you don't say this will be pad number 5

i got my money back and got a gravis pad instead

Never ever buy M$ products, now that's a rule. Oh, one more thing, don't ever buy saitek either, they suck! :)

me too, and the worst is after the third time i changed it, i ve lost my drivers,now i ve changed myself the d-button and i can t use this gamepad. No need to email to microsoft,the support for this product is no longer in use as they said...

My first Duel Strike broke. I got it replaced, and that broke. I eventually drilled down the plastic shaft and screwed the pad in place.

Cant u explain how u drill it cos i go six broke pads and maybe i can fix it or all six nice

I purchased one and used it for awhile,but I could never get it configured right. Do you think its better than the mouse?? What config do you use for UT, maybe I will try it again.

My dad gave me his cause he didn't like it. I used it once, and dumped it, cause, well, it kinda sucks. It's one awkward mofo.

I use to use this gamepad extensively myself. I went thru 2 Dual Strike controllers. With 1, the D pad broke off like it did to you. The other, the turning radius got broken where I couldn't turn right anymore. What pisses me off more is the fact that this controllers software won't even work "correctly" in Win2000 or WinXP. The "Key binding" software gets corrupted after awhile forcing to reinstall the joystick. Ever since I moved to XP I couldn't use this controller. It's a shame cause I have 2 sitting in my room. 1 in a brand new box still wrapped up too. In case the other one broke again. And since I am using XP and not Win9x/ME I can never use this controller again. Great support there MicroSoft........

i don't personally have one, but i know 2 people who have them, and both of them have the same problem, so i would say yes, there is a manufacturing defect.

some of you guys really like taking it up the a$$ from Microsoft, don't you? I mean, ok... 1 or 2 times I might let slip, but some of you guys have gone through 4, 5, 6, even 7 of these bloody things!! Uhm DUH!! Get a clue! Microsft isn't the only gamepad maker out there, don't be afraid of change! Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeesh! some people's children...

f@@k M@@@@@@@t they`r making more bug`s than solving

To drill your Duel Strike, you should do the following: 1 Take your pad apart 2 Glue the tophat pad onto the shaft, taking great care getting it perfectly aligned. 3 Find a self tapper or scew that will go down the shaft, and does not take up too much of the diameter of the shaft, 3 Drill a hole through the tophat and shalt with a drill bit with a diameter slightly smaller than diameter of the screw. 4 Carefully break the glue bond. 5 Put the pad back together. 6 CAREFULLY drive the screw through the tophat into the shaft paying particular attension to the alignment between the underside of the tophat and the recess in the pad. If you bog this bit up, you won't get the full range of movements with the tophat pad. Hope that's helpful

thanks

i use the dual strike and like it alot... it's one of the few controllers that has mouselook on it and it r0x!!... however the turning speed sucks sometimes and the lack of more buttons and no ergomic handles... i've gone through about 3 of them already cause of the damn D-pad breaking off and currently on my 4th... kinda annoying, but found a good deal on the microsoftshop.com store 1 year ago and bought 2 dual strikes for $20 w/ free shipping... unlike the orginal $50 price when it first came out... it's bogus that microsoft hasn't updated it's software for the dual strike controller in win2k/winxp... i get that same corruption in my winxo box after i reboot everytime... so i end up having to reinstall the dual strike software when i want to use it and have recently rebooted... sure it's annoying but it works... i keep the software cd in one of my cdrom drives permently so it's always there on hand.. :O) if some gaming pad company made something like the dual strike and it didn't break and had updated software i'd jump the bandwagon in a heartbeat... most controllers out there are the playstation type configuration with analog thumb mini-joystick and they blow goats for FPS or for targeting, or precision anything....

Microsoft know's there's a problem with the Dual strike so why don't fix it i've had 3 pads now the reason i like it coz it's easier to play fps game with this pad than anyother i've used.Great design crap build

I am on my 6th!!!! 6th!!!! 6th!!!!!!! intellimouse explorer, Ive had my current one for about 6 months now, so I guessed they fixed what was wrong with the old version, the usb cable would be come loose near the point it connects with the mouse. SUX, I asked the tech support guy if he could send me 2 so the next time it broke I wouldnt have to wait, he said no :(. Atleast they have lifetime warrantys!

Man i thougt i was the only one ..... i must have bought 7 or 8 up to now. thank god they dropped in price. Now i just open the last one up & built myself a custom direction stick to replace the one tht keeps breaking, not pretty but it works.

if you wanna fix up a broken d-pad real sweet-like, take one of the screws(the ones you don't need a screwdriver for) from a vga cable, or printer cable etc., preferably a short one(the screw, not the cable) and heat the metal end up nice and hot with a torch, or you can just jam a hot soldering pencil in about a half inch and get it all melted.(if you don't care about oxidizing your tip too much)then, shove that baby into the plastic until the thread on the screw disappears, while turning slightly clockwise, to ensure that the plastic envelops the screw completely and tightly. you might want to make sure that the screw is angled slightly towards you, as it is a bit higher than the original d-pad button, and may be difficult or uncomfortable to reach for those with shorter fingers. after the plastic cools and hardens nicely, voila! better than new. if you have sweaty fingers you might want to put a spot of grip tape on the tip, or score it a bit with a utility knife. what i did was to put the rubber tip from the plunger of a large syringe on it, along with some other rubber things that cover the whole plastic surface of the new stick. i don't recall where the rubber things came from(but i believe it was from the insides of a broken vcr), or what their original intended purpose was, but you probably can imagine what it looks like sort-of. wish i had my digital camera so i could show you what it looks like. now the only problem i have with the thing is that the handle's left-right axis doesn't do f***-all in windows xp.

here it is again, where it may get seen: if you wanna fix up a broken d-pad real sweet-like, take one of the screws(the ones you don't need a screwdriver for) from a vga cable, or printer cable etc., preferably a short one(the screw, not the cable) and heat the metal end up nice and hot with a torch, or you can just jam a hot soldering pencil in about a half inch and get it all melted.(if you don't care about oxidizing your tip too much)then, shove that baby into the plastic until the thread on the screw disappears, while turning slightly clockwise, to ensure that the plastic envelops the screw completely and tightly. you might want to make sure that the screw is angled slightly towards you, as it is a bit higher than the original d-pad button, and may be difficult or uncomfortable to reach for those with shorter fingers. after the plastic cools and hardens nicely, voila! better than new. if you have sweaty fingers you might want to put a spot of grip tape on the tip, or score it a bit with a utility knife. what i did was to put the rubber tip from the plunger of a large syringe on it, along with some other rubber things that cover the whole plastic surface of the new stick. i don't recall where the rubber things came from(but i believe it was from the insides of a broken vcr), or what their original intended purpose was, but you probably can imagine what it looks like sort-of. wish i had my digital camera so i could show you what it looks like. now the only problem i have with the thing is that the handle's left-right axis doesn't do f***-all in windows xp.