You can buy your Xbox Ally an official pair of anti-drift joysticks

Even at $1,000, the Xbox Ally X handheld didn’t come with drift-resistant magnetic joysticks, and neither did the $600 model. But for $20 more on Amazon, you can change that today — with the officially Asus-approved and sanctioned TMR joysticks from Gulikit, the company that made its name providing drift-resistant sticks to the aftermarket.

The company says it worked with Xbox Ally manufacturer Asus to create these keys, that they will be “automatically recognized” when you swap them, and that you can use the handheld’s built-in Armory Crate app to calibrate them afterward.

And while I haven’t tried these (I have a pair in my Switch), I can confirm that it’s pretty easy to open Xbox Ally to install. Simply loosen the Philips head screws, insert a guitar pick prying tool to create a small gap, and pull a little harder than you think is necessary to open the clips. The joystick modules are located just below. Nothing is blocking you: just insert a flat cable and unscrew the three screws.

Here’s the company’s walkthrough in case you want to see for yourself – although I don’t recommend taking sharp tweezers to ribbon cables when your fingernails can do that job safer and easier. (I may have broken a few ribbon cables in my life.)

When we talk about TMR or the older and slightly less power efficient Hall effect joystick technology, I usually write “drift resistant” instead of “drift free”, because you can find your center point that drifts over time, but the beauty of magnetic is that you just have to recalibrate it! Unlike the potentiometer joysticks that come with Nintendo, Sony PlayStation, and Microsoft Xbox controllers, you don’t scrape materials that would cause permanent drift when using the magnetic versions.

Gulikit’s new Xbox Ally sticks are $20 in the US today and should also be available in the UK for £20, and in Italy, France and Spain for €22, next January.