of late, they’ve observed gamepads coming out from Turtle Beach that have on-board displays and integrated menu systems, and they’ve decided to one-up them. See, while controllers with a screen are a nice idea, they’re usually so small and their functionality so awkward that I never tend to use them - I’d rather deal with the origami user manual.

But when I unboxed the Manba One, I was immediately greeted with a simple and easy-to-navigate menu screen that not only let me map the pad’s back buttons but contained the power of a fully-fledged PC customization app. For $69.99 / £87, that type of accessibility is fantastic. When you then consider its four back buttons and innovative other features, you’ve got a controller that screams value for money.

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Design

The Manba One is available in two colorways. It comes in a black version which has grey textures on its grips but, other than its side RGB lighting, keeps a pretty low profile. The model I’ve been sent is the white version, which has a transparent shell, and a brighter white and brushed silver skeleton within. It has some side RGB lighting too, which glows and reflects from the transparent chassis like a Dragon Ball character’s aura.

In some ways, the Manba One’s shape reminds me of the Thrustmaster eSwap X2. Its body is tall and its shoulders have this broad quality to them. My pinky fingers have ample room on the grips, and this is clearly a controller made with bigger hands in mind. The back has a dotted texture to it that feels almost rubberized. This feel doesn’t over-exert itself though, and doesn’t feel like the quite sharp grip of the GameSir T4 Kaleid.

The Manba One feels comfortable in the hands, but its transparent armor does give it quite a cheap and nigh-on hollow quality. It’s a shame that the ability to peer inside the controller’s inner workings results in what feels like lesser build quality. The back buttons in particular make a reverberating “clack” sound to them which is never reassuring. Speaking of those back buttons though, there are four, which is a massive win for this controller of this price. So many manufacturers of pro controllers under the $100 mark opt for two back buttons and I wish more would find room for another pair. It can add so much value for money and a lot more potential to a gamepad, as found with the PowerA Fusion Pro.

I don’t massively enjoy the placement of the Manba One’s back buttons though - they sit quite high up on the controller, meaning you need to press both with your middle fingers. This can work well if they’re placed intuitively, like the ones on the Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra, but here they’re still placed one under the other, which can make them harder to use. I do really appreciate the small design choice to put a lined texture on the top back buttons so you can easily differentiate which ones you’re pressing.

Thanks to its central display, the usual pause buttons of the Manba One are relegated to the bottom of its body. There are four in total - a start and in-game menu button, then a home and share button. These can help you alt+tab in Windows, which is a nice touch, but are what you’ll use to navigate the gamepad’s own UI. Sitting in the included charging stand, which I’m delighted to say has a space for its USB Wireless dongle, the function buttons frame the controller nicely.

Features

For a controller under $100, there sure are a lot of features to discuss here. To begin with, the controller has microswitch facial buttons that feel as tactile as the EasySMX X10 and dodge the spongy feeling of the Razer Wolverine V2 Pro. The d-pad is a circular 8-way clicker that’d be right at home on one of the best Xbox Series X controllers.

The thumbsticks feature Hall sensors and have swappable tops in case you need a little more height. Again, this is great value, and although there isn’t a carrying case, this modular aspect alone grants a lot of adjustability. All four thumbstick tops have an indented shape, and they’re both wide and deep enough that your thumbs always feel secure when flicking them around.

Flipping the Manba One over, you’ll see a set of trigger stops for the pad’s Hall sensor triggers. These only have one locked setting, but the on-board menu lets you set the actuation of the triggers in more depth, which I’ll discuss in a moment. Alongside the aforementioned four back buttons is a very handy on/off switch. This might honestly be one of this controller’s best features. It saves so much battery life and faff to be able to just turn a pro controller off with the flick of a switch rather than disconnecting a USB dongle, and then waiting for the gamepad to give up on its pairing dreams.

Of course, the biggest feature of all comes in the Manba One’s integrated display menu, which has incredibly deep customization that you can normally only find in dedicated PC applications. When you first open it up, you’ll be met with some sub-menus. You can change which device the Manba connects with, dive into the settings, and change aspects of the display, or recalibrate the triggers, buttons, and thumbsticks.

The settings menu is particularly impressive. You can set three profiles for the PC, and one additional profile for when you use it as a Nintendo Switch controller. For each profile, the Manba One lets you establish different back button mappings, thumbstick/trigger deadzones, input curves, and even set vibration levels. A lot of controllers these days allow you to map buttons on the fly or change profiles quickly, but very few allow you to get in the weeds of deadzones without the use of a gaming PC.

These menus also mean you can customize settings for the RGB without being strong-armed into a brand like Razer’s RGB syncing programs. There really is no need for a PC application to get the most out of the Manba One, and that really deserves to be applauded as a standout feature.

USB-C is how you’ll tether the Manba One to a charging port. When using a wired connection to play games, you can benefit from up to an 800Hz polling rate. That isn’t quite as much as the GameSir Tarantula Pro’s 1000Hz connection, but still a lot more than the Xbox standard of 400Hz. The charging stand has three magnetic capacitors which allow for wireless charging. The battery life of the Manba One is well over 10 hours in my experience, which is certainly more impressive than the average battery life of a PS5 controller.

Performance

I’m not a big lover of deadzones in controller thumbsticks. The first thing I usually do after mapping back buttons is set the deadzones to zero so I can get the absolute most out of small adjustments in my aim. But upon making the same adjustment to the Manba One, I was met with perhaps the hottest thumbstick sensitivity I’ve ever come across in a controller - including new options with TMR sensors in them. Super-hot sensitivity can be a blessing and a curse. You get ultimate twitch-reaction aim, but large sweeps can be really unruly and take some getting used to. In FPS games like Hunt Showdown this, combined with the taller thumbstick attachment, makes for excellent sniping capability, but using shotguns and running around the world can feel really unruly.

In Avowed, playing in both first and third-person, I found some very bizarre calibration issues after tuning the deadzones of the thumbsticks. This was only an issue in Avowed, but it isn’t something I’ve come across in any other Hall sensor controller. It essentially meant my left thumbstick was registering a constant move to the right - so anyone who had come across stick drift would have been immediately triggered. Thankfully, after recalibrating the sticks this issue disappeared, but it’s something to look out for. Otherwise, the Manba did a lovely job of helping me to manage all my magical spells and companion abilities in Avowed, with back buttons coming in clutch in various ways.

The Manba One did a lot for me in terms of comfort while playing 1000xResist too. The larger frame of the controller meant playing a game with fewer inputs was nice and comfortable, and using either the microswitch buttons or the back buttons felt great during longer sessions.

Those face buttons were great when I felt I needed more speed in games like Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero. Button mashing and fast tapping are so much more responsive on a controller with microswitches, and although the rest of the pad didn’t feel so strong in a fighting game scenario, it did put the face buttons in a nice spotlight.

While I do wish the back buttons were moved a little further down the Manba One’s grips, it’s hard to fault them in games like Celeste, where they helped me to jump and dash without too much frantic thumb movement. Feedback was good here too, although I actually found myself dialing the vibration level up a touch from its out-of-the-box setting since it was a bit too subtle for the crunchy feel of that game. This is unusual since most pro controllers can have their rumble motors working far too hard out of the box.

All told, the Manba One makes a great case for itself across all sorts of gaming genres. I guess the trouble is that it doesn’t really excel in any of them. The GameSir Tarantula Pro is similarly priced and has better thumbsticks and comfort. The Victrix Pro BFG for Xbox doesn’t have an onboard screen, but many more physical adjustments. The Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra has a screen and better back buttons, and the PowerA Fusion Pro has better RGB lighting. The good thing about the Manba One is that it combines a lot of these controllers into one, fairly affordable package. I’d just consider the others if you have more budget to play with.

Should you buy the Manba One?

The Manba One is a great pro controller for its price. It isn’t my favorite pick in the four-back-buttoned gamepad arena, and it’s a shame that both its cheaper-feeling build quality and poor back button placement let it down.

Nevertheless, the Manba One has excellent features, including a massive quality of life bonus in its on-board user interface. The power of a PC app in the palm of your hand is not a common occurrence, and Manba deserves credit for that reason. This is a comfortable controller with a lot of versatility. While it doesn’t excel in any one genre of gaming, it makes a strong case for a tool in any of them.

For its price, the fact it gives you four back buttons, and some great features, this is an easy controller to recommend to those players who need a bit more utility and who don’t want to faff about with PC customization software or confusing function buttons. I’d argue the most competitive players should look elsewhere though, especially if their budget can stretch over $100.

How I tested the Manba One

I tested the Manba One across various gaming genres. I played 1000xResist, Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, Hunt: Showdown, Celeste, Avowed, and more. With a few of these games, I compare them to other gamepads I’ve tested so to give a more consistent account for how each product performs. In others, I see how the Manba One helps me to connect with the games I’m playing currently.

I compared my experience with the Manba One closely with the Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra since they both have displays and integrated menus, and a lot of other more affordable controllers too.

For more on how we test controllers, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

If you're looking for good value, you could always shop for an older controller. We've got lists of the best PS4 controllers, the best Xbox One controllers, and the best joysticks in case you want to have a look.