Keyboard's Killin Me ! ! ! Alternative? The Claw

[PigGuy]

After playing CS for anything in the area of 4 hours or more (At a LAN or something), my fingers (especially my left midle finger) hurt like hell, from constantly being bent. There is also the "Carple Tunnel" thing, with my wrists being bent up all the time. I am interested in alternatives to using a keyboard.

Anyone ever used "The Claw "? It looks awesome. I am close to putting the $50 forward and buying it.
I have also thought about the "Nostromo n50 SpeedPad", but I dont like keys that much, I would rather work with buttons. I also thing D pads are BS.

Counter-Strike Requires tons of keys. The Claw has 10, I am thinking all the buttons I would need on my left hand would be:
1-2 Strafe Left/Right
3-4 Forward/Back
5 Jump
6 Duck
7 Voice Com
8 Use
9 Walk
10 View Stats

But I would still be using the keyboard to chat, and buy. The problem is, when I run out of ammo after spraying an entire AK clip at someone I need a fast switch to my Glock, and along with pistol, I need to go back to my AK, Knife or Nade.
The Claw has a shift button (I think) so I can have more actions per button.

Have any of you used the Claw or Speed Pad, if so what do you think?

 

[Wa11y]

I bought the Nostromo N50 a while back. And returned it the same day. The problem? NOT ENOUGH BUTTONS! Iwould have prefered about 3 rows of buttons, but they only gave two rows of five buttons. They did allow for shift buttons, but that takes up two buttons (three shift modes). I just find the keyboard is superior.

 

[eab]

Have you tried using a wrist pad? I know it sounds sizzy but for me it really helps. also if maybe there are little risers on the back of the keyboard that you could lower to make it lay flat?

just my opion

 

[Ottoman]

I push my Keyboard forward and put my wrists on the table surface... but I have long fingers so it's no prob, unless I'm hitting the F1 key with my pinky while still holding the W key... (JK2 hehe)

 

[PigGuy]

I dont have a wrist pad or anything, but I think I will try the laying the keyboard flat...

 

[IcarusFalling]

I bought the Nostromo N50 a while back. And returned it the same day. The problem? NOT ENOUGH BUTTONS! Iwould have prefered about 3 rows of buttons, but they only gave two rows of five buttons. They did allow for shift buttons, but that takes up two buttons (three shift modes). I just find the keyboard is superior.

You returned yours!!!! I absolutley love mine. and there are plenty of buttons, you just need to set it up right. there are only ten buttons but using their three "shift" keys it gives you 21 keys, plus a scroll wheel type thing that can be used for a throttle (like on flight sticks) and an eight way D-Pad. Add to that the utilities that are supplied with it let you script key strokes, it makes it a very useful little pad. I use mine to play CS and I've set up some buy scripts using the pad.

I would Highly recomend this product to anyone.

 

[PigGuy]

I have seen it reviewed, and I really think the Dpad is a dumb idea, I would rather use a keyboard than that. It just doesnt make sense to me, switching and loosing my thumb buttons.

 

[IcarusFalling]

how would you lose your thumb buttons? you can program each direction on the pad also. Personally I use the D-Pad for movement and the rest of the buttons are used for other things. Jumping, flashlight, logo spray that kinda stuff

 

[Wa11y]

I have seen it reviewed, and I really think the Dpad is a dumb idea, I would rather use a keyboard than that. It just doesnt make sense to me, switching and loosing my thumb buttons.

I was the same way. I setup keys for movement instead of using the D-pad. The d-pad positioning was bad for movement.

And the problem with using the shift keys, is I would have to map the movement keys in EVERY shift. So regardless what color shift I was using, I would lose four keys, maybe five.

If it had three rows of 5 buttons, that would have been the cat's meow.

 

[Wa11y]

Looking for drivers for my gamepad, I ran across this sexy piece of harware. Doesn't look like it's been released yet, but that is one sweet, sexy thag. That's right baby, Wally want to s3xx0rz j00! Uh, crap. Forgot I wasn't alone....

 

[PigGuy]

That is looking nice...

I think I will look into that more.

 

[Stoanhart]

REALLY COOL CONTROLLER

This thing looks great. It's supposed to hit the market next month at $200 canadian next month. This thing senses where the glove is in space with the sensor stand thing. All the fingers can be beng, and the strip knows exactly how much everything is bent. Imagine playing jedi knight, and instead of using all thos buttons for the force powers, mimicking them with your hand and having them happen. view the demo vids on the site, they are really cool.
the page

 

[Wa11y]

That glove would either be very awesome or totally crap. Depends on how much "slop" the sensors allow for. If I have to get my hand within a millimeter every time, that'll just be too hard to do. Which tends to be the way of these things. Tons of processing power needed to do the extrapolation as to where your hand is. But that could be really fun.

 

[Stoanhart]

I actually came across it on a TV show. They did a 5 minute feature on it. It looked pretty good. the people were using it pretty easily. They showed a demo of a guy moving his hand and a 3d polygon hand on the screen, they were in perfect sync. When you move your hand, this simulates a mouse (one guy was browsing the web with it), and the finger positions can be assigned to commands (the guy pointed down, and the page went down, etc). Im sure you can set the accuracy, so it shouldn't be too hard to use.

 

[IcarusFalling]

You know what that thing reminds me of? anyone here remember the "Power Glove" for Nintendo. LOL

I think I'll stick with my n50

Bit Tech just reviewed it.
http://www.bit-tech.net/review/90/4

 

[eh?]

You know what that thing reminds me of? anyone here remember the "Power Glove" for Nintendo. LOL

I think I'll stick with my n50

Bit Tech just reviewed it.
http://www.bit-tech.net/review/90/4

maybe i am behind times but what does the replace? right now i use the right hand as my mouse and my left hand to the keyboard, which hand would i use that on?

 

[IcarusFalling]

Left hand the belkin n50, right hand mouse.

 

[Wa11y]

maybe i am behind times but what does the replace? right now i use the right hand as my mouse and my left hand to the keyboard, which hand would i use that on?

It replaces your keyboard, theoretically. But I found that the N50 didn't have enough buttons.

 

[IcarusFalling]

It replaces your keyboard, theoretically. But I found that the N50 didn't have enough buttons.

I never once thought that mine didn't have enought buttons. With th three shift kesy it gives you quite a bit of room to play with.

 

[Thirus44]

we should design our own game pad.