Turtle Beach Ear Force Recon 50 PC Gaming Headset Review

Final Thoughts

The Turtle Beach Ear Force Recon 50 Gaming Headset can be found at most major retailers without too much trouble, or you can purchase the headset directed from Turtle Beach for a very reasonable £29.99.

Overview

I must admit that I wasn’t particularly fond of this headset when I first took it out of the box. It’s designed to be a cheaper and affordable headset and it’s exactly that. It’s not going to blow us away with precision engineering, or topple the high-end Turtle Beach hardware anytime soon, but that’s OK, it doesn’t have to. What this headset has to do is offer the best performance possible for the lowest amount of money possible and it does exactly that.

The build quality isn’t the best, but there are few (if any) headsets in the sub £30 ranges that have great build quality anyway, so it’s fair to say that the Recon 50 is about on par with the competition in this area. What I do like, however, is that the Recon 50 still features many of the style points of the more expensive Turtle Beach products, with a similar ear-cup design, detachable microphone, two-tone colouring and in-line controller.

The sound quality is fantastic, a clear indication of why Turtle Beach focused on the affordable design, as they didn’t sacrifice sound quality and that’s no bad thing. Sure, I can find a better build headset for the same money, but it likely won’t sound as good. If you want great build quality and great sound, you’re going to have to pay £50+ to get it.

If I could change two things about this headset, however, it would be slightly thicker/more durable cables from the drivers to the in-line controller and a little more padding on the headband as these additions shouldn’t add much to the overall cost of the headset.

Pros

• Great sound quality
• Good microphone performance
• Detachable microphone
• Works on multiple devices
• Lightweight design
• In-line controller
• Affordable price

Cons

• Thin cables
• Thin padding on headband
• Plastic extensions on headband

“The Turtle Beach Ear Force Recon 50 offers excellent value for money, it may not be the most durable headset in the world, but it has got great performance. If you’re on a tight budget and want to get stuck into some great gaming action, it’s certainly worth considering.”