ELO Vagabond | The Ultimate iPad Gaming Controller
As soon as you unbox the ELO Vagabond, you know you've got something special. But can it really live up to its billing as the ultimate mobile gaming controller?
First Impressions
You only have to blink and there’s a brand new mobile gaming controller on the market — but very few are as premium and polished as the ELO Vagabond. ELO has its roots in competitive gaming, and they’ve built this controller as a precision instrument designed to get the very best performance out of your device.
Like many controllers before it, the Vagabond connects via USB-C, but it comes with one of the smoothest and widest sliding mechanisms I’ve come across. Inside the box you’ll find a range of rubber adapters, meaning whether you’ve got a bulky case on your phone or you’re using a slightly larger device like a tablet, you’ll be able to find the perfect fit. The adapters can be a little tricky to wedge in at first, but once they’re seated they fit very snugly and are incredibly stable.
For that reason, this controller suits someone who’s going to use the same device consistently, rather than wanting to swap between different-sized devices day to day. For me, that device became the iPad Mini — and this is where the Vagabond absolutely excels.
Comfort, Build, and a Few Caveats
Because the Vagabond draws power at a very low rate directly from your device, there’s no battery required — and that’s just one reason why this is the most comfortable mobile gaming controller I’ve ever used. It keeps an extremely slight profile, with grips that extend just far enough to hold comfortably without ever feeling bulky. The gap this creates between your hands and the screen makes the whole thing feel spacious, reminds me strongly of using the PlayStation Portal. The rubberised grips running from the back of the controller across most of the face complete the package nicely.
There are a couple of things worth flagging, though. After about a month of rattling around in my bag, the Vagabond has picked up quite a few scratches on both the front and back plastic. The thumb sticks are also built in a way that’s removed a fair bit of dead skin from my callused guitar-playing fingers. Neither of these are dealbreakers, but they’re worth being aware of if you’re precious about keeping your hardware pristine.
Buttons, D-Pad, and Back Controls
On the underside of the Vagabond you’ll find a headphone jack and a USB-C port for pass-through charging — impressive given how sleek the overall design is.
The face buttons are built with mechanical switches. They’re a little rattly, but feel brilliant to game on, with a pleasantly quiet audio profile that’s a nice touch in environments where you’d rather not disturb anyone. The d-pad is firm, which is my personal preference for this kind of controller — especially for 2D platformers like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, where you want to feel confident in your directional inputs.
On the rear, two mappable back buttons can be locked in place using hardware switches. This is a genuinely useful feature: if you’re playing something where accidental presses would be catastrophic, simply slide them over and they’re out of the equation. The Vagabond also features Hall effect triggers and joysticks, both of which can be calibrated in the companion app.
The Unleashed App
I’ve criticised other companies in the past for putting their companion software behind a paid subscription, so it’s worth highlighting that ELO’s Unleashed app is completely free. It’s more of a curated games launcher than a full library, but you can always hold the ELO button on the controller to pull up your full Apple games library on iOS, which covers the gap neatly.
The main reason to download the app is firmware updates. They don’t take long, and it’s worth running them straight away to iron out any early bugs. After one update I noticed my joystick calibration had shifted — for a moment I thought I was dealing with stick drift — but a quick recalibration in the app sorted it out immediately. Button remapping and audio level adjustments are also available here, though these feel like a bonus on top of what is already an excellent piece of hardware.
Gaming on the iPad Mini
The Vagabond feels genuinely transformative paired with the iPad Mini. It’s the first time I’ve used a mobile controller and felt it could realistically compete with something like the PlayStation Portal, at least on the hardware side. The software limitations of iOS and Android inevitably get in the way at some point, and it can’t match a Steam Deck or Legion Go for sheer versatility — but as a gaming setup it feels cohesive and intentional in a way that few mobile controllers manage.
On a recent trip to France I left all my other gaming hardware at home and took just this controller and my iPad Mini. It made for a discreet yet surprisingly capable travel setup, and I found myself reaching for it every evening.
Final Thoughts
The ELO Vagabond is a debut product, and ELO seem genuinely committed to improving it through firmware updates and community feedback. At $99 it’s also priced reasonably against some of its competitors.
If you’re primarily an iPad Mini user or regularly game on a single mobile device, this is the controller I’d point you to without hesitation. Just keep it somewhere protective if you want to maintain that premium feel over the long haul.
My recommendation: The best mobile gaming controller I’ve personally used. If you’re committed to the iPad Mini or a single device, this is the one to get.