Why I buy this one ?
- 30 feet of unblockable wireless range
- Stylish docking station acts as a storage stand and charging unit, conveniently powered by the same USB port
- Integral LCD screen indicates battery life and keypad features at a glance
- Two analog joysticks with built-in buttons
- 2 quick fire shoulder triggers, 8-way D-pad, 6 responsive buttons

What our customer's say!

"Great idea with serious flaws", Saitek has a very good idea, overall. Unfortunately, there are some serious flaws with the gamepad. Wireless distance is one; I don't believe I ever experienced half of the 30 foot range they advertise. This isn't a big deal unless you're intending to sit across the room from the PC (as in a gaming system hooked up to a TV).

The issue that ends the usefulness of this gamepad, however, is battery life. If it does use NiMH batteries, then there is either a problem with "quick charging" it constantly, as the base does, or a flaw in the construction. It simply stopped holding a charge after a month or two of use; both batteries would trigger a light in the base, yet neither worked in the gamepad, no matter how long I let them charge.


"love it", i was amazed to see that this has such a bad rep. ive used mine for about a year now with no problems at all. i mean none. but at least now i know what to do if my battery starts acting up. i did also have the thing where characters ran in a circle, but only after starting a game with the pad asleep. not a problem at all. take both thumb sticks and circle them full around a few times fast and the pad wakes back up and recenters. also as someone already said, the programing software for this thing is awesome. you can do most anything on your comp with this. even use it as a remote to open specific apps that have shotcuts mapped to them and then use the sticks as a mouse. i use it in conjunction with my media center remote and surf from the couch.

i had a great experience with this product.

hmmm... sucks to be you. hahaha

"The batteries WILL break. Here is the solution", Saitek made an interesting battery operated wireless game pad. I like how one charges while the other one is being used so that you always have power. The problem is that the batteries can get loose inside the battery holder or that they have a problem with being overcharged. If your batteries stop working, you can get a free replacement from saitek but while you are waiting, you should just open the battery holder. Stick a small flat head screw driver into the front part of the battery. (The part that has three metal parts)Stick the screw driver on the upper left and upper right part of the battery. ( Where it curves) Open up the battery. Inside are two smaller batteries that look like short AA batteries. You can go to a dollar store and get 12V alkaline replacements or if you are not lucky, a more expensive store like radio shack. Now you can get back to playing games! If you don't want to go through all this, just don't buy this gamepad.

"Saitek P3000 Wireless Game Pad", In the box this thing comes with your standard paperwork, a CD with the drivers, the usb "docking station" that charges the batteries and receives the rf signal, the controller and two rechargeable batteries. Out of the box one of these batteries didn't work at all. Plugging it into the charger would not turn on the charging light and plugging it into the controlled would not power it. The other battery seemed to work fine and for a time (about 4 days) this controller did its job very well. After a couple of charges, however, the second battery went the way of the first.

I have called their tech support and they should be sending me new batteries shortly. Assuming that this solves my problem I have no other complaints about this controller. It plays my emulated console games rather well will full analog functionality (when it had power that is). If I hadn't had this battery problem this pad would have got 4 or 5 stars.

"Shoulda read the reviews", I got two of these as a gift and right out of the box I had problems with them.

I've owned 2 P880's (the corded versions of this controller) for over 2 years now and they are great, the included software for Saitek controllers is brilliant as well. The controllers are well designed and fit comfortably in my hands, they're like the perfect balance of Playstation and XBox size. The only downside is that they only have 1 shoulder button instead of 2, but you get used to that.

So why not go wireless?
Well the only reason I wouldn't recommend these is that the batteries are very poorly designed. Saitek has even recocgnized this on their site and will ship you a free pair of batteries. I got mine a couple weeks ago.
However that still wont solve the problem and like most reviewrs I've tried and tried to get these pads to work with little to no avail.
The individual battery packs actually contain 2 batteries inside; one for the wireless connection and one for the controller display.
The problem is that if one baterry is full when the other is not the charger will not continue to charge the drained battery. so while you may get a display on the controller, you wont get a connection to the PC or vis versa.

There is no easy solution to this problem either. The user must find a way to drain the batteries without damaging the battery pack and hope that they stay in sync after that (which is very unlikely).

If you really like Saitek (like me) I'd wait for a newer model of wireless controllers. Till then stick with the cords or go with a different brand.

As of this date Saitek has seemingly started to release newer versions of their game pads so hopefully there's a more functional version out there soon if its not out already.

Be warned that the 2.4GHz version of this pad is prone to the same problems.

Read this reviews before You buy...

"This one's a dud.", I love the Saitek 880 wired gamepad. So I figured the wireless would be that much better. Unfortunately, my next purchase will be another wired pad to ensure no problems. There's nothing worse than the few times I really need two gamepads that the wireless one poops out. I bought this and the batteries died. I sent Saitek an e-mail and they sent me two new ones. Great, they worked! Then they died soon after. Hopefully their new wireless, which runs on one AA battery will not have any issues. However, this one's a dud.

"Problems", After 3 days of having this controller, it already started to have problems. The docking station would not pick up charges from the battery anymore making my controller useless. For the amount of money I spent, I am very disappointed.

"Great feel, one prob", I love the feel of this gamepad...after trying several others this is the best. The wireless works ok, i was 20 feet away and it was working.The batteries are what needs improving according to many posts. I thought i had a dead battery but it ended up being a bad connection inside. With a small screwdriver pushed up through the bottom can take apart the battery case. on the positive side of each battery there are two small pieces of plastic. you just need to push these down so the battery has a better chance of connectiing. i also found new batteris at interstate battery store, 1 dollar each. The analog sticks could be a little tighter, but i like the d pad. wireless is great!

"Buyer Beware", I've gone through three of these, and they all had the same problems. A quick view of these reviews and reviews on CircuitCity's website shows the same problems. What makes it even worse is you'll see threads stating the same issues on Saitek's support forums, with their main support guy vehemently denying that there are problems with this gamepad.

The batteries are cheap. They're often dead out of the box (meaning they can't take a charge). They die with minimal use. If you fully charge them too often, the charger kills the batteries.

The analog sticks have a LARGE dead zone, and suffer from calibration issues. The dead zone seems to have been thrown in to hide the calibration issues, so you'd have to hold the stick all the way in one direction to get any response. However, even with that, each stick seems to pull in a direction by default, due to the calibration issues.

I've heard of problems with their range (earlier models were 900mhz, newer ones are 2.4ghz, I own a 900mhz). To be honest, I got mine responding fine about 25 feet away. So while others may have had issues here, I had none.

The main reason to buy a Saitek over, say, a Logitech had to be the grip. Unlike Logitech, this gamepad doesn't feel like a PS2 controller. Personally, I never liked the Playstation brand controllers, so that was the main selling point for me. However, in terms of functionality, I wish I'd have gone with the Logitech.

If you're looking for a gamepad, please follow my advice. First, decide if you want wired or wireless. If you're hooking up your PC to your televison and playing across the living room, then maybe wireless is for you. However, if you're just playing at your PC, please just get a wired controller. Due to the way the base station has to be plugged in, it's practicly the same anyway.

After that, go to CC or Best Buy and FEEL the controllers. The main advantage of a Saitek over Logictech, for example, is that Saitek's don't feel like PS2 controllers. If you love the PS2 style, get a Logitech. If you can't stant the PS2, consider a Saitek or Thrustmaster.

If you do decide on a wireless controller, do NOT buy this one. It has nothing but flaws.

"Forget rumble and wireless, work on making a better D-pad!", 1: How many PC games out there use rumble/force feedback? I can't think of many, maybe Need for Speed or something. Vibration motors only add more weight to the controller.

2: Wireless just means time spent recharging. Besides, you're often in a chair right in front of your computer! Unless you've got great vision and a TV out card you don't NEED wireless.

3: The D-pad is poorly made: Saitek's making a new P990 model, adding two more L and R buttons but they're keeping their D-Pad, why? Because they said customers like it, hah! They obviously haven't read any of the reviews here. I'm afraid I'll snap mine. The diagonals make an annoying, loud popping sound too.

I'm NOT being forceful, I try to be as gentle as possible. Logitech's designs aren't much better. Saitek's D-pad is too raised and clunky, Logitech's D-pad is so recessed, its more like clicking a mouse button and diagonals are impossible.

Whatever happened to quality input methods that were rigorously tested? I miss the SNES "cross" d-pad, the Turbo Touch 360's "touch sensative panel" d-pad. And even the PS2 pad. There ARE adapters to let you turn SNES and Playstation to USB, but you can burn out the controller if it doesn't get correct voltage. I shouldn't HAVE TO go through such trouble.

Just make better D-pads you guys! Sure, you make your stuff for First Person Shooters, but the majority of folks buying these pads are emulation gamers looking for a way to play NES, SNES and Sega without always having to use their keyboards.

We're gamers as much as anyone else.