Gulikit's 'Hall Joystick' Promises To Eliminate Drifing For Your Switch Joy-Con

I would love to fix my two pairs of drifting joycons, but I really really really don't trust myself with opening and replacing controller parts. :/

How do we know this isn't just a better branded and package version of alternatives that cost a third of this? What's different about the components here?

@riChchestM These sticks use the "Hall Effect" effect system, which doesn't rely on physical contact to measure the stick movement, unlike the potentiometers in the retail Joycon.

Nintendo is shipping and fixing them for free, so this seems like an expensive fix.

I have two sets of joy-cons from the 2017 original release. Both sets are drifting so badly, I am considering doing this. The drift is a constant battle.

Thank you, @WhiteUmbrella for that explanation. I found that to be very helpful.

I have returned all my joy-cons 4 of them altogether (blue-reds - release day controllers and red-blue - bought to cover my originals being sent in) they have been fixed, but they have all started to drift and the shoulder buttons are dying too.
But when they announce the Zelda OLED, I'll get some more, so...

@ZonaiResearcher Sending to Nintendo for repair is one option... but it is a hassle, you will be without your controller for a while, and it will likely break again over time.

If this really is a better part that essentially eliminates the problem... it is a better option for some people.

I wonder what the rate for Joycon drift is. My first Joycons started drifting after about a year, but my Skyward Sword edition Joycons have never had any drift issues.

I've replaced 8-10 joysticks on Joy-cons over the years, I may give these a go next time one starts to go. We've got 4 pairs of Joy-cons so it'll be a bit costly to replace them all in one go!

@EarthboundBenjy I am of the exact same mindset too!
Would love to fix my original pair and neon green and pink ones too, but feel i'd mess it up more somehow whilst trying to install these in :/

@HolyGeez03 That's true, but I suspect that most people would prefer "free" over paying for a solution. In my experience, the Nintendo repair has been pretty smooth and relatively fast turnaround, takes about 2 days to reach the repair center, 1-5 days for the repair to be done, and 2 days for the Joy-Con to arrive back home.
@prismt I suspect they will continue repairing them while the lawsuits are pending and if the Switch sells long enough, they might come out with a redesign at some point. Looking at Apple and their Butterfly keyboard as a reference.

From the Philippines here, so there aren't official Nintendo offices here for replacement. I bought this kit and was honestly terrified to open up my joycons. It took me over a year after buying this kit to finally have the nerve to use them. It is because I was going on vacation and didn't want to bring my Switch pro controller. They do work! The kit includes a screwdriver and a tweezer. The negative is that the company is from China. So, you'll see the instructions on their website are not crystal clear. You need to rely on the pictures and infer what to do. Yet, it did work perfectly.

This could make a big driference!

Luckyly i have not sufered the dreadful Joy-Con Drift( i have my extended battery Switch since dezembre 8th 2019, that a cousin of mine bought to me, when he went to USA)

Those of you considering opening your Joy-Cons for the first time, be very mindful of stripping your screws.

Yeah, an expensive way to destroy your warranty.

I'd like to see what the verdict is on actually using these sticks to play games on the Switch before I commit to a replacement project. The texture on these doesn't look the same as Nintendo's, and I don't want to commit the money or time to this if the sticks feel like junk after I replace them. Having a permanent solution to this issue seems like a dream though, especially since Nintendo likely won't fix Joycons for free forever.

Well, too late. I already sold my Switch because I'm tired of being held back by the hardware. If this caught me 6 months ago I probably would have found a reason to keep it because the price for these sticks is perfect!

Got a couple of cheap ones for like £12 on eBay. Never had a problem with them. The drift is eliminated in newer Joy-Con anyway, the Skyward Sword ones I've used since launch have never drifted.

Nice idea, but they are very pricey, and I'd be reluctant to spend £30 when so many other parts of the joy cons are fragile too.

@FirstEmperor The Skyward Sword JoyCon are made a little bit differently. They have a little bit of extra padding on the back of the stick ensemble that for some reason prevents drift. I’ve had five different pairs, and those are the only ones that never developed a drift.

I got mine yesterday and it works great. Stick calibration is mandatory as well as a system restart as stated in the amazon page. When you do the calibration and get to the first part of it, when you let go of the stick, the green circle goes dead center for me in the diagram and stays there.

Cool, I sure hope hall effect will be standard in the coming 3-5 years. Not that I've had big problems with drift myself, only one joy-con since 2017. Usually, the sticks reset springs tend to be a bigger fail factor than drift, except for the joy-cons.

The Joy-cons my Switch came with drifted quite badly, but I don't seem to have had that problem with my newer pair, there are a couple of issues though:

On my original pair, the SL, SR buttons and LED light on the right one don't work anymore for some reason, so I dunno if the repair would be free if it has extra problems like this.

On my newer pair, pressing the left stick in for L3 really doesn't work properly, I have to press it quite hard and it still sometimes won't register properly

I've put thousands of hours into my Lite and have had 0 drift problems so...🤷‍♂️

I just ordered a pair. I'm a little nervous, but mostly excited, about the idea of hardware projects. It will hopefully be fun and rewarding to execute this hardware project.

@Baker1000 Drift wasn't eliminated in newer Joycons at all. Just because it hasn't happened to yours yet doesn't mean it is fixed.

@Perryg92 I've actually replaced the sticks before. It isn't that hard just if you haven't done it before I suggest you watched a guide on YouTube before and during the fix. Also you don't have to completely disassemble them to get to the sticks.

@Nua I've probably stripped a few myself. If I order this kit, I'll probably order new screws as well.

@TopazLink I had the same issue with my right gray joycon and I just replaced the board that the "sl" and "sr" buttons and LEDS are on. Problem fixed.

I’ve changed about 4 sticks on joy cons over the years. I think I bought them from eBay or AliExpress for 5 pounds

These shouldn't need to exist.

I'm waiting to spawn wave to do a tear down on the stick before I might order it. he said he order it and will do a tear down when he gets it.

since 2017 I found only one stick with drift... and I have 8 joycons and 2 switch lite... not a big issue I think...

@ZonaiResearcher But you shouldn't have to send them in, much less wait weeks to get it back

Bought the $30 pair as soon as I saw these, aside from having to tear down my switch lite, they were a drop in replacement. The sticks themselves are glorious, allowing for much finer control with small movements, where my official joysticks would not read anything at all. The joysticks work well with the system, were picked up with no problems, and, although they weren't perfectly calibrated out of the box, the official switch calibration fixed that. The sticks also feel much smoother. They do tend to make a slight clicking sound, possibly due to the spring inside, but it gets pushed into white noise soon enough. They are in fact Hal effect, as using a magnet, I was able to manipulate the joysticks. Even if you don't care about drift, these are still a big improvement over stock.

Makes you wonder why Nintendo couldn't just use these kinds of joysticks that can't drift in the first place. Sony already did it back in 2011 with the Vita (OLED), and in fact Sega did it with the Dreamcast in 1998 - twenty five years ago.

It took me 3 weeks to get my joy-cons fixed by nintendo so I'll stick with just sending them in. I sent an original 2017 pair that was just unplayable, back to nintendo for repair. Now they are back to brand new. Are there any sets of third party joy-cons that have gyro for switch sports? I know most of them are just controllers but was wondering if anyone came out with a gyro set yet.

@ZonaiResearcher
I sent mine in and they still drifted just as much.

Both my JoyCons have extreme drift. I already performed the carton mod but it keeps coming back.
So I just ordered these and hope it will fix it for good! Thanks for sharing.

I asked ChatGPT to "write me a poem about Nintendo Switch joycon drift."
Here is what it came up with:

Drifting joy, a tale of woe
A controller's plight, a gamer's foe
The Switch held high, with hope and cheer
But lo, the joycon, it does not steer

With every move, a subtle shift
A cursor stray, a control adrift
We shake and jostle, we press and pray
But still the joycon drifts away

We reach for warranty, we seek repair
But still the problem lingers, a constant snare
So as we play, we curse and sigh
For the joycon drift, that will not die.

Weird timing, I have a pair of these on the way that I'll test with my original left JoyCon that became useless a year ago.

@Tasuki I looked up that product, they seem to have the same technology that are in these joy stick modules. They may feel different from your Zen Pro controller since those are trying to feel like an Pro controller stick.

If it works then great. Most joycons that I have had seem to drift after about six months. All of the reviews I saw are less than 2 weeks old. I would give it a couple of months to make sure these are a permanent fix before dropping 30 dollars.

@jvincentsong You may have gotten a different kit... I don't think this one has been around for a year, you probably got standard replacements.

Have they got any for the pro controllers? The left stick on my Xenoblade one started drifting so I bought another one and the replacement has started having the same problem.
Haven't had a problem with my Joycon but that's probably due to how little I use them.

I have a hard time believing the "no wear and tear" claim. Wear and tear is just a natural part of using something.

@nintendoknife prob the same reason Microsoft and Sony don't use them on their current controllers either - cost

@RobbWes do you have the right screwdriver? Apparently Nintendo uses screws that require a specific type of Japanese screwdriver. A phillips head screwdriver has a high chance of stripping those screws

@EarthboundBenjy if you can remove a tick and can maintain focus for 30s, anybody should be OK doing this. Steady hands and follow instructions. Also: good light, the right screw drivers and a clean work space.

I think my Joy Cons have been fixed with those spare part last time.
It worked.

@ZonaiResearcher Depends where you are. In Japan and Europe, Nintendo are not fixing thrm for free unless theyre less than a year old.

Haven’t had a problem with my OLED joy-cons.

@ZealMajin of course it does

They should just release the joy-cons as a whole, perhaps without the haptic feedback and other crap (a dumb set). Needing to repair existing ones would put many people off, even if it would be cheaper.

Gotta love the posts of people saying they never had drift therefore it isn't an issue. I've had a pair of Joycons since 2019 and they haven't drifted, so I guess Nintendo fixed it since 2019? When in reality Nintendo have used the same sticks since day 1 on all their Joycons and will drift eventually.

As someone who has replaced several joycon joysticks (and accidentally destroyed one due to a severed cable) over the past 5 years, the promise of a real fix is good news. A bit pricey, but if they work I would be willing to one-and-done the ones I still have lying around, especially if they have a discount for buying more than one or two at a time. Right now just about all of my current joycon have the cardboard hack which has, for the past year or so anyway, relieved any drifting from the OEM sticks. I did have a pair of original gray joycons that had such bad drift that even the cardboard trick did nothing and I was tired of ordering aftermarket sticks that broke down even faster than the official ones.

That's great! I hate it when my joy-cons start drifing!

I’ve been able to fix all instances of drift with a quick spray of GT-85 (multipurpose lubricant that I usually use on my bike). Still, having to service my game controllers like a bicycle is not ideal (even if it only takes a second), so I hope this tech eventually becomes standard.

Very tempting, but the price is a big deterrent. Though I'm sure the upgrade is worth it.

Might wait until there are more reviews and color options available.

Never had any drift on my launch day joycons with literally 1000s of hours played.

No drifting is now a selling point and no longer the standard, what a time we live in.

@sanderev it's against the law for companies to void your warranty for opening something now. Please don't spread misinformation.

@Maxz it's not new tech. It's been around since the Sega Saturn/Dreamcast. Those had hall effect sticks in them already.

@JayJ most controllers that used hall effect sticks back in the day still work and those controllers are well over 20-25 years old now. It's works but companies love cutting cost so they don't use them.

@codyf Good to know! In that case, I hope this tech becomes standard… again!

I bought Gulikit's KingKong Pro Controller and am continually impressed with it. I use it for both my Nintendo Switch and for gaming on my PC. I'm definitely willing to give these joysticks a shot in my old drifting joycons.

@jsty3105 That's true, but the difference in price is really only fractions of a cent per stick. I know that adds up when you have to buy tens of millions of them, but surely at some point they should realise that the extra cost of essentially failproof joysticks outweighs the cost of constantly having to replace faulty sticks under warranty - and even outside of warranty in regions with strong customer protection - and the eternal bad rap associated with said faulty sticks?

@ZonaiResearcher not for those with special edition joycons. Nintendo state that you may not necessarily get the same joycons back that you sent. I’ve got the Splatoon 3 edition joycons and I’d be pretty cheesed off if I were to send them in and get different ones back.

@JohnnyMind that's the opposite of my experience; I'm also in Italy and I got them to repair mine for free in December for the second time since I have the Switch, which I got in 2018, so I'm sure they repair them for free, unless it's a 50/50 chance

@JohnnyMind Yes, and I put it in the package, so I wasn't initially sure if I had to pay or not, but I haven't received a word from them other than for the mailing stuff, so you can repair yours with no fear (but these hall joysticks are in any case preferable since they should resolve the problem once and for all)

As ridiculous as it may seem, drift doesn't really feel as prominent as it did between 2017-2019. Those firmware updates are very slowly, but surely tweaking the software to prevent drift and it has surprisingly worked for me.

I've only ever needed to get my Joy Cons replaced once. Ever since then, alongside the Splatoon 2 coloured ones I got, I've never had a permanent case of drift; it was mostly just dust getting inside.

Too expensive imo. I rather buy a game(s) for that price.

@croz Same deal with all my other controllers lol

@jsty3105 I have all the screwdrivers and bits required to open nintendo consoles. But specifically you'll need a tri-wing screwdriver. And it looks like the Amazon listing comes with a tri-wing and a Philips screwdriver. But they might be cheaply made screwdrivers.

@EaglyTheKawaiiShika I think the do sell the stand alone stick boxes but you'll need to know how to desolder the old one and then solder the new one on.

@xzacutor those are soldered to the board so you'll to desolder them and then solder the hall effect stick boxes in. I suggest you just get the 8bitdo ultimate controller.

@EaglyTheKawaiiShika well Sony will have to sell hall effect modules or you'll have to mod the modules to add in the hall effect sticks. I assume you're talking about the dualsense edge. I doubt Sony will even do hall effect sticks for their controllers at least for this generation. Who knows maybe they'll do it for the PS6.

@EaglyTheKawaiiShika not sure they might be able to do it but it'll take time before they release them. They did release sticks plus the boards for the Steam Deck, but with that you still had to open up the Steam Deck.

@codyf Sure it's illegal to remove the warranty if someone opens up the device, but it's not when they break the device by opening it up and replace parts with unofficial parts.

Fixes like this always come at the end of a console's life...

We have a lot of people that don't have the drift issue on the joy-cons. And we also have a lot of people experiencing the drift with their joy-cons. sometimes even newly bought ones. I've had 3, 2 of them drifted. We have a high degree of variance on the durability of these joy-con analog sticks based on our collective experience, which to me speaks of an issue with quality control.

I did the "fix" to put a piece of cardboard under the analog sticks, and I've had great success with that. If that workaround stops working, I'll pick up these replacement joy-con analog sticks.

What I want is one for the pro-cons. I have 2 pro-cons. I use one pro-con almost daily, and that one work perfectly since forever. The 2nd one is a 2nd player pro-con, which is used rarely. The 2nd one will have weird analog stick response when you used it again after sitting unused for a while...it takes a good amount of rounds on the analog stick before it starts working smoothly. I think replacing it with hall sticks will solve that problem for my seldom used pro-con.

@EaglyTheKawaiiShika the ones for the Steam Deck come with their own board and just has one wire that needs to be soldered.

I DIY'd it! I ordered the kit wth two pairs of Gulikit joysticks, found instructional videos on YouTube (big thanks to iFixit and Joe Bleeps), and fixed both sets of joy-con. Drift begone!