Thank you Turtle Beach for sending us a review sample of the Afterglow™ Wave Wired Controller!

Performance Designed Products LLC (PDP) was founded in 1990 and has been making awarding winning gaming peripherals since then. In 2024, Turtle Beach acquired PDP and has rebranded many of the products released by them since the acquisition. Last year we reviewed the PDP Afterglow Wave Wireless Controller which looks very similar to the Turtle Beach Afterglow™ Wave Wired Controller at first glance. Both controllers have a similar customizable RGB layout, textured grips, and programmable back buttons. Obviously there are difference between the Switch and Xbox buttons and the Turtle Beach Afterglow™ Wave Wired Controller has different features like Hall-Effect 3-Stop Adjustable Triggers, Dual Rumble Motors, and Impulse Triggers.

In 2023 we reviewed Turtle Beach’s React-R Wired X-Box Controller which is priced at $39.99. The React-R has some advantages like more pronounced grip/trigger textures and a nicer D-Pad. The Afterglow Wave’s D-Pad has a mushy feel to it. Outside of those shortcomings, the Afterglow Wave has many great features included at the $50 price point.

Using PDP’s Control Hub (Turtle Beach hasn’t rebranded this app yet!), you can customize the RGB coloring, remap the buttons, set the rumble/impulse strength, and audio configuration. By default, the RGB is set to a rotating rainbow pattern. You can set the RGB to a static color, wave, breathing, pulse, ripple, and up/down flow. You can also have the RGB respond to motor, timer, speaker, and microphone input. I set the accents to a static purple which looks nice. There are five colors available for the controller itself: black, blue, grey, purple and white.

Like most Xbox controllers you can plug a headset into it and there’s a button to mute your microphone if needed. The joysticks are accurate for me, but if needed, calibration is possible though the software. I like how the joysticks are rubberized and as a result are not slippery (which is good!). All the standard Xbox buttons for accessing the game menus and sharing/streaming are present and working as expected. The Xbox symbol button will need to be pressed to turn the controller on. I noticed that it will turn itself back on after rebooting my PC sometimes. It’s not consistent, but it’s nice when it happens.

The shoulder buttons feel good and work as expected. I love how the triggers have three settings to dictate how much you want them to be pressed before activating. I prefer a full press over a hair trigger. Though funnily enough I prefer the opposite when shooting my revolver. The customizable paddle buttons feel nice too. The triggers and paddle buttons are textured, but they’re pretty smooth
so you can barely feel it.