Turtle Beach Recon Air Review

Manufacturer: Turtle Beach
Where to Buy: Turtle Beach
RRP: £29.99

Traditionally, if you wanted to game online and chat with friends you’d need to invest in some over the ear headphones with built in mics. There have been a few mic-only options but for the most part it’s audio & chat in one. While this is my personal preference due to not owning a decent surround sound system or sound bar, those with audio output already sorted can now chat with friends easily with the Turtle Beach Recon Air.

What we get is a small, lightweight, single ear piece device and – when playing on Xbox – an adaptor for the controller that enables fully wireless chat. Set up is as easy as plugging this into the pad and turning on the ear piece. Solid blue lights on both devices show correct connection, and away we go.

Both volume and mute options are available on the connector and the ear piece, and change that blue light to red for easily knowing if your team can hear you or not. The quality of the mic is pretty decent too, with no complaints from my team of any quietness or muffled sound. The same goes for incoming audio, my Sniper Elite 5’s partner in crime strains as I botched yet another stealthy infiltration coming across crystal clear. Audio can be balanced using the Xbox Guide Audio options to help in getting the perfect blend of game audio and chat, and I’d recommend notching the mic sensitivity here down a fraction as I found it was picking up even small noises on my end easily.

While this is a solely chat based device for the most part, I did find that having my Xbox set to pump game audio through a headset and mute the TV meant that the game sounds actually came through the Recon Air too. While it was playable like this – in all honesty I didn’t even really notice for the first 15 minutes – I’d suggest keeping the game audio to your sound bar/surround sound/TV and have solely chat coming through the Recon Air for a better experience.

One of the main selling points here is the ability to pair your phone (or other Bluetooth device) to the Recon Air at the same time as the Xbox, allowing you to have phone calls come through while you play. A neat idea, and I would imagine something like Discord would be a great use for this feature. It’s not something I’d personally make much use of, but it can also be used as a standalone Bluetooth mic, so it doesn’t need to be only while gaming that we could use it for phone calls/Zoom meetings etc. The quality of the audio again is great for this use and having it wireless keeps hands free for all that important work you’re supposed to be doing.

A ten-hour battery life is more than long enough to last either gaming or chatting, and the included (tiny) USB-C cable should recharge it quickly enough. It’s pretty comfortable too; though my personal preference is still over the ear I didn’t find this as awkward feeling or uncomfortable as other in-ear buds I’ve used in the past. The ear hook is flexible enough to allow it to be positioned nicely and even reversed should you want it to sit on the other ear, and three sizes of buds are included as standard. The only niggle I found – which is why I generally don’t like in-ear buds – is that it was prone to slipping out of my ear over time. A quick nudge is all it took to rectify this and I could still hear the audio, it just lost some of its clarity until I’d nudged it back in. It might just be a me thing, but it’s something to bear in mind anyway.

Conclusion

If you’ve already invested in a decent sound system but still want to chat with mates while gaming, the Turtle Beach Recon Air is a great solution for this. Chat both in and out is nice and clear, the battery life will last more than enough time for a gaming session, and it’s comfortable to wear too. Add in the option to pair it a Bluetooth device at the same time and for under £40 this a decent all round chat option.

Hardware provided by the manufacturer for review purposes.