Razer Wolverine V3 Professional evaluation – simple high quality hampered by value

The Razer Wolverine V3 Professional is a incredible Elite-style controller for Xbox and PC, specializing in responsiveness and luxury in hand. Designed in collaboration with 24-time Halo champion Eric “Snip3down” Wrona, this new Wolverine is touted as real professional-grade gear, and it’s onerous to argue with the outcomes.

I discover the Razer Wolverine V3 Professional to be among the best PC controllers available on the market proper now, and regardless of its eye-watering value, there’s loads of worth on show to justify the associated fee. The feel and appear of the controller are nice, and the pure positioning of its again paddles instantly received me over, however must you ditch your commonplace gamepad in favor of this expensive professional various?

Specs

Options

The Razer Wolverine V3 Professional is a wi-fi Xbox and PC controller able to as much as 1,000Hz polling when wired. Razer takes classes discovered by making a wide range of aggressive gaming mice and applies the learnings to the Wolverine V3 Professional. This ends in an excellent slick design, detailed customization choices, and tremendous responsive efficiency.

The Wolverine V3 Professional has Corridor Impact joysticks and Mecha-Tacticle switches in its ABXY face buttons, together with an eight-way D-pad. Twin-mode triggers may undertake a brief mouse-click model activation alongside a typical lengthy pull activation that feels a lot smoother. The 4 rear paddles are textured for improved grip, plus the shoulder-mounted M1 and M2 buttons don’t protrude a lot that they spoil the look of the controller, however can nonetheless be positioned simply with out having to look down.

There’s no hiding the influences of gaming mice on the Wolverine V3 Professional, but it surely’s definitely not a foul factor as a result of Razer is thought for making among the greatest gaming mice and this expertise has transferred over flawlessly. This determination to boldly introduce mouse-like fell and options give gamers the sensation of full management and a speedy responsiveness.

As a wi-fi controller, the Razer Wolverine V3 Professional additionally comes with a chargeable battery, marketed as providing “about 20 hours” of play, though that is underneath relatively strict circumstances. The gamepad additionally comes with a protecting material carry case, a set of different thumbsticks, a 10ft USB A to C charging cable, and the hyperspeed wi-fi dongle. All these extras add significantly to the worth of a premium controller like this however a extra barebones model with none of those that saves you $20-$50 would in all probability tempt a whole lot of patrons.

Design

The design of Razer’s Wolverine V3 Professional might be assessed on two fronts. At face worth, the V3 Professional seems to be like simply one other premium Xbox controller, which isn’t essentially a detrimental, however in describing it as such, you could have a direct expectation that involves thoughts. It’s an asymmetrical ABXY format with an Xbox emblem, view, menu, and share buttons, in addition to a D-pad. On prime of this, you could have the 4 rear paddles and extra two top-mounted inputs.

When trying on the Wolverine V3 Professional on a a lot deeper stage, and after having held it in my arms for numerous hours throughout testing, I’m stuffed with reward for each side of its design and format. First, consideration is given to each claw and commonplace grips, that are accommodated utilizing well-positioned rear paddles and top-mounted M1 and M2 inputs.

These are nothing new, and I don’t need to try to make out as such, however so few controllers make the most of each kinds so nicely. The M1 and M2 inputs are fastidiously positioned subsequent to the LB/LT and RB/RT buttons in order that they by no means intrude should you’re adopting a typical grip, however if you’re a claw-style participant, they’re easy to succeed in while not having to stretch and threat messing up your move.

As for the paddles, they’re located lots decrease on the handles, that means they sit extra naturally in your two center fingers. Fortunately, they aren’t so delicate that you simply’ll be consistently setting them off, an issue I’ve discovered with many options relationship again to the unique Elite controller. Add in two set off locks positioned on the rear of the controller, and all of it provides as much as create what’s my favourite and most comfy controller expertise thus far.

Efficiency

I put the Wolverine V3 Professional via its paces in Madden 25, Forza Motorsport 8, and Name of Responsibility: Warzone to get a really feel for the way these video games felt each with out-of-the-box settings and after a while spent customizing inputs through the Razer software program on PC.

The efficiency of the Wolverine V3 Professional is at its greatest while you tinker with settings to accommodate the model of recreation you’re enjoying, as I did for my complete time testing the controller. When enjoying a recreation like Madden, I tweaked the thumbstick sensitivity to be various, with the left stick being extra delicate whereas the best stick was much less so. This helped make my directional inputs far snappier whereas permitting me to cut back the chance of errors with the best stick reminiscent of a poorly timed juke with my operating again.

In Forza, it’s much like the stick sensitivity scenario, however in racing video games, again paddles change into the MVP for me. Assigning my gear shifts to those inputs permits me to keep up full management of a car and preserve my thumbs regular as they management the automobile and my digicam view.

Lastly, in Warzone and different shooters, the thumbstick useless zones are at their most delicate as a result of any delay in aiming might be the distinction between life and loss of life (within the recreation). Whereas your response instances additionally play a serious function, should you can take away the added milliseconds of needing your controller to hit its energetic zone and reply, it’s a giant benefit. Additionally, I just like the controller haptics turned as much as 11, or on this case, six, as I would like to have the ability to really feel each motion and shot to completely immerse myself in firefights. The round thumbstick profile additionally is available in helpful right here because it smooths out the omnidirectional actions relatively than sticking to the clunkier really feel of an eight-direction system.

All through all my testing, I felt in full management of how the Wolverine V3 Professional performs, and it did the whole lot I requested of it with none concern. It’s this stage of customization that creates the skilled really feel, and the format of the Razer Controller app is way from intimidating, even when I used to be initially confused as to why the controller didn’t simply use Synapse like all different Razer PC equipment.

Always, the Wolverine V3 Professional felt responsive, however when switching over to wired mode and enabling the 1,000Hz polling, I admittedly anticipated extra however was left underwhelmed. Having examined numerous mice and seeing the distinction {that a} soar between 1,000Hz and 4,000Hz could make, I used to be excited to see how the Wolverine V3 Professional may fare reporting in at 4 instances its 250Hz wi-fi price. The distinction in gameplay felt marginal with solely the thumbstick responsiveness seeming to learn, and whereas it’s nonetheless a step ahead for controllers, I wouldn’t let it scare you away from carrying on with wi-fi play for now.

On its battery life, the Wolverine V3 Professional can go for over 20 hours of fixed use, however provided that you flip off the Chroma RGB and cut back the haptic suggestions to zero. In any other case, the standard battery life, from a full cost, will sit within the 10-15 hour vary, relying on what settings you might be utilizing. That’s a contact on the low aspect, with the likes of the Xbox Elite controller boasting as much as 40 hours of battery life, although it’s nonetheless lengthy sufficient for a protected a number of day of gaming between prices.

Going from flat to full cost took simply shy of three hours when left alone, however the wired play means you don’t have to fret about having sufficient juice to play, offered you could have a spare USB port to cost whilst you play.

Verdict

All in all, the Razer Wolverine V3 Professional delivers superfast wired responsiveness and a cushty really feel that works nicely for normal and claw grips. The construct high quality is incredible, as it is best to count on given the worth tag, however total the Wolverine V3 Professional does little or no to innovate within the controller market.

As a substitute, the V3 Professional is the right marriage of a number of premium options, all introduced collectively within the splendid shell for PC and Xbox players. It’s onerous to justify the associated fee when a less expensive, wired model is on the market for half the worth – significantly should you’re solely a PC participant. Nevertheless, should you take your gaming critically, the expansive customization gives a fine-tuned expertise that would genuinely give you an edge over the competitors.

Value

The Razer Wolverine V3 Professional has an MSRP of $199.99 (£199.99) and is on the market from the Razer retailer and retailers reminiscent of Amazon, from August 28, 2024. There’s no sugarcoating the worth. It’s costly even in comparison with different premium controllers such because the Scuf Intuition and Xbox Elite Collection 2.

It’s definitely in direction of the very restrict of what I’d be prepared to pay for a controller personally, however the worth of the bundle as an entire is boosted by the inclusion of all these extras within the field and the presence of Corridor Impact thumbsticks, which the above rivals lack.

Options

Massive Massive Gained Rainbow Professional 2

The Rainbow Professional 2 is a real various to the Wolverine V3 Professional, particularly when it prices a fraction of the worth. I’ll concede that the Wolverine feels higher in hand, and the customization choices eclipse that of the Rainbow Professional 2, but when funds is a significant component in your determination, and you’ll deal with the relatively garish design, it’s a viable choice to contemplate.