Gadgetory

- When it comes to Pro controller options for the PS4, there's been two, main competing companies lately. Razer, with their Raiju line of controllers, and Skuf, with their most recent release, the Vantage, but there's a new challenger approaching that might shake things up a little bit, from Astro with the C40 TR. Now, if you're not familiar with Astro, they're actually known for making very high-quality gaming headsets, and the C40 is their first entry into Pro controllers. So, it's going to be very interesting to see how it actually stacks up to the competition. So, we're going to take a look at how the buttons and controller itself feel, what kind of special features it offers, and just how exactly compares to the Skuf and Razer options. So, first off, how does it actually handle as a controller? Well, the grip design on it is really nice. Something that is done a little differently from the competition is, instead of focusing on making a grippy texture, where your fingers go, it instead uses this material around the whole main body of the controller, that's this slightly softer rubber. It feels a little more slippery, at first, but it actually performs better once you hands, maybe, get a little sweaty from longterm gameplay. Something that I noticed right away, too, with this grip that I really appreciate is, like the Raiju Ultimate, the programmable buttons are placed on the back side of the controller, near the grips. But, something about the way that they're slightly more offset and have a bit more resistance, it's a lot harder to accidentally press them. This isn't something that happens a ton with the Raiju, but when you're first getting used to it, I find you can accidentally do that a lot with your grip. This one, has not happened with me yet, which I really appreciate. Now, as for all the buttons and sticks, as far as the stick quality goes, there's a couple different options to choose from, which we'll talk about a little later, but as far as the movement on them goes, it's a very nice, smooth motion. You don't really feel any resistance, which is nice. The D-pad that it comes with, and again, we'll talk about what that means exactly later, is definitely one that's focused more on a modern day approach to D-pads, where it's a very clicky one that hits one of the four directions, and that's about it. It's not great for rolly motions. I wouldn't use it for a fighting game. But, in an FPS, or something, where I'm just using it to select items, or powers, or whatever, it works really nicely. As for the shoulder buttons, the front ones are nice and clicky. The back triggers are a little looser than I would personally like, but I think it is a really good level and has just the right amount of draw pull. You can also adjust them to be short stop, which is a handy little feature. The only part of this controller, honestly, as far as the buttons go, that leaves me just a little underwhelmed, is the front-facing buttons right here. They're not bad by any means, but compared to a lot of other Pro controllers I've used, they just feel fairly normal. They don't really have the right amount of push back that I like to have. It sometimes feels like they just stick for a slight, split second longer than I'm comfortable with. So, when it comes to very rapid pressing, it just doesn't have the same kind of responsiveness that you're gonna see from its competitors. Other simple features that are located right on the controller itself is that you can switch between two different profiles that you can customize, using software for the C40, and you can switch between a dedicated wired or wireless connection. Now, something that this controller does different from other options is that for it's wireless connection, it uses a dedicated dongle. It is not something that's using built-in Bluetooth, which, on the one hand, yes Bluetooth does have a nice simplicity about it, because you don't have to worry about plugging something in, and possibly forgetting or losing it, but thankfully, there is a slot to store the dongle in the carrying case, so you have a nice place to put it away, and it's gonna make sure that you have a nice, dedicated connection, instead of having to worry about, sometimes, Bluetooth issues that can come up. For instance, when the Vantage first came up, people constantly had issues reconnecting. That's not going to happen with this. Next, let's talk customization and special features. So, there's two main ways you can do this with the C40. One, there's modular, physical changes you can do on the controller itself, and two, programmable changes you can use, making use of the C40 configuration software. Now, the physical changes are really I would say are the hallmark of this thing's design, 'cause it takes things just a step further than other Pro controllers. See, plenty of other Pro controllers out there give you the option to change out stick heads, and even change the D-pad design, but what the C40 does that separates itself from the rest, is that you can actually remove this entire front faceplate, and swap the D-pad and stick locations, so it's your choice whether you want to use symmetrical or offset sticks. Now, in order to do this, you do need to use a screwdriver tool that comes with the C40, which I'm always pretty mixed on needing to have side tools to make modifications to controllers. But, like with the USB dongle, I do really appreciate that the carrying case the C40 comes with has a slot to put that screwdriver, so it's not going to be some tool that you shove in a drawer, forget about, and it gets mixed in with everything else. It has a place to stay, so you make sure it's always within arm's reach whenever you need to make changes to the controller. Along with the ability to swap the D-pad and stick locations, the C40 does also come with a number of sticks to choose from that you can swap, as well, including two, short, concave ones, like these, which are the stock design. You get a pair of convex, short-length ones, as well, and then, two separate, long-length sticks, one convex, one concave. What it doesn't come with when it ships is an alternate D-pad design, which bothers me a little bit. Because there's a slot on the carrying case you can store additional D-pad options, and Astro has also advertised that additional accessory options are going to be available on their website down the line, although none are listed just yet. And, it just seems weird to me that for a $200 controller, you don't get at least one alternate D-pad option right out of the bag. Now, while I do wish it shipped with more options for the D-pad, I do think it's really cool that Astro actually shows this concept for longterm growth and customization of the controller, where yeah, here's all the basic stuff you need right now, but as time goes on, maybe new stick options come out with different stick designs. Maybe there's more D-pad options to choose from. I think that's a really cool, longterm form of support for the controller. As for programmable changes of the controller, all of this is accessible through the C40 configuration software that you can get for PC. And, it opens up a lot of fairly traditional Pro controller options that are really nice to have. You can change stick sensitivity, trigger sensitivity. You can remap not only the programmable buttons on the back, but also all the front facing and shoulder buttons, and stick click-ins, if you'd like to, as well, and the D-pad. You can also adjust how strong the rumble is on each side of the controller, how bright the LED light is, and to really show that Astro is first and foremost an audio company, you do have the option to also adjust the EQ balance of the audio that comes out of the mic jack, which is a nice, little touch. Now, while most of these features are exclusive to that configuration software, something that you can do on board if you don't want to take the time to mess with that, is that you can program, at least the two buttons on the back, using onboard controls, by using this little reprogram button right here. You hold that, hit the one you want to program, then hit whatever button you want to map to it, so you can do that on the fly. So, all this technical stuff aside, I know the real question you guys are wondering is, is this worth grabbing over the Razer Raiju, or the Skuf Vantage? And, the answer I have for you is, kind of. I think something that's very interesting about this set of Pro controllers is that each of them clearly had a different main goal in mind, and they each accomplish that fairly well. For starters, when it comes to straight build quality, the Raiju is the winner. I think it has the best grip shape. I think it has the most comfortable design, and while you can't really customize your change too much on the actual, physical body of the controller, you don't really need to, because it all feels really great. And, it does still have some programmable options for more fine-tune kind of stuff. On the other hand, the Skuf Vantage is all about modularity. You can swap the sticks, swap the D-pad. It has the most programmable buttons that you can add and remove, and you can even rip out the rumble motors, and do all of that without any kind of offhand tool. You can just do that right on the main body, which is super nice. It's also the most affordable of the three. The C40, on the other hand, kinda walks a middle path between these two. All three controllers offer what I think are some of the important aspects that are common across different Pro controllers right now, programmable buttons, the ability to switch between a dedicated wired or wireless connection, and just overall, a nicer, better grip design versus what other controllers traditionally have. When it comes to customization, the C40 is offering you both that physical modularity and programmable customization at the same time. It doesn't really hit either of those notes quite as hard as the other competitors, but it does both, giving it, quite possibly, the greatest versatility. I think the biggest thing that really helps make this an attractive choice is that option to swap between offset or parallel sticks. Because, if you end up liking a preferred style, depending on the game you're playing, well, the Skuf is going to have you stuck in the offset style, the Raiju Ultimate's gonna have you stuck in the parallel. This one isn't gonna force you, you can use either one you like, depending on the situation. And that's a really cool, unique feature. And, I think the most exciting aspect of that is those options are only going to continue to grow. If Astro is going to start offering more stick designs and more D-pad options on their website, which we don't have any listed yet, but if those things start showing up, this might just, over time, turn into the best option out there.