this post was submitted on 27 Apr 2026
350 points (99.2% liked)
Steam Hardware
21909 readers
692 users here now
A place to discuss and support all Steam Hardware, including Steam Deck, Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and SteamOS in general.
As Lemmy doesn't have flairs yet, you can use these prefixes to indicate what type of post you have made, eg:
[Flair] My post title
The following is a list of suggested flairs:
[Deck] - Steam Deck related.
[Machine] - Steam Machine related.
[Frame] - Steam Frame related.
[Discussion] - General discussion.
[Help] - A request for help or support.
[News] - News about the deck.
[PSA] - Sharing important information.
[Game] - News / info about a game on the deck.
[Update] - An update to a previous post.
[Meta] - Discussion about this community.
If your post is only relevant to one hardware device (Deck/Machine/Frame/etc) please specify which one as part of the title or by using a device flair.
These are not enforced, but they are encouraged.
Rules:
- Follow the rules of Sopuli
- Posts must be related to Steam Hardware or Steam OS in an obvious way.
- No piracy, there are other communities for that.
- Discussion of emulators are allowed, but no discussion on how to illegally acquire ROMs.
- This is a place of civil discussion, no trolling.
- Have fun.
founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I don't like that this has a built-in battery as that effectively gives it an expiration date. The original Steam Controller uses standard AA batteries.
Ergonomics will make or break this for me.
I will say that if it uses the same/similar configuration tool as the original Steam Controller, it will be very versatile.
Theyre pairing with ifixit, so you'll be able to replace it.
Also, on the flipside, I'm upset the Frame controllers will use AA batteries because you won't be able to recharge them and will have to fuck with AA batteries, lol
There are rechargeable AA batteries. I prefer this over built-in batteries because I can swap the batteries out immediately instead of waiting for the controller to charge. It is also cheaper and easier to replace the batteries when they eventually begin to wear out.
What kind of rechargeable AA batteries do you use? I've tried a lot over the years for wiimotes/other controllers, but the battery life is kinda terrible.
The new steam controller is supposed to have 35 hours of battery life, I seem to remember my rechargeable AA powered controllers only getting like 2-4 hours per charge. They might have gotten 4-6 hours when they were new, but it wasn't much better. Seems like even if the steam controller battery deteriorates to 50% capacity (17.5 hours) that would still be far better than my results with rechargeable AA batteries.
I use Eneloop batteries. They are widely regarded as the best quality and I have never had a problem with any of them.
The only controller I have that uses AA batteries is an Xbox controller. I am a fairly light gamer, so I have never measured how many hours they last, but I have no complaints about battery life. I often get more than a month of use before needing to charge them, so I would easily guess at least 10-20 hours of battery life.
I did some reading on it after posting my comment, it sounds like there's been a pretty major improvement in rechargeable AA batteries in the last 10 years. Capacity has improved by 70+%, and much less power is lost during standby. So it's probably worth trying again, I had just been avoiding them due to how poor the performance was back then.
Watch the Gamers’ Nexus video on the controller. Looks like the battery is extremely easy to replace. Remove a few screws, pop the back of the controller off, and pop the battery out of its housing. No glue or adhesive afaik
The old configuration menu was better, the original one before Big Picture got the revamp for the Steam Deck. The new one looks less intimidating at a glance, but is way harder to navigate and requires far more steps to do what the old one could do quite simply.