Review: Saitek P220 joypad for PC

A brief product review by Bobulous.

Using the Saitek P220

photo: The Saitek P220, black with silver buttons and directional pad.

The P220 is comfortable to hold, and the six thumb buttons on the right are easy to reach. The directional pad on the left seemed a bit lumpy, which meant it wasn't ideal for playing platform games such as Mr. Robot. Trying to keep the directional pad at a diagonal seemed harder than it should have been.

The P220 also has shoulder buttons that fit fairly nicely under the index fingers, and a digital throttle control that can increase and decrease smoothly or in jumps. The throttle control is right in the centre of the pad, so you have to abandon the thumb-buttons and shift your grip on the joypad to reach it.

The build quality of the P220 is not bad, being a fairly rigid object overall, but the quality of the directional pad isn't great. It is a budget product, but if you intend to spend a lot of time using a joypad, I'd have to recommend looking for something a little more comfortable.