Is The eXtremeRate Pro Switch Controller Shell and LED Kit Worth It?
This is an opinion piece on the eXtremeRate Pro Switch Controller shell and LED kit – a setup I’ve had for almost six months. A review? Nah… not really, but a few words on my experience of the parts and if they’re worth getting.
I have to stress, this isn’t a sponsored post and I’ve had zero contact with eXtremeRate. I don’t typically review hardware.
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The difference between game reviews and hardware reviews is longevity. Sure, a recent game like Almighty: Kill Your Gods gets better the longer you play, but generally speaking, there’s often an apt time to finish a game and give a fair assessment just in time for a release date or thereabouts.
With hardware, the marriage is perfect, get past the honeymoon, and you both add a bit of weight, grow hair in places, lose some, then you wonder if the grass is greener on the other side. Of course, I’m talking about custom game controllers.
Custom Control Freak
Whether you’re a retro fan or gamer with a few quid, you likely have more than one controller. But perhaps you’ve raised the bar and tried to customise one with decals or cheap car paint? We’ll save that post for another day. Today’s opinion/review? is the eXtremeRate soft-touch DIY shell and DTFS LED kit.
In short, the Switch Pro Controller is my preference – perhaps more so than the PS4 and PS5 controllers. It has an excellent battery life, is a comfortable fit and, well… familiar. After a few searches and videos, I opted for the eXtremeRate shell and LED kit over emulating an Xbox Elite Controller Series 2. The shell would be a white soft-touch one, and the lights would match the vaporwave of my PC.
A bit cack-handed with electrical components and having a habit of rounding off screws and turning them to cheese, the building process wasn’t tough at all and surprisingly easy. Sure, it was a little fiddly, but following the guide from eXtremeRate YouTube channel, I managed to set it up the first time. The lights worked perfectly, and you can customise each button to the colour you like – nine of them, over six buttons.
The immediate downside, if anything, was the battery life. Now your controller is consuming a bit more juice for the lighting, but it’s still massively better than the seemingly 45 minutes I get from the DualSense controllers. Thankfully I have two, so alternate my Sony light show.
Should the lights drain the battery, it wouldn’t take long to charge – it really wasn’t an issue. I did notice that I had them off most of the time and only put them on to show the kids. Hhmmm… it was feeling like a novelty. Aside from the lights, the shell felt so sleek, but because most of the PC games I review are mouse and/or keyboard-based, the controller wasn’t getting much use. As for the Switch, that was mostly in handheld mode.
All useless information, I suppose, but it sets the picture.
Meanwhile…
Some months later, with very little use, the buttons were getting stuck and crunching when turning the sticks. As my trusty el-cheapo wired controller on the PC broke, it was time to dissect the eXtremeRate equipped controller and see if it could be tweaked.
Maybe I got a dodgy batch, but the moulding behind the buttons wasn’t up to speed, so I replaced them with the original Switch Pro Controller parts. This means that you can’t see the lights now, but playability is more important, so the sacrifice was necessary. The shoulder buttons were fine, but these were replaced for unison sake.
With the buttons solved, it was time to look at the crunching. For the thumbsticks, there is a circular LED strip that sticks underneath with some adhesive. Either it got hot and slid off or wasn’t appropriately affixed. Securing them once more, everything was peachy and reaffixing went perfectly. But, an hour later, the crunching happened again as the thumbsticks were rubbing up against the LED wires.
I’m on the fence if I should disable them altogether – it defeats the purpose of not being able to light up the controller, but once again, playability is paramount. Maybe I got an old batch or simply unlucky. In short, I highly recommend the eXtremeRate shell and will repurchase it. It’s 100% better than the original and the best feeling shell I’ve ever used, though I’m not sleeping with it. I have to make that clear.
As for the customisation of the LEDs, it’s an excellent solution for tweaking your controller without paying a fortune for someone else to do it on eBay or Etsy. Honestly, it’s really easy to follow, and visually, the results are fantastic. My only reservation in recommending it is the inserts for the buttons not feeling think enough and those wires rubbing against the thumbsticks.
So, Is It Worth It?
There’s a wealth of controller customisation options out there, and I’ve tinkered with a fair few. In my opinion, the eXtremeRate range is currently the best selection on show. The shells and button combos are great, but when deciding on the lighting, be conscious of the battery life and the possibility of the moulds inside being a bit light.
Below are the items I purchased from Amazon UK. They aren’t affiliated links, just there to help.