Review: The PowerA Lumectra Controller’s Potential Is Overshadowed by Preventable Measures

This summer, PowerA released a colorful controller for the Nintendo Switch under its Lumectra LED brand. The official name is Enhanced Wireless Controller for Nintendo Switch with Lumectra – Black LED, but I’ll call it the “Lumectra Controller” from now on.

In short, this is a PowerA controller for the Switch that features customizable RGB lighting to make it more “gamer-esque.” Thanks to PowerA for providing me with a review sample, though all thoughts below are my own. If you want to purchase your own, you can do so from PowerA’s online store (affiliate link) or from various retailers including GameStop (affiliate link).

First, I want to talk about the standard features that come with the Lumectra Controller. It’s officially licensed by Nintendo and is compatible with all Nintendo Switch consoles, comes with a 10-foot USB-C cable to charge the battery, includes motion controls, and like other PowerA controllers, has two programmable buttons on the back of the controller. So far, everything is pretty standard.

Unfortunately, like other PowerA Enhanced Wireless Controllers, the Lumectra Controller lacks HD rumble, IR camera support, and NFC for use with Amiibo. Honestly, I can forgive those last two items.

The lack of any kind of rumble is frustrating. Some games require rumble for several features and then suddenly you can’t use the Lumectra Controller for those games. Especially considering this is an officially licensed controller, it’s baffling that this controller doesn’t have rumble.

What sets the Lumectra controller apart from other PowerA controllers? It’s the Lumectra LED lighting. You can program four different lighting zones with three lighting modes (Solid, Breathing, Cycle) and 24 different colors (six shades of green, red, blue, and yellow) to allow for “thousands of color combinations.”

Aside from aesthetics, one positive aspect of the inclusion of LEDs is the added weight. Many other PowerA controllers have felt too light to me due to the lack of a vibration system or anything else that helps them feel substantial. The lighting system adds a bit of weight, which makes them feel better in my hands.

Additionally, the Lumectra Controller has a battery saving mode that turns the lights off after five minutes of inactivity, which I think is really nice. If you don’t care about that, you can turn it off if you want.

Unfortunately, there are a few issues with the lighting system. First, it was easy for my kids to accidentally go into LED dimming mode while playing. This is a problem because it means my kid suddenly can’t control anything in the game he’s playing, as the buttons instead dim the lights on the controller.

The button to program the back buttons is usually not an issue due to its location, but apparently having a button directly underneath is much more accessible during gameplay than it probably should be. Secondly, the user manual that comes with the controller (or at least the manual that came with mine) is mostly useless.

It has enough information to tell you roughly how to program the back buttons and lights, but it doesn’t explain any of the more complex buttons to program the lights. It doesn’t explain how many zones there are, what the zones are, how many shades of each color there are, etc.

This made for a horribly frustrating experience. Luckily, the user manual you can download from the PowerA website is more comprehensive and provides more detailed explanations of everything! If you are having trouble programming the LEDs, download that user manual and see if it helps.

Bottom line: the Lumectra Controller feels great in the hand, looks sleek with its black chassis, can be customized via programmable LEDs and back buttons, and costs less than the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller (MSRP: $59.99).

However, it lacks the key rumble feature, which significantly diminishes its value, and it comes with a terrible manual, meaning you’ll have to put in a little more effort to find a useful manual to enjoy the programmable lighting.

It seems very close to being a “really good” or even “great” controller, but for now I’d say it’s “good.”