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I love the Kishi V3 Pro, but the Razer Tax is real

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Razer Kishi V3 Pro The Razer Kishi V3 Pro is the best purely telescopic mobile controller you can get right now. It has swappable TMR sticks and a ton of extra buttons, all of which are customizable. The build quality is terrific, it's comfortable to use, and the companion Razer Nexus app offers a ton of great features with no subscription needed. At an MSRP of $149, you need to be living the luxury life to buy it, but if you can justify the cost you'll love the Kishi V3 Pro.

Whenever I review a Razer product, I always end up saying the same thing: “It’s amazing, but I wouldn’t pay [exorbitant price Razer is asking] for it.” I would love to tell you that I won’t be using that line in this review, but let’s be real: you already know from the headline that I’m going to dust it off to tell you about the new Razer Kishi V3 Pro and its two siblings.

In a word, these controllers are great. The Pro models easily surpass the Razer Kishi Ultra from last year, and the vanilla Kishi V3 is an interesting new option that makes the family a bit more accessible. But I can appreciate them as they are because Razer was kind enough to send them to me for free for testing — I’m not sure most people will want to pay the asking price for them.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. First, let me tell you why there are three controllers launching this year and what makes them different.

Razer Kishi V3 series: Baby, mommy, and big daddy

C. Scott Brown / Android Authority

As a refresher, the $149 Kishi Ultra from 2024 is a telescopic mobile controller that only works when connected to something. In other words, there is no battery or Bluetooth on board, and it only functions when a smartphone is slotted into it or it is connected with a USB-C cable to another system, such as a laptop. The Kishi Ultra had RGB lights, a standard set of analog sticks, two customizable “claw-grip” buttons near the triggers, and the ability to act as a virtual controller for mobile games that don’t support physical controller input, such as Genshin Impact.

The Kishi V3 family is an evolution of the Ultra. At the bottom end, the standard Kishi V3 ($99.99 at Amazon) removes many of the premium features to bring the price down to $99. This is still pretty pricey for a mobile controller, but it does match its premium competition, and does have a few perks that make that price almost worth it. I’ll touch on this in a bit.

C. Scott Brown / Android Authority

Meanwhile, the Razer Kishi V3 Pro ($149.99 at Amazon) is the follow-up to the Kishi Ultra in everything but name. Although it lacks the Chroma RGB lighting (all three V3 controllers lack it for some reason), it does literally everything else the Ultra does, including working with small 8-inch tablets. It also throws in some new premium features, including the long-awaited upgrade to a higher tier of analog stick technology. Like the Kishi Ultra, the Kishi V3 Pro will cost you $149.

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