GameSir Tegenaria Lite – Probably the best $20 I’ve ever spent

GameSir is well known by now in the controller community. They make reliable, trustworthy controllers for a wide range of budgets. I knew that the Tegenaria Lite existed, but I never really considered buying one because it just looks like a basic, one note, wired controller. But I recently got to use the 8BitDo Ultimate 2C wired, and that impressed me. Being in the same price bracket as the Tegenaria Lite, I started wondering if this GameSir controller is comparable to the 8BitDo competitor.

So I bought one, and I’m very impressed by it. I’ve been using it for a couple of weeks now, and I’ve enjoyed my time with it. There are compromises, of course, but the whole package is pretty unbeatable for this price. I’ll show you why I think so in this review.

PACKAGING

There’s not much to see here. It’s a simple box with the controller features listed on it, and it contains:

• The controller
• A QR code for the user manual
• A GameSir community leaflet

BUILD & DESIGN

The Tegenaria Lite looks pretty clean. It’s a simple grey colour with dark grey accents (the buttons, sticks, etc.) This colour is reminiscent of the PS1 to a degree, and it looks very nice. The back half of the controller is a dark grey which gives it that nice “shadow” aesthetic that I enjoyed in the GameSir Nova 2 Lite.

The other colour options are a white and a green and orange special edition. I do like them, but the grey is probably the easiest one to maintain, which is why I got this one. I would’ve gotten the green otherwise.

The shape of the Tegenaria Lite is reminiscent of a PS4 DualShock 4 controller, with shoulder buttons like the PS5 DualSense controller. It’s very comfortable to hold, and the back half of the handles have a laser engraved texture on the plastic which helps add grip to the controller. It could have been a grippier texture, as the texture here isn’t the best, nor is it the deepest, but it suffices for this lightweight controller.

All the buttons are placed in very ergonomic positions that are super easy to reach naturally. I especially like the position of the start and select buttons. On other similar controllers such as the 8BitDo Pro 3, you will find these buttons in the centre, which is a fairly difficult to reach spot. The placement in the Tegenaria lite is great.

The M button is multicoloured and has a customizable RGB light around it. I like this little touch.

The big empty space in the front has been filled with the GameSir logo. This looks nice but… it has potential for custom paintwork or stickers.

The build quality is excellent and there isn’t any creaking or sharp edges or anything of the sort. It feels solid in the hand. Since there isn’t a battery inside this wired controller, the weight is also quite low. The cable is attached to the controller and cannot be removed. There seems to be ample breakage protection, but I would still have liked to see a detachable cable here.

SPEC SHEET

• Layout: Playstation style Symmetric Sticks
• Connectivity: Wired only
• Compatibility: PC, Android, iOS, Switch, SteamOS
• Sticks: Hall Effect
• Triggers: Membrane analog triggers
• Extra Buttons: 2 mappable back buttons
• Battery: N/A (wired only)
• Vibration: Dual Asymmetric rumble motor
• Connection: 1000Hz
• Colors: White, Grey, Green special edition (MenaRD Collab)
• Software: GameSir Connect app for testing and firmware updates
• Price: $19.99, can be even cheaper during sales

ANALOG STICKS

Coming from other GameSir controllers, the sticks feel familiar. The Tegenaria Lite is equipped with Hall Effect sticks, and they perform well. The stick caps are grippy, and feel good under the thumb.

The joystick tension here is a little low. I don’t mind it at all and have found this comfortable for all genres and titles.

The stick centering isn’t super snappy like you will find in the more expensive GameSir controllers, but it’s not slow either. It’s fine, and honestly reminds me of a DualShock 4 (PS4) controller. There is no inner deadzone by default, which makes this an excellent option for fine control, like in FPS games. You can enable deadzone on each stick individually with button shortcuts.

I don’t see any metal anti-friction rings. So, while these sticks feel quite smooth right now, over time they will probably develop some roughness. This won’t make them perform any worse, it’ll just feel a little scratchier.

Circularity test looks good, and more importantly, the sticks recenter at 0.00002, which is a sign of proper recentering in hall effect sticks.

BUTTONS

I was pleasantly surprised by the face buttons here. Even though they are membrane-based, they avoid the mushy feel that I dislike on cheap controllers. There is a tactile feel when you push the rubber dome down. It feels as good as any first party controller.

The flat profile of the ABXY buttons also lends to a unique feel which adds to the “stable” feeling of the buttons.

The START and SELECT buttons are tactile mechanical buttons, and the HOME and CAPTURE buttons are rubber buttons, like you would find on the START and SELECT buttons on a Game Boy.

The M button is the also a tactile button. You use it to set macros, adjust settings, and utilize the mapping function.

D-PAD

The D-Pad works well. It’s a membrane D-pad with a nice central pivot. If you’ve ever used a DualShock 4 or even a DualSense controller, you’ll know how mushy and icky the D-Pad on those feel. The D-Pad on the Tegenaria Lite is significantly more tactile and stable. There is zero wobble, and the diagonal inputs are quite precise, thanks to the well implemented central pivot.

SHOULDER BUMPERS

The bumpers are pretty good. Visually, they’re reminiscent of the Dualsense controller. It’s a pretty stable and tactile feeling membrane button. It’s not as tactile as a mechanical bumper, but it’s tactile enough that you won’t not notice it. No complaints for the price here.

TRIGGERS

The triggers are perhaps the most obvious reminder that the Tegenaria Lite is a budget controller. While the rest of the controller has premium features, the triggers feel a bit more “standard” and less premium. They utilize traditional potentiometer-based sensors rather than the hall effect tech used in the analog sticks. This is a bit of a letdown for long-term reliability. While the sticks are essentially immune to drift and wear, these triggers rely on physical contact, meaning they could potentially develop jitter, or lose precision after a year or two of heavy use.

To be fair, a $20 controller working perfectly for a year or two isn’t something I would complain about. But it is definitely something to note, so that your expectations from the controller are realistic when making the purchase.

The physical throw is also quite shallow. For gamers who primarily play shooters, the shorter travel distance might actually be a benefit, as it allows for slightly faster “bottoming out.” However, when playing games like Forza or Assetto Corsa, the lack of range here does feel a little limiting. It’s harder to feather the throttle or find that sweet spot for braking when you only have a few millimeters of travel to work with. Other genres are more or less unaffected by this short travel.

I’m being a tad harsh and nitpicky here because there is a competitor which does triggers better – the 8bitdo 2C wired. I’ll cover that in an upcoming review so keep an eye out.

BACK BUTTONS

For a $20 controller, having these back buttons is a pleasant surprise in and of itself. And the buttons are pretty good too. They’re nice mechanical buttons with thoughtful placement and enough tension that I don’t accidentally actuate them ever.

The back buttons can be mapped to any button on the controller. I always map the back buttons on my controllers to L3 and R3 because I hate pressing down on the sticks when I’m using them for movement. Note that the back buttons can’t be used to set macros or in turbo mode.

HAPTICS

Pretty decent. The haptics here are basic, standard and good enough. It uses dual asymmetric rumble motors, like a lot of other controllers, and the implementation is good.

TURBO

The GameSir Tegenaria Lite has turbo functionality. Which means you can set certain buttons such that when you press it, it will repeatedly input that button instead of a “holding” that button. You can change these settings with button shortcuts.

Excluded Features

A few features are lacking in this controller. Not that I would even expect any of these out of a $20 controller, but I figured I should still make sure that you, the reader, knows that these features are absent on this controller.

• SOFTWARE – The GameSir Connect app is used here but only for firmware updates and controller testing.
• GYROSCOPE – There is understandably no gyroscope in this controller.
• TRIGGER STOPS – You can only use this in the analog mode. There is also no toggle to make it read it as a digital input.

PERFORMANCE

The latency numbers are excellent. 1000Hz polling rate with about 3-5ms of latency. That’s pretty good. Sure, some controllers like the 8bitdo 2C have even lower latency, but you definitely won’t notice a difference of 1-2ms.

CONCLUSION

The GameSir Tegenaria Lite is excellent. Really, really nice for just $20. It cuts the right corners to offer this price too.

I only have 2 realistic complaints about this controller:

• I wish this had Hall Effect triggers.
• I wish the cable was detachable.

These are by no means dealbreakers, so I can wholeheartedly recommend the Tegenaria Lite for $20. You even get a couple of colour options!