Turtle Beach Stealth Pivot review: “Its novel concept of a spinning, modular design is hamstrung by its lack of options”

I’m not sure how to feel about the Turtle Beach Stealth Pivot controller. On one hand, it’s a modular controller that’s right up my alley. Instead of coming with a case crammed full of swappable parts and a tool or two to join them together with, it’s got a fresh, spinning design that’s unrivalled in terms of its novelty and convenience.

On the other hand, I can’t help but feel like the Stealth Pivot is copying the best PC controller’s homework a little too closely. This is the first gamepad Turtle Beach has launched since acquiring PDP, the maker of the Victrix Pro BFG for Xbox. That controller is the modern-day trendsetter for any modular gaming peripheral, and even if the Stealth Pivot goes about things in a different way, it feels a bit like an inferior version that’s trying to buddy up to what came before.

The other problem is that while the Stealth Pivot has a reasonable $129.99 / £129.99 price tag, it’s silently driven up the cost of its predecessor, the Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra. Despite launching at a generous $179.99, it’s since inflated to $200, and I’m not convinced the Stealth Pivot is good enough to be a more affordable replacement.

Design

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In terms of its broad design strokes, the Stealth Pivot feels very similar to the Turtle Beach controllers of old. It’s got a traditional Xbox shape albeit with a slightly swollen mid-section where more utility features are crammed in. On the Turtle Beach Recon, these were audio controls, but here, there’s a small on-screen display that allows you to change profiles and button mappings with a bit more ease than usual.

There are some textured grip panels, there’s matte black plastic bodywork, and more than a lot of the best Xbox Series X controllers, there’s decent build quality in the Pivot. I don’t hear any creaks or cheap plastic noises when I try and wrench one grip away from the other, and that can often be the case.

Of course, the biggest design praise I can give is to do with the clever modular functionality of the Pivot. Using some switches on the back of the controller, you can apply some light pressure to one of the facial panels, spin it around, and get a new controller entirely - at least in theory. No need for a specialist screwdriver or fiddly part swapping. Just flick the switch, spin the module, and you’ve got a new controller to play with.

Since this is an officially licensed Xbox controller, the main modules you’ll use for the majority of your playtime are the offset thumbsticks, X, Y, B, A buttons, and circular D-pad. When spun around though, this really becomes a fighting game specialist, with a D-pad and duplicate buttons for the bumpers on the left, and six facial buttons on the right. It’s a bit of a shame that there’s no way to swap out the modules at all so you can specialize more in different genres, though.

Features

But the clever pivoting modules aren’t the only reason to consider the latest Turtle Beach gamepad. It’s got Hall sensor thumbsticks, which are cleverly designed to twist inwards to allow for the signature pivoting movements. It is a bit unfortunate that they don’t have a second twist-out length to make them higher like the PowerA Fusion Pro does. Unlike the Stealth Ultra, you don’t get varying thumbstick tops in the box, so you’re left with the fairly small, quite slippy surfaces that come as standard.

You get two back buttons, and although they press with a rather robust feel thanks to the controller’s build quality, they do feel like a downgrade compared to the four microswitch back buttons on the Stealth Ultra. Even if Turtle Beach couldn’t justify the cost of microswitches in the back of the Pivot, I’d have liked to see all four back buttons carry over. This would have truly made this controller stand out, especially in its price range.

There are some trigger-stop switches if you’re a fan of turning them into short-actuation speed machines. The feel on them is quite harsh when these are locked into position though, and the corners do dig into my fingers a bit.

The face buttons are fairly uninteresting if I can say that without sounding rude. There’s not a lot of feel to them, they have quite a deep actuation, and for a pad that wants to be able to transform into a fightpad, they really lack the speed other controllers can give. It’s nice having the option of a potential eight face buttons, but aspiring Esports athletes will probably want something like the Razer Wolverine V3 Pro, or even its cheaper tournament edition which has extra bumpers, and very speedy and super tactile microswitch buttons all over it.

Then there’s the OSD, which also feels a bit downgraded from the Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra. Having just tested the Manba One, I’m now hyper-aware that there are much more conclusive and easier-to-operate OSDs that can appear on board a controller. Turtle Beach was really a pioneer of this feature, and while it’s useful for switching profiles and extra button assignments, it isn’t the most intuitive to navigate, and if the pivot really wants to distinguish itself, it needs a bit more than that.

At least in terms of connectivity, you do get some wireless bonuses. The USB dongle comes in its own, small box, which is better than nothing when it comes to keeping it in a safe place where it won’t get lost. Unfortunately, the receiver isn’t the strongest, and I frequently found calibration and detection issues throughout my wireless playtesting. Turtle Beach does quote a 20-hour battery life which I’m yet to fully deplete in my testing before this review. You do get an included USB cable as well, but other than that, the contents of this pad’s packaging feels quite bare-bones. Hey, at least there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack which some controllers these days leave out.

Performance

I’d love to tell you that the action of spinning this controller’s face modules is as easy as it sounds. Unfortunately, it really isn’t as intuitive as it wants to be. You need to flick some switches on the controller’s back which are awkwardly placed and sit so deep into the chassis that you really need to turn it around and get a good look to find. Then, you need to tuck the thumbsticks in, which should be a simple twist, but always ends up feeling as though you’re breaking something. Following that, you push down on the sides of the modules that are closest to you, and they’ll do about a quarter turn. Note that they can only spin towards you, for some reason. You then have to move your thumbs up to catch the upper half of the module and rotate them the rest of the way round. This all feels like a really clunky process for what’s supposed to be a streamlined attempt at modular design. I’m no great fan of the Thrustmaster eSwap X2, but its magnetic push and pull parts feel like a satisfying fidget toy compared to the janky spinning modules of the Pivot.

While I do enjoy my fighting games, I’m not mainlining Tekken 8 in every one of my gaming sessions, so if I’m totally honest, the majority of my testing time was done without actually using what’s supposed to be this product’s standout feature. That’s disappointing because if there were alternative options that came in the box, or there was any way to properly customize the layout, I feel like I’d be spinning the parts around with each game I was playing. It just feels like someone at Turtle Beach had a truly fresh idea for a modular controller, but it was half-baked in order to satiate a cheaper price than the Stealth Ultra.

Fortunately, the robust build quality and feel of the Pivot in the hands do a lot of heavy lifting. Although the thumbsticks can be really slippy due to their tiny indentation, their loose stick tension makes them feel really snappy in FPS games like Hunt: Showdown. This is definitely on the looser end of stick tensions though, kind of similar to the Scuf Nomad in that sense, so if this is something you’re looking for, all the power to you.

It just feels like this controller is missing an element of speed that would really justify its price versus something like the GameSir Kaleid. In Dragon Ball Sparking Zero, Hunt: Showdown, and even Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor (which I revisited for the first time in years while testing this pad), there’s just a lack of urgency that other controllers offer.

Probably my favorite thing about this controller, however, is that the awesome, crunchy feedback of the Stealth Ultra carries over. It isn’t technically haptic feedback, but there’s something in the rumble motors, grip textures, and materials this brand uses that makes even a little rumble feel incredible. It’s not quite as detailed as the DualSense Edge’s haptic feedback, but it’s a step toward it I’m yet to find in other Xbox controllers. In Shadow of Mordor, for example, it’s the sort of feedback that you can hear, and it almost adds to the sound design of the game you’re playing. It’s a strange synesthesia, but it’s one I’d recommend the Pivot for almost on its own.

The jolt of lightning your palms feel whenever you use your dash in Celeste is complimented by a D-pad that’s textured so that you can easily feel the directional differences on it. Again, I think the actuation is a bit too deep to really be helpful in platformers like Celeste where speed really is key.

Overall comfort in cozy exploration games is fine, but it’s nothing special. I wouldn’t recommend the Stealth Pivot if that’s your main use for a controller, but it’ll get by if you need a quick fix. Sable controlled smoothly in this way, but if you have larger hands you might want to look at something else.

Should you buy the Turtle Beach Stealth Pivot

There are so many great controllers out there right now, and although I wouldn’t scream and shout about how you should buy the Stealth Pivot, I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily bad either. It does a lot of things well, and for players of fighting games looking for something versatile, it’s going to come in really handy.

Unfortunately, it’s just okay overall. Its novel concept of a spinning, modular design is hamstrung by its lack of options outside of fighting and platforming. In addition, the action of spinning out the modules feels just as clunky as other modular pads make it.

I understand that the Stealth Ultra should now seem like the premium alternative, but it doesn’t feel like the Pivot puts up enough of a fight to be worth considering against it. The fact that it’s bumped up the price of the Stealth Ultra for no real reason is a bit of a gut punch too.

How I tested the Turtle Beach Stealth Pivot

I used the Turtle Beach Stealth Pivot as my main controller for all PC gaming for about a week before this review. In that time, I put it through the usual wringer of games I test pro controllers with. I used fighting games like Dragon Ball Sparking Zero and Tekken, I cruised around the deserts of Sable, I revisited Shadow of Mordor, and I snuck around the swamps of Hunt Showdown. For platforming, I played Celeste, trying to grab as many strawberries as I could.

I compared my experience closely with the Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra and Stealth Recon. I also reflected on how this controller matches up with other modular options and ones with OSDs.

For more on how we test controllers, check out the full 12DOVE Hardware Policy.

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