Price of Stealth Ultra Controller $199.99
Summary
We have the Elite controller that Microsoft puts out, but this blows it away. I can’t think of a comparable to the Stealth Ultra and it’s worth every penny.
Review unit provided by Turtle Beach
Turtle Beach has arrived with its latest edition of an “Elite Controller” for Xbox with the Stealth Ultra Controller that looks to be among the best options when searching for a pro controller. The company which is best known for its high-quality headsets has begun testing the waters in the controller market and it’s safe to say Turtle Beach is ready to play within this market.
What comes in the box?
What comes in the box of the Stealth Ultra Controller are a few things, a hard-shell case, the controller, a charge dock, USB wireless transmitter, four additional thumbcaps, and a USB-A to USB-C cable. All of these will help your experience with this controller especially the thumbcaps when you eventually wear off the thumbsticks it comes with.
When you first open the box of this controller, Turtle Beach makes the entire experience feel premium and makes you feel like every penny you spent was worth it.
Immediately when you look at the Stealth Ultra Controller you’ll see a screen on top that will remind you of the DualShock 4 controller from Sony. Except this time you can interact with that screen and edit any of the functions right on there including seeing social media messages. This screen is known as the ‘Connected Command Display’ and there is so much involved that will have you overwhelmed at first and offers the most customization that I’ve seen in a controller.
There is the cosmetic side of things with intelligent RGB lighting (what a surprise in 2024), where you can change the color of the outline of this controller and make an effect like you see with all RGB products. One of the other features that also doesn’t impact gameplay is the Social Notifications through the App Link to the Stealth Ultra has to offer.
Usually when gaming we tend to look at our cell phones, PCs, or Laptops, but now we can see who messaged us on Discord, Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and others right on our controller. It’s almost like having a smartwatch built into your controller where you can quickly look at who messaged you without getting distracted. It’s definitely a neat and unexpected addition to the Xbox controller.
The Best Battery Life For An Xbox Controller
The Stealth Ultra comes with a 30-hour battery life which is without a doubt the best the Xbox controller has ever seen. It even beats out the DualSense and Nintendo Switch Pro Controller which have good reputations for their battery life. I’ve been using this controller for just over a week playing multiple games on Xbox Series X and PC and I have yet to see a “Your batteries are low” notification.
The Rapid Charge Dock will also recharge your controller in a couple of hours from being fully dead which is neat.
Headset Mixer
I never thought in my life that a controller would allow you to edit so much to the game audio besides just adjusting the in-game volume and voice chat. Stealth Ultra has different options when you connect your headset. You can place it on Signature Sound, Bass Boost, Bass/Treble Boost, Voice Boost, or Superhuman Hearing. You can edit this all either on the display or on the Turtle Beach Control Center 2 app on PC or Mobile.
You can customize your audio experience to your liking and this was one of my favorite features of the controller.
Create Custom Profiles
The beauty of this Turtle Beach controller is the ability to save multiple profiles because if you like one setting for Apex Legends, but like to use something for Rocket League then you can make your own profiles for that because the opportunity to edit how you like your analog sticks and triggers to function is huge. Or even the buttons on the back with P1-2 and P3-4 you can have one of them act as A, B, LB, or any other button on the controller or you can add pro aim.
The Stealth Ultra controller from Turtle Beach is the most comfortable Xbox controller I’ve had in some time and maybe forever. The premium materials around the handles indeed feel premium including the triggers and thumbsticks. If I had to critique something on this product it would be where the Start and Menu buttons are located. To me, I feel like they should be next to the middle Xbox button where it would feel somewhat natural to normal Series X controllers today.
Another negative I had was initially the process of connecting to my Xbox Series X wirelessly. Usually, you would be able to just sync to the console by pressing a button on a controller and the console, but with this one, you can plug in the USB Wireless Transmitter to the console and it should connect then.
What people look for in controllers is durability, comfortability, and battery life. The Stealth Ultra Controller checks off all of those boxes and it is truly the premium controller Xbox and PC players needed all this time. We have the Elite controller that Microsoft puts out, but this blows it away. I can’t think of a comparable to the Stealth Ultra and it’s worth every penny.
If you are in the market for an upgraded controller keep the Stealth Ultra in mind.