Understanding Your Grade
Your grade evaluates the geometric perfection of the thumbstick module's outer boundary.
A+ (Esports Ready) means the stick achieves a flawless circle, critical for consistent diagonal movement in games like Apex Legends and Rocket League.
F (Defective) indicates severe asymmetry, meaning diagonal inputs will hit their max value prematurely or not at all.
Since you're using a Generic PC Controller with a Hall Effect module, you can expect the underlying tech to be extremely precise and symmetric.
With an unknown module, this grade combines sensor and gate behavior and we cannot separate the two — treat it as a pass/fail signal for the whole stick assembly. If you see a low grade here, the two diagnostic questions are whether the pinch is symmetric (gate friction) or one-sided (worn sensor track), and whether the ring shrinks only at one angle (a single dead sector) or everywhere (general wear).
Hall effect sticks measure stick position with a magnetic field instead of a physical wiper dragging across a carbon track. Because nothing rubs, the module keeps its geometric precision for far longer and shows almost no rim-to-rim variance when new. The practical result on a circularity graph is a tight, evenly distributed ring: your diagonals reach maximum extension together, with little wasted input near the corners. The trade-off is that calibration is digital, so a poor grade on a Hall effect module usually points to a firmware zero-point offset or a loose joystick gate rather than worn carbon.
Hall effect modules stay round because the magnetic Hall cell reads position without contact, which means the failure modes are digital rather than mechanical. If a Hall stick grades poorly, look for a zero-point offset in the controller firmware or a magnet that has shifted in its holder — both produce a clean, uniform error rather than the patchy ring of worn carbon. Since there is no track to wear, a Hall module that grades badly on day one is almost always a calibration or assembly issue, and re-running the test after a firmware reset frequently recovers a full A-grade ring.
With a generic pad there is no manufacturer baseline to compare against, so the grade should be read as absolute hardware behavior rather than deviation from a known design. The most useful diagnostic is repeating the test at different stick angles and speeds: if the ring stays consistently oval at every speed, that is gate or sensor bias; if the ring only collapses during fast movement, that is a sampling or wobble artifact and not true circularity error.
Without a known manufacturer baseline, the generic pad's grade should be read against absolute geometry rather than a design expectation: a ring that stays a consistent circle at every speed is healthy regardless of brand, while a ring that wobbles between runs is more likely a loose collar than a sensor fault. Because generic pads vary wildly in module quality, repeat the test a few times at different stick speeds and average the outcome before drawing a conclusion. The most valuable diagnostic on an unknown pad is comparing the two sticks against each other — a large gap between them points to one worn module, while an even result points to the pad's general construction.