Docking stations are kind of becoming an essential piece of technology as people are spending more time working remotely and in home offices than ever before. If this concept applies to the workforce, then undoubtedly those who play video games for a living also have a similar need for a docking station that can accomplish those same goals but perhaps with more of a purpose than simply displaying two monitors and allowing a keyboard and mouse passthrough. AverMedia’s X’TRA GO dock looks to be your new best friend regardless of which handheld gaming solution you choose, offering both utility and a well crafted piece of hardware that you can easily throw in your bag for use on the road.

AverMedia X’TRA GO (GC515)
Manufacturer: AverMedia
MSRP: $199.99 USD

While most of the Steam Deck docking stations all provide a similar service – connecting your Deck to a monitor or TV, allowing you to plug in a controller, and letting you use your Deck more like a traditional console, AverMedia’s X’TRA GO docking station also brings a few more features that make it instantly appealing to content creators. First off, if you’re familiar with some of AverMedia’s older products, such as the old Live Gamer Portable 2 (a product I’ve seen in use at several industry trade shows in the past), the idea of being able to capture and store video content without requiring the use of a computer is vastly appealing in extremely niche situations like these. I’m honestly looking forward to taking the X’TRA GO with me to PAX in the near future because being able to seamlessly grab content with the quick press of a big fat button is gonna save me a boatload of time.

The other reason that the X’TRA GO docking station is appealing is that it’s compatible with almost all of the current handheld systems. It’ll work with the Steam Deck just as well as the Lenovo Legion Go, the ROG Ally, and Nintendo’s Switch. While I don’t have any of the other systems on hand, I did some testing with my Steam Deck and a friend’s Switch and it worked exactly the same across both platforms. Having an “all in one” capture device like this will likely appeal to boomer-minded people like our own Fingal Belmont who doesn’t wanna learn new software and capture methods and simply wants something he can just plug in and use.

To use the X’TRA GO, you simply throw a MicroSD card in it (which for the purposes of this review, I used the 1TB version of the Samsung Evo) and then flip the switch on the back from read to write mode, and there will be a blue LED on the front of the dock to let you know that the device is connected and ready to use. You hit the big ass AverMedia button and the light flips to red, which lets you know that recording is in progress.

While the X’TRA GO doesn’t use the same RECCentral software that the Live Gamer Extreme 3 used, it does support the AssistCentral software to check for firmware updates, and it uses the AverMedia Streaming Center so you can stream direct capture from the device on the fly from your PC. This is a considerably easier way to stream gameplay from handheld devices, and I’d assume this is now the preferred solution from the Windows 11 handhelds that would have previously required trying to run OBS or something natively on them.

Here’s a clip of some Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred gameplay captured directly by pressing the AverMedia button on the X’TRA GO docking station from the Steam Deck: 

Unfortunately, this dock can’t solve the problem that’s been plaguing the Steam Deck since it came out: It struggles with waking up from standby. More often than not, in order to get the Steam Deck to start recognizing the dock after wake up, you have to unplug the USB-C, wake it up and make sure you have video on the screen before you plug it back in, at which point it’ll cycle video to your monitor. Combining that with having to unplug and reconnect my wired controller for it to detect properly, the Steam Deck in particular still has a long way to go in that regard. This isn’t AverMedia’s fault, so I’m writing it here just in case someone Google’s the issue and can’t figure out what to do about it.

While I’m a fan of the chunky blocky style of AverMedia’s products, some people might not be fans of their design choices, as they like to design things with a robot/cyborg aesthetic. The little blue plastic lip on the front does a good job of holding the device in the slot, but be aware that none of these handhelds will snuggle in this dock they way they would in a dock natively built for exclusive use with that product. My Steam Deck has a lot of slide and wiggle room in the X’TRA GO while by comparison it barely moves when it’s in my iVolver dock, which for the $200 price tag, it would have been nice if there were a way to slide the plastic open and closed to accomodate for the different widths of the assorted devices that it supports. Additionally, while I happened to have a large MicroSD card on hand for this review, if the dock had the option to slot an M.2 inside, I would have been able to throw one of the extra 2TB modules I’ve got laying around in it.

At the end of the day, $200 is a steep ask for a docking station, but considering Valve wants $80 for their official docking station that isn’t any better than the $30 alternatives, it’s hard to complain too much about having a device that can serve multiple purposes for $100 more. For Steam Deck or Ally/Legion focused content creators, this thing is a no-brainer (especially since it only captures at 4K30, and that’s a steep ask for the Steam Deck’s hardware). For streamers, this won’t replace the Live Gamer Bolt or the Live Gamer Ultra 2.1, nor will it replace an actual slotted capture card in their streaming rig. For the average gamer who just wants to stream occasionally or capture some gameplay periodically, it’s a little harder to recommend at the full asking price unless you’re really in love with the design and you have a passive interest in starting a YT/Twitch/Kick channel.

AverMedia X’TRA GO was reviewed using a review unit provided by AverMedia. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here. AverMedia’s X’TRA GO can be purchased from Amazon and other retailers for $199.99.