Regular readers of my reviews will no doubt be well aware that I'm real picky about my input devices. After all, that's why I do these reviews. It's not just mice and keyboards that I'm particularly persnickety about, though; I'm picky about my pads, too. Today, the test subject under the lights is SteelSeries' Stratus XL wireless controller.

The Stratus XL is a Bluetooth gamepad with 11 buttons, two triggers, a directional pad, and two analog sticks. Savvy readers will note that this is the exact same configuration as a standard Xbox or PlayStation controller from the last few generations of consoles. In fact, the layout of the controller takes cues from both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 controllers. The sticks are in the center, PlayStation-style, while the face buttons are more Xbox-ian in their arrangement.