These days, headsets are becoming more and more technically advanced, with built in surround sound emulation, wireless connectivity, and even noise canceling technology to keep you immersed in your game experience as much as possible. Living in a household with two loud kids, sometimes those heavy duty headsets are a godsend as they allow me to enjoy gaming without their screaming getting in the way. However, on the flipside of that, having two kids often means I have to be attentive. They like to climb, run, jump and whatever other action that's doesn't mesh well with a small two-bedroom apartment, which means often hearing them getting up to no good is as important as hearing my teammates alerting me to 'enemies on my six.'
Enter the Turtle Beach Chat Recon headset, which by design allows you to stay in communication with your teammates (or enemies) while simultaneously having full awareness of your surrounding. Single ear headsets certainly aren't anything new by today's standards. There are plenty of headsets that already do this, but usually, the ear that does get covered makes it hard to hear out of. With the Recon Chat headset, that's no longer the issue.
The earpiece that cups around your ear has ridges alongside it which allows you to hear the environment around you. This won't be useful for everyone, but for those that need more awareness outside of their gaming sessions, they work wonderfully.
The mic that extends from the headset is fully bendable, which means you can get it out of the way easily. The mic quality, at least from what I've been told by those that I've been playing with, sounds crisp and clear, so that's certainly a bonus. And if you need to mute yourself or change the volume, there's a small control unit on the cable of the headset that allows you to do that.
Another great addition that Turtle Beach has made to the headset, is give it a slight groove right above your ear, which allows your glasses to pass through it comfortably. It's probably the first time I've seen a headset give consideration to us glasses-wearers, and the result makes long gaming sessions extremely comfortable. The box even advertises the headset as glasses friendly, which is awesome. As someone who wears glasses on a daily basis, I'd like to see more brands give more consideration to their headsets to make glasses wearing gamers feel more comfortable for long gaming sessions.
Speaking of comfort, for the most part, I barely feel the headset on my head, which is certainly a great feature. On the flipside, if you're expecting comfort in the style of other, more padded headsets from Turtle Beach, this isn't the headset that provides that.
So who is this headset for? If you're looking for a very cheap headset that will get you the bare minimum in terms of hearing your party members, then you really can't go wrong here. At $20, I would recommend this to anyone who doesn't expect nor want to be fully immersed in game audio. Turtle Beach has plenty other headsets that provide that sort of experience. But for those with big families or significant others that they don't want to tune out, this is a fantastic choice for an amazing price.
