AYN Odin Best Hall Effect Joystick

With the recent release of hall effect joystick replacement parts for the Switch, it’s a great time to upgrade your joysticks to eliminate drift forever.

If you decide to replace your joysticks, be sure to check out my AYN Odin Joystick Replacement Guide

Initially there was only the Gulikit Hall Effect joysticks which were released in late 2022 but more recently, Retroid has also released their own joysticks for the Retroid Pocket 3+ as well which are also much cheaper than the Gulikit joystick.

This begs the question, which is the best Hall Effect joystick for your AYN Odin?

Why should I replace my AYN Odin joysticks?

I have had an AYN Odin since the second batch of the initial release and I absolutely love it. My only issue however was that after 3 months of moderate use, the right joystick started to always register a pull to the right. This is what is known as joystick drift and is a fairly common problem with Switch joysticks.

Since AYN opted to use an off the shelf part with their joysticks from the Switch joycon, it means that the replacement parts are easy to find and plentiful.

So I ordered a decent joycon joystick replacement off of Amazon. When they arrived a few days later, I opened up my Odin and swapped out the joysticks with the new pair. Everything was working great again.

And then, 4 months later, the new joysticks started to drift as well. I figured that this was just going to have to be a regular maintenance chore that I would have to do every few months.

Luckily for me, around this time Gulikit dropped their Hall Effect joysticks onto Amazon and so I snatched them up right away and installed them.

Initially I didn’t have any problems with the new joysticks but that didn’t last long as you will see.

Using the Gulikit Hall Effect Joysticks

Pros

The Gulikit joysticks feel great. They are slightly taller than the stock joysticks and also have a bigger, removable cap. This removable cap could, in theory, be replaced with joystick extenders or other custom caps in the future.

The hall effect joysticks felt a bit more precise and had a bit of a resistance to them which made them feel a bit stiffer to push which I liked as it helped me aim in first person shooter games.

Cons

The problem with the joystick presented it self pretty quickly however. Every time I pulled on the left analogue trigger, it would register a slight movement in the left joystick.

Many people speculate that this has to do with the magnet in the left trigger interfering with the magnets in the joystick as the trigger is right behind the joystick on the left side.

Over time, this also seemed to cause the left joystick not completely re-centre when it wasn’t being touched.

Most emulators could have a deadzone set to ignore this but some games would still have my character slowly walking while not touching the joystick as a result of this issue.

Retroid Hall Effect Joysticks arrive on the scene

Around the time that I finally had enough of the issue, Retroid released their own version of joysticks which uses the hall effect.

Pros

The Retroid Hall Effect joysticks are much cheaper then the Gulikit ones. They use the same hall effect to (hopefully) eliminate drift forever and also feel more precise than the stock joystick.

Most importantly however, they don’t seem to have the same issue with the left trigger pull!

Cons

The Retroid Hall Effect joysticks are shorter than the Gulikit ones but are about the same size as the stock joystick.

They also have a smaller cap than the Gulikit hall effect joystick.

Should I replace my stock AYN Odin joysticks?

The hall effect joysticks are more precise and have essentially no deadzone so if you plays a lot of games that require precise movements, this upgrade may be worth it. The increase in precision though feels like it is only maybe 15-20% better. So, better? YES but it’s not by a huge margin.

So, should you replace your joysticks? This is honestly going to be a personal preference. If you don’t have any issues with your current stock joysticks then you could always just keep them. Why fix what ain’t broke, right?

However, it is likely that you will encounter the dreaded joystick drift at some point and when you decide to replace those joysticks, why not consider a hall effect joystick?

Which Hall Effect joystick should I get for my AYN Odin?

For me personally after having tested both, the issue with the interference with the left trigger pull is a deal breaker for me and so I have to pick the Retroid Hall Effect sticks as the best Hall Effect joystick for the AYN Odin currently.

If you decide to replace your joysticks, be sure to check out my AYN Odin Joystick Replacement Guide

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