Turtle Beach is launching a Stealth Ultra 2 controller for Xbox and PC, and it looks like it's making some sweeping improvements over the original model, which launched back in early 2024. The first Stealth Ultra was one of the first officially licensed third-party Xbox controllers to integrate a screen and menu system, as well as offer wireless play on the Xbox console.
That said, I've always felt bad for the Stealth Ultra. It was a really solid product, but it faded into obscurity very quickly thanks to a swarm of other third-party gamepads stealing its limelight with similar features. Since then, Turtle Beach acquired rival controller brand PDP, and although the results have mainly been a relaunch of so many of PDP's products under the Turtle Beach banner, it finally feels like innovation and collaboration are coming to fruition.
Ironically, it's been a pretty "stealthy" launch for this new Turtle Beach controller, but it's already available on TB's own website, as well as other retailers like Amazon and Very in the UK.
There seem to have been meaningful changes made to the Stealth Ultra 2. The screen size has been increased and its gimmicky social features removed; its thumbsticks are now TMR and have swappable gate shapes thanks to integrated switches - an Xbox first, but something you could do with PDP's Victrix Pro BFG for Xbox by manually swapping them out.
The metallic, flat D-pad has been exchanged for one with more shape to it; the grips seem to have been lengthened and slimmed down slightly for a more comfortable hold. To my delight, the layout of the back buttons has been swapped from horizontal to vertical, integrating them into the product's refined grips.
There aren't any additional bumpers or side buttons, which might be a disappointment for some players when comparing to the Nacon Revolution X Unlimited or the Razer Wolverine V3 Pro, but you do get a charging stand and a carry case with the Stealth Ultra 2. Three-way trigger stop switches also appear, which feels generous considering these are usually limited to one or two levels as opposed to three.
With a now-larger touchscreen on board, it feels like there have been more refinements to Turtle Beach's menu system. Marketing images show button mapping, audio levels, connection, and power settings, but settings for the screen itself and ways to customize the controller's home widgets are also there. It'd be great to see more of an in-depth overview of how this will all work to compare it to other controller screen menus, but Turtle Beach is yet to publish a trailer for the gamepad on its social channels.
Competitive players will be happy to learn that, in wired mode on PC, the Stealth Ultra 2 will be able to achieve an 8,000Hz polling rate, which rivals some of the top-drawer PC controllers I've reviewed this year.
Despite the inclusion of a charging stand, Turtle Beach details that there are Full Power, Balanced, and Eco settings. On Eco mode, you'll get a quoted 34 hours of playtime, albeit without vibration and RGB lighting on. On Full Power, you'll get 10 hours of play with the full suite of features working and lights twinkling.
I look forward to hopefully testing the Stealth Ultra 2 to compare it with the original model, but also evaluating it against the increasing number of feature-rich pro controllers on Xbox's platform at this sort of price range. It feels as though Turtle Beach has used design and customization elements from its experience with the Victrix Pro BFG Reloaded to offer something a bit more distinct this time around, but thankfully it's held true to the first Stealth Ultra's price.
This week I published a review of the SteelSeries Aeon Pro which sits at a much higher $250 price range but despite its innovative charging stand hasn't really warranted its price. For that reason, I'm happy to see the Stealth Ultra stick to that established but still pricey $199.99 / £179.99 tag we've seen already.
You can also dive deeper into the rabbit hole by looking at the best TMR controllers, the best PS5 controllers, and the best Switch 2 controllers.
