Don't expect your third-party Xbox One play and charge kits to work with the Elite Controller

The Xbox Elite controller is a stunning bit of kit — see our review for more — that has one small flaw. If you can really call it a flaw. But it's going to be annoying for some people.

Let me paint the picture. You buy a shiny new Elite controller, you rip open the box, take it out of the protective case and go to put in your third-party play and charge kit battery packs to get down to some wire-free Xbox action. Only, what's this? The battery pack won't fit.

Damn.

The issue is with the lugs on the battery door. To presumably accommodate the paddles on the rear of the Elite all three are in the center. This in turn is probably why the stock battery door feels a lot looser than it does on regular controllers. On the regular controllers they're more spaced out and as such don't marry up to the holes on the back of the Elite. So your battery pack won't fit. Or it won't if it requires anything other than the factory fitted battery door.

Or it won't fit unless you take a hacksaw to the two outer lugs. I've seen someone suggest that in a corner of the Internet and while it should work, it also won't leave you with a very tightly attached battery pack. And for a $150 controller it's a little too, well, hacky.

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What you need to do is one of two things. Either use a pair of AA batteries and keep swapping them out every time they run flat or you need to buy Microsoft's official Xbox One Play and Charge kit. Microsoft's kit utilises an internal battery instead of one that's shaped like a battery door. You pop it inside in place of the AA batteries and then pop the regular battery door on over the top.

So you might need to spend a little more. But at least there's still a solution.

• Buy Xbox One Play and Charge kit at Microsoft ($24.99)
• Buy Xbox One Play and Charge kit at Amazon ($23.65)