Turtle Beach Ear Force Recon 70 Headset Review

A Closer Look and Performance

The headset looks pretty familiar, and that’s no bad thing. Turtle Beach has been using pretty much the same design for its Recon models for a while now. I’m sure there are some minor tweaks, but it’s like trying to tell a new Porsche from the last one when your not a Porsche guy. The old saying goes though, if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it. They looked good before, they look just as good today. As you can see, it’s hard-wired, and I love the colour matching on the cable.

The bright red finish matched that of the headsets highlights. It’s a 4-pole 3.5mm cable too, so it’ll connect to just about anything. Consoles, mobile devices, you name it. The only thing you would need is a Y-split cable to use the microphone on a PC, but they’re a couple of £/$ on Amazon if you haven’t already got one.

Lightweight

Clocking in at just 232 grams, the Recon 70 has been on a gentle diet. It’s easily lighter than most headsets on the market, and that should pay off in a big way for long-term comfort. Despite the weight being low though, it feels pretty robust. Again, Turtle Beach has used this basic design for years, and it’s served them well. Sure, if you throw it at a wall, you’re going to break something, but for most, it should survive a few knocks and scrapes just fine. Either that or just look after your damn headset better, ha!

Materials

It’s mostly a lightweight plastic construction. That’s hardly surprising given the cost though. If you want a chunky metal headband, there are more premium models from Turtle Beach, such as their Atlas series. You get what you pay for. Despite that, however, the finish on this headset looks great. More matte finishes than gloss, which stops it from looking as “affordable” as it actually is.

Comfort

The headset is lightweight, as I’ve said what, three times now? This does mean it can get away with some pretty minimal padding though. The headband coating is soft rubber, and it’s got an inner memory foam layer, I think. It’s surprising how much cushion it offers, despite being just 8mm deep.

The headband is plastic, but when you pull on the drivers to open it up, it’s amazing how rigid and strong it feels. The result is that the ear cups clamp down quite firmly over your ears. Not so much that your head feels like it’s in a vice, but enough to create a confident seal around your ears.

There’s a soft PU leather padding on the ear cups. Again, more memory foam here that feels pretty durable. It’s a closed driver design and the padding sits around the ear, rather than on the ear. This helps lock in the sound, and provides a pleasant amount of passive noise cancellation too.

Ergonomics

The ear cups fold in up to 90 degrees, so you can adjust them to sit more flush around your ears. Furthermore, it’s great for when you’re wearing the headset around your neck between games. At least this way, the ear cups don’t dig into your chest.

There’s a good range of adjustment in the headband too. At the smallest, it even fit my daughter (5yr old), and on the largest setting, it’ll fit adults with ease too. So overall, it’s easily suitable for any age.

For a little added ease of use, there’s even a volume wheel on the side of the ear cup.

The microphone is hard-wired on this solid boom. However, it folds back out of the way like this, where it’ll be auto-muted. When it’s folded back, you cannot see it while you’re gaming.

Microphone

Whenever you want to use it, just flick it down and it sits off to the side of your face. It looks pretty short. However, the angle is just right that the pinhole microphone sits just off to the side of your mouth. That gives it a good pickup, without people having to hear you breathe into it like a Darth Vader. It’s quite sensitive too, albeit a little basic. So while it does sound nice and clear, it’ll pick up a bit of ambient noise like your low-fi mumble rap music, TV blaring in the background, or you eating crisps; so be considerate to your teammates and don’t do that, even though so many others still do haha.

Performance

The headband isn’t the most refined when it comes to ergonomics, but at this price range, I’m really not going to complain. Despite the wide-boy look, it’s surprisingly comfortable though. And yes, I did try it on my own head, not just the model. The ear pads lock in the sound, which does a lot to help boost the bass levels of the drivers. They’re hardly the most punchy of the bunch, but still pack enough low-end punch to make movies, music and obviously gaming, an enjoyable experience.

Turtle Beach headsets always pack plenty of mid-range and treble detail though, and that’s still true here. When it comes to running through a game and using team chat, it works fantastically. The game sounds nicely detailed and my teammates sound bright and clear. There’s no channel mixing here, but it still strikes a good balance on its own.

The 40mm drivers are plenty powerful too and offer up enough volume to block out ambient noise. They’re not completely soundproof though, and if you have them loud, people around you will be able to hear what you hear to some degree. However, that’s true of pretty much any budget headset, so don’t fret about it.