It’s been slightly over two years since Razer announced the Wolverine V3 controllers, and now, the company has announced their V4 refresh. For better or worse, there’s little left to improve with the prior versions, so these new ones only come with two notable performance changes, and one cosmetic one, albeit only for the Pro model. Of the two performance-related changes, one is arguably a sidegrade, and the other is undoubtedly an upgrade, but one that fewer people will benefit from.
Capacitive VS Magnetic Sticks
Let’s tackle the sidegrade first. Razer says that the Wolverine V4, in both its Pro and Tournament Edition versions, now use capacitive sticks. This is the latest in analogue stick tech, and while magnets are not involved here, the tech is still contactless, so there’s no worry of stick drift. There’s the argument to be made that it offers even greater precision than Tunnel Magnetoresistance (TMR) tech, but it is instead sensitive to environmental changes causing interference. Magnetic tech like Hall Effect and TMR, on the other hand, are vulnerable to other magnetic fields.
This brings us to the cosmetic change that comes with the Razer Wolverine V4 Pro – a magnetic faceplate that can be swapped out on the fly. This being magnetically attached explains the need to switch to capacitive sticks.
The Full 8kHz Polling Rate
Finally, and probably only to the benefit of the most hardcore of competitive gamers running on rigs with the beefiest CPUs – 8kHz polling. The V3 was oddly locked to 1kHz, even if it was the standard on PCs, and the Pro was locked to the console-standard 250Hz while connecting to PCs wirelessly. While polling rates when connected to consoles have not changed, the Razer Wolverine V4 Pro and Tournament Edition can finally hit 8kHz while connected to a PC. Whether you should use that – and whether your rig can take the strain – is another matter entirely.
The Razer Wolverine V4 Pro launches with a price of RM999, which is a tad lower than the V3. Similarly, the wired-only Tournament Edition costs RM499. Both are now available via the brand’s online store, as well as select retailers.
