Sunwaytek Syozen Z2 Review | The BEST Budget Controller Under $50

[@katanamast279]

This is on sale right now for $30 on amazon...sweet deal!

[@Kilanov]

hey, nice timing! I've been hoping to see more of these controller reviews from you, since finding a DCS players opinion on controllers is pretty tough. I'm thinking I might eat the new zealand improt fees and pick up the Vader though, as i really want the hall sensors. Using an Elite 2 right now but no matter how much deadzone I add, the camera in DCS seems to reset to center if the right stick even twitches when I put the controller down.

[@Tuuvas]

yup, that's the problem with absolute camera axis controls in DCS. You're better off setting up mouse control through Steam on your right stick. This way you'll get relative camera control just like most other games with camera bound to the right stick

[@Kilanov]

​@@Tuuvas I'll have to look into that! I've had some bad times with steam controller support, so I've been using a separate mouse and keyboard for clicking and extra binds, but if the resetting gets much worse I'll have to

[@metsavennad2816]

would you make a video how you set up your controller to fly Apache? I've seen your image guides but i'm too stupid to understand it xD

[@flaviusaetius8358]

Thank you for wonderful tutorials. Now i am flying wonderfully my A-4E-C with an Xbox controller

[@thegreatbum2446]

Hey man, excellent review! Sounds like a really fantastic controller for the money, which will make the ecosystem more competitive. I was wondering about the gyro. How well does it feel to use, is it smooth? How does it compare to gyros of other controllers? Is there a way to use the gyro to control the mouse?

[@Tuuvas]

Agreed! As for the gyro, it does feel very smooth, but that wasn't always the case. You'll definitely want to update the firmware version to get all the latest filters/curves that are being applied to the gyro to smooth it out. But if I'm comparing it to other gyros I've used... unfortunately I'm not much of a gyro aficionado... but if I had to rank the ones I've used so far from best to worst: 1. PS5/DualSense 2. Syozen Z2 3. Vader 3 Pro 4. Armor-X Pro Xbox Attachment Syozen Z2 and Vader 3 Pro actually feel pretty similar after tuning the Vader 3 Pro a bit. But out of the box? Z2 feels nicer thanks to the filters/curves it comes with. But again, I'm not a gyro connoisseur, so take this list with a gain of salt. As for mouse control.. there is no way to map the Z2 to mouse control with the controller alone. You'll need to setup mouse control using a 3rd party application like Steam, which is what I've been doing for DCS World for years now. Whether it's third party pro controllers, 1st party xbox/playstation controllers, gyro attachments, etc I've always used Steam for this.

[@CarrotsNotCake]

@@Tuuvas For real, Z2 is your second? It's pretty low for me, but that's mainly because I hate the clicky triggers. I prefer the H510. I wish they'd do H510 components inside of a Z2.

[@Tuuvas]

@@CarrotsNotCake To be clear, Z2 is 2nd when it comes to the gyro and how it feels. Overall as a controller without taking into account price? It's probably 4th or 5th for me. I've got more controllers coming that could push it further out though

[@CarrotsNotCake]

@@Tuuvas Right on. Still pretty high ranking. I'm not sure where it would rank for me. Maybe I'll rank them all one day. I think the Z2 is incredibly impressive since it's from a very small company with very little experience. It's legit better quality than much of the first party stuff. There are other controllers that are doing what the Z2 already did, but it's not a well-known controller. I want them to succeed as a company because they produce great products. I'd love to see JoyCons from them.

[@mogran5407]

Of course I won't be buying this babe, but very glad to see all those features crammed into a cheap gamepad. Hope there will be more iterations of this

[@jeffersonpozo3009]

How i can change to the xbox layout ? I am tried to hold de A button an press the home button but is no working.

[@20K11]

I ended up buying this controller, one thing that's pretty disappointing is that the shoulder buttons can only be mapped to gamepad buttons. If you want to do the mapping manually to eg dpad diagonals, you realistically have to use the keylinker app. Unfortunately the keylinker app straight up doesn't work despite several days of trying to make it do anything on my end Good controller otherwise, but the extra 4 buttons might as well be useless because of the non functional companion app. Very poor gyro, but not for me. Good triggers and good buttons, joysticks are a little creaky but excellent controller for dcs overall

[@SAM-ef5bu]

After watching your review of this controller. I still feeling buying vader 3 pro more worth it on my country . since I bought it around MYR 230 ($48.88) with charging dock.. But for honestly their controller software is still bad. Just hope they can work more update on their software.

[@CharlesConover]

I did not know you can play DCS world on Controller that is Epic

[@peterpfandler7139]

It's pretty cool but the Xbox Controller Just looks much cleaner😊

[@Tuuvas]

lol my fingerprints left on the Syozen after recording this review agree with you.

[@condorX2]

4:11 came here for the button. I want something that's easy to click

[@gadotmfc]

Are your ABXY buttons clicky or linear? I bought this on Mercari ($11.99usd) just now so i wont know until next week. I am looking for a mechanical ABXY controller because with every other controller I have bought, the ABXY buttons end up getting mushy. In an official vid here at 50s in he says they are tactile blue, kzbin.info/www/bejne/oaCWeoiGpdZ-h9kfeature=shared&t=50 but i can not tell from your video what they are or if they are clicky. Anyway thank you for the video. Amazon says these are currently unavailable so if they come out with a Z3 or something before I get mine from Mercari, whatever. Ill use this one for until i find something wrong with it and get back to you.

[@Tuuvas]

The face buttons are the worst feeling buttons I've used yet. They are mechanical keyboard buttons, but that doesn't translate to gamepads very well. There are clickier and more responsive gamepad face buttons elsewhere

[@gadotmfc]

​@@Tuuvas I agree. I feel that the "mechanical face buttons" are basically unnoticeable. I was expecting a clicky or tactile button press, but whatever they "are," they might as well be "mechanical-linear" or even membrane. 4:40 the shoulder buttons are SO MUCH better than the face buttons, and I agree that I wish they would have used the same style on the face buttons. 5:18 As for the analog triggers, I have -some- games where they work exactly as normal (as analog), and some where I do feel like i need to press it down 75% just to get my [vehicle] to [accelerate slowly]. For example, in Driving Game A, my Syozen triggers work just the same as my xbox controller triggers for acceleration. In Driving Game B, my xbox controller triggers work fine, but the Syozen do need to be pressed down more just to get a slow crawl on a vehicle. I have played with Steam's Trigger Deadzones (Trigger Threshold Point/Analog Output Trigger/Trigger Range Start) but nothing I did seemed to matter in my Driving Game B. I was thinking it might just be the game, but my xbox controller works fine without all of the tweaking. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oaCWeoiGpdZ-h9kfeature=shared&t=50 This link (from before) does NOT accurately show what MY face buttons sound like at ALL. Mine basically make the same sound as any other controller; they do not FEEL clicky or SOUND clicky. They pretty much feel like linear switches, not clicky blue or tactile brown. If I press down very slowly I can definitely feel the click and hear it, but.........................yea. they are not good at all. Either way, I'm stuck with this for awhile, but at least there is no mushy membrane to get SLICED THROUGH with wear and tear, causing my button to get stuck halfway in. Other than my dissatisfaction with the face buttons, I have had mixed results dealing with the Controller's Switch ABXY layouts on some games, where the game makes me actually press 'A' on the bottom right to get it to register 'A' (versus pressing 'B' on 'this' controller and getting it to register 'A', and dealing with Steam Input in Settings, and dealing with Layouts with individual games, and Steam saving these settings if my usb-c cable disconnects for half a second. Whatever, thank you again for the video. Will I buy this controller again when it eventually breaks? No. Not even at 12 dollars. I WOULD recommend if using for Switch....at 12 dollars. For Steam PC and xbox layout players, i can not recommend this. 💨✈

[@gadotmfc]

This controller is trash. I'm glad i only paid 12 bucks for it. Mine did not come with a wireless dongle and I can not find with google yahoo bing yandex where i can even order one. sunwaytek site doesnt even load for me. because i can not use it wirelessly, I am using the usb c port, and with the smallest movement ever the cable pops out or wiggles out of connection. it is not the cable. it is not the cable. it is not the cable. i have tried 4 cables. this controller is unusable trash. i would say in a 1 hour playthrough i get about 30-40 disconnects. I seriously can not move. If i move my leg up to my knee it will disconnect. If I move my right hand to the mouse it will disconnect. but it works for about 2 weeks and for 12 dollars that is kind of okayish. My Flydigi Apex 4 Elite is on its way; i could not find your review for that... -anyway, this is not an attack on you; i still liked your review of this garbagetek gyarbage g2; it was informative and it covered the questions that i had. the music isnt cringey and your intonation made it pleasant to watch and you didnt waste my time with stupid stuff. -I can only recommend this if you can find the wireless dongle. -(it really would be a GREAT budget controller if the usbc cable didnt disconnect every 2 minutes!!) i do use the 'extra' buttons programmed to press AAAAAAAAAAA (tap to sprint) and also "hold down A" for when i want to run around with my left hand and left stick while using the mouse to aim and fire. Thank you again!!

[@Tuuvas]

Glad my review was still helpful regardless! I was sent the Flydigi Apex 4 for review, however, I'm holding off continuing work on it until I get confirmation regarding an issue I found with mine. I'm hoping it's just my unit, but I'm afraid it might be an inherent design flaw with the new thumbsticks. Basically, clicking in the thumbsticks causes a slight left movement on both sticks. While this likely isn't a big issue for most people... it's quite annoying for my use case in DCS World. Fingers crossed this won't be a problem for you. Outside of that little issue though? Fantastic controller. I highly recommend Apex 4 as long as you're ok with the thumbstick issue.

[@gadotmfc]

im sorry; these are getting annoying by now; i did use the Z2 in bluetooth mode and its pretty good, except for when small taps of the sticks to turn or rotate camera act as though im holding them for 5 seconds. (if i tap rightstick to rotate the camera 10 degrees or something it will slow turn the camera as though i am holding the right stick to the right -but not fully to the 'wall' - for about five seconds..in this game if i did a 'full' hold to the wall of the right stick edge the camera moves much faster...) This happens only sometimes, probably only once an hour, and this "period of malfunction" will last about 30 seconds, and then itll be fine again. As I have never used bluetooth, I do not know if this is a controller issue or if it is a common issue with bluetooth. I did receive my Flydigi APEX 4 today and it is weighty and heavy and the dpad and facebuttons have excellent clicking....the shoulder buttons and "extra" four back buttons do not click... The software is easy enough to use... I don't think it records macros... I do like the Syozen's controller 'grip' more than I do the Flydigi's...I can already predict in the summer these rubber grips are going to get grimey and sweaty and awful and I don't know how im going to replace them if i use the wrong cleaner on them or something. i still have not tested the apex 4 in game but i will be using the included 2.4 wireless dongle, i THINK its still charging but the onscreen display for battery status is kind of not super clear...i dont know if it's still charging or if it's full or what it even is trying to convey. oh and the usb-c cable sort of SNAPS in, like most other usb-c inputs in the first world. anyway you dont have to reply to this. Thank you again for your excellent reviews

[@klofisch]

Cant buy it anymore :(

[@Kazer1r]

Have got to say all the downsides of this controller are gone for me personally the dedicated gyro button is cool the button placement is uhm how do i say it bad ngl but ill get over it

[@Tuuvas]

yeah, overall it's a good controller. There's just some weird design decisions that won't be to everyone's tastes. The $46 price tag makes it an easy pill to swallow though.

[@spacemonkey037]

That's a lot of buttons!

[@Tuuvas]

Heck yeah it is! Now if only I could map those extra buttons to keyboard keys like I can on the Flydigi Vader 3 Pro :(

[@schorschgaggo1601]

@@Tuuvas I have no clue about controllers but ill guess you still prefer the Flydigi V3P over any other controller especially for DCS?

[@Tuuvas]

Yes, absolutely. The extra buttons that can be bound to keyboard keys or mouse buttons is incredibly valuable. Especially for DCS since they can be bound to existing modifiers like Ctrl, Alt, and Shift

[@Tigermoto]

Wow! I beat HD! Meh, I'll watch it in 360p 😂😂

[@Tuuvas]

lol publishing it before HD was actually a mistake on my part. I thought it was done processing, but turns out it had only just finished 360p Hope you enjoy it anyways, Tigermoto!

[@katanamast279]

@@Tuuvas Hey I love your videos and you are the reason why I have gotten into DCS world. I fly mostly the P51 and F16 currently. I wanted to ask about Il2 great battles. I was looking to get into that for more WW2 based aircraft, however it is very confusing on what to buy since each battle has its own cost and I havent seen any controller setup videos. Have you been able to play with an Xbox or aftermarket controller and if so can you do a setup/guide video? Thanks a bunch and keep up the great work!

[@Tuuvas]

@katanamast279 Thanks! I've looked into IL2 in the past, but I didn't get much beyond a single 2 hour session of reviewing the controls page and determining it's just not good enough for my purposes. Granted, that was at least 2 or maybe 3 years ago. So maybe things have changed? I'd have to work up the motivation to give IL2 another shot.