Nintendo Joycon Drift: Repair or Replace?

[TheHeroofTime]

A few months ago, my Joy-cons started drifting. At first, it was only the right Joy-con and it wasn't too much of a problem. I could still play games like Skyrim just fine. A few months later, and I was replaying Breath of the Wild, when my left Joy-con started drifting as well, to the point of making it very difficult to play anything, so I ordered one of PowerA's Zelda pro controllers, which has worked beautifully for me. However, since then, the drift on my Joy-cons has gotten so bad as to render them unusable: even on the home menu, the selection slides in random directions without a single input from me. I now have no controller with which I can use my amiibo, and I can't use my Switch in handheld mode anymore.

I'm sure this is a problem many of you are familiar with. The question is, should I fill out one of Nintendo's repair tickets, or just buy new Joy-cons? I hear that I might be charged an exorbitant amount in shipping for the repair, and when I could just order new ones and have them arrive within days, it seems perhaps a bit silly to try and get them repaired? What do you all think? What have been your experiences with Nintendo's Joy-con repair, and should I take advantage of it or just order new ones?

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

oh boy do I have the thread for you https://zeldadungeon.net/forum/threads/joycon-drift-issues.66246/

that aside, I filed for mine to be replaced, my friend had a mail bubbler I could use and just sent it, I got it back around a week later, no charge

 

[Fraxinus]

Depending on how long it took for your joycons to drift may affect what you should do to resolve it. While it is a flaw in a design, and is highly variable on its own, I think people's play habits--how often the joycons see use, how much force is applied to the joystick when they're in use, how long they go without use, how they're stored when not in use, etc--affects how quickly the problem manifests itself. I've only had two pairs of joycons, but as my second pair is starting to drift after a year--and my first pair took a little over a year--before they started drifting, I expect there to be a somewhat consistent pattern from player to player for how long their joycons tend to last.

My response to my second pair starting to drift was me slipping them in a ziploc bag to prevent extra dust from getting in them for the time being, and returning to using my old pair (which does have the drift) while I decide if/when I should replace. I'm not in a position to replace at the moment, but will consider it eventually, maybe for Christmas or something. Until then, my original pair is gonna tide me over so I don't make my current pair's drift any worse. But what I've noticed is that my original pair has actually been drifting less now that it's getting regular use again. I've been periodically doing the calibration tests on both sticks to see if the drift shows and both are still instantly returning to center, and I haven't cleaned the sticks since I got my second pair last December. While I know the drift still exists, it seems less present and hasn't affected my gameplay for the past week or so that I've been using them. It feels like something worth mentioning since I'm not sure how many people keep their joycons once they start drifting.

I think replacing is the simplest solution, so you don't have to deal with the hassle of filling out forms and mailing in and waiting, or taking the joycon apart--or the temporary fix that I'll talk about in a second--but a full replacement is also the most expensive, so it's a bit easier to do if you can at least say you got 80 dollars worth of play out of the pair that you're replacing. Again, how long your joycons lasted should be taken into account. And at least, I think replacing the first pair will be easier to decide on, but to people who have had drift occur on multiple pairs, that's when the replacement option becomes less viable. I would recommend still keeping your original pair, if this is your first pair, though.

As for the temporary fix, cleaning is my other suggestion, but it can be a bit frustrating and tedious after having to do it again and again. It doesn't make the drift go away, it just lessens the severity of it for awhile. Isopropyl alcohol is good for this. It's available as a contact cleaner spray that you just get the nozzle under the rubber cap at the base of the stick, or you can gently apply some drug store rubbing alcohol with a cotton swab to the same area. But it is more affordable than a full replacement and if you're on the fence about replacing, you could try this out for awhile until you decide what you wish to do.

I hope Nintendo fixes this design before the Switch lifespan ends, because it's gonna make returning to the Switch very intimidating when the possibility of replacing controllers no longer exists.

 

[Spirit]

It isn't worth repairing or replacing them until Nintendo sorts them out properly.

Try and repair it and probably end up breaking them further, or replace them and blow all that money just for it to happen again.

Even my Pro Controller got drift, and I can't afford to drop £60 everytime I get screwed by it.

I say don't do either until Nintendo sorts themselves out.

 

[Turo602]

I got Joy Con drift a while back and cleaned mine with some WD-40 Electrical Contact Cleaner. They've been working just fine ever since.