Tech Up! Turtle Beach Recon 70 Gaming Headset Review Page 1

Tech Up! Turtle Beach Recon 70 Gaming Headset Review

Turtle Beach has been perfecting its craft for a long time. Its logo is now iconic in the gaming world, as is its affordability; yes, the company has broken into the higher end of the market with a few of its releases, but it will always be known for consistency in catering to low-budget gamers. The Recon 70 Headset falls into the latter bracket and seems perfectly content with this fact. Retailing at just £29.99, it's likely that many would write them off as poor quality - after all, you get what you pay for, right? Well, the Recon 70's has something to say about this mentality. There's more here than meets the eye...

In a world dominated by ever-more garishly designed gaming headsets, Turtle Beach's Recon 70 Headset is a breath of fresh air. It boasts a simple aesthetic with minimal chunkiness - the only flare comes from a few stripe-like indents to give it a bit of character. In the design department, it's a product for those who aren't too fussed about winning any fashion awards at the next LAN session and just want a functional piece of equipment. Cubed3 received the white and blue colourway, which is marketed as the PS4 version but in actuality this makes no difference as the 3.5mm jack ensures that this headset will work across all mainstream devices. The only true point of contention is the lack of face buttons; there is a simple volume dial behind the left ear, and the microphone can be muted by folding it up. Simplicity was clearly the primary aspiration here, and these are the design choices that contribute to the extremely affordable price.

As for build quality, it's what you'd expect of a budget headset. The body is entirely made up of plastic - the only respite being the padding on the arch and around the ears. Again, all in the name of simplicity and affordability. Nevertheless, the Recon 70 feels pretty solid; it's inadvisable to carelessly toss it around, but it isn't going to randomly disintegrate, either. For an all-plastic shell it's actually pretty sturdy, but nothing to write home about compared to what else is on the market. Image for Tech Up! Turtle Beach Recon 70 Gaming Headset Review

Of course, the two most important factors in a serious gamer's headset checklist are comfort and sound quality, and here is where the Recon 70 rises above its price tag. As mentioned earlier, the foam padding is very simple, but it's excellently utilised to ensure the headset remains comfortable even during longer play sessions. The earcups rotate 45 degrees backwards to accommodate multiple head shapes which is a great bonus. The sound quality, though? Mamma mia! The sound is simply excellent for a headset this cheap. There's great clarity throughout the dynamic range, and some above par performance in the mid to high ranges. The lows could be a bit better, but they're still decent, resulting in a crisp and clear audio range that really delivers where it counts.

The microphone is also quite impressive - audio input sounds great on the other end without any untoward muffling or crackling. There is an audible and unmistakeable click when the mic is flipped up to mute, though, so if you mute yourself in a lobby, everyone is going to know you've just gone dark.

Overall, the Recon 70 can hardly be faulted. It's simply designed and sturdy enough for a cheap headset, but the majority of its accolades come from some great sound output and a surprisingly comfortable fit. Turtle Beach has made a name for itself by providing some impressive tech at very affordable prices, and its effort with the Recon 70 is more of the same from the company in the best possible way. Image for Tech Up! Turtle Beach Recon 70 Gaming Headset Review

8/10

Great - Silver Award

The Recon 70 Gaming Headset is an excellent piece of tech for its price. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it's sleek, solid and comfortable, with very good audio quality. All its eggs have been thrown into the comfort and sound baskets, just as one would expect from a good budget headset. Any niggles here are negated by the fact that it's so cheap - truly, the Recon 70 gets the job done and is in fact a steal for the low cost of entry.

Comment on this article

Comments

«s previous1next »

RudyC3 05.10.2019#1

I've been rocking a Recon 50X for the past two to three years and before that a Z11. The Z11 had slightly better sound (less bass heavy) and more comfortable padding around the ears because it didn't feel like a suction cup, but the 50x cancels surrounding sounds better. Both costed about the same price as that Recon 70. This one seems to use the exact same padding around the ears, that kind of faux leather, that sucks all the air out of your ears if you press on them, but which seems to cover the ears perfectly.

I have no complaints about Turtlebeach's lower end headsets, they get the job done for me and they seem to last me a very long time. I've used my current one for streaming for the past two years and nobody's ever complained about the mic's sound quality either.