General Discussion

[color=cadetblue]I've been looking into getting a switch for about a month now, and I thought I had decided on which one I want (og or lite) but I wanted to do some more digging and now I'm questioning if I should even get one. The reports of drifting still happening 3 years after release are making me pretty indecisive, so I decided to come here and ask since a chunk of the fr players seem to play ACNH. How common is it, and how badly does it effect gameplay? Has Nintendo been good about replacements? Is it more common in the Lite vs the V2 Switch? Buying replacement thumbsticks is an option for me, as some folks in my family are very tech-oriented, but do those wear out just as much? Any info would be greatly appreciated, thank you! [emoji=nautilus size=1]

mine did start to drift slightly after a few months and it was kinda fine for a while and even disappeared on its own ??? but then a while after the drift just came back in full force and now i wont let myself play any more mario maker 2 cause i just play speedrun levels and it seems especially bad here. also my dad cleaned it with a qtip and alcohol and that did nothing as far as i could tell
but is getting a pro controller an option for you? if so you should prob consider gettin that

@PixelSpiral
I'm sorry you can't play Mario Maker anymore, that stinks.
Are pro controllers less likely to drift? I've heard mention of them in conversation, but I don't know if its worth it if they're still at risk

I think the original, not lite, is a better option. Lite the controllers are built in, original they aren't, so if they do drift you can swap them out or have them repaired by nintendo.

I've not had any issue with my switch drifting though, I have two set of the joycons and a pro controller for about two years now? Something around there.

i have a v1 switch that i bought a few months after launch. both of my joycons started drifting horribly after only ~3 months of use and it makes ACNH almost unplayable. probably has something to do with the fact that i let them collect dust for a while but still. i don't bother doing much in AC besides talk to villagers because trying to terraform/plant flowers/hit rocks etc. with a drifting left joycon is incredibly frustrating.

i don't have a switch lite but i've seen plenty of reports of them drifting too, sometimes straight out of the box. afaik there's no major hardware differences between the normal switch sticks and the lite ones so i'm gonna assume it's still an issue. same thing with the pro controller.

most of the time the problem is dust/debris getting under the contacts, you can fix that by spraying some wd-40 contact cleaner under the rubber flaps of each stick (but be careful since the joycon contacts are very delicate). if that doesn't work you'll probably need to send them in for repair, which nintendo does for free. still annoying to repair them every 2-3 months but it's better than buying replacements.

imo it's still a great console and i'd absolutely recommend getting one, repairs for drift are free and you can usually prevent it by taking good care of your joycons. still a huge problem and nintendo really should have fixed it by now but i wouldn't let it dissuade you from buying one entirely.

@DalphiaRose
That's a shame, the lite looks much better visually imo. It's great that you've had no issues tough! I'll just have to cross my fingers. Thank you very much for your input!

@Lewyn
It's a shame that it's still an issue tbh. Nintendo's quality has always been pretty good, I'm sad that 3 months is about as good as it's going to get currently. And it's even worse if people have had issues right out of the box for lites- That's kind of crazy.
Regardless, I'll most likely still get one; I'm just going to have to decide which one is the lesser of two evils. Thank you so much for your input!

Drifting is still pretty common. Even with the Lite's, I've seen examples and sources of drifting with new consoles out of the box. I would be concerned with a Switch Lite as its not as easy as just taking the joycons off and using a new pair. I don't know how the frame looks if it was easy to just swap parts out on your own.

Part of the problem that causes drift is day to day use. There's a pad on the inside under the joystick (relaying information and such) that accumulates debris that are rubbed off with friction. It's like a form of small particulate dust. **I'm not sure if this has been changed or fixed since.** But it does in some way contribute to causing this major problem down the line.
The other problem is how easy it is for outside dust and debris to get inside. Even though the flaps cover most of the opening around the joystick, it doesn't matter. Some cleaning on the outside from time to time can help but when mine started acting up I used a small amount of WD-40 to remedy the problem (after updating and calibrating) and it worked like a charm for me. I would still be using that same pair of joycons if it wasn't for the fact that they were just worn out by all the hours I was playing on my switch, around 2.5k+ hours. Something that is more aggravating is them not connecting properly or at all but so far I've been one of few with this problem. Its not as much of a major concern. Besides Nintendo will do free repairs for drift or other related Joy con repairs. It shouldn't come to this but at least it doesn't cost any extra money.

Everything sounds negative but I would still recommend a Switch. It's been my main console for over three years. Also the pro controllers are of better quality (imo). I have two myself that I've had just as long as the Switch has been released

I've had my normal Switch since December and haven't had this issue, I don't know if newer switches are better with drifting or not

I've had my Switch since it launched back in 2017. Drifting, while it does occur on occasion, has never been much of a problem for me at all. I play rather frequently and have never encountered a situation where drifting was an issue. Usually, if my joy-con starts drifting, I just slip it back into the Switch/take it out and put it back in, and problem solved. Of course, that wouldn't be possible with the lite, so I think I'd have to recommend the original. However, I don't own/don't know anybody who owns a Lite, so maybe take that with a grain of salt.

In terms of gameplay, no. Drifting hasn't been an issue at all, because when it does happen, most - if not all- of the games I own for the Switch have a pause/menu option (for example, hitting X in a pokemon game to go to your bag, etc.) that allows you the time to right your joy-cons before resuming again. If a game doesn't have that, you could always hit the main menu button, which functions similarly to that of the 3DS in that it allows you to temporarily suspend the game without closing it.

All in all, I 100% recommend getting a Switch. It's such a versatile console with so many fantastic games! I personally don't find drifting to be a huge problem and it's very infrequent with my own Switch, and I doubt it would end up impacting your gameplay at all.

[quote name="Leisurely" date="2020-05-28 16:52:09" ] @ PixelSpiral I'm sorry you can't play Mario Maker anymore, that stinks. Are pro controllers less likely to drift? I've heard mention of them in conversation, but I don't know if its worth it if they're still at risk [/quote] i probably could actually but its kinda g onnna be tedious with speedrun levels weirdly enough it doesnt affect me as much in rayman legends another fast paced 2d platformer so ??? i havent heard of procon drifts nearly as much so