Gadgetory

the ps4 has been seeing a bit of a resurgence when it comes to pro controllers for a long time there was basically just three main options available but we're starting to see a lot of these companies releasing new revised and honestly just flat-out better designs a couple minutes back we talked about scuffs new option the Vantage and today we're going to take a look at one of the two new options from Razer the Razer Ryu ultimate first let's talk about how this compares to the original ride shoe controller with the most significant change immediately being that it is a wired and wireless controller as opposed to being wired only now why I say wired Wireless versus just saying Wireless is that this isn't a controller that's wireless and you can just plug it in charge and you know use wired if you want to it actually has a specific wired mode as well as two different wireless modes one / ps4 one for PC and the difference here is that with the wire you're going to get the lowest lag possible which is really important for competitive play or you can switch it to Wireless mode if you just won't be comfort of a wireless controller before getting into like special features and new functions and everything I want to talk about the form change on this versus the original rise you because while at first glance they look very similar because of the buttons everything you're in the same placement there's a lot of changes to the grip that make it honestly a lot more comfortable to me first off the grip design itself is just a little larger it's also a heftier controller so I always like a little weight in my controllers and I find the grip to be much better for long-term play I will say that because it is a little larger it might be a little more uncomfortable people with smaller hands but everyone else definitely an upgrade the next big difference is these stick designs I was never a big fan of the Ryu sticks and originally had these kind of rubber padding's on them that I didn't find to be very comfortable and I removed them but then it's not really as grippy as I'd like it to be so it's kind of a bad trade-off either way the ultimate on the other hand has replaced that design entirely in favor of this kind of hard foam that I actually found to be very comfortable it has just enough a little bit of give because it's that foam but it's like grip here at the same time it's honestly what my favourite stick heads I've used recently they've also made a big change to the programmable buttons the top two are still the same there's located right between the triggers but on the back we have a big change with a larger button that kind of goes a little flush with the grip as opposed to the original rise you where they were smaller buttons that you could remove which was a nice feature but they were more kind of inside and a little harder to reach this is much easier to press but I kind of wish they still had the removable feature because I also feel like sometimes these buttons are a little too easily pressable it's something I've gotten more used to over time using it but definitely my initial first run of this controller accidentally pressing these quite a bit that really does it for the major physical changes there's a couple or light things as well the d-pad is just a little bit smaller but it's a minut enough change that doesn't really change anything functionally they also changed the switches on the back for going between full triggers or half stop I actually like these ones a lot more because if you want to change mid-game for whatever reason it's a lot easier to do the original risers ones just have a little bit too much resistance it was really annoying to try and do mid-game now that wraps up for the kind of initial main physical changes but there's a lot of new functions this controller has the original rise you did not the biggest right away is that you can change the sticks and d-pad on this controller it's really easy they just come off like that and actually you threw me a little off first because most changeable sticks you actually take the whole stick off this is just the stick head and you can replace it with a longer stick design or concave ones and they have any different d-pad you can use which offers a more web design to can do easier rolling inputs well both the original rise U and the ultimate offered the ability to swap between different profiles for how the buttons are programmed the original riser we'll only supported two on board profiles where the ultimate does a full four and even has a matching light that changes to let you know which profile you're actively on now there is one major feature from the original riser that is missing on the ultimate and that is onboard audio controls you cannot beat your mic you cannot increase or decrease your volume you're gonna have to rely on your headset directly for that but in its place are two new buttons the first of which is light controls because this would not be a high quality Razer product without chroma lighting to really show off the second button is a lock button which you can use that disables certain functions on the controller like the PlayStation Home button options start that way you don't accidentally hit the share button mid-game and throw off your whole match now this all sounds like a lot there's still actually one more big feature and that's fact this now also comes with a phone app you can use to get further customization options first it gives you a much easier way to keep track of all your different profiles and what buttons are mapped how and even adds the additional option to map buttons that will adjust the stick sensitivity on-the-fly for instance holding this button down to make the stick move at half speed it also gives you the option to adjust the intensity of the rumble motors in the left and right side and more in-depth controls for what exactly you want to see for the lights on the chrome outline right here now before we get to comparing this to the sky Vantage really diving into which one's really worth your money I want to take a second to talk about the little sibling to this controller the razor rise you tournament edition because I think a lot of people are gonna look at these two controller side by side and be like oh well The Ultimates more expensive it must be even nicer better controller and that isn't actually necessarily true yes there are some downgrade aspects to it but there's some other things that make it a little more of an interesting alternative now yes there are a lot of features you are missing on the tournament compared to the ultimate you don't get the swappable sticks or d-pad you don't get the chroma lighting which I know is a huge deal for some people and you're not gonna get on board profile switching this gives you for the tournament just has the single one on it but because you're missing all these features there is a significant improvement in the battery life of the tournament addition whereas this only lasts about 11 hours on a charge the term addition lasts up to 19 almost twice as much and while the tournament is missing some of the coolest features of the ultimate I still feel like you're getting most of the really important ones you're getting the mechanical tactile buttons you're getting the same grip shape that is really comfortable you get all the programmable buttons and you still get the app to use with it and it has the wired wireless functionality all really big winning points the really interesting difference though when I feel like this is something that Razer hasn't really advertised super big-time to a lot of people is that the tournament actually uses a different stick setup than the ultimate the ultimate favors the PlayStation style where you have the sticks at the same height whereas the tournament swaps them for the more Xbox one style where the stick is appear and the d-pad is down here so depending on your personal preference for comfort that can be a huge reason to switch for the tournament rather than paying extra for the ultimate so the rise you ultimate and rise your tournament big upgrades over the original but is it more worth it to grab one of these or the new scuff Vantage well let's start by going over some of the benefits you're gonna get on the Vantage that aren't on the rise you controllers to begin with I really like the physical modularity of the Vantage well both controllers feature things that you can swap in and out there's just a lot more you can do with the right who specifically there are more stick options although you do have to buy those separately you can change out the triggers for longer ones and also from an aesthetic standpoint there's a whole lot more different color choices if you want to personalize it I also really appreciate the fact that while the scuff Vantage doesn't offer a lot of programmable buttons they are all removable so if there's one you don't personally like the placement of or you want to change out for a specific game you have that option it's also worth noting that while both controllers do have programmable buttons the event adjust have more with six I will say the two in the middle aren't always the easiest to reach but additional options are never a bad thing there's also a couple personal preference things to keep in mind the Vantage does use the Xbox one stick layout so if you prefer having to stick over here versus the equal like on the rise you this is a better way to go it's also a slightly smaller controller so if you have smaller hands this is going to be a bit more comfortable for you one more little nitpicky benefit too is that while both controllers have anti friction rings on the sticks that work very well the Vantage's are just a little better honestly I don't think most people would notice right away but when you have the two controllers side-by-side there's just a little tiny bit more resistance you get on the rise you that isn't present on the Vantage now that all being said as far as pure build quality goes the rise you does feel like the stronger of the two there's not as much that you can physically modify about it but because of that the whole package just feels a lot stronger and better in general I like the grip a little more for bigger hands and I really like the heft that it has I also think that while there are fewer stick options to work with these standard stick head designs are really good I'm a big fan of the Meccano tactile buttons they have on the front facing buttons and while there are fewer programmable buttons I feel like in general they're just a little more comfortable to reach though like I said earlier these ones on the back can be a little too easy to accidentally hit sometimes and while it does lack on physical modularity there is a whole lot you can do programmable wise on this controller there's the multiple profiles there's the ways you can adjust these stick sensitivities and the rebel sensitivity there's just more fine-tuning you can do this controller program wise that I really appreciate directly comparing them side by side they're both great controllers but I think I'm gonna have to give it to the rise you as far as just overall quality but there is a very important other factor to consider and that's price because this is not actually available in the US you have to import it and while it's not very hard to import you're likely gonna be spending more money because you're buying from resellers on a controller that is already more expensive in the first place the scuff Vantage if you're willing to buy just the wired version is as low as 170 bucks if you want it Wireless it's 200 and a little more than that if you want to buy more customization options for it the rise you on the other hand at list price in the UK is 200 pounds which translates to just a little over 250 bucks in the US and you're gonna pay even more than that buying from a reseller so it's a really cool controller but you're gonna pay for it