Machenike G5 Pro Max SE Review: Feature Packed That’s Affordable?

We’ve recently got our hands on the Machenike G5 Pro Max SE gamepad/controller where it touts some cool features while being at a affordable price tag. Is it worth your money? Let’s find out.

Machenike G5 Pro Max SE

If you weren’t aware, the company was established back in 2014, where not only do they produce gaming controllers but also other products such as gaming laptops, monitors, PCs, plus more.

Packaging

From the box, you can expect to get the G5 Pro Max SE itself, a USB Type-C cable, a 2.4GHz dongle, charging dock, stickers, as well as the manual to guide you, which is pretty much straightforward.

As you can see, the controller comes in an Xbox controller layout, where the left analog is situated higher than the right one. Talking about them, they are full hall effect joysticks, coming in with 500Hz rated polling rate.

The D-pad uses Kailh Tactile Switch and feels solid, where else the ABXY button use micro-switches. In case you didn’t notice, there’s a translucent magnet faceplate cover. As the the name suggest, you can opt to take it out should you not want it.

Moving on to the triggers, they’re hall effect triggers, where they claim to offer 255-step precision linearity, with 0% to 100% dead zone customization. You’ll also find there’s the back buttons at the edge of the middle on both sides. Right down in the middle is the toggle where you can switch between modes.

User Experience

When I picked up the controller for the very first time, I was pleasantly surprised. It doesn’t feel ‘cheap’, where it has some weight and feels solid, compared to some controllers that I’ve used in the past. It was a breeze to use as well, where you could simply use it on your PC by simply putting in the dongle (for wireless) to your port or the USB-C cable for wired connectivity.

Coming to the joysticks, if you are used to using a PlayStation controller, you will notice that the resistance on the G5 Pro Max SE to be low, where you don’t need much force to move it around. It did took me some time to get used to it since I was used to the former. It’s a minor detail but I feel like it’s worth mentioning. They feature hall-effect sensors which means they rely on magnets instead of physical parts that would naturally wear out over time. On paper, this is great as it’ll ensure that there would be no stick-drift issues even after prolong usage.

There’s a textured design at the back of each handle so it feels sturdy on the hands, which is nice for me as a person who has sweaty hands. When it comes to the buttons all around, they feel solid, there’s nothing wrong on that end.

Aesthetic wise, you won’t be getting any of that RGB sweet stuff, you’ll have to do with a simple light blue accent lights. There’s limitation in this aspect as there’s only a standard light mode plus a breathing mode. For the former, you can adjust the brightness of it to shutting it off completely.

If you’re wanting to use the controller for multiple platforms, you’re in luck as the Machenike G5 Pro Max SE is compatible to use not only on PC, Android smartphones, Nintendo Switch, as well as iPhone and Mac devices thanks to its 2.4GHz dongle, Type-C cable as well as Bluetooth functionality.

Heading to the battery side of things, they claimed that the controller has a battery life of 8 hours per charge but in our use case, we got nearly to 10 hours. It’s worth noting that light settings and vibrations would play a part in this, so if you want a longer gaming session, turn those off. Charging it is a breeze thanks to the charging dock that they’ve provided. I had no issues with it, it was simply put down the controller on it and you’re done. There’s no fiddling around involved.

There’s apparently an app for the controller that you can download on PC (which is found on their own website) but after installing it, I was rather let down by it. What you see from the picture is exactly what you get. There’s not much that you can do with it.

Hard To Argue

At the time of writing, the Machenike G5 Pro Max SE is priced at RM191 at their official Shopee store. That being said, you can get it a lower price when you use discount vouchers on the platforms, which we did at RM158 (including shipping). For the features and support that it offers, I feel like it’s totally worth the money, should you get it at the discounted price. Even better if you could get it lower than what we’ve mentioned.

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