Topic: I know theirs a lot of theses

@ShadowHunter547

I'm still on my launch joycons. I've experienced some drift, but nothing that compressed air didn't fix.

It might or might not happen. You have to understand that people who have experienced the problem will be over-represented online because they're more likely to be vocal about it.

Just get the system and enjoy it. If you experience drift at some point, either use some sort of home solution to sort it out like I did, or send them in to Nintendo.

Hey there. Firstly, welcome to the forum and possibly welcome to the Nintendo Switch community depending on your upcoming decision. I can understand the concern about drift. It's definitely a thing which is widely acknowledged and reported but it's not something that should solely put you off completely from buying a Switch overall. It's just affected by confirmation bias online. Search Google for any problem and you'll feel like the whole world experiences it. Just look at WebMD convincing everyone they have a serious illness.

Personally, I just compare it to the other issues experienced with consoles and the likes. A small number of Xbox's experienced the red ring of death but some issues with technology is always a risk. This is why we have warranties for products from manufacturers.

I've had a Switch since launch and so has my partner. My left Joy Con got drift about a year in but my partners only developed a slight drift a few weeks back. That means he got almost three years issue free which is good for any controller full stop.

As was said, you do have a warranty there for a repair or replacement from Nintendo. A lot of drift issues can also just be fixed with some contact cleaner. Mine didn't sadly so I decided to repair my Joy Con myself and it was pretty easy. I ordered a kit on Amazon with tools and replacement Joystick for about $15 and it took me 30 minutes to change it out. It now works like new.

Overall, it's your choice to make but I really hope that the fear of drift wouldn't be a factor that would put you off completely, as 9 times out of 10, this won't be an issue and you have plenty of options to resolve it in the worst case scenario.

@ShadowHunter547

As @Ralizah mentioned, people who have had this problem will always seem like a majority because the people who haven't had any problems will never be as vocal. I've had my Switch since a couple months after launch, still on my original joycon and never had any trouble. I've never had to use any compressed air or contact cleaner. They've always just worked. I do have the Pro controller aswell which I would say I use more than the joycon but that is because I prefer to play connected to the TV.

Have a look at the reasons why you're interested in buying a switch and see if that outweighs your worries about the possibility of having problems. I don't know about in other countries but it seems that in the UK at least the second hand market for the Switch is strong so you could always sell it without losing too much of your investment should you change your mind.

Also to most this will be an obvious one but as you said you're new to nintendo, don't hold out on a price drop. Nintendo rarely drop the price of their hardware so your best bet would be to find a sale price.

@ShadowHunter547 have been switching since launch. Have 2 sets of joy con. Both drifted but both now fixed. They are a cheap to repair. My method is the electrical contact cleaner on the analogue stick to fix. Takes 5 minutes and I do this quarterly. My kids use the joycons a lot and they are rough with it but if your using it for yourself, it should be good

Unfortunately, even though we have the best of intentions, all we can provide are anecdotes. And we're an internet forum, so we tend to attract people with problems and/or the truly dedicated crowd. There could be a vast silent majority out there who never had drift.

I have a launch Switch and I'm still on my original Joycon. I play a TON, though maybe not as much as some people. My left Joycon displayed some drift a few months ago, but it was minor and has since disappeared altogether.

I don't have a Switch and can happily say I have experienced zero joy-con drift with my awesome 3DS

@ShadowHunter547 First of all, welcome to the site. I would suggest you not to be so defensive, though: we're not bad, we're just direct, and @gcunit was just having a bit of fun at your expense, nothing to be so annoyed about.

As for the Joy Con drift issue: I've bought my Switch almost a year ago, 28th of December last year, and I still don't have any Joy Con drift problems, so even though it IS a known issue, it doesn't HAVE to happen to everyone.

And even if it does, there's intermediate fixes, that can at least prolong the life of the controllers, before you ultimately have to replace them, such as this one:

As for the investment: remember, you don't have to replace the entire console, only the controllers, one set of which will set you back around $70 - $80, so it's not like you'd be throwing away the entire $300...

Either way, the Switch is a brilliant little piece of technology, with lots of great games and experiences, so in my opinion, regardless of any potential issues, it's still more than worth it to buy and own one.

@ThanosReXXX

It didn’t help that the third comment was telling me that I worry about something. It was a genuine concern. I know components go bad eventually, I’ve got xbox 360 controllers starting to have it. These controllers are also from original release. I’d get a pro controller but then I’d mostly have to play on the tv which I probably won’t be doing a whole lot. I know the warranty is there but my luck after it expires they will go bad. I want to enjoy the system and not fear joycons going bad, I guess your right about lots of people not saying their switch worked.

@ShadowHunter547 It doesn't matter with which product or service, people experiencing or having problems/issues with it, will report. People that are perfectly satisfied with it, will only ever be featured in online reviews as a side note, or maybe in commercials, but other than that, the negativity is always FAR more vocal.

I understand your concern, but concern is basically a derivative of fear, and in my humble opinion not one single decision that you'll ever make in your life, should be based upon fear. Switch is a great console, and the experience of using it is truly like nothing else, and the pleasure and entertainment that can be had from it, surpasses any potential issues that it might or might not have, by a LANDSLIDE.

So, if you were already interested in it, completely by your own accord, then I'd say that the possibility of something bad happening is not something that should deter you from permitting yourself to have this great experience.

And, while I'm mentioning this, that is also what the other poster was jokingly referring to. I know him, as much as you can really know anyone online, and he definitely isn't a malignant person, but obviously, in online conversations, you miss facial expressions and tone of voice, so things can sometimes come across much harsher than intended by the one posting this comment. I've been faced with that problem myself multiple times, having to explain my original intention after people misinterpreted my initial comments and so on.

Either way, as you may already have seen (edit: in the video), the majority of the issues with Joy Con controllers is quite easily fixed, so I hope that alleviates some of your worries, and again: none of that should have any right to deter you from buying and enjoying the Switch, otherwise you're letting your worries control you, and there isn't any kind of thinkable scenario possible in this world, where that could possibly ever be considered to be a good thing...

@ShadowHunter547

I'd recommend my solution:

Buy a generic pro controller (i.e the very cheap version) for use on a TV and buy some generic third party joycons for handheld use. Those have different analog sticks so they don't drift. The only downside is they don't do motion controls very well, so you need to hang onto the nintendo ones for any motion control stuff.
These 2 things combined means that you'll very rarely use the Nintendo joycons, which means they probably won't end up drifting (they drift because of excess use).

There are several versions of the third party joycons. You want the version that looks like this. They work perfectly for regular play:

@ShadowHunter547 see the joycon repair thread
https://www.nintendolife.com/forums/nintendo-switch/are_joy-c...

As it stands, fixing them won't cost you much (if anything) depending on your region. I can only vouch for US Nintendo, but I've had mine repaired for free with free shipping, so not much to worry about

I've had my Switch for just over 2 years now, and only recently has one of my Joy-Cons started to drift pretty noticeably.

However, I mostly play on TV, so I'm probably just going to grab a 3rd party pro controller & see how that works out.

just be thankful u can replace ur joy cons if they get a drift.. to me that was always good I was worried about them breaking easily on the click motion when u put them together. so I had similar fear as well.. but just be gentle with them and they'll be fine. dont eat while playing and wash ur hands, ez.

@ShadowHunter547 in case you wonder why you couldn't(can't?) post, it's because one of your posts triggered the spam filter.

Not sure why, maybe something you said or the frequency of your posts did it. In case your account is still blocked, please contact the admins via the contact form.

Well he did post like 4 or 5 times in a row the other day, so...

@ThanosReXXX @RR529 @XBontendo

Thanks for the help, I feel a little better about drifting. I guess if and when it happens I’ll just try to live with it or try to warranty it.

@ShadowHunter547 no need for warranty. I sent mine in WELL past warranty expiration and paid nothing. They got enough backlash where repair is (at least currently) 100% covered on joy-cons

@ShadowHunter547 You're very welcome.

That's what I would do and tell them to replace them.