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First, let me admit my biases: Yes, this controller’s raspberry ripple blend of pink, blue, and purple really does work for me. That said, the GameSir T7 Pro Sugar Whirl has more going for it than just pretty face buttons, featuring TMR sticks alongside Hall effect triggers. Gorgeous and precise, this is also a wireless controller that’s actually compatible with the notoriously picky Xbox consoles.
Speaking of an untethered experience, this gamepad’s charging situation annoys me significantly less than other wireless options. Basically, as someone with a perennially cluttered desk, I didn’t think I’d ever be pro charging docks. However, this GameSir gamepad has finally shown me the light.
Thanks to the charging dock, the T7 Pro offers a pretty seamless wireless experience. That ease of use extends to the refreshingly straightforward software package, which offers a wealth of options to make this Pro pad feel your own. Beyond deadzone tweaking and even motion control fiddling, I personally could have done with just a few more RGB lighting customisation options.
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Unfortunately, the ergonomic design of the T7 Pro may not play well with tiny hand bandits such as myself. Make no mistake, this is far from the heftiest or chunkiest wireless controller. As such, I was surprised to find that certain button placements strained my small palms.
Furthermore, with a $90/£100, I have the nagging feeling I’m simply paying more for the cute colourway and a bit of extra connectivity I probably won’t even use. The simple fact is that if you’re not fussed about either RGB lighting or wireless Xbox connectivity, you can get a great Pro pad for less than this asking price.
Buy if…
✅ You want a wireless controller for PC and Xbox: There are cheaper options offering wireless connectivity for Xbox, but not loads with TMR sticks and even fewer that offer such a fetching colourway.
✅ You’re always forgetting to charge your wireless pad: The charging dock is set it and forget it, bolstering the already decent onboard battery.
Don’t buy if…
❌ You’ve got small hands: Though far from the chunkiest controller, the placement of some of the triggers strained my small palms.
❌ You’re on a budget: Even with Xbox wireless connectivity, nearly 100 smackers is still a big ask. Plus, you can definitely find great Pro pads for less money.
The GameSir T7 Pro Sugar Whirl is a cute, Xbox-compatible wireless PC controller. But as partial as I am to the Sugar Whirl’s charms, there’s no avoiding the fact you can get a just as good Pro controller—specifically the GameSir G7 Pro Tri-Mode—for less money than this.
Features
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GameSir T7 Pro Sugar Whirl |
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Layout |
Asymmetrical |
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Thumbsticks |
TMR (Tunnel magnetoresistance) |
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Face buttons |
A, B, X, Y, Xbox button, Menu, Share, ‘M’, Toggle View |
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Rear buttons |
LB, LT, L4, RB, RT, R4, 2x trigger stop switches (Hall effect triggers) |
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Rumble |
4x rumble motors (one in each grip and each trigger) |
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Gyro |
6-axis gyroscope only on PC |
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Connectivity |
Tri-mode for XBOX and PC; Bluetooth for Android |
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Battery |
1050 mAH |
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Polling rate |
Up to 1000 Hz on PC, but 250 Hz on XBOX |
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Weight |
236g |
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Price |
‘Tri-mode’ connectivity encompasses the choice of a wired USB connection, a wireless 2.4 GHz connection, or a wireless Bluetooth connection. While that’s nothing to write home about for a PC pad, the T7 Pro offering this same choice of connection for Xbox consoles is because Microsoft’s consoles are notoriously picky. Buying one peripheral you can use with multiple gaming devices is simply cost effective—even if you are only getting a 250 Hz polling on console, compared to PC’s up to 1,000 Hz rate.
TMR (or tunnel magnetoresistance) tech in the asymmetric sticks, and Hall effect triggers are also welcome features. TMR is slightly more precise than Hall effect, but both magnetic techs work on a similar principle that essentially banishes stick drift and sticky triggers. Basically, with this magnetic tech there are far fewer points of physical contact within the mechanism, and therefore much less of a risk of internal stick components getting worn away over time.
As a console interloper, I do think it’s a shame that more PC games don’t leverage rumble. Whereas the PlayStation 5’s DualSense controllers are capable of impressively detailed haptic feedback, Xbox controllers still use a number of rumble motors. As such, you’ll find four rumble motors here in the T7 Pro.
Speaking of that console connection, the T7 Pro also enjoys gyro controls. It’s 6-axis, and this motion functionality only works on PC, but you can customise it to an impressive degree in the GameSir Nexus software.
Ergonomics
The T7 Pro features a firmly attached plastic faceplate, so you’re committed to its pink-blue-purple design. Smooth plastic front grips are paired with a textured underside. The membrane D-pad and face buttons are not the loveliest thing I’ve tapped upon, but they’re all satisfyingly clicky to press.
A plastic body doesn’t make this the most premium feeling controller, but it does keep things relatively lightweight. As a result, the T7 Pro weighs in at about 236 grams on its own, making it lighter than a fair few of the best PC controllers. There’s also fairly minimal creaking even when I give the grips some real welly. It may not feel super premium, but it’s built well enough. That said, the largely plastic construction does leave the gamepad feeling a few bucks/quid short of its $90/£100 price tag.
As this is an Xbox compatible wireless controller, you’re getting asymmetric sticks to match. That’s usually not a problem for me and my tiny mitts, though hoovering up gold medals in Denshattack! proved quite the workout.
After an extended session of braking and drifting, my left hand was beginning to feel a little bit sore. This may be because the bottom triggers are bolstered by a particularly chunky finger rest, widening the gap between my left trigger-tapping pointer and my middle finger.
Remappable back buttons also hang out within reach of where my middle fingers rest. L4 and R4 are low-profile buttons with textured covers that make them easy to find by touch (which I find vastly preferable to the DualSense Edge’s great big back flippers). Still, for those with stumpy digits like me, that could mean more stretching and discomfort over time.
If you’ve got mitts lacking in width or short phalanges like me, be warned.
It was a similar story of strain when I tested out the pad’s 2-stop trigger settings in Doom: The Dark Ages. Blasting baddies pulled at my palms and knuckles after a short time with Id’s latest, even after reducing the triggers’ actuation distance. That’s a shame because the T7 Pro Swirl really isn’t the chunkiest or heaviest of controllers my tiny phalanges have had to tango with.
In Dead As Disco’s more face-button-focused gameplay, my hands otherwise don”t feel anywhere near as stressed out. That suggests to me that what’s causing the strain has less to do with the heft of the controller, and maybe more to do with the high-up placement of the T7 Pro’s pronounced top trigger buttons. If you’ve got mitts lacking in width or short phalanges like me, be warned.
Performance
As I repeatedly try to pull off a Finger Heel 180 trick in the train game of Tony Hawk’s finger boarding fever dreams, Denshattack!, TMR tech is definitely welcome as I wiggle the right stick for all its worth. Textured tops ensure the sticks don’t slip out of grip as I try to rack up an even bigger combo. Add to that a 1,000 Hz top polling rate, and these sticks are just as flicky and responsive as you could want.
Then there are the usual membrane face buttons and a D-Pad. These press down cleanly, and are satisfyingly clicky. On the reverse of the pad are two remappable back buttons as well. Unlike the shiny face buttons, these are low-profile and subtly textured so you can easily find them by feel.
The responsive Hall effect triggers also feature ‘2-stage trigger stops’. There are two flicky switches on the pad’s underside, and flicking one of these down allows you to press the corresponding trigger all the way to the bottom. Flicking the switch up offers a much shorter actuation distance for each bottom trigger. This gives pressing the bottom triggers a clicky quality, like the top triggers.
Clicky triggers are often popular among the competitive crowd, as the cut-down actuation distance shaves off precious milliseconds between plays. Such a saving of time is largely wasted on me, though, as my most intense online play experience recently was getting lost in Big Walk. Similarly, a polling rate of 1,000 Hz is more than enough for most intents and purposes, but the esports sickos will likely be left wanting more.
Aesthetics
You may already know about my penchant for purple. This controller not only takes aim at my particular colour-based obsession, but it also mixes in a raspberry ripple-esque combination of blues and pinks across the charging dock, faceplate, and buttons—hence the ‘Sugar Whirl’ name. I particularly enjoy the two sticks being different colours.
Under the incandescent lighting found in PC Gamer towers, it can look a little tacky. Natural light is generally kinder to the colourway, but it really comes into its own in-game. By default, RGB lighting bathes the controller in an icy blue light that complements the colourway, illuminating the pad’s underside and shining through the face buttons. This gives the AXBY buttons an almost pearlescent vibe when in active use that I really enjoy.
I’m much less keen on the green goo glow the controller emits while it’s charging. Thankfully, you can either dial this down or turn it off completely in the GameSir Nexus software, not to mention all the other options you have for tinkering with the Sugar Whirl’s RGB lighting.
Software
You can finely tweak a variety of settings in the GameSir Nexus software across four different profiles, with each one accessed via a combination of the centre ‘M’ button and the facebuttons. The software itself can either be manually downloaded from here, or from the Microsoft store, but lacks anything in the way of a web-based app.
The smallest amount of software tinkering allowed me to tone down the green goo glow the controller emits while charging, and I’ve set it up so that the pad automatically connects to my PC as soon as I lift it from the charging cradle. That’s more than enough for me, but if you want to get lost in the software weeds, Nexus offers a wealth of features to play with.
(Image credit: GameSir)
For a start, you can finely tune the stick and trigger deadzones, plus much more besides via an array of sliders, toggles and presets. You can also tune the pad’s motion controls to a similarly in-depth degree, tinker with the intensity of its rumble motors, and, of course, fiddle with the RGB. Broadly speaking, the software is how you’re going to get the most out of this Pro pad; there’s a wealth of options to make the T7 Pro your own, though the lighting settings could do with just a few more customisation options. Seeing a swirling rainbow illuminating my gamepad from within is cool and all, but I would have appreciated the option to more finely tune the lights’ hue.
RGB customisation was the only category of setting I found wanting, though. While I probably won’t touch half of the settings available, I appreciate how clearly the Nexus software lays out all of the options. If the software’s home screen selection overwhelms, you can click through to a specific focussed category of settings, and mess around from there. It’s intuitive and straightforward to use.
Battery
The major thing that annoys me about most wireless peripherals is how often the hardware needs to become wired again to charge. A wireless PC controller can have the biggest battery in the world, but it will eventually resemble its wired counterparts sooner or later.
Not to knock any of the best wired controllers, but it’s not the experience I’m personally looking for as a pad-wielding PC Gamer; a wire is just one more thing that can make a mess at my already cluttered desk, either getting chewed up by my gaming chair castors, or by knocking over a bunch of my Miku Hatsune figurines during a particularly heated gamer moment.
Thanks to the GameSir T7 Pro Sugar Whirl though, I’m a charging cradle convert. The dock here features a USB-C port, with a compartment on its underside for the 2.4 GHz dongle. Yes, that means there is still a wire involved if you want to use the dock as a wireless receiver, though you can easily cable-manage that out of the way (and nowhere near, say, your army of Miku).
Thanks to metal pins in the cradle and contact points on the underside of the pad itself, the pad can easily charge back up when it’s not in use. The gamepad’s 1050 mAh battery is decent enough on its own though, holding up through numerous, marathon sessions of Denshattack! without requiring a charge. If I forgot to place the pad back in the charging cradle one day, I still had plenty of juice to take back to the track the next. But obviously, playing at 1,000 Hz polling and with the RGB lights whirling away will drain the battery much faster.
It means I no longer have to remember to charge this bad boy up myself, because I’ll just pop it back onto the dock when I’m done. It’s a set-it-and-forget-it sort of setup that my forgetful-self very much appreciates. Couple that with the software setting that makes the gamepad automatically connect to your PC as soon as you lift it from the charging cradle, and it’s a really seamless experience.
Value
Like I said before, the Sugar Whirl’s wireless Xbox connectivity will be a headline feature for some. If that really is key for you, the EasySMX D10 is one other option that also comes with TMR sticks, a charging dock, ‘elite 2-way trigger locks,’ and costs half the price.
Otherwise, the difference in quality is arguably most noticeable in the D10’s complete lack of software, and ‘just okay’ D-Pad and triggers. The D10 even comes in a ‘Farout Purple‘ colourway I may have to pick up myself.
If you’re already willing to drop a serious chunk of change on a controller, the newer Razer Wolverine V3 Pro 8K PC more than earns the crown as the best high end controller, though this update does drop Xbox connectivity and haptic feedback.
The best controller overall is the GameSir G7 Pro Tri-Mode, and it costs around 10 bucks less.
A much more likely option is the elephant in the room: the best controller overall is the GameSir G7 Pro Tri-Mode, and it costs around 10 bucks less. The key differences are that the Tri-Mode enjoys a magnetic faceplate, plus a better battery, but completely lacks RGB lighting, and only works on Xbox via a wired connection.
These will be minor omissions for most, leaving little contest between the two controllers; if you’re not endeared to the Sugar Whirl’s cotton candy colourway and you’re not fussed about connecting to your Xbox wirelessly, the GameSir G7 Pro Tri-Mode is still the obvious choice.
As for me though, I just can’t resist a fun colourway. I can see myself spending many more hours with the Sugar Whirl, as much as it sometimes pains my poor palms. Even so, if it was my money, I’d struggle to justify putting down nearly 100 smackers on it.
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