It was only in the past year or so that Turtle Beach started to dabble with the idea of controllers. It’s a risky move for a company known mainly for its headsets. But it’s also a market that has somewhat been stagnant, as while there are great third-party controllers out there, most end up coming with some drawbacks. That was somewhat the case with Turtle Beach’s first gaming controller, The Recon. It earned an Editor Choice badge from us, as it features some rather innovative features, but the drawback then was that it was a wired controller. Price helped justify the controller, but it was clear to Turtle Beach that the market demanded something wireless.

So it was back to the drawing board for the company, though not from scratch, as The Recon would serve as the foundation for what would come next. Little did I know that this time around, the manufacturer wouldn’t take any half-measures, as they’ve set their eyes on crafting the best Xbox controller with the Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra Wireless Controller.

Does it live up to those expectations?

The Best Designed Pro Xbox Controller?

To be the best, you have to look the best, which is why the Xbox controller remains mostly unchanged over the last decade. Why change what many already consider to be the perfect design for Xbox?

That’s something Turtle Beach understood, which is why their Stealth Ultra maintains that best-feeling factor that Xbox has delivered for decades. But that’s not to say that the design can’t be improved upon. The question has always been how without comprising everything you love about the controller? For Turtle Beach, that starts with the small details.

The Stealth Ultra is not only a gorgeous controller, but it also feels fantastic to hold. The paint job and plastics used are soft to the touch, while the rubber handles and texturized triggers give you just the perfect amount of grip. But holding the Ultra Stealth in your hand, there’s something special about it that gives it that premium touch that makes you want to run your hand across it like some exotic sports car.

For back buttons, the Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra Wireless Controller features four programmable ones. They’re OK in terms of design, but I do wish they had a bit more spacing, as each side has two buttons that are really close to one another. The low profile they have is nice, and they’re relatively snappy and responsive while using in a game.

There’s a texturized grip on them, too, as there are on all the triggers, which feels really nice. In general, the controller feels good to hold, and there’s a real sense that this is a premium controller. Even the painting and material used on the controller feel better than stock ones and a lot of other pro controllers.

Moving up from the back buttons, there are also trigger stoppers right beside each trigger. These come in two settings: full range and short range. It’s always good to have options, as some pro controllers will specifically only have short triggers, which can be an issue in games that require the entire trigger motion for specific action. You’ll likely stick with the short-range stops for anything competitive.

Then there’s the charging dock. In 2019, Turtle Beach announced the acquisition of PC peripheral makers ROCCAT. Since then, they’ve expanded and released many products that built and further innovated on technology, such as their optical Titan Switches and other features. But the most exciting thing about this deal was how both companies would eventually meld their tech with one another. We saw this first with headsets from ROCCAT, as Turtle Beach’s staple Super Hero Hearing feature eventually came with newer headsets.

Now, it looks like Turtle Beach is benefiting from that purchase, as the design of the Stealth Ultra Wireless charging dock was one clearly inspired by ROCCAT’s Kone XP Air wireless mouse dock.

It’s very basic looking, mind you, but it has some neat features. The design itself has a curved angle so that the controller can rest comfortably. That may cause some worry that it could potentially slide out of place, but fret not, as the controller/charging dock has a magnetic port. They’re decently strong too, as the controller will snap right into place, meaning no finicking around trying to align the charging ports in the right spot.

For connectivity, it uses a USB-C to USB-B cable. There is no wifi built into the dock itself, which is actually a pro, in my opinion. Not everyone likes having a charger near their set-up, so being able to plug this in elsewhere is great. The connectivity is instead done via a wifi dongle or Bluetooth, which is pretty standard on consoles and PCs. But I am someone who likes having their dock near my PC setup, and this is something that I loved about the ROCCAT Kone XP Air wireless mouse dock.

Normally, you’d need two USB ports, one for the charger and the other for the wireless dongle. However, on both the Kone XP Air and now the Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra Wireless Controller, the charging dock has a built-in USB port that you can insert that dongle. It cuts right into the design too and is an improvement over the Kone XP Air’s design, so it’s not sticking out like a sore thumb. When you put the controller on it, too, it covers the entire docking station when you look at it from above. So it looks like it’s being charged via cable versus a docking station.

I’m fond of the design of the docking station. I’m surprised Turtle Beach even built one, as most pro controllers opt for being rechargeable via USB cable.

Now, thumbsticks are one of the more exciting features of this controller, as they do away with traditional analog sticks in favor of Hall Effect Joysticks. For those who aren’t super tech-savvy, Hall Effect doesn’t rely on contact like analog sticks do. They use magnetic sensors to determine movement. Because the sticks don’t rely on contact, in theory, they should never suffer from the awful fate of stick drift, you know, when you are moving in-game but aren’t touching the controller.

It’s awful when it happens and has always been a leading concern when buying any pro controller. Warranty may cover it in some cases, but it’s when you’re outside of that. Pro controllers aren’t cheap, so rebuying one is often out of the question for many.

I can’t comment on how true that will be for the Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra Wireless, but there’s proof out there to back up the durability of Hall Effect sticks.

The last piece of the controller is the onboard screen and RGB lighting. Yep, you read that right, in addition to some flashy lights, the Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra Wireless also has a built-in screen and onboard memory that doesn’t compromise the controller’s form factor. It does, however, solve my biggest issue with any third-party pro controller, and that’s being able to finally save your custom mapping and more.

I find that, more often than not, third-party controllers can provide a better experience than official controllers out there. However, they severely lack on the software side of things, as mappables have to be done each time. It’s been a major complaint with every pro controller I have ever used, outside of the official console maker ones. Turtle Beach has clearly seen those complaints and has built a controller with that in mind.

There are advanced features that you can view from the screen that allows you to monitor and access a few things, such as volume levels, superhuman hearing, RGB lighting, and even social media notifications sent from your phone. That latter one is an option I could care less about, but hey, if you can do it, then why not?

What I do love is that the controller can save up to 10 controller profiles, storing customized back button mapping, deadzones, axis response, and even vibration intensity. It’s absolutely insane and by far the best feature of the controller, in my opinion. Gone are the days where I’m sitting there remapping my buttons for each game on a third-party controller, and that, to me alone, makes it well worth the buy.

The only thing that feels like a missed opportunity is the lack of integration with the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro headset. The Xbox, in general, has built this idea of a unified ecosystem, and seeing that Turtle Beach is an official partner and all, I think that’s one major frontier they could learn from. Mind you, I say this with expressions that this is easily one of the best Xbox controllers I’ve ever used. But the idea of a unified ecosystem for peripherals from Turtle Beach having some form of integration with one another excites me if it could easily connect and control different headsets wirelessly.

One thing you might have noticed is that I haven’t mentioned any module pieces. That’s because the Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra Wireless Controller isn’t modular like the Xbox Elite controller. It does come with rubberized thumbstick caps, but beyond that, nothing on the controller is interchangeable. I don’t mind it because I stick to the default design, though I wish we could swap out the D-pad for something else.

Another feature I wished it had that we praised in our Nacon Revolution X Pro controller was that you could increase and decrease the controller weight with removable weights in the handle. I’d love to see a similar thing for The Stealth Ultra Wireless down the road, as it does feel a tad too light to me.

Past those two complaints, the controller is essentially perfect with its design. It’s impressive to see this from Turtle Beach, not because they make bad products, far from it, but because they’ve had so little time in the non-headset peripheral market. They’re pushing the quality with this controller and what it means to be a “Pro Controller.” But enough about the design, let’s talk about how it performs!

Power in the Palm of Your Hand

A main draw of pro controllers is the back buttons. Back buttons allow players to map face buttons that would otherwise require you to remove your thumb off a stick. Maintaining stick control is important because it’s often associated with movement and camera positioning, something you would always want to have in a competitive online game.

While I still think the back buttons are too close to one another, there’s no denying that they work perfectly as intended. Going into a shooter like Call of Duty, being able to slide and jump without ever removing my fingers off the sticks, is a different experience of play and one I’ll never give up. Many can attest to how much better back paddles make you in a game, and I really like how the Steal Ultra Wireless feels overall as a controller when using them.

But the most significant feature, in my opinion, is the profile swapping. Pro Controllers are great in that you have back buttons that can be customized to any button. The problem is that there are so many multiplayer games to switch to nowadays that they all feature different gameplay and require different configurations. PlayStation’s and Xbox’s Pro controllers have solved this with profile saving. Third-party controllers, at least the ones I’ve used, don’t have this feature.

I play many different multiplayer games, from Battlefield, Call of Duty, and Apex Legends to the recently released The Finals and so many others. I can tell you, even if it’s easy, it’s still annoying having to program back buttons every time I switch to another game.

Turtle Beach eliminates that, as the Stealth Ultra Wireless has a generous ten profiles you can alternate between. Ten profiles for ten games, or if you want, you can run multi-setups for one game-specific. Hero shooters or specific weapons and loadout builds could benefit from those profile switches, as you may prefer one layout in one instance and a different one in another.

It’s super easy to switch profiles, too, as the controller has a dedicated plus button that gives you control of the onboard screen. You could also use the mobile app, but for most of my testing, I kept to what was offered by the controller. The only thing you can’t do, I believe, without the app or a phone is set up social media alerts. It’s not a feature made for me, but I can see this being a big thing for many.

Other features include adjusting the lighting and even turning it off (come on, PlayStation, if Turtle Beach can do it, so can you!) for increased battery life. The controller can last up to 30 hours, which is plenty for a week of play, but if you have the RGB lighting on, it does lower it.

As mentioned, deadzones, axis response, and vibrations can also be adjusted. Those are massive features to have in a controller, especially deadzone options. If, somehow, this controller does experience stick drift, you can go into the deadzones and other settings to counteract it. Some games give you deadzone options, but this works universally across all games since it’s hardware base.

In some ways, you can look at that as one added layer to protect against stick drift. If the sticks somehow manage to show drift, playing around with the deadzone settings will help fix that.

Verdict

If Turtle Beach wanted to make a statement to all Pro Controller makers out there, then they’ve certainly done just that in the very short amount of time they’ve been in the controller market. The Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra Wireless Controller is, by far, one of the best Xbox/PC Pro controllers that I’ve used, which says a lot when considering it has no modular parts. It’s a shortcoming that gets made up in the quality of the controller itself, as it boldly boasts a level of premium that makes it hard to go back to any other controller. Beyond its minor faults, you’re getting an experience worth every penny.

Score: 9.5/10

Pros:

• Hall Effect sticks to combat stick drift.
• It has a beautiful design, with added features that don’t compromise it.
• Pro features, such as trigger stops and mappable back buttons.
• Onboard memory that can store up to 10 profiles.
• The built-in screen has a ton of functionality, like RGB lighting, social notifications, deadzone, vibration, and more.
• Easy connectivity to nearly any device.
• The dock is well thought out. It’s a surprise it even comes with one.
• One full charge will get you 30 hours of game time.

Cons:

• The back buttons are a tad too close. If you have fat fingers, be warned.
• The controller is a bit light, a complaint I even had about stock Xbox controllers.