SCUF Nomad Mobile Gaming Controller Review

How Much Does it Cost?

The SCUF Nomad Mobile Gaming Controller is available from Amazon in black or white to suit your taste for just £99.99, which is about on par with other big name rivals, such as the Backbone, Razer, Turtle Beach and a few others, albeit there are a bunch of budget solutions for less than half that, but from my own experience, they’re largely hot garbage.

Overview

Corsair buying up SCUF has obviously been a great move for them, as it’s filled in a gap in their massive peripheral market to cover PC, console and now mobile gaming under one banner. SCUF are a solid brand with a great reputation, and I’ve been playing with their peripherals on and off for over a decade and nothing but good things to say about them.

The Nomad doesn’t really offer any innovation, which isn’t all that surprising, as they’re more trying to meet an existing demand, rather than create a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist yet. It’s a controller for your mobile, so it simply needs to be a good quality game controller. With the prestige of SCUF and the backing of Corsair, it’s got the premium quality look and feel you would expect, and to a standard that justifies the premium price tag too.

The hall effect sticks are pretty light and have a long throw, which felt a bit strange at first, but being able to tune their response curves and dead zones is a nice addition. I managed to actually win a game on Call of Duty on my first try, so really, they’re obviously pretty decent. The fact that they’ll never suffer from stick drift is a welcome bonus too, giving you confidence in the controllers life span.

I like how easy it is to dock your phone and pair the controller. A tricky setup can be a real drag when you just want to sneak in a few games, but honestly, it’s pretty swift to get going. There are multiple profiles too, so you can toggle between customisation options for different types of games, or even just for multiple users who play differently.

Should I Buy One?

The NOMAD is stylish, durable, well made, lightweight, easy to setup and has long battery life, making it very easy to live with. The mobile app is decent, and hopefully will get better with future updates to add things like external games, but really is still better than all the other similar apps I’ve used in the past. With 16 hours of battery life, it’s unlikely to run out on longer journeys, making it a great accessory for those who want to use it for long journeys.