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Peacock Review: Free TV May Hook You, But You’ll Need a Paid Plan to See Everything

Hours of ad-supported free content is available to stream, but a paid account may not be worth it to watch live sports or Yellowstone.

Since its launch in July 2020, Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service, has seen a bump in growth. After adding new episodes of NBC shows, Hallmark content and Days of Our Lives to the streaming platform, it’s leveling up its new and original content offerings. Though not as large as some of its rivals, Peacock looks similar to Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus and HBO Max, with simple tiled interface lined with famous network shows.

But unlike those other services, Peacock has a version that’s completely free to watch with ads. In that respect it’s similar to free streaming services such as Pluto TV, Tubi and Roku Channels, but with a better selection. Peacock’s free tier offers about 40,000 hours of ad-supported content. You’ll find shows, movies, news, live sports and skit-style clips, with standouts including The Office, Parks and Recreation, Modern Family and 30 Rock.

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Peacock

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Like

  • Strong free version
  • Large back catalog of shows and movies
  • Live news and next-day access to some NBC shows
  • Live sports like WWE and the Olympics

Don’t Like

  • Full access to major shows, originals and live sports isn’t free
  • Few original series or newer movies
  • Missing features like mobile downloads for all tiers and 4K HDR

The catch? Many marquee series only include the first two seasons with the free tier — you’ll need to upgrade to Peacock Premium at $5 a month to binge it all. Popular shows like Bel-Air and Yellowstone also only offer one episode on the free tier, with the rest behind the Premium paywall. And some shows, like Parks and Recreation and The Office, are only available as complete series on Premium.

Peacock’s live sports offering is a strength, although most live events require a Premium subscription. It has NFL Sunday Night Football, the US Open, MLB on Sunday mornings, WWE wrestling, Premier League and more.

If you upgrade to the Premium tier ($5 a month or $50 a year, with ads) or the Premium Plus tier ($10 a month or $100 a year), you’ll get access to the full catalog of 80,000 hours of content. Series include the Quantum Leap reboot, Vampire Academy, Real Housewives and Chicago Fire. You’ll also get next-day access to new episodes of all current NBC shows and even early access to Late Night with Seth Meyers and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon the night they air.

The free version of Peacock is worth exploring, but whether you’re willing to pay $5 to $10 a month when you already have the other major streaming services will depend on how much you want to watch favorites like The Office, Days of Our Lives, Yellowstone and live sports.

Read more: Peacock free or Premium? Ads or no ads? Here’s how to pick the right streaming plan

How many ads does Peacock have?

I tested out Peacock’s ad-supported free tier and its ad-supported $5-a-month Premium tier. (You don’t need a credit card to sign up for the free account, just an email address, which is nice.) Peacock promises that you’ll see five minutes or less of ads per hour across both ad-supported tiers.

My experience varied depending on the show and device. While watching The Hitman’s Bodyguard on a Roku TV, there were six ads sprinkled throughout the film, ranging from 20 to 60 seconds each. Peacock even marks midroll ad breaks so you know when to expect them. But when it played on the iPhone app, there was a notice that we would watch 135 seconds of ads at the beginning, and none for the rest. That option would be great to have on the Apple TV too to get the ads out of the way, but unfortunately it’s not (yet).

After scrolling around and watching a bunch of ads, when I went back to start The Hitman’s Bodyguard again, there were no ads at all, because I had already seen 5 minutes’ worth in the previous hour. It does seem like if you pop in and out of a movie or show, the ad count may reset. When I streamed the movie Nope, there was only a 2.5-minute set of ads before the movie, with no commercials during the film. And The Godfather’s three-hour runtime didn’t have any ad interruptions.

On episodes of Saturday Night Live, there were seven to nine ads sprinkled throughout the episode on both mobile and TV. Modern Family had three to four ad breaks within one 23-minute episode. This is about the same ad experience as watching on Hulu’s $8-a-month ad-supported plan, or on regular live TV — except it’s free. 

It’s also worth mentioning that some subscribers to the most-expensive, ad-free, paid version will still see ads on «a small amount of programming, Peacock channels, live events and a few TV shows and movies,» according to Peacock.

Familiar navigation (for the most part)

Peacock’s homepage and Browse section is similar to those of other streaming services. There’s a big carousel of «hero» tiles at the top and rows of thumbnails below, labeled Peacock Picks, Continue Watching, Peacock Originals, Featured Films and so on. For Pride Month, there’s also some carousels highlighting LGBTQ movies and TV shows including Modern Family and Queer as Folk. Peacock now offers some 4K content, which is labeled separately from the rest of the catalog, making it easy to find. You can also seamlessly search for specific titles, but if you type in «originals,» it won’t spit out a list of Peacock Originals.

Peacock does have a Kids page with a couple of shows like Barney and Curious George on its free tier, but its most popular shows, including Dreamworks’ Dragons: Riders of Berk and The Croods: Family Tree, are only available with a paid subscription. Parents do have the option of setting a PIN-enabled parental lock to limit the age range of content displayed, but there’s unfortunately no option to filter out Premium content, which may leave kids frustrated at how many shows are unavailable to them.

Premium shows are mixed in with free offerings, denoted by a little purple feather in the top left corner. It reminds me a bit of Amazon Prime Video, which has shows included in your subscription mixed in with those you have to pay extra for. The app isn’t forceful in trying to get you to upgrade, though: You’ll only be asked if you want to change to premium if you click on a premium-only show, or if you go to your Account page. You can stream on up to three devices simultaneously from one account.

Browsing deep into NBC’s back catalog

One of Peacock’s biggest advantages is its access to NBC’s strong catalog of content, as well as its sister networks and entertainment properties, including Bravo, USA Network, Syfy, Oxygen, E!, CNBC, MSNBC and Universal Pictures. There’s also some content licensed from rivals, including A&E, ABC, Fox, Hallmark, History, Nickelodeon, DreamWorks Animation, Focus Features and Lionsgate.

Some of the best shows available on the free tier now are Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock, and Downton Abbey, and you get all seasons of each (with the exception of 30 Rock, which is missing one season). Upgrade to premium to get the complete run of older shows including Cheers, Frasier, House and Two and a Half Men. For some shows, however, you get only a recent handful of seasons or episodes, even on premium. For example, you’ll only find the first season of Chucky.

The catalog is far from complete, however. Some shows you might associate with NBC, like Friends, Seinfeld and Scrubs aren’t on Peacock, and don’t seem to be coming any time soon. So far, the most successful Peacock originals have been the Fresh Prince prequel drama, Bel-Air, The Best Man: The Final Chapters and Bravo reality shows including The Real Housewives of Miami and The Real Housewives: Ultimate Girls Trip. None have garnered quite the same buzz as other streaming platforms’ originals, such as Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney Plus or HBO Max exclusive Peacemaker.

In the Movies category, you’ll find hundreds of titles, organized by genre, franchise, or what’s new in theaters. There are helpful carousels dedicated to ’80s and ’90s nostalgia, with titles including Legend, Billy Madison, Stepmom, Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Schindler’s List. And there are Peacock Originals such as Psych 3: This Is Gus.

However, Peacock’s big-name movies don’t always stick around for long. Jurassic World Dominion and Minions: The Rise of Gru are set to leave Peacock in January 2023, for example. Others that have come and gone include the Harry Potter movies, Do the Right Thing and Phantom Thread. But, you can check Peacock to see when a given title is leaving a platform.

Peacock helpfully displays Rotten Tomatoes ratings, both showing the critics’ score and the audience score. Movie thumbnails may include a red-tomato, «fresh» rating but don’t display a score if the movie is rated «rotten.» You can see the score for any movie with a Rotten Tomatoes rating, alongside the audience score, after selecting it. The platform has boasted some immediate streaming rights for theatrical releases, including Jennifer Lopez’s Marry Me, Halloween Kills and 2022’s Firestarter. In October 2022, Halloween Ends had a same-day premiere on Peacock.

‘Channels’ mixes live TV and on-demand

From Browse, you can navigate to the Channels section of the app, which is another hodgepodge of free content. Channels looks kind of like a cable box grid guide, but instead of various networks and cable channels, you get themed channels around Peacock’s programming. These include NBC News Now, Best of WWE, Dateline 24/7, True Crime, and Today: All Day. In addition to more recent programming, some channels focus on older content, from Fallon Tonight, which shows old episodes of The Tonight Show, to SNL Vault, Classic TV, and the Bob Ross Channel. There is also Spanish-language content from Telemundo.

The biggest appeal to Channels for many will likely be its live sports and news programs, which offer a decent selection of live NBC programming without the need for a subscription. These include NBC News Now, Sky News, NBC channels for major cities like New York and Los Angeles, and NBC Sports. You’ll also find NBC’s new 24-hour version of the Today Show, called Today All Day, though that includes repackaged Today segments and more lifestyle programming than straight news. However, unlike live TV streaming platforms such as YouTube TV or Hulu With Live TV, there’s no option to record programming to a DVR.

Still MIA: Mobile downloads for all

While there’s not too much to complain about in the free tier, the premium offerings still lack consistent features that competitors like Netflix and Hulu already have. Mobile downloads are still limited to Premium Plus subscribers, the service’s most expensive tier.

Should you get Peacock? 

It’s free, so why not try it out? If the ads bug you or you want to watch one of the original shows, you can try out its premium tiers free for seven days as well, or find other deals depending on your platform and cable provider; some cable customers can get it for free.

Will Peacock make it onto your daily streaming routine, alongside Netflix and Hulu? Probably not, at least in the short-term. But is it a great free option for finding some older movies and shows you might have missed (or want to watch for the millionth time)? Definitely. If you don’t mind watching a few ads, it’s a fun place to explore older movies and a big mix of TV shows, and keep up with current NBC shows, reality TV, news and some live sports in one spot — especially if you’re already a cord-cutter and looking to expand your options for free. 

Technologies

Tariff Impacts Are Real: These 13 Companies Have Confirmed Price Hikes

More and more companies are confirming price hikes as President Trump’s tariffs are poised to take effect — most recently, a popular smart lighting brand.

In many cases and for many products in the US, the biggest impacts of President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariff plans haven’t hit yet — but they could soon, unless the 90-day pause on some rates is extended. Still, numerous companies have already hiked prices or said that they’ll increase in the near-future — including, most recently, a popular and CNET-approved brand of smart lights.

The fact of the matter is that tariffs — a tax placed on the importing of certain products into a country — will ultimately cause prices to go up, with Walmart characterizing these eventual price hikes as «inevitable» during its earnings call last month. Given Trump’s push to place historically high tariffs on goods from almost every country in the world, you can also expect these price hikes to hit a huge variety of products.

This truth has begun to sink in for a lot of Americans. About 38% of consumers feel pressured to make certain purchases before tariffs cause their price to go up, according to a recent survey conducted by CNET. About 10% of respondents said they’d already made certain purchases in hopes of avoiding future price hikes, while 27% said they’d delayed purchases of products costing more than $500. Overall, these concerns about prices were felt the most around popular tech pieces such as smartphones, laptops and home appliances.

To help you keep score, I’ve put together a list of all the companies that have either confirmed or warned of price hikes due to Trump’s tariffs. As other companies make such announcements, you can expect new names to be added here.

Continue on for all those details, and for more, find out why it’s best if you wait on buying a new iPhone.

One item you won’t find on this list yet? The original Nintendo Switch, which will see a currently unspecified price hike on Aug. 1, but only in Canada for the time being. If that increase makes its way south of the border, we’ll let you know.

Best Buy

Without getting into specifics, Best Buy CEO Corie Barry told the Wall Street Journal late last month that it has already raised prices on certain products as part of its response to the tariffs.

e.l.f.

Known as an affordable option in the beauty world, e.l.f. announced in late May that it would be implementing a $1 price hike across its product line in response to the tariffs. CEO Tarang Amin claimed that the reaction from customers was positive, on account of the company’s transparency.

«We’re not trying to pull anything over on anyone,» Amin told Fortune. «This is exactly what we’re facing, and they understand.»

Macy’s

Speaking to CNBC in late May, Macy’s CEO Tony Spring said that price hikes will be implemented on some products due to tariffs, while also emphasizing that other tactics — like discontinuing certain products altogether — will also be a response to rising costs.

Mattel

Known for brands like Barbie and Hot Wheels, Mattel sounded the alarm over likely price increases during an early May earnings call. While it’s unclear how much the toymaker’s prices have increased since then, the company told investors that it would be, «where necessary, taking pricing action in its US business,» or to put it plainly, raising prices for consumers to mitigate the impact of tariffs.

Nikon

Camera-maker Nikon will introduce price hikes in response to Trump’s tariffs, effective June 23. This move will only target lenses and accessories the company makes and sells, so the cameras themselves are safe for now.

«We will be carefully monitoring any tariff developments and may adjust pricing as necessary to reflect the evolving market conditions,» a statement from Nikon explained. «We wish to thank our customers for their understanding and know that we are taking every possible step to minimize the impact on our community.»

Philips Hue

Parent company Signify announced that prices for its popular and highly regarded Philips Hue brand of smart lights will see price hikes effective July 1. The company also confirmed that this decision was made «as a direct result of tariffs.»

«Signify reserves the right to modify prices based on new or additional tariffs becoming effective in the future,» the company’s official statement explained

Ralph Lauren

Sales at the luxury goods retailer Ralph Lauren have apparently remained steady amid recent uncertainty, but the company is still forging ahead with a plan to combat tariff impacts by raising prices more than it had already intended to, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Shein and Temu

Trump’s tariffs have made a notable target of China, hitting the country with a 30% rate only after initially hiking it all the way to 145%. Online retailers like Shein and Temu rely on direct shipments from markets like China in order to offer the rock-bottom prices that made them famous, so it’s little surprise now that they’ve had to raise prices.

The Trump administration has furthered the issues faced by these companies by doing away with a rule known as the «de minimus» exception, which used to exclude smaller purchases under $800 from import taxes. With that rule gone, Trump’s China tariffs will now apply to both bulk orders of industrial building materials and those shoes you’ve been looking to buy from Shein.

Subaru

Subaru has hiked prices across almost its entire line. The increase ranged from $750 to $2,055, depending on the model, with only the EV Solterra avoiding any change.

As has become a trend with some companies, Subaru avoided attributing the price hikes to Trump’s tariffs, citing only the common refrain of «market conditions.» Trump has notably disparaged companies that explicitly lay the blame for price hikes on his policies.

«The changes were made to offset increased costs while maintaining a solid value proposition for the customer. Subaru pricing is not based on the country of origin of its products,» a Subaru spokesperson said in a statement to Car & Driver.

Stanley Black & Decker

In an earnings report published April 30, toolmaker Stanley Black & Decker addressed «Price Actions in Response to US Tariffs,» stating that it had «implemented an initial price increase in April and notified our customers that further price action is required,» and was also looking into ways to shift its supply lines to minimize the impact of tariffs.

Volvo

The price impact of tariffs at Swedish automaker Volvo are confined, for now, to just one model: the electric EX30. Initially it was set to start at $34,950 in the US — a competitive price for an EV — but tariffs targeted at imported cars forced the company to raise the price to $46,195, a 32% bump.

Walmart

The biggest grocery chain in the US, Walmart is perhaps the most prominent company yet to announce imminent price hikes due to Trump’s tariffs. During the company’s earnings call in May, CEO Doug McMillan said price hikes would begin by the end of May and impact things like food, electronics and toys.

For more, see why buying refurbished tech helps you dodge tariffs and helps the planet.

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Technologies

This Unique Controller Is Cool but Pointless for Most Gamers

The Turtle Beach Stealth Pivot has a unique 2-in-1 feature, but most people will never use it.

Pro-level game controllers have been becoming more mainstream over the past several years, offering gamers a host of new features not found on the controllers that came with their systems. These features include extra mappable buttons, swappable gamepads and other customizability options.

However, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a controller that offers two dedicated button layouts within the same device. The Stealth Pivot from Turtle Beach lets you physically rotate the gamepads to reveal a whole new, previously hidden, button layout — all without having to remove anything. It’s a unique take on what a controller can be and I’m here for it.

What I like about the Stealth Pivot

I’ve been impressed with Turtle Beach controllers for a while now, and the Stealth Pivot continues continues the company’s streak of great hardware. The buttons are clicky and responsive and the whole thing feels wonderful to hold. The design is nearly identical to Microsoft’s own Xbox controllers, which is a good thing.

The Stealth Pivot keeps many of the same pro features as its Stealth Ultra controller (and many other pro-level controllers), including adjustable triggers and four additional, remappable buttons. The Connected Command Display is carried over as well, although it’s much smaller than the Ultra’s 1.5″ screen. Amazingly, it keeps all the same features , including being able to adjust buttons and social media notifications.

On the connectivity side, you’ve got a wired connection for Xbox (there’s no wireless support), a 2.4GHz dongle for PC and Bluetooth for mobile devices and compatible smart TVs. There’s a headphone jack at the bottom and the USB-C port for charging or Xbox connection is up top. You can play and charge at the same time, which is a nice bonus.

Two controllers for the price of one

The biggest feature of the Stealth Pivot by far is its rotating gamepads. Basically, you twist down the two joysticks, unlock the gamepads, then literally rotate them 180 degrees to reveal the other set. This second set has a layout typical of controllers designed for fighting games, or really, any game where additional buttons are valuable. So instead of joysticks, there’s a D-Pad on the top left flanked by two two buttons. On the right side, the ABXY cluster shifts downward to make room for two additional, mappable buttons.

So now, instead of having to buy multiple controllers or remove and swap out gamepads (like PDP Victrix Pro controllers), in just a few seconds you can switch from snapping headshots in Call of Duty to beating up bad guys in Mortal Kombat or Tekken. It’s certainly not something I’ve ever seen on any other controller and it works surprisingly well. You can even save up to five digital profiles on the controller so you can have different layouts for each game.

I was impressed by just how good the buttons and everything are on the Stealth Pivot, even with having to cram double the amount of most everything into the same space. Granted, the controller is a bit thicker than most other controllers, but it’s not that noticeable. The hardware and engineering that went into this controller is remarkable.

What I don’t like about the Stealth Pivot

There are some compromises that come with this quick-switch capability, however. The first is that Turtle Beach wasn’t able to include its microswitch buttons, which personally I prefer over the more standard buttons on the Pivot. The joysticks are still Hall Effect, which is nice, but the rest of the buttons are standard. The buttons aren’t bad, they just aren’t as good as on the company’s other pro controller.

Secondly, making room for those rotating gamepads means space had to come from somewhere and the most obvious place was the battery. Turtle Beach says the Pivot gets about 20 hours of battery life, which is probably a bit optimistic. I wouldn’t say it’s terrible, but it’s not great. This is somewhat mitigated by the fact that you have to be physically plugged into your Xbox anyway, and you can play while charging — but PC users may want to keep a cable handy.

Also, while you can use the company’s Control Center II app to customize the controller on Windows, Xbox, iOS and Android, the app itself is not very good. The UI is basic and there are some annoying bugs including the inability to rename profiles on the Xbox version. It’s also hard to tell if anything saves after you make changes. There’s no indicator or save button anywhere, and while it does save things in real-time, it would be nice if it let you know it’s happening.

Lastly, it’s disappointing that you can’t connect wirelessly to the Xbox. Wired is fine, and it avoids battery issues, but wireless is obviously more convenient. 

Should you buy the Stealth Pivot?

The Stealth Pivot is a really solid controller even without the dual personalities. Personally, I’m not really into fighting games so I don’t need the second set of controls. And super hard-core, e-sport-level gamers would probably want something like a Fight Stick or a more dedicated fighting game controller.

However, if you’re a more casual gamer who enjoys fighting/button heavy games alongside games that use joysticks — and wants to level up your fighting style — the Stealth Pivot might be worth a look, especially since it’s only $130. That is more expensive than a standard controller, but for everything you get with it, that’s a hard price to beat.

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Technologies

I Loved Using This Keyboard, but There Was One Thing I Just Couldn’t Get Used To

The Turtle Beach Vulcan II Mini Air is a great gaming keyboard, but it won’t replace my current one.

Gaming keyboards are everywhere these days, and with a plethora of options available it’s not hard to find a good one. They can also be expensive, so it can be difficult to know if the investment is worth the money. It’s with that in mind I got in the new the new Vulcan II Mini Air from Turtle Beach. I have some thoughts. 

Turtle Beach bought the company behind these keyboards, Roccat, several years ago, but it only started phasing out that branding in May of 2024. So you might still find the Roccat branding on Vulcan II Mini Air (you can see it on my review sample here) if you buy one in the near future. 

What I like about the Turtle Beach Vulcan II Mini Air

First things first, the size. The 65%-sized layout is my perfect setup because it still includes the arrow keys. True FPS gamers may prefer a 60% design, but I tend to mix my genres, and I’m also a writer in my work life, so I prefer having arrow keys (and Home/End keys — don’t you dare take those away from me). I don’t miss the dedicated media keys or functions keys too much, but this is certainly subjective.

The Vulcan II Mini opts for optical switches over the more traditional mechanical switches. At the risk of generalizing, optical and mechanical switches primarily differ in how they register the actuation of each key. Mechanical switches use physical contact between two metal plates while optical switches use beams of light to detect the actuation. 

I hadn’t used optical switches much before testing the Vulcan II Mini but I can see their appeal for hardcore gamers. The idea is that the light-activated sensors allow for a much shorter actuation point for key presses, meaning there’s less time between when your finger moves to press the key and that key press being registered by your computer.  

Turtle Beach says the actuation point of their Red Linear switches is 1.4mm, a decent improvement over the 2mm of most mechanical switches. That said, you’ll likely only notice the shorter actuation point if you’re a hardcore gamer who needs to prioritize every millisecond. Personally, I couldn’t tell a difference compared to my main keyboard with Cherry mechanical switches. 

Another big advantage of optical is similar to the advantage Hall Effect switches have in keyboards like the Vulcan II TKL Pro. Since the sensors are activated by light and not physical contact between two plates, there’s less friction with each keypress. So the switches should last quite a bit longer. Most traditional mechanical switches are rated for about 100 million presses. These are rated for 200 million. That’s a pretty significant advantage if you don’t tend to upgrade your keyboard very often. 

To be honest, it took me a little time to get used to the feel of the optical switches. They’re aren’t mushy by any means, but they are noticeably softer than the traditional switches I’m used to. Thankfully, they’re more tactile than Hall Effect switches. After a few hours, though, I couldn’t notice much of a difference anymore between the feel of the Vulcan II Mini and my regular keyboard.

The Vulcan II Mini’s build quality is top notch. The aluminum top plate gives it a nice solid feel with no creakiness or give that I could detect anywhere. At 578 grams, it’s also not very heavy either. The included braided cable also feels well-designed. It’s nice that it’s available in white, although I do wonder how clean it will stay long-term. The two-position kickstands allow for some nice ergonomic options. 

Customization is one area where Turtle Beach levels things up a bit. Via the Swarm app, you have access to many of the typical customizations for gaming keyboards. But Turtle Beach also adds a secondary function to 29 keys, so you can quickly trigger another action. These Smart Keys are also equipped with dual LEDs that will indicate when the secondary function is active. On top of that, you can store up to five different profiles, so you can set up the perfect configuration for your favorite games. 

No self-respecting gaming keyboard would stop you from customizing the RGB lighting to your heart’s content. So of course you can choose from a variety of lighting effects. That includes the AIMO effect, which synchronizes all your Turtle Beach accessories together so the lighting effects are coordinated.

Battery life

Being a wireless keyboard, battery life is important. Turtle Beach says the Vulcan II Mini can clock 240 hours of continuous use without the RBG lighting active, which is a bold claim. I haven’t used the keyboard exclusively for the approximately four weeks I’ve had it, but even with heavy usage, I still haven’t managed to kill it, and that’s with the RGB lights still on. Suffice to say, battery life has been awesome for me. 

One trick Turtle Beach uses to accomplish this is a proximity sensor in the keyboard that automatically detects your presence to turn the lights on and off. Logitech does something similar in some of its keyboards, so it’s not revolutionary, but Turtle Beach lets you adjust the effect somewhat by changing the sensitivity of the sensor. At least, that’s the theory. I couldn’t get the Swarm app to save the settings for this when I changed it, so I can’t speak to how effective it is. 

As the «Air» name might suggest, this version of the Vulcan II Mini is wireless (there’s a wired option for $119). It can connect to four devices: Three via Bluetooth plus one via an included 2.4Ghz wireless dongle. The only downside I found when connected via Bluetooth was that I could never get it to show up in Turtle Beach’s Swarm app. It showed up fine when using the dongle, but not on Bluetooth. 

What I didn’t like about the Turtle Beach Vulcan II Mini Air

As cool as the optical switches are, the typing experience wasn’t great. I’m a writer by day, so I always prioritize a great typing experience first and a good gaming experience second. Even after using the Mini exclusively for more than three weeks, I just couldn’t the same level of comfort typing on it as with my Keychron Q81 Pro. I’m willing to acknowledge that much of that could be attributed to the II Mini’s low profile design, which I’ve never found to be as comfortable as a full-size profile. 

The wake time for the Vulcan II Mini Air is also significantly slower than many other keyboards I’ve used. I’m not sure if this is because of the proximity sensor or something else, but it sometimes takes up to 10 seconds for my computer to begin registering key presses. 

Should you buy the Turtle Beach Vulcan II Mini Air?

Overall, it’s a nice keyboard with plenty of excellent features for someone looking for a serious gaming keyboard. The small size means it doesn’t take up much space on the desk, the optical switches provide fast response times and greater durability, and the customization options are nearly endless. For me, though, I struggled to use it as a daily keyboard as it just didn’t offer me the tactility and feel that I prefer, but if you’re looking to upgrade your gaming keyboard, or just dive into the world of gaming keyboards for the first time, the Vulcan II Mini Air is a great choice. 

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