The Astro TR c40 Review
by UnkemptStatue
08/01/20
Looks: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ (8/10)
Comfort: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ (8/10)
Build Quality: ★ ★★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ (8/10)
Features: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★★★ ★ (8/10)
Functionality: ★★★★★★★ (9/10)
D-Pad: ★★★★★ ★ ★ (7/10)
Face Buttons: ★★★★★★★★ (7/10)
Shoulder Buttons: ★★★★★★★ ★ ★ (9/10)
Thumbsticks: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ (8/10)
Overall Score: 80/100
Specifications
Weight: 213 g
D-Pad Diameter: 27.6 mm
Face-Button Diameter: 13.2 mm
Face-Button Travel: 2.4 mm
Horizontal Face-Button Gap: 3.4 mm
Vertical Face-Button Gap: 3.6 mm
Shoulder Travel: 0.9 mm
Trigger Travel: Shallow
I’ve owned a lot of Razer products, probably enough to be considered a fanboy. But I’m not a Razer fanboy. When they deserve it, I like Razer’s products a normal, rational amount. A fanboy-amount of liking is not a normal nor rational amount. It’s blind to flaws. And while I have liked (sometimes a lot) the Razer products I have owned, I’m not blind to their flaws.
Which brings us to the Razer Raion Fightpad.
I’ll just get it out of the way from get-go: this gamepad has the poorest build-quality of any other I’ve tested, including some budget, sub-$30 offerings. The top and bottom panels are not flush with each other, leaving sharp edges all over. The angular design on the top and bottom of the front panel, and the bezels around the triggers and bumpers, are also sharp and uncomfortable to hold. There are large gaps between panels in some places, and in others the panels overlap each other. It’s just a mess. It is uncomfortable and actively painful to use for prolonged periods.
It’s so bad that I submitted a support ticket to Razer. Surely this particular unit was bad? This couldn’t possibly be the intended final product? I sent them pictures and described what I was experiencing. After looking at the pictures, they informed me that nothing was wrong and that it was the intentional design of the controller.
Undeterred, I submitted a replacement ticket through Amazon. The replacement unit was marred by the same issues.
This really had me scratching my head, because I haven’t seen this mentioned in any other review of the controller. Youtuber Tevron mentioned the comfort in his hand, but didn’t elaborate on the specific issue I’m describing here. I also found this strange because Razer is a brand known for their build-quality. Every other product I’ve owned from them has had excellent build quality, including this mouse and keyboard I have here next to me, which seem to be made of the same type of plastic. So, part of me is still wondering if I just got unlucky…twice.
But enough about that. Besides the atrocious build-quality, there is a lot to like about the Raion.
First of all, the D-Pad is excellent. I’m not a fan of floating D-Pads, but the tactile clickiness of the Raion’s D-Pad is extremely satisfying. It’s very loud, and it’s as clicky as any mouse you might have used before. More than once throughout testing, I was able to avoid a mistaken input because I could tell from the sound of the D-Pad that I had missed something. That has the potential to save your life in a round of Street Fighter V.
I also like the shallow, clicky travel of the triggers and bumpers. It’s easy to push R1 and R2 at the same time.
But by far my favorite part of the Raion is the face buttons. I’ve seen others taking issue with their lack of feedback, but it’s something I prefer. These buttons are extremely easy to press, with very low tension. This controller excelled in all of the mashing tests, and I suspect it will be difficult for any other controller, fightpad or not, to match the results I was able to attain with the Raion.
So a great D-Pad, nice shoulder buttons, and responsive face buttons…sound pretty good, right?
Unfortunately there are some issues with this controller other than the build-quality. While I just praised the face buttons, it’s easy to accidentally press two buttons at once on this controller. They’re so responsive that even the slightest glance will activate them. In Street Fighter V this can cause issues with unintentionally performing an EX Special Move (those are like special special moves, if you’re unfamiliar with the game).
A more troubling issue with the face buttons is their alignment. They are angled vertically more than I would like, and they are quite far from the controller’s shoulders. After a week of exclusive use, I was still unable to completely adjust to their position. I was constantly dropping combos due to fishing for buttons, and I wasn’t confident enough with it to take this controller into a ranked match. The medium punch and kick buttons feel like they are in the light punch and kick buttons place. I’m sure I could eventually overcome this, but a week of exclusive use was not enough to do so.
Also, whoever the famous fighting game player on the webpage for this controller is using the face buttons with his…fingers. Apparently that’s far more common than I thought, but I don’t see how this controller would facilitate that method of play. It has nubby little handles on each, side small even than the standard Dual-Shock 4.
I don’t mind that this controller is wired-only, but that may matter more to you. I would have preferred that the cable was removable, however, as in the PowerA Fightpad Pro. And a rubber-coated cable feels out of place on a hundred-dollar controller, especially if you’re used to the nice braided cables of many of Razer’s other peripherals.
A small issue I encountered with the otherwise-amazing D-Pad was its size. It’s quite large, and I was frequently missing jump inputs in side scrollers like Blazing Chrome and Cuphead.
Of all the fightpads I had yet to try, I was most excited to try this one. Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to my expectations.
However, even though it didn’t live up to my expectations in some respects, I was still able to attain a high level of performance with it. Scroll down for a detailed analysis of the tests.
