Turtle Beach is no stranger to making high-performance gaming hardware, either through its PDP brand or its own in-house accessories. The company is perhaps best known for its gaming headsets but has leveraged its decades of experience to bring us other great gaming accessories like the Stealth Ultra wireless controller. Well, mostly great, as we'll see.
What I like about the Stealth Ultra
Jason Cockerham/CNET
Turtle Beach didn't try to reinvent the wheel with the Stealth Ultra. The standard Xbox controller Microsoft has been refining for years arguably reached peak form with the Xbox X|S series consoles. The Stealth Ultra has a nearly identical design. Anyone who's used an Xbox controller will feel right at home.
While the design looks similar, the materials on the Stealth Ultra feel much more premium compared to, say, the Xbox Elite controller. Even the seams where the different pieces of the controller come together are just so smooth. Aesthetically, the Stealth Ultra looks like something out of a Sci-Fi game. There's a two-tone black and gold color scheme that's subtle but still makes a statement, and there are two RBG light strips running down the handles, which look awesome.
The buttons, triggers and joysticks on the Stealth Ultra are a mixed bag compared to Microsoft's Elite Series 2 controller. The Hall Effect joysticks on the Ultra are step up from the Elite, but the microswitch D-Pad, face, and back buttons, while having a shorter travel distance, feel like a step down from the Elite Series 2.
Pro-level features
Jason Cockerham/CNET
The first and most noticeable pro-level feature is the large, 1.5-inch LCD display at the top of the controller. The display gives you insight into nearly everything going on in the Stealth Ultra. You can customize settings, remap the back buttons, change the lighting effects and even get some social media notifications from apps like Discord, WhatsApp and Messages (you'll need to sync it up with your Android phone first).
It connects to Xbox or PC via a USB-C cable or 2.4GHz wireless dongle, and via Bluetooth to your Android phone. If you plug in some headphones, you can also enable Turtle Beach's Superhuman Hearing mode, which amplifies things like footsteps and improves mic audio for coordinating with your teammates.
... continue reading