Wand for Wii

I recently picked up the Wand in my quest for new things gimmicky and shiny, and I have to say that besides a couple of setbacks, it's a pretty good pick-up for the money.
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**EDITED 7/17/09: Just got the Wand back from Nyko after they updated it; works just fine with the Motion Plus. Removed statements referring to the Motion Plus incompatability.

Just keep in mind that the Wand that you pick up may have to be sent over to Nyko to be updated to work with the Motion Plus. Just call their Customer Support and they'll send you a shipping label. Turnaround for me was about a week.

Since I can't seem to adjust my star rating for the product, just imagine a fourth star hanging out up there.
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The good:

+Function. From what I've played, I haven't noticed any differences in functionality in terms of motion or IR control when compared to the stock Wii Remote.

+Price point. At 30-35 bones, you're saving some cash compared to the Remote's 40.

+Rubberized everything. Nyko's design techs seem to be unnaturally greasy, since pretty much anything that might slip on the underside has been coated in ribbed rubber.

+The little things. The 1 and 2 buttons have been upped in size a bit, which makes playing games like "Punch-Out!" significantly more tolerable. The Wand also lets you check battery status without powering the system on.

The bad:
-Limited Trans-Port accessory availability. One of the big draws to the Wand is its proprietary technology to add accessories that don't rely on convoluted mechanisms to press buttons on the controller, as well as other features, like a rumbling nunchuck. The reason this isn't in the "Good" side is due to the sheer lack of accessories at present. Right now, the only stand-alone accessory featuring the technology is the rumbling Kama nunchuck. As a fan of rail-shooters, I was disappointed to see the gun attachment only being sold with the oft-unavailable "Action Pak." Part of that is my fault, sure, for buying separately, but I would like to see the option.

-Aesthetics. It's a petty thing, sure, I get where they were going due to the Nintendo lawsuit, but still, at first glance, the visual design for the controller isn't the greatest.

If you're looking for a quickie back-up for a busted Wii Remote with some neat addons that will be released... eventually, the Wand may be up your alley.

After using the Nyko Wand for 8 days, I have to say that I am very happy with it. I was a little hesitant to buy a Wiimote not from Nintendo, but I have Nyko's charge station and that has performed very well so I decided to give their Wand a chance, especially since Nyko has a new nunchuck (the Kama) coming out that vibrates when used with the Wand. Overall the Wand has performed exactly the same as Nintendo's. I also like that the Wand has a rubberized grip and trigger which gives me more feel. Plus the buttons are bigger than Nintendo's, so when I'm playing the new Punch Out, which I play with the remote held horizontally, it's alot easier to play. I highly recommend this Wiimote alternative, and I'm already considering pre-ordering Nyko's Core Pak to get the nunchuck with vibration.

The red button kind of threw me off at first, as I am not exactly the biggest fan of M&M's on my controllers, but once I saw this controller in person, it actually kind of grew on me even if it does stick out when compared to my other Wii Remotes...but in a good way! What really made me decide to buy it was that I could save 5 bucks, and be able to use the special accessories like the gun attachment. The performance has been on par with the 1st party controllers I have, and once the other enhanced accessories come out (vibrating nunchuck anyone?), I'll prolly be using this for most all of my games on the wii! So I saved some money, have a unique looking remote and the ability to buy specialized accessories...WIN!

Picked one of these up over the weekend.

The Good:
It works great. I like the increased button size, and the rubberized grips. I prefer to play without the rubber sleaves that the normal controlers come with, this is a nice alternative.

The Bad:
It's a little ridiculous that I have to send a new product back to the company to be updated so that it will work correctly with the Motion Plus.

Also, the battery compartment is loose. It doesn't fit as snug as the Nintendo controlers, and it gives the Wand a cheapness factor that I do not like.

I have to re sync the Wand almost every time I turn the system on. Communications between the wand and the Wii console also become dropped fairly often during game play.

The Wand also sometimes turns the Wii consol off unexpectedly. I am assuming that it is the Wand that turns the Wii console off, because this only happens when the Wand is being used. If only the Wii Remote is used, the Wii console never turns off unexpectedly.

I sure do wish I didn't try to save a few dollars.

Bought one to add to our Wii system and it would have to be re-sync'd every time I turned the wii off. That was not acceptable to me because I have small kids and would have to do it myself everytime they played with it. The store gave me a replacement, but it had an LED that wasn't working and also needed to be re-sync'd, but not everytime. Not worth the hassle for me. Also noticed that the battery cover doesn't fit snug on the remote, which doesn't cause problems, but doesn't inspire confidence in the design.

This is a pretty good controller. I prefer the original Nintendo version, but if you're looking to save a few bucks, I think this one is fine. It's definitely fine for a 2nd remote. From my experience, it's more or less the exact same as the Nintendo version, with the exception of the way it looks and a few of the buttons. Feels very similar in your hand.

Giving it 4 of 5 since the Nintendo is the standard and I like it better. This one is pretty good though. I may get another should I be in the need for a 3rd remote.

By the way, friends have played on this one with no problem also. I also like that it's a different color/look, so I can tell remotes one and two apart just by looking at them.

We got this Nyko wand when we got our Wii. However, right out of the box it was a disappointment. It was very difficult to sync-up with the Wii. Even when it did sync properly, it failed to work correctly. It would work fine for a few minutes, but then the buttons and motion would stop responding and the video game character would stop moving. Whoever was using the Nyko would inevitably loose the game. We know that the problem wasn't the Wii itself since the Nintendo wand that came with the system worked great. We also know it wasn't the batteries since we changed them three times. This is just a poorly made product. It was extremely frustrating. The worst part is that it was broken, despite being brand new. I contacted Nyko directly but they haven't replied. Poor customer service too. Save yourself the frustration and money, avoid the Nyko wand.

I believe in two things, giving the little guy a chance and that variety is the spice of life. I have one Nintendo wiimote that came with the system. When it came time to buy a second (with the Wii actually) I wanted to explore my options. The Nyko has a different look to it with it's larger buttons and rubberized grips. The larger buttons work better for some games and the controller is enough like the Nintendo version that compatibility is not an issue with attachments, chargers, and sleeves.

It's really simple, you have a Wiimote so get this one. Try them both for different games and see which you prefer.

This thing performs as well as the Wii Wand at a lower price. Don't know where it was shipped from but it arrived in a couple of days after purchase. Highly recommend.