Handheld PCs & Peripherals Valve Steam Controller Review | Latency Benchmarks, Battery Life, Repairability May 1, 2026 Last Updated: 2026-05-01 We tested Valve’s Steam Controller for latency performance, wireless and bluetooth range and response, battery life, charge time, and more The Highlights Valve’s 2026 follows the company’s 2015 controller and mimics the controls on the Steam DeckIf you just like playing games with a controller, there's no specific reason to get a Steam ControllerThe Steam Controller’s assembly and ease of access are greatOriginal MSRP: $100Release Date: May 4, 2026 Table of Contents AutoTOC Grab a GN Soldering & Project Mat for a high-quality work surface with extreme heat resistance. These purchases directly fund our operation, including our build-out of the hemi-anechoic chamber for our acoustic testing! (or consider a direct donation or a Patreon contribution!) Intro Valve’s Steam Controller launches on May 4th, and today, we’re testing it. In our latency testing, the Steam Controller performed impressively with Valve’s included puck and when wired. We also tested charge time, battery life, and we made a custom 3D animation to try and better understand TMR thumbsticks. These are Valve’s tunnel magnetoresistance sticks, which we spent a few days studying to try and understand why they’re supposed to be so good. Editor's note: This was originally published on April 27, 2026 as a video. This content has been adapted to written format for this article and is unchanged from the original publication. Credits Test Lead, Host, Writing Steve Burke Testing, Writing Patrick Lathan Camera, Video Editing Vitalii Makhnovets Camera, 3D animation Andrew Coleman Writing, Web Editing Jimmy Thang The animation by Andrew on the team makes that easier. In addition to the testing, we spent a lot of time just playing games with Valve’s new Steam Controller, and we’ve even torn it down in this video here. And the controller is highly repairable, which is awesome