PXN P5 review: “Buying cheap might mean buying twice."

When reviewing controllers that cost under $40, like the PXN P5, I’m generally looking for the highest number of features packed in as possible for that price point. At a glance, the P5 nails it, supporting multiple platforms, having four back buttons, and, as it initially appears, offering lots of clever functionality.

After my time with it, however, I wish that were all true. What I’ve found is a solid controller with four back buttons that’s absolutely usable, but doesn’t fulfill some of the most exciting promises it makes. In a world where the best PC controllers can cost upwards of $200, is that enough for the super-affordable PXN P5? That’ll probably be up to you to decide.

At just $29 / £29, it’s hard to argue that this controller is feature-rich and offers a lot of (hypothetical) value, no matter what you’re playing on. Switch, PC, Android, and even a Tesla all fall under the banner of things the P5 can control. I haven’t tested it with the latter, mainly because I’m not made of money, but also because I don’t care for anything that comes out of Elon Musk’s mouth, let alone his factories. In any case, a multiplatform controller for that price is a really tempting prospect, but don’t set your expectations too high.

Design

From an initial look and hold, the PXN P5 has played it pretty safe by going down the Xbox controller imitator avenue. It has the same thumbstick layout, similarly shaped sticks and triggers, but a flatter grip shape on its back so that finding its four back buttons is a bit easier.

The overriding thought for me when I hold this controller, however, boils down to a single word, and that’s plastic. I grant you, this is a $30 controller; it’s not going to feel as premium as the DualSense Edge or Elite Series 2, but it does feel noticeably more Hasbro than GameSir’s controllers that only cost $30 more.

The back of the P5 has a dotted texture to it that’s indented as opposed to embossed. This gives it a grippy feeling without irritating your skin, and it also creates a cooling effect if, like me, your palms can be a bit clammy when gaming.

The face of the controller doesn’t have too much to write home about. There’s a small, circular, 8-way D-pad, ABXY buttons, a function button, and four LEDs to help you work out connection types, as well as a couple of standard pause buttons. The typical Switch screenshot, home, pause, and menu buttons are here, but I found they were never consistent in each game I played. Sometimes, the pause (options) button would do nothing, the screenshot button would bring up the pause menu, and no two games had the same response.

The face buttons are pretty basic membranes, so if you prefer something clicky, you’re not going to be satisfied here. The tops of the thumbsticks aren’t swappable either, but their indented shape and fairly standard rubber material meant I never had trouble gripping them during gameplay.

Flip the P5 over and you’ll find four back buttons set out horizontally. They’re all plastic too, but I like that their exaggerated shapes mean you can easily distinguish them with your middle fingers, and it’s difficult to press them accidentally. For a controller this cheap, I do actually really like the back buttons. You can also find a connection switcher on the back of the pad for use with different platforms, as well as some trigger stop switches.

Features

For a budget controller, the list of features on offer here is a bit silly. There’s wireless support, Android and Bluetooth connectivity, Switch compatibility, Gyro, four back buttons, Hall sensor sticks, an Air Mouse mode, asymmetrical rumble motors, Turbo modes, and Macro functions. You can see why I was interested in reviewing this controller in the first place, because it sports excellent value for money by being feature-rich, all the while costing about as much as an EasySMX X10.

You’ll likely know what most of those features mean if you’re shopping for a pro controller, but let’s unpack a few of the most obscure ones. Air Mouse mode lets you use the left analog stick as a mouse, and the A and B buttons as right and left clickers. Gyro allows for some motion support, or, if you’re playing FPS games, you can aim with it - at least in theory. Turbo modes, if you don’t know already, automatically tap a button for you with a single press, which can be useful in games that use Quick Time Events. Wireless connectivity comes by way of a Wireless USB dongle, and battery life is courtesy of a 1,000mAh cell inside the controller’s chassis.

There isn’t a companion app for customizing settings on PC, but there is a mobile app for iOS and Android devices that lets you swap around deadzone graphs and percentages, as well as save macros and back button assignments.

Performance

Except, in practice, a lot of these features just straight-up didn’t work for me - and not without a lack of trying. Wireless connectivity, first and foremost, was the biggest question mark. I followed the included user manual’s instructions to the letter and I couldn’t get it to connect wirelessly on multiple gaming PCs, or the Asus ROG Ally X. In truth, I actually don’t care that much about quirky features like turbo mode or “Air Mouse Mode”, but someone buying a controller like this will almost certainly care that wireless connectivity doesn’t work seamlessly.

Air Mouse functionality didn’t work either, though. The user manual says this only works in wired mode, and since that’s the only way I could use this controller on PC, I knew I certainly wasn’t the issue here. Every time I used the combination of function buttons to get it to switch into Air Mouse mode, I’d be greeted with a rumble, but no mouse functionality. I’ve tested tons of controllers at this point, so many of which use function button combinations to change their aspects. I’ve never run into the issues I had here, even with ones that were more confusing to use out of the box.

My problems worsened when, even while using a wired connection on PC, the controller sometimes wouldn’t register in a lot of PC and Xbox games. Sometimes Windows 11 can be a little quirky with recognizing gamepads when they’re wired or wireless, but the PXN P5 was particularly janky in this regard.

I do accept that maybe my review sample could have been an early unit, and therefore, a bit buggy, but I was using the PXN Nexus app to ensure I was using the correct firmware. I know expectations might not be so high with a cheap controller, but I’d be wary that a lot of the features you do pay for here might not be as set in stone as with other budget gamepads.

When I did get things working, I enjoyed my time with this controller, especially with its $30 price in the back of my head. In FPS games, the sticks felt nice and responsive, and being able to tune the deadzones using the mobile app was a nice bonus for a controller of this price. My usual Hunt: Showdown sniping and movement tests felt solid, especially for a controller with no swappable thumbstick tops.

The best thing I found about this controller was its comfort level. I found I could happily play in longer chunks without any awkward stretching, cramping, or discomfort in third-person games like Clair Obscur and Rooftops and Alleys. That Xbox design lineage definitely comes into play in this regard. Similarly, its deep, rumbling feedback felt excellent in games like Celeste.

For a non-microswitch controller, I also liked the responsiveness I got from the PXN P5. Quick button presses and solid reaction times are vital in Clair Obscur, if, like me, you refuse to pass up a parry attempt. I expected the chunky and relatively cheap-feeling plastics of this controller to bring up a slower feel, but the bumpers and the general speediness of the face buttons’ actuation mean it performed exactly as needed. In fact, I nailed about 90% of the parry attempts I went for with this controller in my hands, so it’s definitely got some snappy capabilities.

I found the same thing in the button-mashing-heavy Dragon Ball Sparking Zero. Whether I was trying to string together a combo, time a parry, or nail the timing in those teleporting dodge battles, the P5 felt nice and speedy for a gamepad of this price. It’s still nothing on the Razer Wolverine V3 Pro, but it doesn’t exactly feel slow.

The four back buttons are a real standout, and they’re some of the best horizontally-placed ones I’ve come across since the Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra. For this price, they really make the PXN P5 stand out, especially when bigger brands in the peripheral market refuse to make pads with four back buttons (looking at you, GameSir), or put them behind a $150 paywall (looking at you, PowerA).

Should you buy the PXN P5?

The PXN P5 finds itself in a tough spot. It’s an excellent, feature-rich pro controller on paper, especially for this price. But its lack of reliability in some of those features do make me more hesitant to recommend it. The EasySMX X10 is around the same price tag, and although it only has two back buttons, it has those clicky buttons a lot of folks enjoy, as well as plenty of other features that aren’t as buggy.

While I am hesitant to recommend this controller to you, it’s hard to ignore that if you want something with four back buttons, you can really struggle to find it for this sort of price. My advice would honestly be to seek out the Manba One, which is only a bit more expensive and also has a slew of features that are so much easier to control thanks to its big ol’ screen.

Do you really need wireless mode, the Air Mouse mode, or any of this controller’s other bells and whistles? If not - if you just want a solid, comfortable controller with four back buttons that isn’t going to break the bank, maybe you’ll get on quite well with it. If you want more than that, however, buying cheap might mean buying twice.

For more on controllers, take a look at the best PS5 controllers, the best Nintendo Switch controllers, and the best racing wheels for PC.