Turtle Beach Battle Buds and Recon 70 review

Turtle Beach have released two low cost headsets that are perfect for on the go gaming, we got to try them out.

Turtle Beach Battle Buds

I love my Nintendo Switch, the only trouble I have with it is the lack of Bluetooth connectivity, quite often I’ll forget to dig out a wired pair of earphones and end up having to play with no sound on my journeys to London, thankfully Turtle Beach have come to the rescue with the Battle Buds.

They are perfect for on the go gaming, coming with their own carry case to keep them safe. Some may struggle to get them to stay in your ears, although thankfully they come with interchangeable ear tips and stabilisers for all sizes so there is a fit for everyone. The Turtle Beach Battle Buds come in a variety of colours, so there should be a style to suit everybody.

I was quite impressed with the headset while playing games on the Switch, I mostly played Rocket League and Zelda, although I did spend some time playing Fortnite Season 9. I was surprised at how well the headset picked up footsteps around me and it definitely felt like it gave me a bit of an edge over my opponents online. Gunfire felt mighty while engines sounded awesome as I tore up tarmac playing Gear Club Unlimited 2.

Specs

Audio Connection - ll Devices: 3.5mm

Speaker Frequency Response - 20Hz – 20kHz

Speaker Size - 10mm with Neodymium Magnets

Inline Controls - Master Volume Wheel, Mic Mute and Multifunction Button (on supported devices)

Microphone Design - Removable Unidirectional Microphone and Built-In Inline Microphone
Headphone Design - In-Ear

I wouldn’t recommend using these buds to listen to music on however, I felt they were quite tinny and didn’t do the music any justice, so don’t expect to be able to switch over the buds to use on your mobile. Also because they are in-ear you’ll be frustrated with the noises around you, losing the immersion you get playing games.

The buds also come with a small microphone that can be attached to let you jump into chat with your friends, of course the Switch doesn’t make things easy when it comes to party chat so you won’t end up using the microphone unless you use them on the Xbox Or PS4 where they do a pretty good job. I sounded clear to my friends and the microphone wasn’t noticeable when it was attached.

You can pick up a pair of these for around £25 at the moment and you are getting a great deal, thanks to their size they are a perfect companion for travelling while gaming.

Turtle Beach Recon 70

The Turtle Beach Recon 70 are another low cost entry into the headset market, they are a no frills, does what it says on the tin headset and they do a brilliant job.

The Recon 70’s work on all platforms and you can pick them up in Green, Blue and Red depending on your preference. They connect into the headphone jack of your various controllers and you are ready to play immediately. The 3.5mm lead is only short, which is fine if you are connected to a controller but if you are looking to plug this into your PC you’ll need to find an extension lead.

They look great, the bold colours on the headband, wires and ear cups look smart, however the fabric around the cushioning does look and feel quite cheap. Thankfully the headset is very comfortable during long gaming sessions. As you would expect from Turtle Beach the headset is solidly built though so you won’t hear any creaking when moving it around on your head

Specs

Despite the cheap cost of the headset, the sound quality isn’t compromised. I used this headset during my review of F1 2019, the cars sounded great and I felt immersed during my races, while playing Apex Legends I could pick out opponents around me and guns sounded great. The Recon 70 have a small flip down microphone that works well, despite its size, my teammates could hear me clearly and the microphone didn’t get in the way of I wanted to have a drink. Flipping the microphone to the up position muted the mic too which is neat.

Both the Recon and Battle Buds are perfect entry level headsets that perform well and look great too.