The Turtle Beach Recon controller is a rose among the many thorns in the third-party controller market. Having torn through a number of PowerA controllers and suffered a magnitude of issues along the way, I was over the proverbial moon to learn that Turtle Beach had branched out from their headphones niche and into the world of control pads.
Turtle Beach Recon Controller Packaging
After owning a few sets of Turtle Beach headphones, I was expecting the Recon controller to be presented in their usual smart manner – and I wasn’t disappointed. On opening the well-detailed box you are met with a neat envelope emblazoned with their immediately recognizable logo. The sleeve contains all of the usual literature and, more importantly, a small Turtle Beach sticker.
Under the envelope we find our control pad, sitting snuggly in a cardboard surround. Tucked neatly underneath this is a more than ample ten-foot type-C cable.
Turtle Beach Recon Controller – Features
True to their style, the Turtle Beach Recon controller packs some nice features. The most useful of these, however, has to be the extra buttons that are sat within easy reach on the inside of each grip. The buttons can be mapped to any of the standard inputs and is simple and speedy enough to change on-the-fly. I found these to be heaven-sent when playing Mass Effect and FIFA using the pad.
Additionally, the Turtle Beach Recon controller is host to a plethora or audio options, which surprisingly work quite well, despite it being a control pad. We were at first dubious about their signature ‘Super-Human Hearing’ feature. If truth be told, we are still in wonderment as to how it works, and works so well. At the press of a button, the feature can be activated, boosting your audio volume and quality. This feature has proven more than useful when playing games such as Call of Duty.
Pro-Aim Assist
If you like to have your sensitivity set to high but find this to impede on accurate longshots, Pro-Aim Assist is your new best friend. While the button is held in, your right stick’s sensitivity is reduced to a predetermined level, allowing you to fine tune those across-the-map headshots without having to lower your sensitivity.
Player Profles
With the amount of settings bundled in with the Turtle Beach Recon controller, the ability to assign our settings to profiles was ideal. This is especially the case if you share your console with other people. Even if the control pad is solely used by yourself, the feature proves helpful for assigning different settings to different games.
Turtle Beach Recon Controller – Ease of Use
With such a wide range of options, you would be forgiven for thinking the Turtle Beach Recon controller would be complicated to use and operate. Thankfully, this is far from the truth. On the contrary, it’s an absolute breeze, once you have familiarized yourself with the settings.
The pad has a small display panel at the top. This shows you which profile you’re currently on and, when adjusting settings, shows you what you’re altering from profile, Pro-Aim, equalizer and chat volume options. On one side of this panel you have volume up and down buttons, and on the opposite side chat volume buttons can be found. Furthermore, a microphone mute button and ‘Super-Human Hearing’ are within quick and easy reach. Both of these light up to show if they’re in use.
Turtle Beach Recon Controller Review Summary
The Turtle Beach Recon controller is host to a number of game-changing features, right at your fingertips. It’s slick, ergonomic design paves the way for hours of comfort, while the light-up display makes the pad stand out from the crowds.
If there’s one thing that can be said against the Recon, it’s the light weight. Because of this, it feels like a cheap control pad, despite it’s evident quality and doesn’t feel as good in the hands as its official Xbox counterpart.
