I Cut His Cord and He Still Loves Me

As any married woman knows, men love toys. My husband is no different and spends a good two hours every night on the PC and another two on his PS2. Between the PC, the PS2, my laptop, and assorted electronics, we have wires everywhere! This was fine when it was just the two of us. But once our little angel started crawling about the living room we needed a change.

My husband insisted he'd run everything through the basement so all the wires would be down there. But waiting for that to happen would be like waiting for him to stop playing games. So when he suggested buying a wireless controller for his PS2, I jumped at the idea of having one less wire in the way.

There were a couple of wireless choices at Best Buy but this was the most expensive (at $29.99 it was still affordable). Despite my frugal nature, I bought it because I was told to "not buy any cheap knock-off" and was happy to see the PlayStation logo on the package. Since then, I've seen it online for less. This controller is compatible with both the PlayStation 1 and PS2 platforms. Although it doesn't call it "dual shock" like Sony does, it does have a vibration function and does have digital/analog control.

The package contained one cordless controller, a 2.4 GHz receiver, 2 AA batteries, and instruction manual. Set up was a breeze. The receiver plugs into the controller slot in the front of the PS2, the batteries pop right into the controller, and that's it. We now have our PS2 inside an entertainment unit (yes, we got rid of more wires from the floor) and my husband was a little worried that the glass door would effect the controller. But he's noticed no difference.

The controller itself is heavier than the normal PS2 controller, probably about double its weight. It's more rounded and reminds me a little of the GameCube controller minus the middle piece. My husband's very happy with it. He insists there's no difference between his corded and cordless controllers. Although he does admit that the Logitech controller took a little getting used to as does any new device. The directional and shape keys are all in the same spots, but the R and L buttons are ever so slightly shifted back because of the more rounded design. All of the keys are very accessible and the rounded shape does fit my hands (and my husband's) better. For a small child it may be a little clunky because of the added weight and the slightly wider grips.

My daughter's dropped the controller several times and it still works fine. There was one time when it seemed to not respond, but as soon as my husband reset his PS2 it was fine. That hasn't happened since. We bought rechargeable batteries to use with this controller. We've had it for about 3 months now and we're still on our first set of rechargeables.

My one concern over buying a cordless PS2 controller was about the extra radio waves or what-have-you flying through my living room and causing who knows what sort of irreparable damage to my family's brains. But my husband, being the practical engineer he is, reassured me that there are plenty of waves flying through there anyway because of all of the outside transmissions. So one more shouldn't hurt.

One side effect of buying this controller is that now my husband likes to sit at the desk in our bedroom while still playing PS2 in the living room. So now I've lost usage of the living room TV, the PC, and the bedroom TV!

All in all, this was a great purchase. I have one less wire on the floor. My husband can still play his PS2 (and now he can do it from one room away). Our daughter has one less wire to trip over. And she doesn't have a wire to tug at while my husband's in the middle of a crucial play on Madden 2K6.