Razer Onza Tournament Edition First Impressions

So I have been searching for this controller from Razer for a few weeks now. It has been very hard to find. Every site is backordered. Even the Razer store has several thousand people waiting to buy one. I received a message from Newegg that they had some in. I didn't have the money until two days later, and they were already sold out. I eventually ordered one through Amazon, and faced a 1-2 month wait. Then I began searching the Best Buy stores. I live in Western Mass, and the only one I could find was in West Lebanon, NH. I was trying to get it shipped closer to me, when my local store announced that they indeed had two in stock! I had them hold one for me and rushed over. I am now the proud owner of what many consider to be the best XBOX controller on the market, the Onza tournament edition.

They make two editions, a professional controller and the tournament edition. The regular controller costs $39, and be prepared to spend an extra $10 for the tournament edition (TE). The TE has a few additional features, like tension control for the analog sticks, backlit ABXY buttons, a braided cord, and a rubberized grip. I decided that the extra was worth it. That, and well, Best Buy doesn't carry the normal edition!

There are several things that make this controller a bit different from the Xbox controller. The standard MS controller uses pressure plates to enact buttons and triggers. This is very old technology, and is a bit slow. Razer has introduced mechanical switches for about everything except the D pad. Mechanical switches means a better, faster connection, with a mouse click feel. Indeed, you barely need to press down on the abxy buttons to engage them. They "feel" quicker, and I am sure they are. This is a great, although obvious, improvement on the MS controller.

The analog sticks are also a bit different. For starters there is zero dead space on these sticks. There is a definite center, and the controller stays there. The sticks are also a bit longer than the norm. The normal edition has the longest sticks, while the tournament edition is somewhat in between the MS stick, and the normal edition. I have been playing with the FPS Freeks for a while now, and I have come to love using a longer joystick, so this came as a bit of a relief. The TE also has another feature. Underneath the rubberized to of the stick is a control wheel. This lets you adjust the tension of the sticks. <Warning: do NOT turn them up too high, or you will damage the stick, and end up with poorer response>. This means that you can crank up the tension of the analog stick for shooters, which also allows you to increase the sensitivity in games, but still be able to aim well. Or you can turn the tension way down, and get a faster response out of the stick. Again I warn you not to turn this up too high. There are diminishing returns, including the fact that you will not be able to easily get 100% response out of the stick at highest tension settings!

The triggers are shaped a bit differently, and take some getting used to. They also respond differently. They will engage with very little pressure, and the added curvature to the trigger can get in the way for some people. I tested my rather new wireless MS controller, and the triggers respond at about 6 transmissions, which is rather good (lower is better). When I tested the Onza the transmission rate dropped to 41! I was a bit confused by this, until I found out the reason. There are a lot more steps to the trigger response to get to 100%, probably for racing games. If I did the test again, and only did slight pressure trigger pulls, the transmission rate dropped to 3! Mapping the extra buttons (more on that later) the transmission rate increased to 2 transmissions! Clearly the fastest triggers on the market!

Speaking of those extra buttons, there are an additional two bumpers on this controller, placed just above the regular buttons. Both controllers feature these programmable buttons, and they are very useful. They can be programmed to duplicate any other button on the controller, ABXY, bumpers, even the stick clicks. This can allow you to move the left click melee button on most shooters right above your right bumper, for faster melee attacks. The default is to duplicate the bumpers, which is wise, because they take some getting used to, and you will click them by mistake for a while.

The DPAD has also undergone a change. Instead of the MS cross, they have replaced it with four concave buttons. This is nice for shooters where you need a distinct up, down, left, or right click, but might be a bit of a disadvantage when playing fighting games. You just have to get used to pressing two buttons at once. Not a big deal, since the XBOX controller essentially does the same thing, only behind the scenes. The DPAD could be improved, and I think the new MS controller with changeable DPAD may be a better solution here.

Both controllers come with a 15 foot cord. Plenty of wire for most people. No wireless folks, as MS will not license anyone else to make wireless controllers, yet. This does mean less lag however, which isn't a bad thing. The TE has a braided 15 foot cord (5 feet more than the XBOX controller) and has a breakaway feature like the older consoles used to have. This is nice, as it dramatically decreases the chances of tripping on the wire and sending your XBOX to the floor! The cord is definitely quality, and feels like it!

That about covers the features. The controller looks very nice, and has a good feel to it. It is very light, and the rubberized grip is a nice addition for long gaming sessions. The whole controller feels very responsive, and it actually is going to take a bit of a learning curve to get used to. Playing with the tension settings and in game sensitivity is a must, otherwise you find yourself just flailing about. However now that I am getting close to the right settings, I am really starting to like this controller. I played some Homefront, and some Reach with it. At first I was having a harder time aiming and acquiring targets. After a while the play seemed very fluid, and I am definitely getting better response and control with this controller than I have out of my MS controllers.

Some gamers have complained about something they call "slow turn" developing after a few days. I have not experienced this yet, but will keep an eye out. Put simply this means the analog sticks no longer reach 100%, resulting in a slower top speed. I am thinking this is likely the result of them turning up the tension too much on the controller, perhaps to the point of damaging it. There is a solution that might work, and it comes in the guise of a hidden feature that very few know about, but I am going to tell you!

Out of the box the controller has the basic sensitivity of an XBOX controller. There is a hidden feature that will crank up the sensitivity of the controller. This can correct any slow turn problems, or even give you that added boost if you are a player that enjoys running at high sensitivity on your analog sticks. To achieve this, unplug your controller. Hold down both of the program buttons (for programming the extra function bumpers) and plug the controller back in. The circle on the center X button will glow. You can now press the "Y" button for normal sensitivity, or the "A" button for increased sensitivity. Once the button is pushed, the sensitivity is programmed in, and your player light will return. This programming will be remembered when the unit is shut off, negating the need to reprogram the controller every time you use it.

So, my first impressions of this controller are very good! Most of the changes are excellent. The two drawbacks I can find are the wire (nothing we can do about that, thanks to MS), and the DPAD, which is good, but may be something of a hinderance when in fighting games. There is also a couple of problems with the headphone jack. First, it is only a 2.5 MM jack, so any headsets or chatpads that have the three prong connection (such as the chat pad and certain puck designs for headsets) will not work! My DX11's work just fine for the most part. The only problem comes when the controller vibrates. This produces an audible hum in the headset that others can hear in games or in chat. For this reason i have disabled the vibration element for multiplayer games. It isn't horrible, but it IS a problem, and can get a bit annoying.

Pros: Adjustable tension analog sticks (TE- gives you more control over how much force is needed to move the stick). Better, faster, more responsive, mechanical switch buttons, with a great mouse-click feel. Much better than the mushy response of the older MS technology. Rubberized grip (TE), backlit abxy buttons (TE). Programmable extra bumper buttons. More responsive triggers.

Cons: Audible hum from vibration mode in chat. Lack of a three prong connection for some headsets and the MS chat pad. No wireless (MS licensing issue), but the cord is sturdy, well made, very long, and has a nice break-away feature). DPAD may not be best for fighting games. May lead to longer gaming sessions, upsetting the balance in your family life! The biggest con is that these are almost impossible to find. Your best bet is to look up your local Best Buy stores, and see if they are in stock. If they aren't, call, because they may just have one anyhow!

Overall this controller is clearly MUCH better than the standard MS offering. It is the best controller on the market right now. This should do a couple of good things for gamers. First, it will draw more companies into the gaming market. Second, it definitely raises the bar for aftermarket controllers. Perhaps one day we will get more quality offerings for alternative controllers, rather than the crap that is out there now. The price is right. At $49 for the TE, and $39 for the professional edition, you really are not spending that much more than you would on a MS controller. The price is great, considering the features and advantages this controller has over the standard MS controller. Clearly this is the best controller on the market right now, which would explain why it is in such high demand!

Now for the pictures!

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