I did things the reverse way - I bought Guitar hero 3 before 2 and with it came the Les Paul wireless controller. After completing Guitar Hero 3 (and I do mean complete) I bought the second game and decided to buy it with the wired x-plorer controller so that I had two for co-op play. Now I have both the 2nd and 3rd game and an x-plorer guitar controller as well as a Les Paul. First off the Les Paul looks and feels fantastic - much more realisic and easier to use than the x-plorer and of course battery life depends on the regularity of play. There's no denying that it feels like more like a guitar than the wired controller and looks a helluva lot cooler and gives a greater ease of play as you can jump around like an idiot all you want and not have to worry about a wire. However, given the choice between the two controllers I would always pick the x-plorer and the reason has been noted by others: the connection bewteen the neck of the guitar and the body is incredibly unreliable and is a huge design flaw, it will work fine for half an hour to an hour at the start of play and then fret buttons will start to cut out and not register (most likely green or red) - you will find that at first this won't happen but eventually, sooner or later, it will and chances are the first time, you'll think that it is because of batteries and change them.
This is incredibly frustrating, you find yourself taking the neck out and putting it back in, turning the game off and leaving it for half an hour but at the end of the day it's an incredible shame that something so innovative could be so flawed and otherwise it would get the full 5 stars.
Of course people will still buy it over the x-plorer - like i have said, when it works it's untouchable (and I have played Rock band and used that guitar and it's terrible - feels so cheap) and people have said that theirs work fine but chances are they are still relatively new and the problem I have mentioned will happen at some stage.
Overall, I would never advise against buying the Les Paul (i mean - look at it!) but make sure that you have an x-plorer as a back up and do what i do: if in the middle of playing, the auld Les Paul starts to become unresponsive then change to the x-plorer. There's nothing worse than almost completing Dragonforce 'Through the Fire and Flames' on expert and then your green button stops working.

I bought the game and controller bundle, got it Wednesday and the guitar controller buttons work perfectly... but I have to be very careful to hold the guitar completely horizontally, as only the slightest tilt of the controller activates the star power. When I first started playing the game the star power was always activating automatically. Is this a common problem? Not sure whether to return it because of this.

I bought this a few months back as a second guitar to go with the one i got with Guitar Hero 2 and it is now my favourite. I have experienced no problems whilst using my guitar and i feel it's well made, comfortable to use and i highly recommend it to every GH player!

after reading other customer reviews i was quite nervous when purchasing this. But when it arrived i was pleasantly surprised, no problems yet and it looks great,
good buy.

As other reviewers have noted, this controller suffers from a fundamental flaw. My controlled is a mere 4 months old, yet the red fret button has become intermittent. Sometimes it works, other times it doesn't register. Sometimes it registers at the start of a held note, but loses registrating partway through, despite the fact that I've got the button held down.

Given the controller has seen fewer than 4 months use, and that's not even weekly use, let alone daily, I'm very disappointed. It's incredibly frustrating to see the note multiplier fall from x4 to 0 due to controller flaws rather than my own lack of skill.

If it weren't for this flaw, I'd be giving the controller 4*.

The guitar design is fantastic, it feels comfortable and the buttons are much better than previous guitar. Also, big start and select buttons are a plus over the X-Plorer.

The one fault is it's detachable neck. While being able to make the guitar smaller to allow for easier storage and travel, the connections between the neck and the base of the guitar seen to become unresponsive. I have problems with the middle 3 frets cutting out mid song, and if I hold the guitar in a more vertical position (for activating star power) then the green button flashes on and off. These are obviously major flaws.

If this guitar didn't have a detachable neck, it would be a 5 star. You may or may not have problems, but I know that many do (as you can read in similar review). Still, as it's a standalone guitar, rather than being packaged with a game, it may be a good purchasing decision for multiplayer.

The buttons stop working due to bad design. This is incredibly frustrating seeing as the scoring depends on you getting long button combos. I have been very tempted to smash my guitar up many a time.

If it wasn't for this irritating and unforgivable problem then this would be a brilliant tool to play an excellent game.

whos idea was a detachable neck of the guitar works fine to start with then contacts lose connection fret buttons will become unresponsive and its a nightmare when you are half way through a song and you loose the yellow and blue buttons !!!!! great game just sad a simple design fault can ruin it !!!be warned

Much better then the gh2 controller, it plays nicer, much more responsive, the strap makes it more comfortable, and it certainly looks better then the X-Plorer rubbish from number 2.

Also, the buttons to work just fine, and my batteries last for around 30 hours of play, much higher then it says on the box it comes in.

Overall, lovely guitar, lovely game, so rock on! \../

looks really cool and has 2 options where you attach your strap so its more comfortable. the major problem with this is that now and again the green or orange button doesnt work and says that its now pressed down when it is, also on the long notes it dpesnt hold the note. gets through batteries so fast aswell, i have both controllers and i would reccommend that you get the xplorer pad as its much more reliable and its wired so no running out of power half way through a song.