39% of 109 verified Pro 3owners don't recommend it — based on real owner comments from Reddit, enthusiast forums, and YouTube.
For balance: 50% recommend it. This page collects the complaints so you know what you're signing up for — read the full owner report for both sides. How we score
“I find them so loud”— loltum on Reddit
“I am consistently distraught at how loud mine is.”— PotatoMan0410 on Reddit
“Yeah lots of false diagonals. Sensitive d-pad.”— HighlightDowntown966 on Reddit
“I wanted to love the Pro 3, but the D-pad was an atrocity. Pressing a pure direction too hard giving a diagonall 100% of the time made me wonder if anyone even tested the design.”— rynoweiss on Reddit
“I actually found the d-pad so incredibly stiff that I could only get diagonals by pushing way harder than I normally do. It was effectively useless for fighting games as a result”— PookAndPie on Reddit
“coloured buttons set are one-piece things and trash quality, I barely used this controller, and they had cracks anyway and green buttons just fall apart by itself in the box”— Desperate-Coffee-996 on Reddit
“My L2 trigger started acting on its own... quite disappointed :( Gamepad Tester is showing the value changes from 0.00 to 0.01 intermittently, which is enough to make some games unplayable.”— xFarrokh on Reddit
“I am selling it - I just really dislike the hard clackiness of the face buttons and the D pad. It’s also giving me an insane amount if false diagonals in Celeste.”— Mythbuster7 on Reddit
“Fine but I stopped using it a couple days ago as I got another Tarantula pro, which out of the box is superior in every way for competitive rocket league.”— Hungry_Freaks_Daddy on Reddit
“Was playing Mega Man 6 last night with this controller and realized how often I was missing inputs on the dpad, or hitting more directions then expected.”— serotoninzero on Reddit
“I returned 3 pro controllers. Had varying issues with the trigger stops between the 3 and the dpads all dropped inputs when quickly changing direction.”— Ghanni on Reddit
“Pro 3 made my hands cramp.”— Fiv3Score on Reddit
Not complaints — practical notes from owners that didn't affect the score.
“Well, worn out membranes is normal, should take years of casual gameplay or at least 1 year under warranty with very intense daily gameplay, and they are easy to replace unlike mechanical buttons.”— Desperate-Coffee-996 on Reddit
“Just so you’re aware, the joystick inclusions aren’t part of the normal package. They’re added by some Amazon sellers as incentives to buy from their stores.”— ruiner9 on Reddit
“Newer revisions of the 8bitdo Pro 3 come with thin rubber lining inside the shell, between the shell itself and button. That helps mask the noise that was present with the first version of the controller.”— FoulTarnishedOne on Reddit
“With what's under it, it looks like those 3 lil cylinders take most of the force and if you get your finger lower on the trigger it puts the majority of it on that one that broke. Seems like a shit design.”— Solherb on Reddit
“That's correct, all of the controller's features in D-input mode are supported by Steam Input, including the back buttons independently and gyro. Everything can be mapped to whatever you want in Steam Input.”— FireCrow1013 on Reddit
“That's what 3D printing is for. I suspect, however, that it is not the pivot, but rather those little protrusions that press on the domes that are the problem on the original design.”— FiestaMcMuffin on Reddit
“Ah okay, please let me know if it helps in any way! Might have to try it myself - thanks. I seen this video, he does the fix at 16:30 ish, I may try this first. https://youtu.be/Wl-rUmpqdKo”— loltum on Reddit
“The sticks on the entire SN30 lineup are incredible slippery, I put the skull and co stick toppers on, all 3 sizes (OEM style, to the FPS tall) have clearance on the Pro 3 and fit perfectly.”— RitzNBitz on Reddit