The DualSense is a great controller, but I'm a PC gamer, and its adaptive triggers and sophisticated rumble effects can't be used in Steam. I find the DualSense to by a tad thick, which makes is slightly uncomfortable. Some complain about its short battery span, but I rarely play for too long— but if you forget to charge it between sessions, you'll surely be greeted by its low-battery warning light. But there's one feature that it's missing that I now can't live without: the back-buttons.
Both the Pro 2 and the Ultimate have back buttons. In PC, you can map them to replicate any other button, or to execute a sequence of key presses that you can set via the 8BitDo software. As far as I'm aware, you can't program the buttons to reflect keys (say, one for Alt-tab, one for Mute), because Steam doesn't recognize them as new buttons, but as copies of already existing face buttons. I use mine to replace L3 and R3 and it's a game changer. Ever since I discovered the importance of not randomly moving the camera accidentally while desperately trying to target an enemy in Elden Ring by bashing R3 the 8BitDo controllers are my go-to. I now also use this two buttons to shift gears in Forza, so I'm pretty much hooked to back-buttons.
The esthetics of the Pro 2 are reminiscent of the SNES controller, but with handles. I find it to be a comfortable controller (I have pianist's hand: long but narrow fingers). The problem with the Pro 2 is that it uses a Nintendo setup for its buttons. While I already have ingrained in my head that A is south and B is east and don't need to look at the controller, my wife does have to look at the buttons, and going «A is B» is understandingly confusing. I sometimes give her the DualSense, but that's not much better. «O is B, X is A» helps no-one while gaming.
Enter the Ultimate 2.4g. This controller has the proper, God-approved, vetted by science layout that is A south, B east, X in the x-axis, Y in the y-axis. 8BitDo makes things confusing because they have 3 controllers under the «Ultimate» moniker: one is 2.4g, one is compatible with both Bluetooth, and one (the «C» is Bluetooth only. Both controllers that have Bluetooth compatibility have the heathen layout and a gyroscope, so they are Switch oriented— and, lets be fair, the Switch does need a third-party controller the most.
The 2.4 only version is the superior choice if you don't have a Switch (of if, like me, you seldomly use it). This is not only because of the layout, but because 2.4g is way faster and has better range than Bluetooth— specially if your PC, like mine, has already horrible antennas that are out of direct line of sight. The 2.4g dongle can be plugged in the front of the PC, or it these high-real-state places are already taken, it can be put inside the charger, and the charger plugged-in directly to the back of the PC via USB. This elegant solution makes good use of the room one might have to put the charger near the TV to double as a relay for the 2.4 receiver. This controller does feel as fast (I can't tell if it's faster than it's Bluetoothed contourpart), but is better in the sense than it never loses connection to my PC. The DualSense, by the way, is the one that most often loses connection; with the Pro 2, this happens once every 5 sessions; but with the Ultimate, it's very stable.
Since for the Bluetooth capabilities one will pay a premium, I think 8BitDo makes it seem that the Ultimate with is the better choice when compared to the 2.4g. But, in reality, if one can get away with plugging in the dongle, like I can with my PC or my Steam Deck's stand, 2.4g is the superior standard.
The Ultimate has off-set joysticks, which are usually preferable since the left thumb is more comfortable going straight up; it has actual buttons in lieu of membrane buttons for the «Select» and «Start» buttons, which I do prefer; the back grip is corrugated, and has a very nice feel to it. The back triggers are stiffer than those of the Pro 2, too. On the negative side, it's a tad narrow. My wrists rest more naturally when holding the Pro 2, but for the off-set joystick, I'm willing to concede wrist comfort over thumb comfort.
I don't know if this is actually a thing, but when playing with my wife we used to get a lot of disconnections, and I'm guessing this was due to the Bluetooth being confused by too many controllers. Now that one is 2.4g, it does seem to be more stable, though in theory the Bluetooth standard should be able to handle two controllers easily. But my antenna might not know the standard, however, because it really is sub-par; it's whatever antenna comes with the NZXT N7 B550 motherboard.
Anyways, 2.4g has 3x the range, 1/5 the latency, 4x the polling rate and is less prone to interference. If you are just going to connect your controller to one device, the 8BitDo is all you need, and at £40, it's greatly priced.
Imagen vía Amazon