DISCLAIMER: This controller was sent to me by Flydigi to review. This doesn’t impact my review at all and they see this review for the first time when it’s posted. All opinions here are honest, my own and unbiased.

I’ve been using the Vader 4 Pro in my main rotation for the past 6 months, so I figured I would do a long term use review. First I’ll go through the initial impressions of things like the packaging, box contents etc. Then I’ll get to the review of the actual controller, and I’ll say how my experience has been and what changes there have been over the course of the last 6 months of using this controller.

PACKAGING

The Flydigi Vader 4 Pro comes in a pretty small box, with not much flare to it. It’s still so weird to me that Flydigi doesn’t put a large illustration of the controller on the box but whatever, this is fine as well. Since this isn’t a product you would pick up off a shelf and you would only buy this online, the packaging hardly matters. I would prefer to have a cool box on my shelf to showcase the controller purchase as I do with most of my products, but it is what it is.

The back of the box has some technical specifications and a QR code to get the software for this controller.

Inside the box, the controller sits in some plastic moulding. We see the controller itself, the 2.4ghz dongle, and under the plastic we have the USB-A to USB-C Cable.

General Features

Spec Sheet [as per Flydigi Amazon Shop]

• Layout: Xbox
• Connectivity: Wired, 2.4G, BT
• Compatibility: PC, Mobile, Nintendo Switch
• Connectors: USB-C, for docking station
• Analogs: Hall Effect (an unknown model, similar to Apex 4, it is Flydigi’s own model)
• Triggers: Hall effect with trigger lock
• Main switches: mechanical under ABXY and D-Pad
• Additional switches: 4 at the back 2 at the front, remapable
• Gyroscope: yes
• Vibration motors: 2 Asymmetric + in triggers
• Battery: 800mAh
• Polling rate: 1000Hz Xinput Wired and 2.4G, 125 Hz Switch wired and BT Xinput, 500Hz Switch BT.
• Available colors: Black, white (white is a special version)
• Docking station: sold separately
• Price (for the basic version): 80$ (60$ on Aliexpress)

BUILD and APPEARANCE

The USB cable is a basic, black, non braided cable. The 2.4ghz dongle is a relatively large (standard for Flydigi controllers) USB-A dongle with the text “FLYSYNC Vader 4 Pro” on the back. This could be useful for people that have multiple black flydigi controllers.

The Vader 4 Pro controller looks pretty clean. It has a standard xbox controller size and xbox style grips as well. Appearance is subjective of course, but I really like the way this controller looks. The RGB is tasteful imo, and it doesn’t have a garrish center triangle like in the Vader 3 Pro or the Apex 4. This is pretty stealthy in therms of the colours used. The tension adjustment rings look really cool and unique too, like the thumbsticks are wearing turtlenecks haha. The grey face buttons offer a nice contrast to the otherwise mostly black controller. The minimal text on the handle says “VADER 4 PRO” and it’s tasteful. The overall button placement and the angular design language appeals to me a lot.

Build quality is less subjective though, and the Vader 4 Pro is an significant improvement over the Vader 3 Pro. The plastics used in the V4P are much more solid than the V3P. Still not what I would call “top of the line” but it’s good and doesn’t feel like a cheap toy. It’s pleasant to the touch and the grips have a nice subtle texture to them which makes the V4P easier to hold. The grips are a tad too small for me, coming from the Apex 4 by Flydigi, but it’s not a bother since the V4P is also significantly lighter than the Apex 4. The Vader 4 Pro comes in at a weight of 270 grams which is fairly standard for controllers.

ANALOG STICKS

The Vader 4 pro has Hall Effect analog sticks and this is the best I’ve ever used in almost all aspects. The centering is great, the movement is very linear without a large bump in the center. The tension adjustment rings around the sticks are great. They’re super easy to use on the fly. I use different tension settings for different games. For example I use about 25% tension on the left stick for celeste, but about 60% for Forza Horizon 5.

In the circularity test, the sticks don’t seem to reach the end of the circle. Which hasn’t been an issue for me in games, but this is definitely a first. I suppose this also explains the lack of anti friction rings as these are not needed here.

BUTTONS

The ABXY buttons use mechanical switches which feel incredible to use. These are the best switches I’ve ever used. I prefer these over membrane switches, KK3’s tactile membrane switches, and even over Apex 4’s mechanical switches. The Apex 4 and Vader 4 pro share this mechanical switch but the Vader’s switches are lighter to press, at least when comparing my unit of the vader and the apex. The switches have a slight pre travel which is a good thing imo, because it indicates that I’m actually pressing the button. The additional C & Z buttons are nice to have. They’re rubber dome switches though, like all the other function switches on the controller.

Over the last 5 months, all of these have held on well, but the mechanical switches have a little more noise when I lift my fingers. Hard to describe with words, but you’ll hear it in the sound test (later in the review) when i lift my fingers. This isn’t exactly a bad thing, since it’s literally not audible when you’re gaming, but it’s there.

SHOULDER BUMPERS

The shoulder bumpers are great. Super tactile and almost no pre travel. Lightweight too, so they’re easy to use. Not much else to say. They’re as close to perfect as it gets imo. They’ve held up well over time and have not gotten loose at all. Check them out in the sound test later in the review.

TRIGGERS

Again, these are the best in class for what they are. They’re hall effect triggers, and in terms of raw feel, these are better than the Apex 4’s triggers. The smooth spring is really nice to press down on. The V4P comes with trigger locks which is a really nice feature. I don’t really use it much, since I enjoy trigger vibrations and travel. It converts the analog triggers into a digital click. It’s really satisfying to use in trigger locked mode. Refer to the sound test.

BACK BUTTONS

There’s 4 buttons on the back just like the rest of Flydigi’s controllers. I like them. They are difficult to accidentally press and they’re placed perfectly for my fingers. Some people do complain about their positioning so it may not be as comfortable for smaller hands as it is for mine.

GYROSCOPE

The gyroscope here is actually pretty nice. I used it a lot when playing COD for micro adjustments and a few other games, and it was very precise. Pleasant experience

VIBRATION

It’s quite good. Trigger vibrations make for incredibly immersive experience in games, and the controller rumble is also very detailed and immersive. The intensity and frequency of vibrations is adjustable in the software which is really nice. I use it at about 70% vibration strength. I don’t really have much else to say in this regard.

SOFTWARE

The Vader 4 Pro uses Flydigi’s Space Station Software. It’s pretty dang granular. The UI could be better tbh, but functionally it’s as robust as it gets. You can remap practically everything. Some notable features of the software are that you can change the circularity of the analog sticks, and the Vader specific settings. Joystick debounce and Joystick automatic calibration.

Joystick debounce setting makes the input a lot more stable by reducing the sensor noise. And Joystick automatic calibration which resets the analog sticks 5 seconds after being centered. There used to be noticeable latency increase in earlier versions of the software, but in recent updates this issue has been resolved and there’s insignificant latency increase. There are other cool settings as well which I won’t get into too much detail here.

LATENCY

This is supposedly the one bad thing about the Vader 4 Pro. I personally, haven’t had any issues whatsoever with latency. With the stick algorithm turned off, the Vader 4 pro has the following Latency numbers in X input mode-

MODE BUTTONS STICKS POLLING RATE
– Wired : 6ms 20ms ~1000hz
– 2.4ghz : 8ms 22ms ~1000hz
– Bluetooth : 22ms 32ms ~150hz

SOUND TEST

CONCLUSION

The Vader 4 Pro remains my go-to recommendation for anyone asking for controller recommendations in it’s price bracket. It is the most well rounded controller I’ve ever come across. The experience while using this controller is incredibly consistent and there are ZERO hiccups. Sure there are some minor drawbacks such as the software UI, but it absolutely makes up for its shortcomings with it’s incredible performance and perfect implementation of buttons, triggers, analog sticks, etc.