Everybody’s favourite budget gaming brand is back, delivering us a refinement of the Recon 200 headset. Turtle Beach has long been producing consistently good hardware for gamers on a budget, and the Recon 200 Gen 2 looks – at least on the surface – to be more of the same. The original Recon 200 dropped in Q4 2018, so was perhaps due a bit of a refresh. Is this new model a welcome improvement or an unnecessary rehash?
Let’s get the obvious out of the way: the Recon 200 Gen 2 delivers great sound. In typical Turtle Beach fashion the audio is crisp, clear and good not just in the budget category but as a gaming headset on the whole. The spatial audio is exactly what you’d expect from solid gaming tech. Truly, the Turtle Beach penchant for killer sound impresses once again.That being said, the dynamic range falls in line with expectations at this price point. It’s still good, but not as notably great as the rest of the headset’s audio features. However, there’s the always-on Bass Boost that consistently delivers those all-important lows – so it’s really nothing to scoff at.
Moving onto the design – like its predecessor, the Gen 2 boasts a simple but effective aesthetic. The build quality is what you’d expect at this price point, with a plasticky and light design. The main new feature is the memory foam ear cushions, which, it must be said, offer some welcome comfort for glasses wearers. Wearing a headset over glasses can become fairly uncomfortable over time, but the memory foam cushions on the Gen 2 mitigate any digging into the side of the head, instead making the business of gaming with glasses almost entirely unnoticeable. Huzzah!
One area where the design is lacking, though, is with the overhead padding. It’s insufficient at best, and the headset becomes uncomfortable after longer gaming sessions. Elsewhere, the mic and volume dials are annoyingly close together – so close that accidentally toggling the wrong one is a very real problem.
Still, it’s tough to fault this headset’s ease of use. The Recon 200 Gen 2 is so, so easy to set up, no matter what platform you’re playing on. As gaming headsets continue to become more console-specific, the Recon 200 Gen 2 works on every modern platform under the sun. Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5, PC, Nintendo Switch, mobile you name it.Aided further by USB Type-C charging, it certainly feels like a budget headset ripe for the current era. This isn’t to say that the Turtle Beach Recon 200 Gen 2 is revolutionary, though; on the contrary, it’s almost indistinguishable from its predecessor. While the new memory foam ear cushions are a welcome upgrade, there’s little new ground that wasn’t already broken with the first generation.
Does that mean they’re not worth it? Well, no – they certainly are if you’re looking for a budget gaming headset. As long as you’re prepared for the sacrifices to comfort, build quality and neat features this price category comes with, the Recon 200 Gen 2 is a great bet to stake your wallet on. Truly, the negatives can be considered pure nitpicking when you look at the price and the sound quality you’re getting for it.
