The Razer Raion Fightpad Review
by UnkemptStatue
08/01/20
Looks: ★★★★★★ (6/10)
Comfort: ★★ (2/10)
Build Quality: ★★ (2/10)
Features: ★★★★★★ (6/10)
Functionality: ★★★★★★★★ (8/10)
D-Pad: ★★★★★★★★ (8/10)
Face Buttons: ★★★★★★★★★ (9/10)
Shoulder Buttons: ★★★★★★★ (7/10)
Thumbsticks: n/a
Overall Score: 60/100
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 warranted, 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. 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 a mess. It is uncomfortable and almost 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. Part of me is still wondering if I just got unlucky…twice.
But enough about that. Besides the disappointing build-quality, there is plenty more to consider about the Raion. (Some of it’s even good!)
The Raion isn’t anything to write home about in the looks department. It’s a chunk of black plastic. There’s nothing glaringly awful about it, but personally I don’t care for its appearance. It’s black, so at least it has that going for it. And the muted pastels on the face buttons are always welcome. But the Raion has two main flaws to my eyes. One is those knobby little handles that look like feet stuck on as an after thought. They don’t aid in gripping the controller all that much, and their shape doesn’t match the Raion’s overall design style. The other is all that empty space below the D-Pad. Lowering it a tad so it’s more in align with the Triangle Button would balance out the left side a bit more, and might even make it more comfortable to hold.
Yeah, about that whole “comfort” thing.
As I’m sure you gathered from the introduction, the Raion does not win any ergonomics awards. But build quality and sharp corners and edges aside, the stubby handles make this exceptionally uncomfortable for players who prefer a claw grip. (Claw grip is a method of holding the gamepad, adopted by some fighting game players, so that you’re activating the face buttons with your fingers rather than your thumb). I have pretty large hands, but it’s difficult for me to maintain grip on the pad with my left hand and keep my thumb on the D-Pad at the same time when using the claw grip. Luckily for me, that’s not how I hold my controller. But if you play with claw grip, this may not be the pad for you.
Moving on to the D-Pad, we arrive at the one of the Raion’s first and best strengths. The tactile feedback is sublime. Whirling your thumb over the pad in all manner of quarter-circles, half-circles, zig-zags…it’s just plain fun. Clickety clickety clickety click, it says.
Floating D-Pads are not normally my first choice, but I’ve concluded that they are the best type for one my favorite game franchises (The King of Fighters series). It’s much easier to execute the many different methods of movement in those games with a floating D-Pad.
My first impression of the size of the Raion’s D-Pad was positive. With a diameter of 27.6 mm, it’s the biggest of any I’ve tested. It feels almost luxurious at first, but after a while I came to feel that it is too big. It’s too easy to miss directions 1 and 3 in complicated directional inputs, common in fighting games like Street Fighter and King of Fighters. The only other drawback is that it’s very loud. Certainly it’s louder than my mouse. It has the potential to be obnoxious, especially to anyone who’s in earshot but not playing. That volume has a benefit though: 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 the fighting game du jour.
Despite being a bit too big and tad too loud, the Raion’s D-Pad is excellent overall. It approaches the pinnacle of what a floating D-Pad should be.
In addition to the awesome D-Pad, the Raion has superb 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. My main character in Street Fighter V has a bread and butter combo that is quite difficult to execute on a traditional (4-button) gamepad. On the Raion, I’m able to perform that combo reliably, sometimes with one-hundred percent accuracy. This combo is easier on any six-button fightpad, but it’s by far the easiest on the Raion.
As good as they are, though, the face buttons are not perfect. Their low tension and large size means that it’s easy to unintentionally press two at the same time. They are also aligned at a steeper angle than other pads. It’s a bit awkward at first. Even after extensive testing, including a week of exclusive use, the odd angle of the buttons’ alignment never went unnoticed.
Holding it here in my hands right now, it’s clear that the buttons are aligned at this angle to accommodate claw-grip players. Ironic, given the lack of grip mentioned early.
The shoulder buttons, with their shallow travel and clicky feedback are excellent for fighting games. It’s easy to press them both at the same time, an important input for some characters in some fighting games. The triggers wouldn’t excel in any other kind of game, such as racing or shooting games. You wouldn’t be able to control acceleration with the on-off nature of the Raion’s triggers, and they would lead to finger fatigue in a shooter. Of course, with its lack of thumbsticks, you wouldn’t use this pad for those types of games anyway. Overall, the Raion’s shoulder buttons are excellent for their intended purpose.
Features-wise, the Razer Raion is missing a lot of extras that you would expect from a hundred-dollar controller.
The Gamepad Review always prefers wired controllers over wireless, so the fact the Raion doesn’t offer wireless connectivity is unimportant (though that might be different for you). However, it’s unforgiveable that the Raion’s chord is not only rubber-coated, but permanently attached. You know what other gamepad has a rubber-coated, non-removable chord? The $15 Logitech F310.
At least the Raion has a switches to toggle the input of the D-Pad and shoulder buttons. If necessary, you can tell the Raion to treat the D-Pad as either left or right Thumbsticks. Likewise, you can forego R1 and R2 and tell it to it treat the left shoulder buttons as L3 and R3. This can be important for some menu actions. It’s nice that you can switch back and forth quickly.
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. Even though I was able to attain a high-level of performance with it, consistently inputting button strings that usually give me trouble, it’s too uncomfortable to use regularly.
This could be a great fightpad with some significant refinement.
But until that refinement arrives, the Gamepad Review cannot recommend the Razer Raion.
If for some reason you still want to buy it anyway, you can support GPR by using the link below:
