Remember the old days when wireless controllers would barely work more than 15 feet away from your console? When battery life on your wireless controller would be less than 10 hours? Days of crappy wireless technology are gone, with a whole slew of new 2.4 GHz controllers.

Features
– 2.44 GHz operating frequency for precise game control
– Up to 70 hours of gaming on two AA batteries (not included) depending on use of vibration control switch
– Six analog action buttons and two analog triggers
– Rubberized grips for tactile control
– Dual vibration motors

While I usually play with a wired controller, Intec’s Mini Wireless controller makes me think twice about having all those cables lying around on the floor. The setup couldn’t be easier for the Intec Mini Wireless Xbox controller: You just plug the receiver into the Xbox and put the batteries into the controller. The manual claims you can have up to 16 of these wireless controllers hooked up to your Xbox, but alas I only have one product demo to try out.

There are a whole bunch of features on this little controller; the Turbo function will save your fingers from button mashing, vibration mode can be set to Off, 50% or 100% and of course a Connect button just in case it isn’t seeing the controller. The comfort grips actually feel quite good, the controller is quite snug against your hands. I also like the fact this controller isn’t the size of a blasted pizza, more of a large taco or a fatter Playstation 2 controller.

I found the Turbo button pretty useful, not only can it rapid fire in a game…you can program it to do "moves" such as ABXY or BBBA in a fighting game. The analog sticks are pretty solid and don’t feel cheap at all, the d-pad feels normal as well.

I decided to play some X-men Legends on the Xbox for a few hours straight, right now I am on hour six of the game and the controller is still going strong with the vibration on 50%. The range of this controller is insane, I went upstairs and the controller still worked!!! I even went outside to test it; I could barely see the TV through the window and my character was still responding to every button I pressed. The controller is quite impressive when other things are on the same 2.4 GHz spectrum, I fired up the microwave and even turned on my 802.11g network and the controller still worked just fine.

This controller almost earned a perfect score, but the controller has no Xbox live support. Those of you who enjoy fragging your friends online are out of luck using the headset. Another annoying "feature" is the sleep mode where the controller will disconnect after 3 minutes of non-use; this is great when you forget to turn off the controller but stinks if the game you are playing has a 3 minute and 1 second cut-scene!

Some gamers may find this controller a little small, it does take a little time to get used to the smaller buttons but it fits like a glove in my hands. The balance of the controller is great, dare I say it barely feels like you have anything in your hands at all! Usually after gaming for 5 hours straight, my hands will start to cramp and the fingers will tighten up; not with the Intec controller! Of course, you should always take breaks when gaming but this controller is quite ergonomic that you might game for hours on end. People are sometimes afraid of 3rd party controllers, this one is surprisingly TOUGH and SOLID!

Buy the Intec Mini Wireless Controller for the Xbox at