Roadie Review: Grip-iTs by CompuExpert (PS3/Xbox 360)

If anyone has played high adrenaline games for more than 20 minutes, then you’re probably familiar with being plagued by ‘sweaty thumbs’.  Well, our friends at CompuExpert have given us a solution they are calling Grip-iTs.

As you may expect, Grip-iTs are tiny rubber covers that very tightly go over your analog thumb sticks.  Application of these was a little tricky.  As far as I could tell, the covers were identical between the PS3 and 360 versions except for color.  You have to be careful when putting them on.  If you are not, they can have the potential to slip off the stick, which would suck if you’re in the middle of a heated battle.  There is no glue or adhesive sticking with these, so you can try as many times as needed to get them to sit right.  It took me about 2-3 tries per stick per controller.  Not bad, but kind of annoying when you’re doing all of them at once…

So, the big question is… how well do they work?  I thought for a while of what games would be best to try these out, games that a lot of people also play.  Three genres came to mind: Sports games, FPS (First Person Shooter), and twin stick shooters.  I don’t play sports games at all, so I can’t really comment on that, but I do partake in the others though.  To sum it all up, the Grip-iTs worked very well.  I made it a point to play for long periods of time, and to put myself in tense situations to see how they held up.  Twin stick shooters are usually where I would encounter any thumb slippage off of the sticks, and the Grip-iTs helped to prevent that.  Regardless of pressure, direction, or intensity, they held true to their name.

One last thing to note is that they will feel a bit different between the two controllers, but this is due to the controller’s design, not the Grip-iTs themselves.  The ones on the Dualshock felt more solid than the 360 ones, and this is simply because one is convex, and the other concave respectfully.  The 360 one does feel slightly squishy in the center of the stick, which is to be expected.

Would I recommend the Grip-iTs to you?  Sure!  For $5, you really can’t go wrong.  However, I wouldn’t recommend them unless slippage is a constant problem for you.  If you only play RPG’s, or games that don’t have a lot of action, these might not be necessary, but if you are the type of gamer that has your thumbs moving those sticks all over the place, then you should pick up a set of these.

**Our thanks to CompuExpert for sending a set of Grip-iTs to us for review**