Reviews – Mnemonic Tutor

Review – Turtle Beach Ear Force Recon 50P for PlayStation 4

The Turtle Beach Ear Force Recon 50P (what a name huh?) is a wired headset with microphone, intended for use while gaming on PCs and consoles. Its official use and coloring scheme, however, is for a PS4 and/or PS4 Pro. Of course, because the 3.5mm audio jack is a de facto standard, this means that the headset can be used with any PC or console that uses the standard 3.5mm audio jack for audio in/out. Grab one for yourself here: https://amzn.to/2XrHseQ

This headset is targeted at the budget conscious gamer, who wants a quality product, but doesn’t want to spend several hundred dollars on it. As you can imagine, this is a very large segment of the gamer population. I would assume that this is the largest segment within the entire gamer population given what I know about gamers – being one myself and all.

My first impression when holding this in my hands, still inside the packaging, was that it looked like a quality product. After opening and holding it in my hands for a while, twisting it in all sorts of ways, tugging on cabling, etc. my opinion changed slightly. If I were to give a rating system of 1 to 10, 1 being total garbage and 10 being high-end Audio-Technicas, the Ear Force Recon 50P would be about a 5. They are not terrible, but they are not great either. They are perfectly functional, however, and would suffice for any budget gamer.

My overall experience with the product was a positive one. The packaging was adequate for a product of its price, and the product itself had quality that I felt was commensurate with the price paid for it. The product is very user-friendly for both veteran gamers and newbies. As mentioned above, the 3.5mm audio jack is a standard, so if you know how to interact with one of those, you’re golden. There are also simple instructions included, in the event you are not familiar with such witchery. The overall comfort level using these headphones is also about 5 out of 10. They are fine for several hours at a time. I wouldn’t want to wear them for an eight hour gaming session.

There aren’t many pain points or gotchas to this product, mainly because the 3.5mm audio jack is a standard. There isn’t really a way for budget gaming accessory manufacturers to circumvent that standard and still make a profit.

There are a ton of alternatives available in the gaming headset market. Just do a simple Amazon search for “gaming headset” and see what comes up. What you’ll find, however, is that just about every other non-name brand headset of similar quality on Amazon is about the same price as the Ear Force Recon 50P, or within a few dollars up or down. At that point, you have to ask yourself “Is it worth it to save two dollars and go with a no-name brand, or pay the extra two bucks and have a known name and support department behind it?” Myself – I’d just stick to the known quantity.

Should you buy these?

Ah, finally, the big question – should you buy this or not?

So first, here’s my no TL;DR verdict – YES, buy them. Go here to buy them: https://amzn.to/2XrHseQ

Why is it a definite ‘yes’ for a 5/10 product? Simple. If you are new to gaming headsets, this is a solid entry-level headset for the price. You could to a lot worse, and not much better at this price point. So this is a good buy for the beginning gamer. If you are a gaming veteran, then no doubt you’ve spent years using other headsets. At that point, you probably also understand that this is a budget headset and you know what that quality is, having yourself been a beginning gamer at some point. So unless you’re still a budget gamer, this may not be for you, and you would know that. One thing I will mention is that even for the more hardcore gamer like myself, who has super expensive cans, the Ear Force Recon 50P makes a serviceable backup set of cans, should your mains go down.

Pros

Budget Price.
Good quality for the price.
Nice blue and white color scheme.

Cons

Microphone quality is not great.
The “pleather” ear cups can get uncomfortable after a while of using.
The cables seem a little thin, and are not braided.

I’m Mnemonic Tutor, a long time gamer who plays literally any and all types of games. I’ve been playing games since I was five years old, and my reviews come from decades worth of experience with gaming.

Feel free to Tweet me @mnemonictutor if you want to discuss anything. I’m always on Twitter, so it is the best way to contact me. Other contact info also on my Twitter page.

Be sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/mnemonictutor to see most of these reviews in video form, as well as a lot of other gaming and streaming content that I publish.

If you’re on Twitch, check out my channel and throw me a follow or sub if you like the stream! – http://www.twitch.tv/mnemonictutor

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Review – SCUF Vantage controller for PS4 and PS4 Pro

The SCUF Vantage is an aftermarket controller designed for use with the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 4 Pro. It can be used both wireless and wired, and it has the rare ability to remap buttons on the front of the controller, to any of four paddles on the rear of the controller. It is very similar to the Xbox One Elite Controller, which is manufactured my Microsoft for use on PC and Xbox One.

This controller is aimed at the hardcore console gamer, or “pro” console gamer. It is not meant for new gamers or gamers who don’t understand the need for the paddles on the rear of the controller – which are the most important feature of this controller. If you are a ‘First Person Shooter’ (FPS) player, this controller is made for you. I will cover a lot more about the controller features and usage in the video review, so be sure to check that out below.

First impressions of this controller were excellent, even with the product still in the box. SCUF put a lot of time, thought and design into the packaging, and it shows. It reminded me of the level of effort and design that Apple puts into every one of its products.

After opening the packaging, I was even more impressed to see how SCUF laid out all of the pieces that come with this controller. There is a ‘hard’ shell carrying case, a nice braided micro USB cable, and a nice large pill-shaped container to hold the various little pieces that you can swap out and modify on this controller.

Holding the unit in my hands for the first time, I was first surprised by just how light this controller is compared to the Xbox One Elite. In general, lighter controllers are preferred, as you are holding it up for the duration of your gaming session. The controller had zero flex when I tried to flex it in any direction. The paint on the controller was solid, with no blemishes from manufacturing or packaging. I got the plain silver cover plate with yellow accents, but you can actually order a multitude of different face plates to suit your style. The thumbsticks are plastic, but solid, and they have a full range of motion in any direction, as well as the 360 degree circular motion. I also love that the thumbsticks are offset like an Xbox controller, and not next to each other at the bottom of the controller like a typical PS4 controller. The four main buttons are also solid, without harsh clicks or mushy compresses. They feel just right. The touchpad is clicky, and the texture feels great as you slide your finger across it. The right and left triggers and bumpers work great. There are some additional side buttons, more to the top (faceplate area) of the controller, with SCUF calls SAX buttons. Their purpose is to allow you to use your full hand when playing and have more options available to you, but I haven’t used them yet. Lastly, the paddles on the back are great. They are plastic, have a distinct and satisfying ‘clicky’ sound when you activate them, have nice grooving and grip textures toward the bottom where your finger touches them, and they are remap-able to any of the buttons on the controller.

Overall, my impressions of build quality and gaming experience were great. Considering the price of the controller is $200, I expect that the overall experience would be nothing less than great. I would say that the quality and user experience definitely live up to the price of the controller. It delivers on what it claims to do, and I didn’t feel like I was lied to or ripped-off by buying this.

The product is very user friendly. There are clear instructions on how to use the unit in the box, and pairing it with my PS4 Pro was painless. This unit is a little bit more complicated than a factory PS4 controller, as it allows you to modify various things like thumbstick height and button mappings, but those are par for the course on any ‘pro’ controller.

I hesitate to even list this here, but it may matter to some gamers. This particular controller is only usable with a PS4. You cannot use it with a PC. This was a bit of a bummer for me, because I can use my Xbox One Elite controller with my PC, Xbox and even Nintendo Switch (with an adapter). The SCUF Vantage only works with PS4. I even reached out to SCUF support about it, and they replied that not only does it only work with PS4, they do not have an ETA on if or when there will be a driver for Windows 10. This tells me that there may never be. To be perfectly fair, the SCUF Vantage was never advertised to work with Windows, it does not say so on the box, nor in the instructions. That was simply my assumption based on the use of the Xbox One Elite controller.

The second thing to note is that my unit was purchased before November 2018. Why does this matter? It seems that some units shipped before that date have had firmware issues. Mine had these firmware issues – mainly around bluetooth pairing. Updating the firmware seems to have helped, but I usually play with my controller wired in – in order to have the least amount of latency in an FPS game. SCUF has published a support document around this, so if you are not sure if your controller has the updated firmware, please read the support page and follow the appropriate instructions. https://scufgaming.com/s/vantage-firmware-updates/

There aren’t many alternatives at this level of play. As mentioned before, if you are on Xbox or PC, the Xbox One Elite controller is probably your best bet. Likewise, if you are on PS4, the SCUF Vantage is the only game in town at this quality. I realize there may be other companies that have similar types of controllers, but I have not tested those, so I cannot offer any commentary on those. I can tell you that the SCUF Vantage is an excellent controller that does everything it says it does.

Should you buy it?

So the TL;DR verdict here is YES, buy it. If you tend to play a lot of FPS games on PlayStation 4, and you prefer the offset thumbsticks of the Xbox controller design, this controller is your jam. I am primarily an PC and Xbox gamer, so the reason I initially bought this was to have a controller for my PS4 that felt like my Xbox One Elite controller – mainly the offset thumbsticks. This is an excellent controller overall, and I could easily see using for any games on PS4, not just the FPS games. Though, for the price, you are really only going to want this if you need ultimate control over button mapping, sensitivity and thumbstick movement. For most games, this controller is overkill, but for competitive shooters, this controller is almost a must. Yes, buy this controller if you meet the criteria above.

Pros

Excellent build quality.
Lots of configuration and customization options.
Excellent response time from button presses.

Cons

Price is high at $199. It feels more like a $150 product.
Does not work with PC, only PS4.

Check out the video review on my YouTube channel here..

I’m Mnemonic Tutor, a long time gamer who plays literally any and all types of games. I’ve been playing games since I was five years old, and my reviews come from decades worth of experience with gaming.

Feel free to Tweet me @mnemonictutor if you want to discuss anything. I’m always on Twitter, so it is the best way to contact me. Other contact info also on my Twitter page.

If you’re on Twitch, check out my channel and throw me a follow or sub if you like the stream! – http://www.twitch.tv/mnemonictutor

If you’re on Instagram, follow me there @mnemonictutor

You can also follow our Facebook page at http://facebook.com/mnemonictutor

Xbox One Elite Controller – A review for gamers.

When the Xbox One Elite Controller was first announced in 2015, I’ll admit I was a bit skeptical. I had been using “regular” controllers for console gaming for years, and I didn’t see a reason to get one. So I went a little over a year after launch before getting one for myself. Why did I decide to get it? Quite simply, it was the most highly recommended controller for console First Person Shooter (FPS) games. This was mostly because you could remap buttons to the paddles on the back of the controller. This would allow you do things, such as jump, without having to take your right thumb off the analog stick that you aim with. In other words, you could jump (or perform any other mapped button action) and still aim with your left thumb as you flew through the air in a jump. Bottom line, it increased your accuracy while on the move and performing other actions in a given game. After having it for over a year now, and buying the new “white” update for the controller (review of that coming soon), was it worth it?

To put it simply, the answer is yes, but it does have some quirks. Let’s start off with the positives. This thing is super flexible. Being able to remap buttons to the paddles on the back seems weird at first, but once you get used to it, you will wonder how you ever played without them. As a matter of fact, because of playing with the Elite controller on my Xbox One X, I had to get a SCUF Vantage (review coming soon) to get a similar experience on my PS4 Pro. For FPS games, where aim accuracy is critical, mapping the jump button (as well as others) to a rear paddle is a godsend. You will never be able to go back to a regular controller after using this thing.

The next positive for this controller is the easily swappable thumb sticks, d-pad, and paddles. They are all magnetic, so with a little bit of force, they come off, and you can select a different one to put on. If you look at the photo on this page, you can see the swappable pieces below the controller. It comes with two different d-pad options, a single set of four paddles, and three pair of thumb sticks. The thumb sticks come in the following variants: tall height with concave tips, short height with concave tips, and medium height with convex tips. While in theory you can continually swap these out for different games, if you are a serious gamer, then you know that muscle memory is key, and you will find the most comfortable set and stick with those. Having all of these swappable components, including some from third party companies like Insignia (Best Buy) is pretty amazing.

Next we will tackle the quality. The first thing you notice when you handle this controller is that it is hefty. Some people say it is heavy. It is definitely heavier than the regular cheap plastic Xbox One controller, but this thing has a lot of metal in it. All of the magnet pieces and their bases are metal – for obvious reasons. In hand, the build quality just feels solid and premium. The rubber grips on the bottom sides of the controller “arms” is a nice touch, and helps you to keep your grip during sweaty FPS sessions. The included micro USB cable is a high-quality braided cable. It is even a bit stiff, so you get the impression that it is going to last a long time, even if you don’t really use it much as most people won’t. The carrying case is also very nice. It is a molded “hard” nylon case with a mesh pocket to hold accessory cables, and foam inserts to hold both the swappable components as well as to hold the controller in place when in transit. I’ve travelled a lot with this controller – to gaming conventions all over the US, and after dozens of zip-unzip usage, the case is still perfect.

What about gaming controls? Well, they are precise just like an original controller. There are some additional features here, though. The Xbox One has a built-in app that you use to remap all of the buttons, and you can also set the dead zones and sensitivity for each analog stick separately, as well as the trigger pull sensitivity. The controller also has two switches that allow you to shorten the trigger pull distance dramatically. So instead of having to fully pull in the trigger to do things like shoot, you only have to pull it in a fraction of the distance. It is almost like having a feather trigger on a real gun. I like this setting so much, my controller has the pull shortened all the time – in all games. Because you can adjust the dead zones, you can make sure that your analog stick movements are read accurately, and that you don’t get analog stick “drift”. This won’t account for a completely broken analog stick, but it does keep the controller working better and longer than a regular controller.

And now onto the negatives. There really are only two negatives that I’ve found using this controller for a long time. The first one is obvious – the price. This thing cost twice to thrice what a regular controller costs. I’d have been happier if it were to come in around $100, but I know that higher quality costs more. As I stated above, despite the cost, the controller is absolutely worth it. The second negative, however, is a little harder to describe. Remember when I said above that the swappable pieces and the bases that they connect to on the controller are metal? This is because the connections or mount points are magnetic. As a result, the thumb sticks themselves are a lot heavier than plastic ones. If you’re scientifically inclined, you know that mass and inertia are proportional. These metal thumb sticks have more mass, therefore they also have more inertia when moving. This is especially evident with the longest thumb sticks. So why is this an issue? Well, imagine this, you’re pushing a thumb stick all the way to the left, and then you decide to let it go to allow it to re-center itself. With a plastic controller, the thumb will snap back to the center position and stay there until you move it again. With these metal thumb sticks, the force generated when you release the thumb stick and allow it to freely snap back to the center actually gives the metal mass of the thumb stick more inertia than needed to return to the center. This causes the thumb stick to snap to center and actually pass the center point somewhat in the same linear direction it was traveling. If you don’t have your dead zones configured rather muddy (as opposed to having zero dead zone), the controller will register this movement past the center point as you trying to move the thumb stick. So where does this become a problem? If you are using the left thumb stick to navigate menus, you will repeatedly have the cursor (or whatever is indicating what you’re selecting) snap back one menu item position item or two. You have to deliberately not allow the stick to travel freely and actually use your thumb to let it slowly go back to center. If you are moving the right thumb stick to aim, or to build in a game like Fortnite, when you let it go, your vision on screen will over-correct in the opposite direction you are facing. Needless to say, this is pretty annoying, but like I said, you can muck with the dead zones for the analog sticks and mostly negate this behavior. This is one “advantage” I will give to SCUF over the Xbox One Elite Controller – SCUF uses regular plastic pieces and there is a tool to remove and swap them out. You don’t have this issue of mass and inertia messing with your analog sticks. I know that was a long winded explanation of a single negative quirk of this controller, but I wanted you to know exactly what you’re buying before you put your hard earned money down on this thing.

Conclusion

So, what do I think about this controller after a long time of use. I still love it. I have several original Xbox One controllers, and while I will occasionally use those if I’m gaming outside of my dedicated game room, I will almost always go get the Elite when I want to play FPS games or any game that requires precision and flexibility. If you are looking to get into competitive console gaming, with a game like Fortnite, the Elite controller is necessary – not optional. If you’re a good FPS player, but getting lasered by other players on Xbox Live, chances are it is because they are using an Elite controller and you aren’t. It makes that much of a difference. Is it going to elevate an average player to play on par with a competitive one? No. But it will help you get as close as possible without dedicating the time and effort a competitive player does to a game. I give this controller 9 out of 10 jalapeños. Pick one up at this link: https://amzn.to/2PFOr34. This is an Amazon Affiliate link, so your purchase using this link helps us keep doing reviews and videos for you!