I have two 8bitdo controllers and they're both great. I'm not sure what makes you think they are shit. I've only ever heard good things and that's been my experience. I intend to get a third one to replace my dying ps3 controllers.

I owned both GameSir and 8bitdo controllers. All my GameSir ones have fallen apart (stick drift, trigger broke off), while the 8bitdo ones are still alive despite my kids' best efforts.

I have two 8bitdo ultimate 2c controllers (the cheaper Xbox style controllers) and they've been great. The only thing they're missing is RGB, other than that they tick every box. I use them for my steam deck and on my bazzite PC and they work flawlessly, have held up very well in the ~8 months of regular use they've seen. My one (minor) gripe is battery life. A charge lasts several days, but my Xbox one controllers lasted about a week, sometimes more when I was using them. They're USB-C, charge pretty quick, and you can use them while they're charging so it's not a big deal but still worth mentioning

Be warned it only seems to work in Bluetooth mode for some reason, via the dongle I don't get the back paddles to show up. That being said I want to echo the fact that I also have an 8BitDo and has had great quality. Also they work out of the box in Linux, so no worries there.

Is that all of them or just some? Got a couple of the wireless 2C currently and probably going to get a few more at some point. Not sure how others compare.

Quality control

Reposting here for visibility:

I have their Ultimate 2 gamepad and I'll give them this - it's probably one of the most comfortable gamepads I've ever used. It's great.

That being said:

1. I actually bought two of them (Xbox and Switch layouts) and thank goodness I did, because one charger just broke, the USB-C cable wobbles inside like the socket itself got damaged. I know for a fact that the device didn't fall down or anything like that.
2. Every now and again the joysticks freeze and I start spinning uncontrollably, and then just stop working. Sometimes switching from Bluetooth to radio for a while and then back again help. Sometimes I have to turn the device fully off.
3. More often than (2) the sticks will suddenly develop a lag. I turn the stick to one side, nothing happens. I release the stick. Then the character in the game starts moving for a while. It's, like, 500-1000ms lag easily.

If you're playing anything remotely competitive or punishing, I would not recommend 8bitDo products. If you're only playing casual games with quick and easy save options, and you're OK having to restart your gamepad every now and again, go for it.

8bitdo does both. Even though bluetooth is also 2.4ghz and combined with the wifi board these days, I find it struggles more with physical objects worsening the signal or being far or in different rooms like when I used to have my office on the opposite side of the wall the tv is mounted to and used one pc for everything.

Their quality control has gotten worse though. I have an 'ultimate' that had the back paddles crack and fall off, and a pro 3 that had the face buttons shatter right before the end of a perfect attempt at the last berserker fight in god of war ragnarok

Mhm! With the wire of the 2.4 GHz it uses xinput and you can map stuff that is already on the controller, on Bluetooth mode it connects in dinput mode and the extra buttons become programmable and detected by games as "controller unknown" iwhen I need them I use Bluetooth when not the adapter

With my ultimate 2 wireless I just put it in dinput by turning it on by holding b and everything works, including gyro and accelerometer and can bind anything with antimicrox

To get the extra buttons working on the ultimate 2c (on steam) turn on the controller while holding the B button

Ah I failed to recognize the bigger hand requirement as a haver if baby hands I am super happy with ultimate 2c but if ur not the same seems like you made the right choice

I have big hands and the ultimate 2c is perfectly fine

Oof that sucks, hope their customer support can send you a replacement! 😬

I have big hands. Ultimate 2 is awesome and the gyro worked in Linux after I set it up under windows since it stores the config in the controller. It’s been my main controller for a year.

My hands aren't that big (I used to play the 3DS and never felt cramped), so I can't really speak to that.
If it helps I've played both on DualShock 4 and Xbox 360 controllers and migrating to the 8BitDo felt super natural.

I don't feel any particular lag, neither in windows nor linux, when using Bluetooth (compared to usb): to me they feel almost the same. But it should be noted that I almost never play games where you would notice more.

In my experience, though, Bluetooth generally works better in linux than windows, esp. pairing and connecting.

Anyways, steam does an excellent job in making the controller work in games, also those that don't officially support.

In the past, I have owned: an xbox controller (and I hated it) , other cheap controllers (and they broke). The ps5 for me works very well, it appears to be good quality, the battery lasts long and is rechargeable via usb c.

It's pricey but it's good.

But I don't know how it compares with the steam controller.

I use 2c, my hands are not really big but fingers are long though. Pretty comfortable, but xbox 360 controller as a comparison point is bulkier and bigger

Oh, and I can't speak for Linux compatibility personally, I've only read that it works fine.

No, it's perfect for me, but I don't have particularly big hands. For a point of comparison, it's every so slightly tinier than my Xbox Series controller, and holds better than it. I always found that one tends to slowly slip forward out of my grip (=towards my belly) because of its tapered shape.
In contrast the Ultimate reminds me a little of the Gamecube controller, because it's slightly more concave below, where the ring fingers come to rest, and that helps stabilize it.

My single gripe with it is the dpad, which coming from the Xbox Series feels like a bit of a downgrade : not clicky, a tad mushy. I've known worse, but it's not the best. Fortunately that's not a dealbreaker for me as I don't use it often

I've got big hands too and I find it very comfortable. Depends on whether you like offset sticks.

I'm playing a lot of Dead Cells these days. But the controller has been good for any game ive played (Expedition 33, Thronefall, Hotshots Golf, Mario Odyssey, Super Meat Boy, Enter the Gungeon, etc). The D-pad is also great for precision platformers like Super Meat Boy.

I'd say ymmv. I struggle reaching L1 while using the analog stick. Depending on a game, I'd often switch L1 and L2 around. It works, but it's mildly annoying.

I also seem to have an issue with the face buttons double clicking sometimes. This doesn't matter 99% of a time, but some games (Persona) don't like it. It's a shame, because otherwise it's a fantastic controller.

Before this I had a 360 and 2 gulikit controllers and none of those had this issue. I actually really love the feel of the newer gulikit, unfortunately the wireless performance is atrocious.

The battery last a lot too.

And it works as intended on Linux. Vibration in bluetooth mode and all.

I haven't had any issues with controller support in any games, just the same as using an Xbox controller.

There is no native Linux software, so I use Winboat to run the software. You could also run it in a VM.

I only have the black controller, so I can't comment on the white one