I'm often close enough to my PC while playing games that wireless seems a little unneeded, but more than that, I just want fewer batteries to manage.

Most wireless controllers today have an integrated battery and can be used in either wired or wireless mode. So it's really just that the battery adds a bit of weight, and someday the thing will fail and maybe cause electrical failure of the gamepad. If that doesn't bother you, could get a dual one and just use it in wireless mode. That being said, I agree with the general principle that one should use wired unless there's a compelling reason otherwise. Avoids security problems, interference issues, and a mess of compatibility issues. I had a Logitech F710 that used a proprietary wireless 2.4 GHz protocol. It didn't support wired mode. At some point, something in my environment started blasting enough 2.4 GHz radio emissions that every now and then, the connection would briefly drop, which was absolutely infuriating, since it could cause one to lose in fast-paced action games. If you very specifically want a gamepad that is only wired...hmm. There are a bunch of low-end, generic wired-only controllers. I can't specifically recommend one of those; I've used a few, but all the ones I've used have had some things that annoy me, and probably a lot of the brands are throwaway ones that have gone under. If you want high-end...most of those are dual wired/wireless. IIRC, Thrustmaster has a high-end gamepad with swappable elements, and IIRC it's wired-only, remember seeing that and thinking "wow, weird, most high-end gamepads are dual". I haven't used it myself. *goes to look* Yeah, the Thrustmaster S eSwap Pro, and it's wired-only. https://eshop.thrustmaster.com/en_us/eswap-s-pro-controller.html Thrustmaster has a long history of making pricey-but-nice high-end game peripherals --- I think the first joystick I ever saw for sale was a nice metal thing from them at a computer expo in the early 1990s --- so I'd generally be willing to try them, if you can live with the price. I don't know if they have Hall effect analog sticks, which some people --- including myself --- like, as they're immune to drift. *kagis* It sounds like the gamepad ships with standard potentiometer-based analog sticks, but that if one is willing to throw even more money at the gamepad, they do sell optional Hall effect sticks that can be swapped in. https://www.thrustmaster.com/en-us/products/eswap-sh5-hall-stick-module/ However, the price is also pretty much in line with their history of being expensive. The basic gamepad is $140, and then *each* Hall effect analog stick module is another $40, which is very expensive for a gamepad; you can get inexpensive wired-only gamepads for something like $15, though they might not have amenities like rumble motors. I've never actually owned a Thrustmaster product myself. I mostly went with CH stuff (another long-running American game input device manufacturer; they tend to make less-expensive, less-nice stuff). But I've definitely heard no shortage of positive stuff about Thrustmaster products over the decades. Might be worth considering if you don't care about the price, specifically want wired, and are looking for high-end stuff.

I'm often close enough to my PC while playing games that wireless seems a little unneeded, but more than that, I just want fewer batteries to manage.

> So it’s really just that the battery adds a bit of weight, and *someday the thing will fail and maybe cause electrical failure of the gamepad.* Emphasis added, yeah this is among the reasons I'm asking. The other reasons I've noted, but this underlies a lot of it. I don't know how long the dual-use ones' batteries may last if I'm primarily using them wired, so instead of having that in the back of mind, I'd like to get a wired controller for when gaming on devices I'm already close to (which is mostly PC, hence asking for it specifically).

This is a good list, but y'know a niche ya missed? Pressure sensitive buttons, only really useful for those emulating old games that used them, but still a fun feature to remember.

I've had troubles on my windows machine with the controller not registering in-game. I have to use a third party program DSX to make it work.

I'm often close enough to my PC while playing games that wireless seems a little unneeded, but more than that, I just want fewer batteries to manage.

The 8bitdo ultimate or 2C wired look like good options. I haven't used any of their controllers but I've heard good things about them, and they have hall effect joysticks!

I'm often close enough to my PC while playing games that wireless seems a little unneeded, but more than that, I just want fewer batteries to manage.

I'm often close enough to my PC while playing games that wireless seems a little unneeded, but more than that, I just want fewer batteries to manage.

They’re great on windows too, and the extra features like the triggers are really nice for the games they work in

I'm often close enough to my PC while playing games that wireless seems a little unneeded, but more than that, I just want fewer batteries to manage.

I'm often close enough to my PC while playing games that wireless seems a little unneeded, but more than that, I just want fewer batteries to manage.

> So it’s really just that the battery adds a bit of weight, and *someday the thing will fail and maybe cause electrical failure of the gamepad.* Emphasis added, yeah this is among the reasons I'm asking. The other reasons I've noted, but this underlies a lot of it. I don't know how long the dual-use ones' batteries may last if I'm primarily using them wired, so instead of having that in the back of mind, I'd like to get a wired controller for when gaming on devices I'm already close to (which is mostly PC, hence asking for it specifically).

I'm often close enough to my PC while playing games that wireless seems a little unneeded, but more than that, I just want fewer batteries to manage.

Steam Controller 

I'm often close enough to my PC while playing games that wireless seems a little unneeded, but more than that, I just want fewer batteries to manage.

I'm often close enough to my PC while playing games that wireless seems a little unneeded, but more than that, I just want fewer batteries to manage.

The 8bitdo ultimate or 2C wired look like good options. I haven't used any of their controllers but I've heard good things about them, and they have hall effect joysticks!

I prefer wired. The problem I have with most is that they are battery. Thus, the wired part is always a USB connection that inevitably wears out with use and disconnects randomly. It's not an innovative controller with programmable buttons or anything, but the razor controllers have a keyed recess that all but makes it impossible to disconnect or wear the port. It's really the only selling point, but one that has kept me from looking for anything else.