Turtle Beach Recon 70 Headset Review: quality and style combined in one headset
As someone who goes through headsets faster than Disney remakes movies, the chance to review the Turtle Beach Recon 70 headset filled me with both excitement and trepidation. I’m a heavy-handed person, despite my best efforts, and so to see if this headset would survive my thorough tests was a challenge that I was more than eager to meet head-on.
Let me start by saying I’m pleasantly surprised. Turtle Beach is known for their accessories having incredible quality, but their affordability often leaves much to be desired. For that reason, cheap headsets can malfunction in a matter of weeks, no matter how much love you give to it. Yet, despite only being £29.99/$39.95, which if you’re a headset nerd like me, you know is pretty cheap, the Recon 70 has yet to fall apart on me. Sure, you can tell it’s plastic by how flimsy the headset can feel in your hands, but I’d be lying if I said that made it overall worthless. It sits comfortably on your head, and can easily be readjusted with the overhead band — that makes it a winner to me.
The plush, premium ear cushions are also plenty comfy, which are particularly great for when you’re in the middle of a long, intense gaming session with your friends. As someone who wears glasses, the cushions aren’t so tight to hurt me like other headsets I’ve had in the past. For those gaymers that wear glasses, the Recon 70 has your back and your ears!
Speaking of ears, the 40mm speakers protected by these ear cushions deliver some pretty amazing audio, despite it only being stereo. I tested the audio on my PC at first, running a quick game of Minecraft. The music was top-notch, and it was easy to differentiate sounds between the left and right speaker. The downside with stereo is that with just two channels, certain sounds in-game (particularly footsteps and background noise) can feel far away. It isn’t a deal-breaker by any means, but it can make competitive gaming feel trickier than it needs to be. On the plus side, audio pretty much sounds the same on my Nintendo Switch, and my PS4. Which, yes, does mean that, thanks to the 3.5mm jack, this headset supports multiple platforms. This can be a life-saver if, like me, you use multiple consoles to game on as you won’t need to invest more money than necessary.
The Recon 70’s microphone is pretty chef-kiss worthy too. It boasts high-sensitivity, meaning that even if you’re muttering under your breath about how your friend is a filthy casual they’ll more than likely hear it loud and clear. Depending on what game you’re playing, communication is key and being heard is important. You’ll have no problems with that with this headset, as even when you’re using your mic to navigate through console menu’s like the PS4, it picks up what you’re saying with ease. The only struggle I had in being heard was on my PC, where my friends had to turn my voice channel up a lot for me to be heard. I’ve had no other complaints from anywhere else I’ve gamed though, so this could easily be due to Discord sucking.
But to me, while being heard is awesome, it’s the flip up to mute system that really appeals to me. No longer do I need to untangle wires to try and find the small mute button, or grasp around my headset in the dark trying to find a catch that’ll finally shut me up before the internet hears my husky, sleep-deprived voice. Now it’s simply a smack off the mic to flip it up and mute myself in the process. It’s the standard on many Turtle Beach mics, but that doesn’t stop it from being a damn awesome inclusion and already puts the headset way ahead of most other non-Beach headsets.
So, we know that the headset is both affordable, reliable and has a great design. But what about its style? Due to the headset’s support of various consoles, you’re able to pick and choose which colour best suits you rather than have to make do with the colour that’s been chosen for each console. For example, we had the black and red for the Nintendo Switch, but we could have just as easily used the blue and white headset for the PS4. It really doesn’t make a difference as it all boils down to preference, but the option to pick-and-choose is a luxury that is barely presented with some headsets.
Ultimately, the Turtle Beach Recon 70 headset is one that may not persuade gamers who can afford bigger and better headsets with wireless capabilities and surround sound, but is a god-send to gamers who desire a headset that is reliable and doesn’t break the bank in the process. And hey, it looking stylish doesn’t hurt either.
We were provided with the Turtle Beach Recon 70 Headset for Nintendo Switch by Turtle Beach.
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