PS5 controller drifting: why it happens, and the Hall-effect stick option
The character walks on its own, the camera turns: stick drift affects every controller sooner or later. The real question is whether it has to come back.
A DualSense joystick measures the stick position with two potentiometers: a wiper sliding on a carbon resistive track. With every movement the wiper wears the track. After a few hundred hours the track reports a wrong value even at rest, and the console thinks you are pushing the stick. Contact sprays and recalibration only buy a few weeks.
Two ways to repair
The classic stick: a new module identical to the original, desoldered and resoldered on the controller board. The cheaper repair, and it gives back a controller as new, with the same lifespan as at purchase.
The Hall-effect stick: instead of potentiometers, a magnet and a magnetic sensor. Nothing rubs, nothing wears: the stick can no longer drift. It costs a little more, but it is the right choice if you play a lot or if this is already the second time.
One stick or both?
If only one drifts and the controller is recent, we change only that one. On a controller over two years old, changing the pair avoids coming back six months later. Prices are shown per stick and per pair on the prices page, for DualSense, DualShock 4, Xbox controllers and Joy-Con.
The repair takes under an hour by appointment; by post, a controller travels very well in a simple padded envelope.
Also worth reading
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