As someone who has been an enjoyer of all things KontrolFreek since high school, I remember the days of their original CQC grips. They were an essential part of “getting good” at Call of Duty and Battlefield. Fast-forward to ten years to right now and you’ll find that KontrolFreek has re-introduced them to the gaming world with a new design choice to make them even better than they already were!

Here’s a break down of their features:

• The world’s most advanced thumb grips with next-gen 4-Prong design to meet ergonomic and performance gaming needs for next-gen consoles and gamers

• Mid-Rise Thumbsticks delivers 6.1mm of added height to original stock controller sticks for enhanced control and increased comfort

• Provides an increased range of motion and accuracy, while decreasing hand & thumb fatigue, along with reduced dead zone resistance

• Proprietary rubber compound enhances grip and reduces slip

• Available for PlayStation 5 | PlayStation 4 | Xbox X/S | Xbox One

KontrolFreek was nice enough to send us a couple of pairs of these for their available consoles as well as performance grips, which I’ve always been interested in testing out. I have to say, getting the thumbsticks and grips setup on a controller looks pretty sick. Especially if the color-scheme matches.

The 4-prong design on the new and enhanced CQCs make for a more-secure gameplay sitting as you definitely don’t have to worry about them getting pressed off or even spinning around on the stick itself. I absolutely love how tacky these things feel. I wouldn’t say that they’re sticky, but they definitely make your fingers adhere to them like Spider-Man on a wall.

Playing a shooter or even just leaving them on while playing more casual games feels comfortable and allows you to not only get more grip but allow for movement to be easier. Pairing just one with one of KF’s high-rise thumbsticks is also a great option and really brought the whole experience together for me, as that’s the scheme I usually go with.

The next cool bit is the grips which were thankfully a lot better than I’d expected. As they have a sticky side that adheres directly to your controller, I half expected a sticky mess that was going to ruin my controller if I ever chose to take it off. Luckily, the stickiness on these things is really interesting and is more of a gel than just a straight-up tape. It sticks on and stays there but allows for replacement if you screw up application here and there.

I found gameplay to be extremely comfy with these things and I actually liked just feeling its design in my hands during downtime between matches. The shape of them fit perfectly to the controllers and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the controllers still fit right onto a charging dock even with the grips going around the back. They’re truly a wonderful new part of the controller and I’m so happy to have finally gotten to test them out.

If you’re interested in testing either item out yourself, please visit KontrolFreek.com for these and even more insanely cool gamer-centric products!