Speedlink Quinox Pro Gamepad Review

I’ll admit, I certainly wasn’t expecting to find such a complex device in my hands upon opening the box. I’ve been using a cheap wired Xbox 360 controller for my PC gaming for so long that I simply wasn’t prepared for the upgrade to the Quinox. It takes some design cues from the Xbox Elite controller, though it’s only for use with Windows, and has a 2.5m cable.

The front is laid out like any other Xbox controller, with ABXY, Start, Back, two analogue sticks and a D-pad with a “home” button in the middle. All of the buttons feel fine, except for some reason Back which feels a little too spongy and doesn’t activate all of the time. The sticks are great and a little higher than my old controller, but I like it. The D-pad is separate buttons rather than a circle, and is simple awesome.

Now here’s where it differs from other pads. On the underside there are four extra paddles, which can be set to perform macro functions, as can the two buttons nestled on either side of the removeable cable (it’s a micro-USB). Back on the front is a display which is how you can tell when you’re setting things up or not. The final two buttons are also switches, and are on the bottom of the Quinox. It took some working out, as the instructions aren’t super clear, but it’s easy enough to set it up to run a macro, especially when you realise they are buttons as well as switches. When in regular use, you can use the switches to set how sensitive the analogue sticks are, which I found very useful for Elite: Dangerous.

The final two extra features aren’t actually mentioned in the quick start guide, and I had to work out what they did. One turns vibration on and off, the other switches the pad from XInput to DirectInput - basically how it shows up on Windows. Most games support XInput, whereas DirectInput requires more effort on your part.

In the box you have a quick install guide in 20 languages (across two booklets) and an info guide. You have to download the drivers, but unlike other Speedlink stuff I’ve reviewed it doesn’t have an app bundled with it to control the profiles and macros.

The build quality is nice and solid, and the design looks nice. The buttons and sticks are lit with red LEDs, though you can turn them off with the right switch. The paddles on the underside are small enough to stay out of the way when playing normally, though I have occasionally caught one when in a fraught part of a game.

I played The Crew, Sonic Generations and Elite Dangerous: Horizons with the Quinox. It has definitely improved my flying in Elite, with the sensitivity adjusted all the way up -- I have a bad habit of being awful at landing on a docking pad, but that was with my old gamepad! I landed perfectly twice in a row, and only fluffed the third landing because I was distracted. The sticks and bumpers make a very reactive ship, even in combat situations.

If you can see yourself using all of the features, then this is definitely one to consider. It’s cheaper than the Elite Controller (about half the price), although you can only use it with the PC and you can’t take it apart. Personally, I don’t need an Xbox controller that I can disassemble. My old controller is going in the bin, long live the Quinox!