The Wave Bird is absolutely incredible. I have tried many a wireless controller, but never purchased one because up until now, they've been pretty worthless. You had to be certain nothing was blocking the infared beam, and 'nere you move an inch to the left or right, the connection is lost.

With the Wave Bird, not only can you move an inch without fear, you can move several, several feet. That's because there's no infared beam, it's a radio signal. So walls aren't even a problem. The furthest point from my TV in my apartment is my bathroom. A good 4 walls and BEHIND my TV, and still - strong as can be. I had to use a cell phone with a friend watching in front of my TV, to go out of range. A good 50-75 feet away from my apartment. So suffice to say, there's not a whole lot to say in this respect. It's a game in itself to see just how far it will reach...

Now to the 2 reasons many people will NOT buy this controller. You've all read that there's now rumble. EEEEEK! Do you miss it? Amazingly, not even a little bit. It's all in your head guys (and gals), trust me. I handed it to a friend who had no idea there wasn't a rumble feature. He was playing his ALL-TIME FAVORITE GAME: Wave Race. And when I say all-time, I mean it - it's all the man ever plays. He's absolutely wacko about it. Now I was certain he'd realize right away, being that Wave Race is a rather "rumble-intensive" game, but nada. After an hour or so, we switched to another game and I mentioned it to him. Almost puzzled he replied: "Oh wow, you're right..." Try it with your friends, you really don't think twice about it.

There 2nd problem though, is quite the drawback. And man, this one REALLY irks me. When the Wave Bird was announced, the first thing I prayed it would have, it doesn't: A low-battery light. When your battery is running out, the light doesn't change colors the way the Game Boy Advance does. This is so mind-numbingly obvious to me, I just wanna SHAKE someone. So you're if you've had the batteries in for awhile, you'll constantly be "thinking" that something doesn't seem to be reacting right. Not. Cool. There was no way for me to let the batteries drain for the recommended 100 hours, but I threw in a set of nearly dead batteries and got the same effect. Range was about 5 feet, and the buttons lagged quite bad. Yet, the light was no dimmer than with a fresh set.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. This is a glaring oversight. It's not like the controller works, and then stops. It slowly loses range and responsiveness. All it would've taken was the same type of light that's found in the GBA (changes to red when you're almost out of juice) and this controller would be nearly flawless.

Other than that, as I said at the beginning of this review, this is still an incredible device. And for $34.95, it's a no-brainer. I'm highly considering getting more than one when new colors come out. To be able to keep my Cube all nice and tidy on my shelf, even when I'm playing, is a godsend.