ZD Ultimate Legend Black - Every difference vs the white — Transcript

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1. 0:00ZD have released a new black edition of
2. 0:02[music] their hugely popular Ultimate
3. 0:04Legends series. It's available now on
4. 0:07their official site for around $100,
5. 0:09[music] and for an extra $20, you get
6. 0:11the charging dock. When I first started
7. 0:14this channel, I made a video about the
8. 0:16original Ultimate Legend describing it
9. 0:18as almost perfect, and I've been using
10. 0:21it regularly ever since. [music] ZD sent
11. 0:24me this unit to review. And inside the
12. 0:26box, you'll find the controller, USB
13. 0:28cable, four extra D-pads, [music]
14. 0:31switch layout, ABXY, a button puller,
15. 0:34and a module [music] installation guide.
16. 0:37My package included the charging dock
17. 0:39and two black JS13 Pro modules. In
18. 0:42today's video, I'll cover the
19. 0:44differences between the Black Edition
20. 0:46and the White, [music] what it does
21. 0:48well, where it still needs improvement,
22. 0:50and my overall feelings on the Black ZD
23. 0:53Ultimate Legend.
24. 0:59[music]
25. 1:01Obviously, the biggest and most
26. 1:03important upgrade on this controller is
27. 1:05the removal of all the unnecessary
28. 1:07writing across the body. While we
29. 1:09appreciate the reminders that yes, this
30. 1:11is the D-pad and those are the buttons
31. 1:14and that is the energy pipeline, I'm
32. 1:17sure I can speak for most of us when I
33. 1:19say we appreciate the more minimal look.
34. 1:22The black aesthetic [music]
35. 1:23looks clean and the whole controller
36. 1:25looks more integrated like a one piece
37. 1:27design rather than having a clearly
38. 1:29defined front and back like on the white
39. 1:31edition. The shape remains identical to
40. 1:34the white version and weighs in around
41. 1:36300 g, which is on the heavy side, but
42. 1:38not too much. The weight is largely due
43. 1:41to the six rumble motors. There's two in
44. 1:44the triggers, [music] two asymmetric in
45. 1:46the handles, and two more HD. The rumble
46. 1:49is fantastic [music] and probably some
47. 1:51of the best I've felt. It's definitely a
48. 1:53large size controller, more suitable for
49. 1:55medium to large hands, but overall it's
50. 1:58a very comfortable shape for most
51. 1:59players.
52. 2:02If this is the first time you've come
53. 2:04across this controller, [music]
54. 2:05one of the biggest selling points is its
55. 2:07modularity, meaning you're able to
56. 2:09switch out joystick modules quickly and
57. 2:11easily when new joystick technology
58. 2:14releases. This saves you having to
59. 2:16solder in new joysticks or having to buy
60. 2:18a whole new controller just for the new
61. 2:20tech, but it has come with some issues
62. 2:22[music] in the past. The first batch of
63. 2:25Ultimate Legends had an issue with the
64. 2:27connection between the module and the
65. 2:28housing it sits in. The workaround
66. 2:31involved applying a sticker to make the
67. 2:33connection more secure, and batch 2 had
68. 2:35this sticker pre-installed to avoid any
69. 2:37issues. On this new Black Ultimate
70. 2:40Legend, the housing has been redesigned.
71. 2:43The module slots in well, and there's no
72. 2:45connectivity or drift issues that I've
73. 2:47noticed during my time [music] with it.
74. 2:49Speaking of modules, I wanted to test
75. 2:51whether the joysticks I originally owned
76. 2:54also fit well into the Black Ultimate
77. 2:56Legend. To test this, [music] I had the
78. 2:58original stock modules, the white JS13
79. 3:01Pros, the DS13 Max, JT13 Pro, [music]
80. 3:06and the new black JS13 Pro. After
81. 3:09testing each of them, I found they all
82. 3:11fit well, and I didn't experience any
83. 3:14connection or drift problems.
84. 3:18The color and the module housing
85. 3:19redesign seems to be the major
86. 3:21differences between the white and black
87. 3:23Ultimate [music] Legends. However, I did
88. 3:25notice more subtle differences. For
89. 3:27example, with the face plate. The
90. 3:29frosted face plate feels very securely
91. 3:32fastened, almost to a fault. [music] It
92. 3:34fits firmly in place and requires a
93. 3:37little more prizing and force to remove
94. 3:39it. It's definitely not a negative
95. 3:41change, and in fact, it adds to the
96. 3:43overall sturdy impression of the
97. 3:44construction. I tested whether my
98. 3:47frosted face plate from the white
99. 3:49ultimate legend fits on the new black
100. 3:51edition, and [music] it does no problem.
101. 3:53Same with this white face plate I have
102. 3:55and given the aesthetic of this channel,
103. 3:57I'm tempted to keep the black and white
104. 3:59combo. Secondly, perhaps it's just
105. 4:02because it's a new unit, [music] but the
106. 4:04grip feels better this time round. Right
107. 4:06out the box, I wasn't a fan of the grip
108. 4:08on the white edition. [music] It felt a
109. 4:10bit cheap and slippery for my hands. The
110. 4:12grip on the black edition keeps the same
111. 4:14patterning, but the texture feels more
112. 4:16rough to me, and I prefer it.
113. 4:20The LB and RB buttons are more textured
114. 4:23compared to the white. On the white,
115. 4:25they have a smooth finish, [music] but
116. 4:27on the black, while they may look
117. 4:29smooth, there's a slight texture to
118. 4:31them. When you play with them side by
119. 4:33side, the difference is more obvious,
120. 4:35and I prefer the improved grip on the
121. 4:37black edition.
122. 4:41LT and RT look and feel identical and
123. 4:44[music] have the same nice moderate
124. 4:45travel distance with a slight spring to
125. 4:48their return position.
126. 4:53On first glance, the extra shoulder
127. 4:54buttons look the same, but on closer
128. 4:57inspection, I thought they looked a
129. 4:58little bit smaller. I measured them, and
130. 5:01the black extra shoulder buttons are
131. 5:03roughly a millimeter shorter and
132. 5:04narrower. It's not necessarily a big
133. 5:07difference because they're both still
134. 5:09very wellplaced, easy to reach with a
135. 5:11light actuation and micro switch design.
136. 5:20The ABXY design remains unchanged. The
137. 5:23micro switch, and in a blind test, I
138. 5:25couldn't tell the difference between the
139. 5:26two. Here's a listen to how they sound.
140. 5:33The buttons are replaceable and come
141. 5:35with an extra set for those looking for
142. 5:37a switch layout. And the white ABXY fit
143. 5:40on the black edition, no problem if you
144. 5:42want to mix and match. The new Ultimate
145. 5:45Legend comes with the same five options
146. 5:47of D-pad designs only in black. And
147. 5:49[music] the D-pad itself remains micro
148. 5:51switch, which is slightly cushioned and
149. 5:53very comfortable.
150. 6:01Testing diagonals on Tekken felt easy
151. 6:03and very repeatable. And for those who
152. 6:06like a soft cushion to your D-pad,
153. 6:08you'll enjoy this one.
154. 6:12Looking at the two controllers from the
155. 6:13back, the back button layout is
156. 6:15identical. There's two large buttons
157. 6:18embedded into the handles of the
158. 6:19controller and two removable shell
159. 6:21buttons slightly above. Originally, I
160. 6:24thought the only difference was that the
161. 6:26silver shell had letters embossed on
162. 6:28top, while the black had the markings
163. 6:30beneath on [music] the body. But looking
164. 6:32closer, I noticed a much bigger
165. 6:34difference. When you remove the shell
166. 6:36and place them side by side, the black
167. 6:39shell features an additional notch at
168. 6:40the base of the fixture, while the white
169. 6:43is fastened only by the small flap at
170. 6:45the top. This extra notch on the black
171. 6:47shell gives the button an extra point of
172. 6:50contact and feels much sturdier and less
173. 6:52likely to be accidentally pressed off.
174. 6:54The upper two back buttons on the white
175. 6:56edition feel as though I can press them
176. 6:58away from the body of the controller a
177. 7:00little bit, while the black edition
178. 7:02feels like I'm only able to press
179. 7:04downwards. Again, it's [music] only a
180. 7:06small change, but it is an improvement
181. 7:08to the design, and these little details
182. 7:10mount up.
183. 7:16The Black Ultimate Legend ships with the
184. 7:18latest software [music] allowing for
185. 7:20polling rates of up to 8,000 hertz. This
186. 7:23translates to top tier performance at
187. 7:25submillisecond latency [music] speeds,
188. 7:27which increases to roughly 9
189. 7:28milliseconds when playing wirelessly and
190. 7:31a max polling of 900 Hz. [music] It's up
191. 7:34there with some of the fastest and truly
192. 7:35a great choice, especially for shooters
193. 7:38when combined with the JS13 [music] Pro
194. 7:40sticks. The linearity is excellent,
195. 7:43around 55 g in tension, and many
196. 7:46people's favorite sticks, including
197. 7:47mine. [music] Alternatively, there's the
198. 7:50JT13 Pros, which is the adjustable
199. 7:52version for those who like to tinker
200. 7:54with the sensitivity. If you're playing
201. 7:56on the Switch, [music] connection is
202. 7:58straightforward by holding the power
203. 8:00button and X to put the controller into
204. 8:02Switch mode. Performance is good without
205. 8:05any lag or obvious latency issues.
206. 8:09The Ultimate Legend comes with a huge
207. 8:111500 MIA battery, more than capable of
208. 8:14providing many hours of 8K gaming. The
209. 8:17dock is large and stable and also houses
210. 8:20the USB dongle at the back. I don't
211. 8:23normally use the dock as I play wired
212. 8:25most of the time, but for wireless
213. 8:27gamers, you may find it useful to store
214. 8:29and charge.
215. 8:32There's three options to choose from to
216. 8:34adjust the settings of your controller.
217. 8:36[music] the ZD mobile app, PC software,
218. 8:39and the PC web hub. For me, the most
219. 8:42intuitive and clear are the mobile app
220. 8:44and the [music] web hub, while the PC
221. 8:46app feels a little dated and clunky.
222. 8:49Either way, you have options to access
223. 8:51the settings where you can change
224. 8:53everything you'll likely need, including
225. 8:55button mapping, joystick curves, dead
226. 8:57[music] zones, step rates, polling, RGB,
227. 9:01and plenty [music] more.
228. 9:07While I much prefer the black version of
229. 9:09the Ultimate Legend, there is one thing
230. 9:11I wish they updated. [music]
231. 9:14One area that remains a weak point on
232. 9:16the Ultimate Legend is the switch to
233. 9:19swap [music] from micro switch to Hall
234. 9:20effects on the triggers. On an otherwise
235. 9:23fantastically built controller, this
236. 9:25section is unnecessarily poor. the lever
237. 9:28doesn't protrude enough from the casing,
238. 9:30so you really got to get your nail in
239. 9:32there to slide it across. The original
240. 9:34white edition had the same issue, and as
241. 9:37someone who just sets it to micro switch
242. 9:39and never touches it again, this isn't
243. 9:41really a big deal for me. But for
244. 9:43players who play a variety of games
245. 9:44[music] and regularly swap between
246. 9:46trigger styles, you're missing out on a
247. 9:48very easy experience like this,
248. 9:51or this,
249. 9:53or this.
250. 9:55this
251. 9:57and this.
252. 10:00As the gap between controllers gets
253. 10:02smaller and smaller, the importance of
254. 10:04the little things gets greater and
255. 10:06greater. And to give credit to ZD, it
256. 10:09just shows how much I need to nitpick in
257. 10:11order to find a fault.
258. 10:16First and foremost, the black ultimate
259. 10:18legend resolves the issue of the white
260. 10:20version regarding module housing. No
261. 10:23more stickers or workarounds. it just
262. 10:25works [music] as it should. That aside,
263. 10:27the rest of the upgrades are minor in
264. 10:29comparison, though collectively [music]
265. 10:31create a more sturdy, refined, and
266. 10:33reliable version of an already great
267. 10:35controller. If you already own the white
268. 10:38Ultimate Legend, depending on how
269. 10:40frustrated you've been with the module
270. 10:42design, you may not need or want to
271. 10:44upgrade. But if you feel compelled by
272. 10:46the sleek new design, what you'll get is
273. 10:49a better build with the same
274. 10:50performance. If you're in the market for
275. 10:52your first Ultimate Legend, the choice
276. 10:55between the two, in my eyes, is simple.
277. 10:57Go for the newer, fresher black version
278. 10:59[music] that improves on the white in
279. 11:01all areas. If I've missed any other
280. 11:04differences between the two, then let me
281. 11:05know in the comments. Otherwise, thank
282. 11:07you very much for watching [music] and
283. 11:09have a great day.