Turtle Beach Stealth Pivot Controller Review

There’s no question that Turtle Beach’s Stealth Pivot controller is built on a gimmick, but it’s one that’s still pretty impressive. With the flick of two toggles and the twist of two sections of the controller, the Stealth Pivot can transform from a device favoring one type of gaming experience to one favoring another.

At a glance, the Stealth Pivot looks a lot like Turtle Beach’s Stealth Ultra, with the Connected Command display in the center. From the built-in screen, users can see social notifications from their phone, swap profiles for button mapping, and see battery information. It’s a lower resolution screen compared to the Stealth Ultra, but it still surfaces useful information all the same.

Turtle Beach Stealth Pivot Controller Comes With All The Right Features

The Stealth Pivot features a few of the common premium controller features like:

• Hall Effect Joysticks – Avoiding stick drift is crucial for any premium controller.
• Trigger Stops (Full and Short) – If you want to take full advantage of a trigger pull or would prefer to treat it like a button with an instantaneous press.
• 2 Customizable Back Buttons – The back buttons cover a bit of the controller grips and the underside of the controller, making them easy to press while retaining a firm hold.

There’s a good amount of heft to the Stealth Pivot and it feels comfortable to hold. The controller is a bit top-heavy because of the screen, but I didn’t find it distracting or weighted in such a way that it felt out of balance. There’s also a bit of texture on the outside of the grips and the back buttons to help an otherwise smooth controller stay snug in your hands.

Taking the name out of the equation, the Stealth Pivot is a solid premium controller that ticks all the right boxes. Its wireless functionality on PC (wired on Xbox) makes it a great option for gamers on the platform, it’s got a little style, and it is comfortable in the hands. But it’s not an ordinary controller.

By flipping two toggles on the underside and twisting the joysticks, you can rotate the two control/button modules on the front of the controller, revealing two new layouts. On the left module, a rotation reveals a module with a D-Pad in place of the joystick and an RSB and LSB button underneath. On the right, a rotation reveals a module with the XYAB buttons in place of the joystick and P1 and P2 buttons above those.

Depending on which modules you rotate, there are four possible configurations with the Stealth Pivot, but it’s clear that the controller is targeting the fighting game and retro gaming communities with the other modules. Playing a side scroller, for example, doesn’t need a second joystick, and having 6 buttons right at your thumbtips can be advantageous. Or in a fighting game, the precision of a D-Pad combined with the 6 buttons (for high, medium, and low actions) can be preferable to a standard controller layout.

That added versatility will put the Stealth Pivot in a unique spot for a lot of gamers and will make it intriguing as a result. Even having the option of swapping into “side scroller mode” or “fighting game mode” is attractive but also totally optional. As mentioned, the Stealth Pivot is a solid controller without swapping the modules – being able to make that pivot is a bonus. Whether you will find Turtle Beach’s controller more attractive than some other similarly priced premium controllers will come down to how useful that swapping mechanism is to you.

As with most Turtle Beach controllers, you can hop into the Control Center app and customize things like RGB colors, stick deadzones, map all of the buttons, or set audio settings for the included headphone jack. If you are going to opt for an orientation with a bunch of added buttons, it’s nice to be able to set them up to your liking.

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In my testing of the Stealth Pivot, I found that the module rotation was a nice functionality to have. Jumping from a first person shooter like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 where dual joysticks are essential to a precision-favoring side scroller like Nine Sols is simple and easy with the controller and I felt like having two different configurations for two different games made each experience better.

The Turtle Beach Stealth Pivot gets the basics right and that is crucial to its wider appeal. Obviously, there are subcommunities that will find the controller more attractive than others, but knowing that Turtle Beach didn’t skimp on premium controller features or put too much focus on the modules allows anyone to treat each unique function as an added bonus. In essence, it’s 3+ controllers in one and all of them work really well.

Turtle Beach Stealth Pivot controller

The Turtle Beach Stealth Pivot looks to stand out from the growing pool of customizable controllers by offering a unique button layout and thumbstick changing feature. Instead of swapping out parts, players simply need to switch between the traditional layout to a fighting game-styled layout. The controller also supports wired and wireless connection, allowing you to play with a free range of movement or tethered to the screen.
 

Pros

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• A great premium controller on its own
• Module rotation opens its utility
• 20-hour battery life

Cons

• The module switching won’t appeal to everyone

The Turtle Beach Stealth Pivot controller is available for pre-order now. Game Rant was provided a unit for this review.