GameSir is making a name as one of the biggest makers of aftermarket gaming accessories. They've got a few things for your Xbox and PlayStation, of course, but their new focus has been on mobile gaming.
It makes sense to try and tap into this market. Between Google Play Pass and Apple Arcade, plus a burst of new mobile streaming services like Game Pass and GeForce Now, people are playing more games on the go than ever before.
That creates a big market for mobile controllers, clips, and other accessories. We've reviewed plenty, including the excellent GameSir X2, but there are a bunch of other things that GameSir offers alongside it. We're taking a look at the F8 Pro Snowgon controller today, which promises a hybrid approach to a mobile controller. Let's see if it's worth it.
Controller design
The newest gadget that GameSir has advertised is the F8 Pro Snowgon. It's not a controller, per se, but a mobile grip with a twist.
Aside from making your phone more ergonomic for long playing sessions, you'll also get an entire cooling solution. Some phones have internal cooling mechanisms, but that's far from the norm, and I'm sure everyone can relate to their phone getting a bit warm after playing something demanding for a few hours. The F8 Pro fixes that by conducting that heat towards the back of the grip, which is then cooled by an attached fan.
That fan has RGB, too, so if you're trying to flair up your phone to match your gaming PC, well, you're in luck. It's also got some nice grips on the sides, plus a detachable and movable “control stick” that suctions to your phone mimics an analog stick in place of virtual, touch sticks, plus some grip/handles on the side to make your phone a little more comfortable to hold for long sessions.
Cooling performance
Relative to the size of most phones, the fan on the back of the F8 Pro is pretty big. The cooling area is also sizable, and all that surface area helps chill your phone down while playing.
This basically works by having that cooling area around where most phones get hot, then having that intake fan on the back suck in air to cool it down. You can immediately notice the difference, too. Just turn the fan on without a phone in the grip and touch it, and it's a very chilly surface. I'm sure you can follow along with how this will help keep your phone from getting too hot while it's playing a demanding game.
Too bad you never really get to see that RGB fan while you're playing.
Gaming performance
But does the F8 Pro Snowgon actually make your gaming experience better? Yes, mostly, but there's a tradeoff.
The grips are nice and make the phone feel somewhat similar to a full-blown controller. It's sufficiently grippy and I'd say probably feels a little more comfortable than the HyperX Chargeplay Clutch that we've reviewed. It also extends pretty far out so it should fit most phones.
The fake joystick is a little more hit-or-miss. I'm sure there's some market for these and some games where they work well, but in my experience, it's not usually better than just getting used to a virtual joystick. In some instances, like The Elder Scrolls: Blades, the stick just never moves enough so you can run; you're stuck walking all the time, and there are no sensitivity options in that game so it just doesn't make sense. That's more of a complaint about the game itself, and not towards GameSir, but it still doesn't change that I basically never can effectively use this kind of add-on. Fortunately, it's removable.
But how about that fan cooling performance? That one is pretty tricky to measure, especially these days where phones don't normally get hot enough to throttle performance with most games. Not saying it can't happen, but your Galaxy S21 isn't getting choked by thermals. But there is a very solid use case where the fan makes a pretty big difference.
The kicker for this whole grip is that it does not have a battery. To use it, you're going to have to plug it in via a USB-C cable. That means you're tethered to a wall (at least if you want the cooling fan to work) while playing, which isn't great for mobile gaming. But the grips do have holes on each side to accommodate using your phone's charger. See where we're going?
Playing games while charging your phone generates a lot of excess heat. That's bad for battery life and battery health and can actually turn on a bit of throttling for some phones. Having an effective cooling solution to counteract that? That's pretty smart, even if you can't move more than 6 feet away from the wall outlet.
Worth it?
Depending on how you play games on your phone, this could be a really good addition to your gaming gear. If you're primarily a mobile gamer and you play out of the house or just not near a wall block, it's really just a glorified grip. Spend the extra few dollars and go with HyperX's offering to get that sweet wireless charging functionality.
But if you like to game on your couch, or at a desk, or anywhere that you charge your phone simultaneously, this grip can make your experience way, way better, and can probably help your phone's battery stay healthier for longer, too.
And at $39, it won't cost you much to find out.
GameSir F8 Pro Snowgon | $39 | GameSir, Amazon
