Canuck
1745
Thank you so much! That’s a godsend!
@paul_chambers thanks a ton. I knew there was something like this sight that I’ve heard of before but couldn’t recall it. Super helpful!!!
I’m thinking of getting a Switch Lite but I keep hearing about this “Joycon drift” stuff. Is this an actual problem like Red Ring or is it just a few random consoles and people complaining on the internet?
SamS
1748
Mine drifted and I know 3 other people whose joycons drifted. I would not get a Lite because you can’t swap out the controller.
It can happen. There is a calibration in the menus that can sometimes rectify it, but it seems to be wear and tear related.
It’s an inherent flaw in the joystick design. The contact material is highly susceptible to scraping away from repeated use. Length of use and the vehemence with which you twiddle the sticks can probably exacerbate it, but it’s something you should expect to account for eventually (esp if you’re someone who uses consoles for years and years, where the passage of time will balance out whatever lucky draw you get on the precise construction of your particular Joycons).
They’ll happily repair/replace with a warranty extended specifically to cover this issue, but like SamS above, I wouldn’t consider buying a Light at this time, whatever other admirable qualities it might have, due to the obnoxiousness of inevitably losing your console for a week or a month.
Esp. since the repair centers are currently all closed from the pandemic. . .
Thanks for the info. That sounds like too much hassle for me so I think I will wait to see if they do a hardware revision to fix the problem.
It finally happened to me a few months ago, after I thought I had escaped the issue.
Kinda bummed that they didn’t fix the sticks for the Lite and the recent hardware revision. :(
Likewise. Then again I basically only use my Joycon sticks when the gf and I play Mario party, which ONLY supports single Joycons for play. When gaming mobile I basically only play Slay the Spire and use the dpad, and on my TV it’s either Animal Crossing and DQ11 on the pro controller or Smash on a GC controller.
Hoping they figure something better out someday.
Yeah, I’m really after a handheld these days since I spend so much time in my office chair already. Don’t really want another console, but more of a “play in bed” option. I don’t think the pro controller work around will work for me.
System update today fixed this mysterious drift issue on the pro controller. This makes me happy, but I didn’t have it anyway. It makes other people unhappy, unsure why.
A very deep questioning of the Human condition there…
Chaplin
1758
I don’t know anything about the Lite version. However, time and time again I keep returning, with joy, to my Switch and my PSVR. Both offer really different and amazing experiences that can’t be duplicated in my many other gaming options throughout the years. And both are long, LONG past any honeymoon period. It is just really cool to be able to play a game anywhere, any time, with instant pause and yet still be able to have the full TV/ surround sound/controller experience by just docking the system. Similarly being able to experience everything from light to sound in a totally different way via PSVR is a near amusement park sort of up-scaling to my gaming experiences. Just recently I have been diving into the pathetically old 2011 vanilla Skyrim without the luxury of mods or anything and having a totally new and amazing experience of a game that I have played to death already.
Xbox 1, PS4, PC, whatever… everyone has their tastes. I LOVE my Switch and PSVR. Do I use them every day? No. But when I do use them, the experience is a step beyond other gaming experiences I can or have had. I heartily recommend either or both to anyone vaguely interested.
I have an early (not launch) Switch. The joycons have gone thru a drift issue every 10 months or so.
Rubbing alcohol and contact cleaner fixed it every time except once. Nintendo fixed it for free outside warranty.
The joycons have gone thru a couple revisions now, but there’s no way to know whether the cause of the drift has been mitigated.
My switch is from a couple of months after launch. Maybe not even that long. I’ve thought I’ve seen the drift a few times, but every time it’s just the crappy wireless connection to the console. If I move closer it goes away. Same for my new Pro controller. I’m only 7 or 8 feet away, but sometimes get some lag or drag on my joystick input.
I may be jinxing myself by posting this, but two years nearly to the day and my joycons are still fine. I’m surprised as the humidity here is notoriously mean with electronics. I mean I don’t use it every day, and it can sometimes go a month without being switched on (especially lately as I’m not going anywhere), but it’s certainly seen a heck of a lot of Diablo, Zelda, Hollow Knight, Yoku’s Island Express and several others, lots of travel, etc. I’d say that was 95% mobile use, so I don’t disconnect the joycons much. Best xmas present ever. :)
Ephraim
1762
I suspect that you may have benefitted from the humidity. If the factor underlying the issue is dust, high humidity areas are less known for fine dust in the air, as the moisture clings to it and drops it to the group faster. I know that the instructions for all my screen protectors (including the one I put on my Switch) say that to avoid dust, apply the protector in your bathroom after taking a hot shower.
I finally experienced drift on my left joycon stick for the first time a couple of weeks ago, with a launch Switch, playing Animal Crossing. I took it through the calibration utility and made some corrections. So far it seems to be working! I hope it can hold out, since I don’t want to have to deal with going anywhere to ship it off for a fix. I do have a Pro Controller, so it wouldn’t prevent me from playing, but you know… Covid.
We have a lot of dust here, open louvered windows for a start blowing dust in from outside. Humidity might bind dust, but it has to fall on something. But moreover, at very high sustained humidity you start to get surface corrosion on contact surfaces, which tends to cause most electronics grief here.
The last few weeks we’ve had 90-100% rel humidity. It’s finally getting cooler into the dry season!
Those machines were designed in Japan, an extremely, extremely humid country (half the year is spent at 90-100%, when it falls temperate levels, the weather system issues “dry weather” alerts because it’s felt as a danger there). Thus, the joycons were made to fare well in such weather.
There, @Chappers, got you a nice, dumb, unverified statement.
"Dry weather” is a warning system used in Japan because people love to burn their waste, especially in the countryside, and starting fires can be hazardous, despite being a lot of fun for kids and adults alike. Not because they can’t live without unsufferable humidity levels.
