Great idea and design, my brother likes it, but not me.
Pros:
Easily scripted, TONS of keys (80 actions maximum!), great design, cheap ($20 at worst)
Cons:
Not for the big-handed, software is sometimes a pain.
The Bottom Line:
Great for average gamer or hardcore, an excellent addition to any computer. But try before you buy, or at least be able to return it (online buying not recommended).
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
Well, I bought this for my brother (birthday present), and he certainly likes it. He uses it in EVERY game we have. I don't, for a couple reasons.
1) It's... small. I've got big hands though. I have to bunch up my hand to hit the keys right, and the D-pad isn't in the right place for me. If I move to where I CAN press them all, holding my hand like that gives me a cramp x[
2) The scroll wheel doesn't work right in games for selecting weapons and the like. It's smooth, which is nice, but no matter how I script it or tweak the settings, if you even twitch a finger on it it counts tons and tons of scrolls. In other words, for example during Counter Strike, if I try to change weapons with it and I just barely touch it, the thing switches weapons like I scrolled a mouse wheel a dozen notches. Literally. And it moves like lightning. If you're going to use it for movement or anything that is progressive (speed, for example), it's probably perfect, but for most uses...
3) The key-scripting software is downright nasty to use. You have to literally FIGHT it to get it to do what you want. Picking what keys or actions go with each button press is flawlessly designed, perhaps the best I've seen, that's not what I mean. You can save multiple key sets and load them at any time, but the problem is this: you can only have one profile at a time, and even though it'll auto-load for your games you can't have a second profile. Meaning I can't have separate keysets for games I want (which would be fine if each login name for Windows made separate settings, but it doesn't) without manually loading the keys every-single-time. It may not sound like much, but you lose the settings whenever you load things. Not keys, but auto-load settings. This gets to be a pain really quickly.
Would it really have been THAT difficult to have it different in different user accounts, and to allow more than one profile? I think not, but I didn't program it. Crap.
Other than that, it's great. There are 10 keys and an 8-way D-pad, but here's the great part: there are actually FOUR sets of keys. Press a specially scripted key, and a light turns on and has TOTALLY separate actions for every key. And there are three lights, plus when they're all off. You can EASILY do away entirely with the keyboard with this, though chatting might be a bit difficult :D
This literally means ANY key press or combination you can imagine using in a game can be scripted. Including those incredibly annoying scripted chat messages so many n00bs online have. But heck, that's part of the fun. It's incredibly versatile.
I've never had errors with it, and you can even script mouse clicks complete with 1/100th of a second timing. Great for weapons that shoot EVERY time you click the mouse (hehehehe, people will say you cheat if you do that, but after you tell them they'll BEG you to tell them where you got this), and especially for Counter Strike it means you can flawlessly shoot out specific amounts of bullets with a single button. Great for medium to high CAL players, even. I know several who actually use this strategy: shooting only 3 or 4 M4 bullets any time they want, and even timing the repeat speed so their targeting goes all the way back, or to exactly where they want it. It's EASY with this.
For most people, the size is fine. My brother has basically average sized hands, and like I said he loves it. Mine, however, are definately on the big/long side, and I really have trouble using it. If they'd somehow made it adjustable, I'd probably use it nonstop, but they didn't. Maybe in a later model? I hope so. For most people, it's comfortable and has a great shape so you don't have to move your wrist at all, or support it in any way. Ahhh, the ideal of gaming. Only twitching your fingers :)
If you're the tall lanky teen (that has big hands) that is sometimes associated (often correctly) with geeks and gamers, make sure you can return this if you don't like it. You might be disappointed. But for the majority of people, young kids to adults, it's designed just right.
I, personally, am happy using the keyboard, but my brother has been converted :D
