Background
Recently I have been emulating Playstation 2 games and I go to get my old Logitech Dual Action gamepad, but I am unable to find it. I have used it on rare occasion in the past for games like Psychonauts, but overall it hasn't found too much use, which is why it's lost now. Anyway, I'm thinking that a good general purpose gamepad would be a nice thing to have. I do have some Sega Saturn USB pads which are great for 2D games, but I'm looking for something more suitable for 3D games.

What I am considering at the time of making this topic
I searched around, starting at the wired Xbox 360 controller. This controller seems to receive a lot of praise and as a bonus it is compatible with all Games for Windows titles. I have heard the d-pad is terrible, though, and while I have 2D gaming covered, an all-in-one would be nice. So I looked at third party Xbox 360 controllers and one in particular piqued my interest. It's the Hori Ex2 Turbo gamepad. The Price seems reasonable (Approximately $36) and the build looks solid. The d-pad looks much better as well. Here is a picture I stole from Hori's website of the gamepad in two colours:
I'm wondering if anyone has any recommendations.

Features I am looking for in particular
- Excellent build quality, something that will last.
- Ergonomic with good button placement. Something that could be used for hours of gaming comfortably.
- Really good analog sticks. This is mostly focused for 3D games, so I want the sticks to be precise and last as long as possible.
- Reasonable Price. Anything below $50 should be good.
- Uses a USB interface and is compatible with Windows 7.
- Shipping to Canada.

Additional Comments
I like the Hori Ex2 pad, but I'm wondering if anyone has other suggestions or even if someone has that particular gamepad and could give me impressions on it. Thank you.

I'd have to buy a Playstation 2 controller in addition to the adapter, though.

the layout of that controller looks horrible to me. IMO. (needless to say i am not a fan of the xbox controllers)

i would go for another ps2-alike, sony had it right from the beginning...

you can buy a PS3 controller, download a driver, and use it

yeah i've been looking for an answer for this but i can't really find it so here goes

how standard are the button IDs on gamepads? i've been programming gamepad support for my game based on my ps3 controller and the dpad is 5, 6, 7, and 8, the face buttons are 13, 14, 15, and 16, and select and start are 1 and 4. i've been wondering if i am completely screwing half the people who play my game out of using a gamepad if their dpad or analog sticks are mapped to a povhat or something. is the determination based on drivers, is it completely arbitrary or what?

if anyone could answer this for me, i'd really appreciate it.

huh, good to know. i'm sure i could work some kind of mapping solution out. thanks for the help!

I assume this means you need to have a BT receiver in your PC though.

if you have a usb a - b cord you can just plug it in if you have the driver installed.

I do happen to have a bluetooth receiver and if the USB cable can charge the controller, then this could be a pretty good option.

unfortunately it's my experience that in order to actually charge the thing, you have to plug it into a ps3. so it's a little inconvenient, but i charge it nightly anyway and it lasts pretty long so

I assume this means you need to have a BT receiver in your PC though.

not if you have a mini-usb to full-size USB cable. From what I know, getting it to work with bluetooth on windows is a pain in the ass(you need a seperate program to pair and act as a virtual controller to map the inputs which may cause delay. I've tried and never really got it working because it's too much effort), from personal experience it works just fine when connected to the PC by a wire.

idk, there may have been some sort of new developments in getting it working without some sort of proxy software between the gamepad and the OS with bluetooth.