GameSir G7 SE review: Better than an official gamepad

The GameSir G7 SE is a fantastic controller, upgrading the original G7 with Hall Effect sensors. It makes for a significant upgrade to your Xbox gamepad, bringing heightened accuracy and a satisfying tactile experience for less than $50.

You will find an in-depth level of customization thanks to built-in hardware switches and shortcuts, which allow you to toggle features on the go. With the superb companion app, you can fine tune the G7 SE to your heart’s content, making this a great pick for high-performance users who want the most out of their gamepad.

The G7 SE is sadly held back, both in potential and in physicality, by being wired-only. The Eneba collaboration edition of the controller also has some drawbacks for the price that means you should stick to the standard edition of the gamepad. 

Despite this, the G7 SE is one of the best controllers I have used. At $44, it's only a few bucks more than barebones wired controllers like the HyperX Clutch Gladiate ($35), but with the extra bang for your buck you would expect from a truly premium gamepad.

Read on for my full GameSir G7 SE review.

GameSir G7 SE review: Cheat Sheet

• What is it? A Hall Effect Xbox controller.
• Who is it for? Those looking to upgrade their first party Xbox console controller, or start using a Hall Effect controller for their Windows PC.
• What does it cost? About average for a third party Hall Effect controller, retailing for $44. If you want to grab the Eneba limited edition controller, you’ll have to fork out $65.
• What do we like? It has a high quality build and feels like a premium peripheral, while the performance doesn’t disappoint thanks to Hall Effect triggers and thumbsticks.
• What don’t we like? The controller is sadly wired-only, and you should avoid spending extra on the limited edition Eneba version.

GameSir G7 SE review: Specs

GameSir G7 SE review: The ups

Effective out of the box, The G7 SE allows a good amount of customization to completely tailor your gaming experience, thanks to its accurate Hall Effect sensors and superb companion app.

Design

The G7 SE uses an asymmetrical thumbstick, Xbox-style layout — it is officially licensed, so you will spot the iconic Xbox logo button in the center. The overall shape of the controller is heavily influenced by the Xbox gamepad, with thick grips and a curved body that fits well into my hands. It is ergonomically designed and effortlessly comfortable, with the full spread of buttons being readily accessible from a natural grip

The build quality is superb, feeling a lot more like a premium controller than the GameSir T4 Kaleid ($42) by forgoing some of the cheaper feeling transparent plastic and opting instead for a higher quality plastic that feels great in the hand. Despite the low weight, the controller felt as substantive as any first-party controller I have used, and the mechanical parts all felt and sounded great to use.

The controller features back paddles, but — unlike the GameSir Kaleid ($49) and PowerA Moga XP7-X Plus ($99) — you are able to toggle these on or off using switches, positioned conveniently next to the paddles. If you’re anything like me and tend to tightly grip the controller in those tense situations, it's a handy feature to avoid accidental inputs.

Refreshingly, the G7 SE comes in a variety of fun colors, with my favorites being the Orange and Pink — an appreciated switch-up from the standard white and black commonly found on Xbox controllers. The model I used was the Eneba limited edition gamepad, which features a much more abstract and garish design that won’t be for everyone. Regardless, the G7 SE is a sleek-looking controller overall that suits a variety of colorways.

Companion App

I was able to fine-tune the performance of the G7 SE using the excellent GameSir Nexus companion app, which is available on Windows and Xbox via the Microsoft Store. It allows for customization of three profiles — pressing the “M” button in game, followed by any of the ABXY face buttons will allow you to switch between profiles on the fly, which is really handy. 

As with the GameSir Kaleid ($49) — which also uses the Nexus software — I was really impressed with the level of customization and adjustments you are able to make with the triggers and thumbsticks. You can adjust the range of the triggers, down to making them into binary “hair triggers” — the slightest input will register as a full press, essential for quick shooting in FPS games. 

On the thumbsticks, you can switch to a “Raw” input, which essentially changes the shape of the deadzone range from a circle to a more accurate depiction of the thumbstick radius. This indeed is more accurate, but I found it a little clunky to use as I had gotten used to the mechanics of the circular deadzone. I did, however, set up a separate profile with raw input enabled that I could toggle on the fly to test 

The G7 SE also features an adjustable report rate — essentially how rapidly the controller will send inputs to your console or PC. Like the GameSir T4 Kaleid ($42), the range of rates extend from the 125Hz you will see on a standard Xbox controller, up to GameSir’s recommendation of 500Hz. There’s also a 1,000Hz overclock mode which prevents usage of the 3.5mm aux port — don’t expect to use your headset with the controller if you enable this. I didn’t feel much of a difference over 500Hz when using the 1,000Hz rate, anyway, so I kept mine lower, although it's nice to see that the G7 SE caters well towards professional gamers who need every little advantage.

Gaming Performance 

Performing admirably no matter what I threw at it, the G7 SE earned full marks in-game and is one of the best wired controllers I have used.

I attempted a Legendary difficulty playthrough of the now 20 year old Halo 2 and the G7 SE blew me away with its performance.  Pressing the “M” button along with the right trigger allowed me to switch it to “hair trigger” mode, meaning that the slightest detected input would fire my weapon. This made all the difference in the split-second shots required to take out alien snipers before they got to me first. Snapping to their heads was easier than a standard analog thumbstick thanks to the accurate Hall Effect sensors, although I found that aiming was trickier than that of the PB Tails Crush Defender ($109), which features new “TMR” thumbsticks — basically a straight upgrade over HE sticks with greater accuracy for smaller movements.

Playing slightly more casual games was equally as satisfying — my favorite racing game on PC at the moment, “Nightmare Kart”, made good use of the face buttons of the gamepad. These are membrane, yet have a clickiness to them which provided good feedback — I much preferred these over the fairly mushy buttons on other controllers like my Sony Dualshock 4. 

Also of note: Steam was able to pick up my G7 SE without any issues, so the controller is truly plug and play, unlike the brief but annoying setup required on the PowerA Moga XP-7 Plus ($99). 

GameSir G7 SE review: The downs

The G7 SE is a great controller, and any problems I had while using it were very minor. The gamepad does, however, have its share of slight limitations. A USB wired connection is required, and the more-expensive Eneba limited edition is exactly that: quite limited.

Wired only

It was disappointing to see that the G7 SE has no wireless capabilities — although this kinda figures given its similar pricing to GameSir’s other wired pads (the Kaleid and T4 Kaleid), there are nevertheless many wireless controllers at this price point, so it can be done. The plastic edition of the PB Tails Crush Defender retails for the same price as the G7 SE and is fully wireless (while packing awesome TMR joysticks), but you will have to give up the suite of customization options. 

The controller does, however, make having a wired connection as painless as possible. The nearly 10-foot length should suit most small- to medium-sized lounge setups, and the braided cable is durable, light and flexible; complementing the already low overall weight of the controller. Being able to detach the cable also means there's still some of that wireless portability, too.

Eneba Version

You’ve probably noticed the fairly garish design of the Eneba edition of the G7 SE throughout this review — it’s a tie-in edition of the controller to a Lithuanian gray market game key reseller. This version nets you a “unique” color pattern along with a $5 voucher to be used on games, but comes at a steep $20 increase over the base version — so you’re still $15 down. This is an unjustifiably large increase, and despite it being a limited edition version, I can’t recommend anyone go out of their way to pick it up. I found the color scheme to be visually unappealing, and the lack of any actual performance improvements or features make it pretty pointless.

GameSir G7 SE review: Verdict

For a controller that's $10 cheaper than the standard Xbox Series X gamepad, the G7 SE offers more versatility and customization which rivals that of the Xbox Elite Series 2 ($159) at a fraction of the price.

If you only need a PC controller, but don’t care much for the customization aspects, you might want to consider the PB Tails Crush Defender ($109) instead — the TMR thumbsticks offer incredible accuracy straight out of the box, and wireless gameplay is much more convenient. And it goes without saying: avoid the Eneba edition, unless you are a big fan of the color scheme.

The G7 SE is one of the best controllers for PC and Xbox, and will be my go-to peripheral for PC gaming for the foreseeable future.