DualSense replacement at half the price: Hands-on with the Gamrombo RH-5189 PlayStation 5 controller
It's been six years since Sony introduced the PlayStation 5, along with its DualSense controller. Unlike with the PlayStation 4 and DualShock 4, the third-party DualSense scene has been effectively non-existent, but that now appears to be changing, mostly thanks to companies based in China. One of them is Gamrombo, and here's what their latest offering—the RH-5189—is like.
For one, the RH-5189 isn't Gamrombo's first try at a PlayStation 5 controller. The brand previously introduced the RH-5188 last year, featuring a turbo function and programmable back buttons. That controller was quite ugly, however, and not as refined as it could be. The RH-5189 abandons the extra baggage in an attempt to deliver a product identical to the DualSense, for better or worse.
First Impressions
There's not much a controller can be packed with, so the RH-5189 comes packed with an instruction card and the controller itself. Unlike with the DualSense, a charging cable is included—a USB-A to USB-C one, to be exact.
The controller itself is lighter than a DualSense, but not overly so, weighing 225g. That's somewhere between the DualShock 4 and DualSense. Regardless, the RH-5189 does not feel cheap. Overall, it's not built quite as well as the controller it copies, but it's solid.
This unit, however, had one notable issue: a clunking noise from within the controller, likely thanks to the battery being poorly mounted, or the battery bracket being too loose. It did not feel good, although it felt less glaring after a week of use.
Ergonomically, it's designed to be identical to the DualSense and is about the same size, albeit with slightly shorter grips. The entire backside is fitted with a textured material for better handling as well.
Connectivity
This is where the RH-5189 shines, as it acts exactly like a DualSense. Pairing with the console is as straightforward as connecting with the included cable and pressing the PS button—or the button replacing it on the RH-5189. It's recognized by the console as a DualSense. Unlike the RH-5188, it gets a unique serial number too, as well as up-to-date firmware.
Connecting to a PC with the wired cable is seamless, and is done via Bluetooth by holding down the Share and PS buttons, with a blinking LED bar signaling the controller entering pairing mode. DS4Windows recognizes it as a DualSense, ditto Sony's own PlayStation Accessories app. Every DualSense testing web app recognized it, with the board listed as a BDM-010 or BDM-030, along with an amusing 2030's build date. Good to have a controller from the future; hopefully Sony finally brought back physical discs in that timeline.
Performance
The RH-5189 performs right on par with the DualSense. The six-axis gyro works; likewise, the mic, touchpad, and 3.5mm jack. Unlike the RH-5188, this one offers adaptive triggers and has been put through 17 hours of Control: Ultimate Edition—a fast-paced third-person shooter which notoriously taxes the triggers—without any issues.
Testing on Gamepadtester, the RH-5189 recorded an average latency of 4 ms when connected via Bluetooth. Indistinguishable from other tested DualSense units. On the Gulikit website, a polling rate of between 570 Hz to 640 Hz was observed.
While there are claims online of Gamrombo controllers offering Hall Effect joysticks, the company does not market the RH-5189 as such. It chooses to use "high-precision joysticks" instead, although one specific image on its Amazon listing flat-out confirms the presence of traditional potentiometer-based ALPS joysticks.
That said, out of the box, the RH-5189 has no stick drift. Multiple circularity tests confirmed a 0.6% average error on both analog sticks. There are no observable dead zones either, although a bit of cardinal snapping can, unfortunately, be noticed. It's much less pronounced than on certain aftermarket controllers such as the Gaminja P48, however.
The haptic motors on the RH-5189 are very good. They're a touch worse than the DualSense's, however, and that's a theme here for the most part. It's an almost imperceptible difference, and it's difficult to quantify these things outside of "feel".
Battery
Gamrombo advertises the RH-5189 with a 2,000 mAh battery, compared to the 1,560 mAh ones on the DualSense. There's no reason to doubt that claim: the RH-5189 lasted 10 hours, 53 minutes across multiple days of use on Metro Exodus, Resident Evil 4 (2023), and Control: Ultimate Edition. All three games are PlayStation 5 titles with adaptive trigger support. The controller light bar was set to dim, microphone turned on, and haptics turned up to the max level.
However, battery readings on the PlayStation 5 were not always accurate. Even after full charges, at times the console would still report the RH-5189's battery level at two bars.
Conclusion
The Gamrombo RH-5189 appears to be an adequate DualSense replacement. In the short term, at least. There's not much to fault with the build quality, with the exception of what is presumably a loose battery mount on this unit. The joysticks feel good but are not TMR or Hall Effect sticks. The haptic motors here are likely better than on most non-DualSense controllers on the market.
More importantly, the RH-5189 acts like a DualSense in every use case. Every feature works on Astro's Playroom, a game designed to be a DualSense tech showcase.
This unit cost ~$40 on AliExpress, versus the standard DualSense's $74 MSRP. It's an easy recommendation at that price. It's priced at $60 on Amazon US (buy here), however, and is a less attractive proposition at that price point, particularly with warranties factored in.
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