- Joined
- Sep 27, 2009
- Location
- MS Gulf Coast
Just as the title suggests this is a thread for people who want to discuss what gaming gear / peripherals [if any] they use. What they like about it, don't like, or new gear they simply want to have. I'm curious as to what others use so is the place to discuss about your favorite gaming equipment or new ideas for some kick *** gear you think should be made. Maybe you own a piece of gear and after using it for a while you have thought up some design ideas which would be improvements, well, talk about it here. Are you into VR? Do you own or have used an Oculus Rift? I would like to hear about it.
I'm going to kick it off with some of my thoughts on gaming gear in general and impressions of equipment I own.
Keyboards
I have never been particularly good at gaming on standard keyboards with a traditional key layout designed for typing. I can do it, but it ends up being more frustrating than enjoyable since the keys are too close together and my fingers are big so I end up hittings keys I didn't intend to push. When gaming you want to be comfortable with your setup which suits your personal preference for ease of control.
Since it's first inception I have always owned Ideazon's rare Zboard [No, not the "Zboard Fang" you can still find] with a dedicated gaming terrain which suits just about any game regardless of genre. Ideazon was bought out by Steelseries and that same board later became the Merc Stealth now being an illuminated keyboard with non-mechanical keys.
My most recent Merc died on me and I simply wasn't able to get another one at a decent price since it is a discontinued product and I'm not willing to pay $140+ for an item which only had a MSRP of $89 when it was still being made. If it wasn't worth more than $140 while in production why would it be worth that much to me now? Because it's discontinued and there is limited stock with various online retailers? Pffft please, I'll go without.
Luckily it was under warranty so I sent my merc back to Steelseries and they gave me an Apex Gaming Keyboard in return.
First impressions are that it's a slick looking illuminated keyboard with a ton of macro keys, anti-ghosting and every bit just as big as the Merc was, but it is crazy light. You wouldn't think it's as light as it surprisingly is due to the way it looks and design wise I give it a big thumbs up even if the spacebar is a little unusual. It still has a typical key layout, but I like the button placement for the various controls and the USB hub is nice. Functionality wise I'm going to be undecided until I actually game with it since I need to try it at least once. We will see how durable it turns out to be, but I'm almost willing that if dropped only once if the impact is hard enough it will break because of the freaky weight to it.
Gameboards
No longer able to own a merc I wanted an addition to my keyboard dedicated soley for gaming so I went ahead and purchase a Logitech G13.
I love this thing. With plenty of shortcut keys you can easily customize a key layout for any game giving you easy and comfortable controls. The G13 gives you the option in having four macro layers for your game's custom profile so you can easily have four variations of keysets for each profile and it lets you make a ton of profiles. You also have a nice LCD screen for navigating profiles and in some games display statistics for your character. You can change the illumination of the keys so there is no shortage of flexibility with this thing which is always a plus. Some people think the default WASD keys with indentions in them are too high up, but when you position your arm just right they end up being where your fingers naturally fall onto the keyset. The true beauty of this thing is the logitech software for creating custom profiles since it is easy to navigate and to use in equal measure so making your own profiles become a breeze. There isn't any limitation to the key assignment for the G13 and you with plenty of buttons you will probably run out of game functions before you run out of buttons to program to your preference. It doesn't even take up that much space on your computer desk either.
if you're like me and don't particularly care for gaming on traditional keyboards and want an option then I give to you the G13 with a high recommendation, especially if you can find a deal for one. I adapted to it quickly and it didn't take long to remember where any of my shortcuts were and could easily hit them from muscle memory.
That's about it. Now lets hear about your gear
I'm going to kick it off with some of my thoughts on gaming gear in general and impressions of equipment I own.
Keyboards
I have never been particularly good at gaming on standard keyboards with a traditional key layout designed for typing. I can do it, but it ends up being more frustrating than enjoyable since the keys are too close together and my fingers are big so I end up hittings keys I didn't intend to push. When gaming you want to be comfortable with your setup which suits your personal preference for ease of control.
Since it's first inception I have always owned Ideazon's rare Zboard [No, not the "Zboard Fang" you can still find] with a dedicated gaming terrain which suits just about any game regardless of genre. Ideazon was bought out by Steelseries and that same board later became the Merc Stealth now being an illuminated keyboard with non-mechanical keys.
My most recent Merc died on me and I simply wasn't able to get another one at a decent price since it is a discontinued product and I'm not willing to pay $140+ for an item which only had a MSRP of $89 when it was still being made. If it wasn't worth more than $140 while in production why would it be worth that much to me now? Because it's discontinued and there is limited stock with various online retailers? Pffft please, I'll go without.
Luckily it was under warranty so I sent my merc back to Steelseries and they gave me an Apex Gaming Keyboard in return.
First impressions are that it's a slick looking illuminated keyboard with a ton of macro keys, anti-ghosting and every bit just as big as the Merc was, but it is crazy light. You wouldn't think it's as light as it surprisingly is due to the way it looks and design wise I give it a big thumbs up even if the spacebar is a little unusual. It still has a typical key layout, but I like the button placement for the various controls and the USB hub is nice. Functionality wise I'm going to be undecided until I actually game with it since I need to try it at least once. We will see how durable it turns out to be, but I'm almost willing that if dropped only once if the impact is hard enough it will break because of the freaky weight to it.
Gameboards
No longer able to own a merc I wanted an addition to my keyboard dedicated soley for gaming so I went ahead and purchase a Logitech G13.
I love this thing. With plenty of shortcut keys you can easily customize a key layout for any game giving you easy and comfortable controls. The G13 gives you the option in having four macro layers for your game's custom profile so you can easily have four variations of keysets for each profile and it lets you make a ton of profiles. You also have a nice LCD screen for navigating profiles and in some games display statistics for your character. You can change the illumination of the keys so there is no shortage of flexibility with this thing which is always a plus. Some people think the default WASD keys with indentions in them are too high up, but when you position your arm just right they end up being where your fingers naturally fall onto the keyset. The true beauty of this thing is the logitech software for creating custom profiles since it is easy to navigate and to use in equal measure so making your own profiles become a breeze. There isn't any limitation to the key assignment for the G13 and you with plenty of buttons you will probably run out of game functions before you run out of buttons to program to your preference. It doesn't even take up that much space on your computer desk either.
if you're like me and don't particularly care for gaming on traditional keyboards and want an option then I give to you the G13 with a high recommendation, especially if you can find a deal for one. I adapted to it quickly and it didn't take long to remember where any of my shortcuts were and could easily hit them from muscle memory.
That's about it. Now lets hear about your gear
