Need some advice on joycon drift

[Tetra's Wink]

Hi,

Recently my THIRD pair of switch joycons have started drifting. (Left stick moving on it's own).

My first pair on launch drifted since day 1.
My second pair drifted after only a few days.
My third pair lasted about 2 years I think?

I hate this, and I simply can't deal with joycon drift.

I'm gonna be honest here, I have aspergers and severe OCD and mental health difficulties in general. Gaming is one of my few escapes in life. But it comes at a cost - very strong OCD, needing to make sure I've played the games "properly", avoiding cheating at all costs, avoiding glitches at all costs. If a game glitches, I have to basically repeat whatever I did again, to make sure I did it without a glitch. Even though I know it's not my fault, I still have to deal with things this way, otherwise I don't feel like I've played the game properly etc.

So.... add joycon drift ontop of all this. Joycon drift absolutely completely ruins my gaming experience, it leaves me fearing throughout the entire game that drift may happen, thus ruining the experience.

I have just recently ordered a new pair of joycons, which will be my 4th pair. BUT... I know that these will start drifting eventually, but what else can I do? It all makes me feel hopeless for the switch's future, unless nintendo get their act together and fix this permanently.

Just a note, I prefer to play on my TV rather than handheld. It's just more comfortable for me.

Anyway, some questions:

1 - These new joycons that I purchased were released in 2019 apparently. Does this mean that they're already old, and are likely to drift soon? Or does drifting only apply after USE of joycons (rather than how long ago they were made)?

2 - I got them from the official nintendo store uk, so does this mean they are new and not used? (Couldn't see any options). I need them new, not used. Does the nintendo store not sell used stuff?

3 - Do pro-controllers drift? I've never used a pro-controller before, but I'm not sure whether to start using them instead? But if they drift too, then there's no point obviously.... so do they drift?

 

[Azure Sage]

You can buy contact cleaner for electrical appliances and spray it into the joycon, getting it under the stick so it sinks in. That's a temporary fix, but there is no permanent fix besides sending them in for repair. I just acquired my 5th pair now myself. I have no idea if Nintendo is addressing the issue with newly manufactured joycons, but it's definitely a disappointment.

 

[Spirit]

Hi,

Recently my THIRD pair of switch joycons have started drifting. (Left stick moving on it's own).

My first pair on launch drifted since day 1.
My second pair drifted after only a few days.
My third pair lasted about 2 years I think?

I hate this, and I simply can't deal with joycon drift.

I'm gonna be honest here, I have aspergers and severe OCD and mental health difficulties in general. Gaming is one of my few escapes in life. But it comes at a cost - very strong OCD, needing to make sure I've played the games "properly", avoiding cheating at all costs, avoiding glitches at all costs. If a game glitches, I have to basically repeat whatever I did again, to make sure I did it without a glitch. Even though I know it's not my fault, I still have to deal with things this way, otherwise I don't feel like I've played the game properly etc.

So.... add joycon drift ontop of all this. Joycon drift absolutely completely ruins my gaming experience, it leaves me fearing throughout the entire game that drift may happen, thus ruining the experience.

I have just recently ordered a new pair of joycons, which will be my 4th pair. BUT... I know that these will start drifting eventually, but what else can I do? It all makes me feel hopeless for the switch's future, unless nintendo get their act together and fix this permanently.

Just a note, I prefer to play on my TV rather than handheld. It's just more comfortable for me.

Anyway, some questions:

1 - These new joycons that I purchased were released in 2019 apparently. Does this mean that they're already old, and are likely to drift soon? Or does drifting only apply after USE of joycons (rather than how long ago they were made)?

2 - I got them from the official nintendo store uk, so does this mean they are new and not used? (Couldn't see any options). I need them new, not used. Does the nintendo store not sell used stuff?

3 - Do pro-controllers drift? I've never used a pro controller before, but I'm not sure whether to start using them instead? But if they drift too, then there's no point obviously.... so do they drift?

There's only one Joycon model, they'll all drift eventually.

Yes Pro controllers drift too, but take longer.

In my experience my joycons lasted only two month before drift but my Pro Controller developed drift after three years. But someone I know had their Pro controller drift after 18month.

Nintendo fix them for free if you live in North America thanks to a class action lawsuit.

 

[Kirino]

I used an online tutorial that worked really well for me:



It just involves taking a cotton swab, dipping it in isopropyl alcohol, and rubbing it in the insides of the sticks, underneath the cover. It did take me a few tries and I've had to repeat it a couple of times, but it's basically solved my drift completely.

 

[Tetra's Wink]

Ok now my new joycons have a different issue. Every now and then, they disconnect and I have to re-connect them by pushing the shoulder buttons. It happens in the middle of gameplay which is very annoying. From brand new £70 joycons. I'm so sick of this crap. Any advice on this new issue? Is it common, and will I have to replace my joycons yet again?

Do pro-controllers have this 'disconnecting' issue?

Edit - There's also sometimes a delay in input with the right joycon. Example, I hit jump, and character jumps a second after I press it.

 

[MapelSerup]

Ok now my new joycons have a different issue. Every now and then, they disconnect and I have to re-connect them by pushing the shoulder buttons. It happens in the middle of gameplay which is very annoying. From brand new £70 joycons. I'm so sick of this crap. Any advice on this new issue? Is it common, and will I have to replace my joycons yet again?

Do pro-controllers have this 'disconnecting' issue?

Edit - There's also sometimes a delay in input with the right joycon. Example, I hit jump, and character jumps a second after I press it.

It sounds like the Joycons aren’t fully connected to the Switch. Make sure you’ve inserted them all the way. Check the pins under the connected at the bottom, perhaps contact cleaner could help?

 

[Archer]

I might send my old joycons in for repair soon since I’ve only been using a wireless pro controller for months

My advice is to buy a pro controller when you get the chance, but yes. As mentioned before, Nintendo’s nice to have the joycons repaired free of charge in NA. I’m not sure how much it helps, but I also make sure my hands are clean when playing with joycons

 

[Tetra's Wink]

It sounds like the Joycons aren’t fully connected to the Switch. Make sure you’ve inserted them all the way. Check the pins under the connected at the bottom, perhaps contact cleaner could help?

This is in docked mode

I might send my old joycons in for repair soon since I’ve only been using a wireless pro controller for months

My advice is to buy a pro controller when you get the chance, but yes. As mentioned before, Nintendo’s nice to have the joycons repaired free of charge in NA. I’m not sure how much it helps, but I also make sure my hands are clean when playing with joycons

I'm in the UK so no free repairs for me

 

[Kaleficent]

Have you removed the old controllers from your Switch? If you haven't, you can do so by going to Settings > Controllers and Sensors > Disconnect Controllers and remove the controllers you no longer use.

 

[Tetra's Wink]

Have you removed the old controllers from your Switch? If you haven't, you can do so by going to Settings > Controllers and Sensors > Disconnect Controllers and remove the controllers you no longer use.

I didn't manually do that, however I moved my old controllers far away from the switch and they now no longer show up in the controller section. Only the new ones do. So does that mean the old ones are removed already?

 

[Kaleficent]

I didn't manually do that, however I moved my old controllers far away from the switch and they now no longer show up in the controller section. Only the new ones do. So does that mean the old ones are removed already?

Not necessarily. The Switch itself remembers which controllers it has connected to in the past, so while the controllers may not show up on the main screen because they're out of range, if the old controllers are ever moved back into range, the Switch will try to reconnect to them. Even with the old controllers out of range, the Switch may be constantly trying to connect to them. Bluetooth devices always broadcast so long as they have the power to do so, which is why you can use the Switch to find lost controllers even when the controllers are "off", and Bluetooth receivers (the Switch in this case) regularly scan for the devices in their memory in order to update the status of the connection.

The only way to fully remove a controller from the Switch's memory is to go into the menu and manually remove them in the way I suggested earlier.

On a semi-related side note, regularly purging connections you no longer use from your devices is just good tech practice in general.

 

[Tetra's Wink]

Not necessarily. The Switch itself remembers which controllers it has connected to in the past, so while the controllers may not show up on the main screen because they're out of range, if the old controllers are ever moved back into range, the Switch will try to reconnect to them. Even with the old controllers out of range, the Switch may be constantly trying to connect to them. Bluetooth devices always broadcast so long as they have the power to do so, which is why you can use the Switch to find lost controllers even when the controllers are "off", and Bluetooth receivers (the Switch in this case) regularly scan for the devices in their memory in order to update the status of the connection.

The only way to fully remove a controller from the Switch's memory is to go into the menu and manually remove them in the way I suggested earlier.

On a semi-related side note, regularly purging connections you no longer use from your devices is just good tech practice in general.

Thanks, I will try that