Design
The Gen 2 Stealth 600 looks nearly identical to the Gen 1. The only change that can be seen is the mic can now fold up against the left earcup, which gives it a much cleaner look overall. The general build is still more budget, although that seems to be the bracket that TurtleBeach is planning for the Gen 2. The mostly plastic build of the Gen 2, does have its own advantage. Being mostly plastic the Gen 2 is extremely light even in wired headset terms. This is something that people need to be aware of as some people prefer a little more weight, but each to his or her own.
One of the big problems we had with the Gen 1 Stealth 600 was the fact that the earcup cushioning, although soft, was scratchy and after wearing for an extended time would become itchy and extremely hot. We are pleased to say the earcup cushioning has been substantially improved. It now features a leatherette cover which is lovely on the ears. Like the Gen 1, the earcups are designed to accompany users who where spectacles, this has always been a very nice touch from TurtleBeach. Although all of these mentioned improvements have improved the comfort dramatically, the only problem we found in the comfort department is the size of the earcups. The Gen 1 Stealth 600 headsets were exceptionally small earcups. If you have regular-sized ears, you might have had problems using the Gen 1 Stealth 600's as over-ear headsets and rather use them as on-ear. With the Gen 2 however the earcup size has been increased, not quite as much as might be needed, but improvement is good. The earcups are on a swivel which is nice to have the headset "mold" to the wearer.
The headband, like in the the Gen 1, slides easily to adjust to nearly any sized head. The foam on the headband feels good and after some serious game time, we didn't experience any sore heads from a headband. The mic might feel abit too cheap but fortunately, the mic and the headset can handle some punishment.
Features & Audio
In terms of audio, the Stealth 600 boasts 50mm drivers and, if you using it on Xbox, uses Windows Sonic Audio. Obviously using something like WIndows Sonic Audio will make an audio improvement, we tested the Stealth 600 on PC, without Dolby or Sonic Audio enabled. The Stealth 600 sound is very good and could be compared to its bigger brother the Atlas in terms of audio quality. In previous TurtleBeach we often found the audio to be too tinny and focusing too much on the highs and mids and not enough rumble down low. Once again TurtleBeach has listened to their customers and tuned the audio, even with standard settings, to be really strong in all spectrums. There is the standard audio presets, Superhuman Hearing, as a standard with all turtlebeach headsets, lets you hear the smaller sounds like footsteps much better. Other settings are treble boost, which only boosts the highs, and bass+trebble boost, which was my preferred setting.
When it comes to features, that is where the Stealth series, in general, falls flat. It is a bare-bones headset featuring little to no creature-comforts. This is all ways to keep the price tag to the lower end of course so it is a catch 22. The Gen 2, however, does have a flip to mute mic now which when extended will activate the mic and when flipped up, you will be automatically muted. The Gen 2 mic also features larger and higher sensitivity which makes an already clear mic sound even crisper. It also features mic monitoring feedback, which is a nice feature for a budget wireless headset. No more accidental shouting over the mic in the middle of the night!
The standard features are all here, the volume wheel is situated under the earcup. right next to the volume wheel is the chat-audio mixer wheel. Which should be a standard amongst all headsets but for some reason, it is not yet! Last but not least there is a power button, charging port, and audio preset selector. The TurtleBeach Stealth 600 Gen 2 connects via Bluetooth using a dongle that comes with the headset. you simply plug it into your console or pc and turn on your headset. Once connected the dongle, as well as the headset, will give you a light and audio queue respectively. What needs to be mentioned is that only the PS and PC version of the Stealth 600 require the Bluetooth dongle, if you are using the Xbox version, thanks to the Xbox Bluetooth the headset connects directly to the console.
During our time spent with the Stealth 600 we jumped between titles like R6 Siege, Warzone, and some Apex Legends. What we all agree on is that the audio quality is brilliant. The Stealth 600's punch way above their price class and makes things sound the way we think they are intended to. At first I did find myself fumbling with the buttons setting the wrong setting, but once I memorized the positions the controls are rather easy to manage. Battery life on the Stealth 600 is rated at a decent 15 hours on a single charge. I charged it when I received it and my rough calculation says that 15 hours sound like an easily achievable mark. This however is the same battery life as the Gen 1, which is a little disappointing seeing as there was no improvement made in that department.
Verdict
The TurtleBeach Stealth 600 Gen 2 had a rather tricky mountain to climb left by its predecessor. Being a generally good headset but lacking a few key elements left us very interested in what TurtleBeach might do with their second outing. We are pleased to see that they have done more right than wrong! Improving the comfort and audio quality, making the mic more versatile has all but made the Gen 2 the perfect budget-friendly wireless headset. The earcups could be slightly bigger but apart from that the Gen 2 can't be faulted and anyone picking them up are sure to be happy with them!
Special thanks to Apex Interactive for the review content
When Crash Bandicoot debuted back in 1997 it had good competition in the linear-platforming genre in the likes of Croc. Since then the Linear-platform genre has become less popular with other titles like Super Mario Odyssey opting to go towards a more open-world sandbox nature. Crash Bandicoot 4 has stuck with what made it successful all these years later. A more refined, albeit linear, level.
Fans of old will be happy to see that their furry friend still bounces, spins, and crashes ( get it...) through vibrant and colorful spectacles that we call levels. Fans that are new to the Crash Bandicoot franchise will quickly be drawn into the box smashing fun. In short, Crash Bandicoot has not missed a beat in the time he has been missing.
Starting up the game the first option you get is whether you want to play Retro, or modern. I would suggest going with modern as Retro will have you only receiving limited amounts of attempts and retries where modern gives you endless lives and checkpoints, trust me, you will need them!
Not much has changed in the formula for Its About Time from the previous games. It's About Time still focuses on players needing to let Crash run down a hallway, crashing, smashing, and bashing their way through boxes and bad guys all while collecting items. At times the perspective might change with Crash running away from the camera rather than towards, as well as the occasional side-scrolling stages. Mix in a few boss battles and you have the general play of Crash Bandicoot. This might seem a bit mundane and old for the current crop of gamers seeing that we have games where you need to invest serious time and brainpower to play, but It's About Time just feels right!
It's About Time has added a good few aspects to the Crash games to give this one some more flavor. The boss battles are really intense and where one wrong move, much like the other stages, will have you reset to a previous checkpoint. Another large and challenging introduction is the ability to use masks that grant you temporary powers. The normal protection mask will have you absorb one hit from an enemy that would usually have killed you. The other is a kind of time-shift mask that when activated will have you "phase" objects in and out of existence allowing you to traverse the environment. Need to jump across a large ravine? Phase the block in your way, out of existence, but be careful, the platform you need to land on is also phased out now... This leads to a lot of mid-air swearing as well as even more button mashing. Other masks grant abilities such as slowing down time, manipulate gravity, and make Crash move ridiculously fast!
Something that It's About Time does well is despite the fact that we are in 2020, it is purposefully stuck in the '90s. A time that bad jokes and attitudes were plentiful. Not exactly to everyone's taste. Hence the dialogue and cutscenes might not be to everyone's taste but it does definitely deliver a good story, although you will find yourself skipping cutscenes. Not because they are bad, just due to the fact that you are bound to see them a few times.
Luckily Crash is not alone in this fight to save the galaxy. He has 4 other characters that are all playable and bring their own abilities to the table. Coco and Crash are nearly identical apart from looks. Tawna, Dingodile, and Neo Cortex will bring new abilities to platforming and will have you replaying levels that you have previously completed. Tawna has a grappling hook you can use to get to faraway platforms. Dingodile can vacuum up TNT boxes and shoot it back at enemies. And Neo Cortex can blast enemies with his ray gun and turn them into platforms to jump from.
The developers have made a good quality of life changes to the franchise. Apart from the before mentioned Retro and Modern mode, there are more subtle changes. One for subtle but very nice one is the introduction of small shadows of where your character will land when jumping. Previously you would have to rely on some questionable depth perception and luck. Now, having a clear indication of where your character is heading, if you are more sadistic, this option can be turned off.
Keeping with the '90s where co-op was kind due to internet technology being sketchy at best for the lucky few who had. Pass & Play is a pseudo local multiplayer where each time you die or reach a checkpoint you can pass the controller to a fellow player. Not quite multiplayer but it does add a fun way of getting players that are not good at platforming to have some fun while having a better player help them through the tricky parts.
Crash Bandicoot 4 It's About Time is an expensive game, there is no mistake about it. The is around R1 199 for the disc version. This is a bitter pill to swallow considering the other big titles that are inbound. But for those who are unsure whether to spend the hard-earned money on your favorite orange marsupial, I can honestly tell you it is worth it. It's About Time will have you spending hours upon hours trying to capture every last gem, and discovering every last secret level. The replayability is amped up even more post-credits with the N.Verted mode which mirrors the layout of the original levels but masks them in a visual filter that will make you sweat all over again!
The G102 weighs in at 85g which is a good weight for the size. Not too light but not too much resistance when flicking or dragging. Logitech has embedded the Mercury sensor inside this little mouse. According to Logitech, the Mercury sensor is a gaming sensor, which gives you control of the sensitivity from 200 to 8000DPI. Many of the more premium mice might have the ability to go to 16 000 DPI but realistically one would never need a DPI setting much higher than even 2000. Where the G102 does make up for the lack of DPI is in the polling rate. This means the G102 reports back to the PC up to 1000 times per second. This is the main reason why the G102 movements and clicks feel much more instantaneous.
When using it for gaming the G102 performs really well with the scroll wheel having enough resistance to give you a good bump when it jumps over to next slot which is great when switching between weapons in most games. There is a distinct feel when rolling the scroll wheel which will eliminate possible bumps causing scrolling to happen.
According to Logitech, Lightsync is described as follows: LIGHTSYNC technology immerses you into the action with automatic, game-driven lighting effects that react to many popular games. LIGHTSYNC will blast light to match in-game explosions, approaching enemies, damage taken, healing is done, new worlds visited, and much more.
What this means is that many of the newer titles, much like Razer Synapse, links with the Logitech GHub and syncing up with Lightsync can make the RGB features of all Lightsync compatible items, link up to create a colorful vista of lights that don't only make things look pretty but actually serve a purpose. Like acting as health bars, or directions to your next objective.
On the G102 there is an RGB Halo that wraps around the palm area of the mouse as well as the usual G emblem that is both capable of supporting up to 16.8 million colors as well as a host of presets that can be defined in the Ghub. My firm favorite on the white G102 is the rainbow effect. The white G102 simply allows the colors to really pop and I found myself wanting more "halo-like" RGB bands around more of my peripherals... I think I might have become one of... them... RGB fanboys...
Logitech's GHUB software does what most other software packages do, but its packaged in a sleek, easy to use program. Adjust your DPI settings by predefining 5 steps that can be jumped through by simply hitting your DPI button found in front of your scroll wheel. Assign macro keys to the two inner thumb buttons by simply jumping to the assignment screen and selecting what you want those keys to do. You can even take it one step further and let Ghub recognize the game you are playing and let it switch between macros you have assigned for each game. This means taking some time, in the beginning, to set it all up but from there on, simply jump into your favorite game and have all your abilities at your fingertips.
Another bummer for MMO fans is the lack of on-the-fly Macro recording which makes casting a vast array of spells or attacks in quick succession rather cumbersome. Roccat's AIMO RGB is described as a clever system that adjusts the RGB lighting to what you are playing. I agree that the colouring is interesting although I can't quite put a finger on what it is using to decide its colouring. On the Roccat Kone AIMO mouse the lighting is bright and really beautiful, the Horde, however, is hardly noticeable in a well-lit room.
The left and right mouse buttons are not placed next to each other like most mice are. there is a strip of brushed metal dividing the two keys which adds to the straight and square lines that dominate the Kain design. At the top of this brushed metal piece, there is a DPI button, neat and square, elegant yet functional use of a button that has hampered many brands in their sleekness of design. Not to mention the scroll wheel that protrudes the brushed metal strip. The left and right mouse buttons
The sleek and smooth design of the Kain AIMO range and lack of any rubbery grips makes for a very appealing look but the smooth finish can, for some, make the Kain feel slippery. With the Kain 122 weighing in at a middle-of-road 89g ( Kain 200 weighs 105g) meaning it is light enough to be able to whizz it across your mousepad without feeling like you have nothing in your hand, and not sacrificing the feeling of quality. Unlike many of the bigger brands, the Kain-range has no weight adjustment, although I think Roccat got the weighting just right.
Roccat has taken the mouse-click and thought about how to improve something we have taken for granted since the birth of the gaming mouse. By simply repositioning the switch to a more natural location, the new Roccat Titan switch feels more distinguished and more precise. The buttons are also hinged giving it a cushioned feel when clicking. Although the Swarm software is not nearly as refined as Ghub from Logitech or Synapse from Razer, it is extremely straightforward, and apart from a small struggle we had to save DPI settings to the mouse, Roccat Swarm was extremely straight forward and provided great explanations of what each setting would do.
Both the Kain -122 and the 200 feature phenomenal thresholds for acceleration with the minimum being 40g and the maximum of 400IPS (inches per second). Basically said, even if you have superhuman flick ability in your favorite shooter, you will not be able to blame the Roccat Kain 122 or 200 for not being able to keep up with your speed.
Kain 200
Some of the features that set the Kain 200 apart from its wired brother, is obviously the wireless part. The Kain 200, in wired mode looks identical to the Kain 122. When using it as a wireless mouse the cable simply unplugs and can either be plugged into a dongle, that can be placed near to where you are using the mouse, or the wireless receiver can be plugged straight into a USB port. The Kain 200 uses a 2.4Ghz range for best-uninterrupted performance while stretching the battery life on its 1000 mAh battery as far as possible.
For myself, who moves between peripherals on regular intervals for review purposes, but also try and keep a high level of skill in games like Rainbow Six Siege and Escape from Tarkov, changing a mouse can have a devastating impact on your performance. Your mouse is your weapon and like soldiers, we spend many hours honing our skill with our weapon of choice, suddenly switching it out with another generally makes you play and aim worse. My regular daily mouse is the legendary Logitech G903 lightspeed closely followed by the amazing Razer Viper Ultimate. Both premium wireless mice. The Roccat Kain 122 or wireless 200, can easily hold its own against the likes of these two heavyweights. Jumping into my favorite games with the Kain 200 was an absolute blast. I hardly noticed any adjustment time and the Owl-eye Sensor is fantastic feeling extremely accurate and true. With its lesser focus on RGB and gadgets and more emphasis on creating a great experience while not being overly flashy, Roccat has created a spectacular mouse!
If you are looking for a mouse, wired or wireless, that sits more in a mid-range price category while competing and beating many of the high-end gaming mice out there, then the Roccat Kain-range is definitely worth taking a look at. If it is good enough for the Doc, to cause Violence, speed and momentum, then it is surely more than adequate for all of us!
PC hardware is no different, but as a general rule of thumb, bigger is better. Gaming keyboards were the keyboards that featured the most buttons and gadgets and even displays. Endless amounts of programmable keys and USB ports galore. With the increase in eSports and general competitive gaming to the masses so has the demand for more dedicated competitive keyboards. Queue the 60% keyboards!
The Huntsman Elite, Razer's flagship keyboard has a list of features that is difficult to envision fitting on to a keyboard. USB ports, media controls, volume dials, wrist rests, and the list continues. The Huntsman Mini, however, is a stripped-down, bare-bones version. Only sharing the name and optical switches from its feature-laden brother.
The Huntsman Mini is clearly targeted to take the fight to the Ducky One keyboards and boasting impressive dimensions of 30 x 10 x 3cm it is definitely placing itself firmly in the fight. The slightly raised keycaps allow for the Huntsman Mini's RGB to really show its true ability. The keycaps themselves feel really solid and premium to touch and the cheeky font, when illuminated, looks really nice. For the more keen-eyed, there is a subtle Razer inscription on the lip of the keyboard, and no more bombastic illuminating Razer logo.
Looking to the bottom and the back of the Huntsman Mini, you will find the usual "For the Gamers by Gamers" pattern across the back. The braided USB C-type cable, which is also interchangeable with other type-C, slots perfectly and clips in and out with ease, without feeling flimsy or like it might disconnect and the slightest tug. There are also two sets of feet to raise the keyboard, 6- or 9 degrees respectively.
So you have the Razer Huntsman Mini but now you need to use your arrow keys or the delete key, what do you do? Luckily Razer was merciful and provided for a Function key ( Fn) and adequate amount of side-printed functions. These keys can easily be seen from a seated position and when the Fn key is pressed all illumination will be killed off and the function-binded keys will light up in white. Apart from these keys you can do other things like changing preset RGB effects, do macro-binding or even use media keys using the Fn key.
When typing the optical switches, even though not mechanical, still give you a pleasant sound and resistance. Just enough to give a sense of confidence when pressing but not too much to make it a pain. The biggest pain with 60%'ers is to use some of the keys that are readily available on normal keyboards, you need to use the Fn key, so as mentioned before using the Huntsman mini for writing and office work could be a little more cumbersome.
Moving to gaming, like what the Huntsman mini was intended for, it is fantastic. For the first time, I have enough space on my desk to try turning my keyboard more towards the vertical orientation as many pro's do. The new orientation does a lot for comfort and I would recommend it to most. Something that I had to get used to is the short travel of the keys, (3.5mm) this had me moving sooner than anticipated and often losing gunfights while playing Rainbow Six Siege. This has become a normal situation by reviewing peripherals and getting used to new mice and keys regularly.
The happy-medium of firm, yet soft, when it came to keypresses was greatly appreciated while playing Escape from Tarkov where the slightest accidental keypress can be the end of your raid. Resting fingers on keys have often had me blowing my team, or myself, up with accidentally thrown grenades. The Huntsman Mini keys are firm enough to provide rest for weary fingers without causing unpleasantries ingame.
The Razer Huntsman Mini uses the same software as all the other mice and keyboards, Razer Synapse, is a rather simple to use software allowing you to tweak everything possible on the hardware. But, seeing as the Huntsman mini is aimed at esports, Synapse is not needed for everything. Although small, the Huntsman mini has space for 5 onboard profiles which include keybinds and RGB settings.
What it lacks in lavish designs it definitely makes up for in features. It packs a 34inch, QHD, 21:9 aspect ratio (3440x1440), 144Hz, and 1ms response time. With a list of features like that its tough to not get excited. Did I mention it's curved? And it features Adaptive sync, which means Gsync and FreeSync are both catered for.
But it does not end there, seeing as it is ultrawide, it allows for multiple inputs, these can come in the form of either HDMI (x2) or Display Port (x2). With more than enough USB ports to cater to nearly every possible device, you may need to connect.
Your thumb has got more than enough work to do though. Another two programmable keys are neatly tucked in the side of the mouse where your thumb can easily glide up to use them. These buttons are perfectly placed and feel natural to press. The third thumb button is an accuracy button which drops the DPI dramatically while holding the button pressed. This is great when doing fine positioning in design work or when you need to get that perfect aiming accuracy in your favourite shooter. The only problem with this button if you have smaller hands is that you might not be able to reach it without adjusting your grip. This is not a mistake on Logitech but merely an example of how certain mice suite certain hand sizes as well as grips.
For myself, with smaller hands, I found the size of the G502 to be perfect. In the past, I have reviewed many smaller mice which do come in much lighter than the G502 but after extensive time spent using them, I found my hand would often ache. The G502 has the perfect height in your palm and resting your hand on the mouse will have your fingers naturally land on the buttons, in my book, that's a win!
Turning the G502 and clipping off the magnetic bottom end shows you where the vast options of weights can be placed. The G502, even when not weighted, still comes in at a hefty 121g, for some this might be the deal-breaker already! Add in all the supplied weights and you looking at 139g. The difference is that you can place the weights all around the mouse. Making for many options such as weighting it front-back or side to side.
Another massive upgrade in terms of longevity for nearly all of the Logitech items is the change to Omron switches. Omron, being Logitech's own design bolsters the click life from 20 million to 50 million, that is a lot of clicks before they might give in.
The G Pro is also fitted with the durable Omron keys that are rated for 50 million clicks. This gives the G Pro even more of an advantage over the competition. The Omron switches allow for an extremely fast actuation as well as moving back to a position just as quickly. Meaning clicks are more precise and more on time.
The choice in heavy or light mouse choice is very much up to the user, but the Logitech G Pro wired comes in at a measly 83g. Some might consider this too light, and at first, I would have to have agreed. But giving it some time, and getting used to how easily it glides across the mousepad I can now understand why many would prefer the lighter mice.
When I first started using Logitech G Hub I found it to be cumbersome. But after comparing it to some of the other brand offerings I came to realize that it was actually one of the easier packages to use. Using it on the G Pro was not going to add fireworks and unicorns to the functionality of the mouse. Instead, the G Pro is rather bare when it comes to the software. The Hub allows you to tweak your DPI settings, calibrate the G Pro to the mousepad that you are currently using, and lastly customize the RGB effect of the swooping strip that hugs the bottom half of the mouse, as well as the Logitech emblem that will sit firmly in the centre of your palm when using it. The RGB options are rather limited but generally, the colours are extremely vibrant and bright.
I took the G Pro wired for a spin while playing some games such as Rainbow 6 Siege, Escape from Tarkov, and Assassins Creed: Origins. In games like Origins and other slower-paced RPG titles the G Pro did come up lacking compared to the G903 which I use as my daily mouse, the G Pro lacks the extra buttons which come in handy when casting spells and using potions in games such as World of Warcraft. Switching over to first-person shooters is where the G Pro really shines. The extremely accurate sensor and masterfully crafted Omron keys make aiming and clicking heads an absolute dream! Once I found my sweet spot in terms of DPI, my accuracy started climbing dramatically and I was feeling like a casual king.
Before we dive into the details of the MBX4K Ranger here are some of the technical specs:
