This is the new dumping grounds of my crazy ideas about how great Trackballs are and why I hate wireless anything but equally hate cheap wires. I use a simple crappy LED backlit keyboard with awful membrane keyswitches. I also use a Logitech M570 RF Trackball. I would be using a corded trackball if I had a choice, but the last two developed a short in the cord and died. (It became unreliable until you mess with the cord and get it to a position that it again works, then died again in a moment due to the tiniest movement.) So due to shitty wiring, I am using RF wireless that works great, but should not be required. Much of what I will say here is from my post about the Xbox 360 Trackball Controller I bought a while back. The real purpose of the thread is to find out what each of you like and dislike. So please tell me what you like. Do you prefer old mechanical keyboards like the classic IBM Type M with the "Buckling Springs" keyswitches? Or do you prefer the absolute absence of tactile feel that is offered by modern gaming keyboards with Cherry Black keyswitches? Wired or wireless? If wireless, RF or IR? How about a pointing device? Mouse or Trackball? Something else? A thumbstick? Anyone try one of those newfangled "OCZ Neural Impulse Actuator" thingamajigs?
I hate trackballs (this isn't to say that they are bad, I just hate them). I prefer wireless if possible, but bluetooth. Definitely a bluetooth mouse, but I only use a bluetooth keyboard for my media center computer right now (and I have no real reason to need a non-wired one for the moment). Occasionally I use a wii controller for a computer game. However this is highly dependent on the type and style of game and how much it 'works'.
I use the Logitech G500 mouse, and it's a dream. I wouldn't go without it now. I also wouldn't buy a non-logitech mouse after the bad experience I had with razer. That said, my Razer Arctosa keyboard is still holding up well after a few years.
Logitech has had my business for decades. (Well, at least one and some years too.) Razer lost me from the start with crappy marketing that sounds like they are selling overpriced crap for people too dumb to know better. (Not implying that is the case with you or your keyboard, I just found their ads to leave a sour taste in my mouth.) And I have read many more horror stories about Razer than most companies. From paint peeling off of keycaps on keyboards to sound devices that will not work at all, they have a bad track record for some things. The only real exception is *Some* gaming peripherals. I really wish Logitech bothered to make a trackball with gaming characteristics. Instead all we get is crap. Buy a gaming mouse and you can adjust the sensitivity in precise DPI. Buy a gaming trackball and you should wake up from that obvious fiction. I have been thinking of getting a mechanical keyboard for years now. I just cannot decide what exactly to get. I would love a mechanical with Cherry Blue keyswitches for typing, but gaming really requires Blacks or Reds. Corsair recently made their first "Gaming" keyboards and mice. (No trackball love at Corsair. Shame on them.) But reading their own forums it seems that I should wait for the second generation of them before I check again.
Keyboard - Razer Lycosa, wired. I got this for free when I visited Valve. I love the backlight for the keys, but otherwise it's just like a regular keyboard frankly. Mouse - HP HDX lazer mouse, wired. I originally purchased this because it was the only 5-button mouse I could find that was ambidextrous (my wrist was broken at the time and I needed to left-hand mouse) but it's ended up being one of the longest lasting mice I've used. I didn't expect to get any use out of the DPI option but Hammerfight and Skyrim changed that. I quite like it. Gamepad - PS3 Controller. Works like a charm. Other - Wacom Intuos3 tablet. Had it for 6 years. Love it to death. It's paid for itself hundreds of times over.
I know this's supposed to be about trackballs, but seeing the talk about wired/wireless controllers I just have to let out some rage on the wireless options. So yeah, I absolutely hate using wireless controllers, be they mice, keyboards or the worst offenders for precision gaming, gamepads and arcade sticks. I've had 2x Madcatz Street Fighter IV TE fightsticks, both wired which were wonderful to play with (until the chips registering chip movement on them both broke on me, sad times), so now I am playing fighter games with a wireless Hori Tekken 6 (can't find official page for it) fightstick which is TERRIBLE. I'm using it mostly for "Super Street Fighter IV AE 2012" on the Playstation 3, which relies on 1-2 frame (thats 1/60th of a second) precision for executing combos correctly, which can be hard enough in an online match even with the best of connections, even with a 2ms monitor and 0 input lag controller. But with a wireless stick? Can all but forget about it. I haven't used wireless mice or keyboards in a while as I do my utmost to avoid them, but when I did last it was a bad experience as well with slow reaction to keypresses or movement and sometimes losing connection completely for seconds at a time. Eeew...
I don't like wireless keyboards and mice because they eat up batteries. They also tend to die on you when you need them and are playing a game. My Dad has a wireless keyboard and is always complaining about it and then realizes that the batteries are going. He doesn't play games but it seems way too much of a hassle. I use a Logitech G15 keyboard. I don't really use the macro keys, they just seem to get in my way more than anything. I had to uninstall the keyboard software as it started acting as though I was unplugging and plugging in the keyboard a few times each day. Sometimes it would do this for minutes at a time. It worked fine for years after I had gotten it so I think it's just slowly going on me. Funny thing is, I don't seem to be having the unplugging/plugging problem with it any more since I have uninstalled the drivers and software. As for my trackball, I use a Logitech Optical Trackman Wheel. It's a good trackball (I prefer the type that you move the ball with your thumb) and I purchased two of them. One for my desktop and one for my laptop. The desktop one is dying pretty bad so I stole my laptop one and am using that now. I much preferred the Microsoft trackball that had 5 buttons on it but you can't find those new any more and the used ones are costing over a $100 US when I see them anywhere. I would like to get a 5 button Logitech trackball but they only make a wireless version. I may have to go to that when the trackball I am using dies as I haven't found any other trackballs on the market that use the thumb for movement.
Yeah, whenever I have to buy a new keyboard I'll probably go to Logitech as well in the future. Razer is pretty tacky for the most part. I'm kinda curious about that corsair stuff now that you mention it, though. I also use a xbox360 wired controller, and it's funny but as someone who always found kb + mouse superior, I'm starting to enjoy the feel of it in games.
I don't mind my Xbox controller on the Xbox and it is fine for platformers and other such games, but for FPS I need my trackball and keyboard. Also Strategy games work better with keyboard and mouse if they were designed to use them and aren't a port from a console.
Re: Razer, I'd say the only product of theirs I've really enjoyed is the headphones. I tend to wear headphones all day long and most brands hurt the hell out of my ears, but these are -niiice-. So soft, and sound great.
Headphones: Sennheiser HD201s Mouse: Gigabyte GM-M6800 (corded) Keyboard: Logitech G15 The weakest part of my set up? The Logitech. By far.
Corsair has some nice looking keyboards. But they were the first generation Corsair made of any, so I tend not to trust them. Their headsets are awesome, but they have some of the worst software imaginable. I own and use a HS1 headset all day every day without any difficulty or any earache like cheap headsets would give. But the only thing they really have going for them is simulated surround sound, and the microphone is as good as a tin can connected to another via string. I can accurately place where sounds are coming from in games though, so that part works fine. As for the keyboards of Corsair, they are made of brushed aluminum with "Laser etched keys" yet the letters on the keys come off after a few weeks of use. So maybe the keys themselves were laser etched, but the letters were painted on with watercolors. I will wait for the second generation before I consider them. They do have rather nice backlighting though. Their mice are a mystery to me because I have intentionally avoided it. I love trackballs and no mouse, regardless of how nice it is will suit me. I am sure many here feel the same for their beloved mice. Fair enough. If you look at the "Audio" section of Corsair's Forums you will find about ten posts every day where people are complaining about the microphone not working well enough to be recognizable at all. In all such cases the "Helpful" staff tell you to RMA it so you can get a new one for the price of shipping. Then those who are suckers will do that and post that the replacement is the same in a month. And just to save any of you the trouble, there is exactly no difference between the HS1 and "Vengeance 1500" headsets. They are identical. The 1500 just looks different due to more magnesium being added to the frame and the useless microphone being able to swivel for no reason. I bought my headset as both a sound output device, and as a sound input device. But Corsair may as well have cut my tongue out. The microphone, I repeat is worthless. If you want details, go look at my posts on their forums. (You can see a list of each users posts.) The reason I mention that here is that I wish I had bothered to try a Logitech headset. I read they had some problems too, but I also read they fixed some of it rather than play the RMA game. I have been a long term Corsair enthusiast until this debacle. Now I will even buy my PSU from other companies. (They did not make the TX series that bore their name anyway. I can buy from the group that made them.) So no one has tried that neural impulse actuator? Shame. I would love to hear some details of how well it works.(Or even if it works.) I want Logitech to finally make a quality wired trackball with the same profile as the Trackman series (Thumb movement) and a braided cord so it will actually last. Hopefully with good adjustable DPI sensitivity too. (Not just a useless multiplier on input like cheap input devices do.)
Every review and feedback I have read suggests they are good. You will be happy with them so long as you get the right pair for your purposes. I bought my HS1 to entirely replace my sound subsystem on my motherboard. I currently have my integrated soundcard disabled in BIOS. I only use the HS1 for sound. And it is really a great pair of headphones, but it sucks as a headset, since the microphone is so awful. Since the HS1 and Vengeance 1500 are USB driven, they do not require and cannot utilize any soundcard in any way. This is much more of a double edged benefit than you may initially think. There are precisely two different drivers used. And the second is actually inferior to the first, since it prevents several of the advertised functions from working at all. (They were mostly useless functions like the voice changer junk and other such things.) Sennheiser and the old Sony "Studio" type circumaural headphones were what I was advised to buy. But I trusted Corsair due to the great PSUs and RAM they sell. (They do not make them in reality. Seasonic makes all the good Corsair rebranded PSUs. I do not recall who makes their RAM. They may make it themselves. I would pay extra for their RAM however since they do not often try to compete with ludicrous speed RAM that is destined to burn out in no time. Their RAM is usually lower than normal voltage, and absolutely stable.) As far as RAM speeds go, that is useless to even compare. Only in benchmarks and exceptionally RAM intensive tasks does faster RAM matter. And even at the lower speeds, lower latencies mean much more than faster speeds by an order of magnitude for most common desktop purposes like games. As usual I am getting way off topic. Check these out if you have not decided what model of Sennheiser headphones to get. The reviews say it all. First of all the cheapest you can get. It is Rosewill brand. They are really good as a brand, but I have no idea about this item. There are loads of reviews though. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826193037 Next up is the only Sony brand headphones I could find on Newegg at the moment. They are wireless though. And expensive... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826159264 Last is the actual Sony Circumaural Headphones I was suggesting. (I only found them on Amazon and other places though, and they are three times the price I remember seeing for the same model a year ago.) http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Studio-Monitor-MDR-V600-Headphone/dp/B00001W0DI I know none of those are exactly "Input Devices", but I figured I should offer what little I know anyway. And that brings me to my final point: If you are using a desktop and have a sound card or integrated sound, do not bother with USB audio devices. They are useful in certain situations, but they have many little nagging issues that simply cannot be worked around. Normal 3.5MM Minijack connectors still work wonders. I hope you enjoy your pick.
Ick. I linked in the wrong pair of Sony Headphones. These are much better, but more expensive: http://www.amazon.com/Sony-MDR7506-...3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1332636730&sr=1-3
Anyone here happen to know about a good keyboard with mechanical keyswitches? (When you take the keycaps off, there should be mechanical parts rather than a rubber dome that is otherwise known as a "Membrane keyswitch".) I type more than I game, but I still think I would find a tactile typing keyboard agonizing in a game, while a non tactile keyboard would not really bother me at all in typing. For those that do not understand, tactile keyswitches have a "Feel" when the key is pressed enough to register. Whereas those free of the tactile feel would be much easier to press a bazillion times in a game, and likewise would be easier to make typing mistakes on since you have to look at what you type to see if it is all spelled correctly. I type in a very unusual method and always proofread anyway, so this is not a concern for me. I type using only the index and middle finger, as well as the thumb of each hand. And I type as fast with either hand as I do with both. The only exception to this is when gaming I use all five digits of my left hand for WASD and the few other buttons like shift and space that are commonly bound in games. I pretty much require a backlit keyboard since I greatly prefer gaming in absolute darkness. My current keyboard is an i-rocks brand backlit keyboard with membrane keycaps. Some of the keys occasionally are getting stuck. This is expected since I have used it for several years now, and only clean it a few times a year via a vacuum cleaner. I was considering the Microsoft Sidewinder X4 keyboard since it has a patented anti ghosting technology that they say even works with it plugged in via USB. But I rather doubt that due to the nature of USB anyway. The benefit of that keyboard is that it will always be supported by Windows and the reviews are pretty favorable. The bad part is that it is tactile. But I think I can find something better. Anyone have any advice? Things to avoid are just as useful as things to seek. Thanks in advance.
Also, for those of you with kids, consider this little gem: SEAL SHIELD SSK107 A fully waterproof and guaranteed dishwasher safe keyboard! That is nice to know of. It is not for me, but some out there may want it to prevent those awful diseases known as children from murdering innocent input devices.
I've used various models of Senns over the years, and I've not got a single complaint. Well, the cables can feel a bit thin, but they're superb. Even the cheaper models are great.
So anyone have any advice about buying a keyboard these days? I greatly prefer an LED backlit keyboard so I can distinguish the keys from one another in the dark. I also greatly prefer keyswitches that are non-tactile. (Meaning they do not have a "Feel" to indicate that the key has been depressed enough to register a keystroke.) And if I could choose, I would probably pay extra for a durable keyboard with mechanical keyswitches. (Cherry Blacks or Cherry Reds.) It simply must be wired. I hate wireless input devices. (I may budge on this point, since I am stuck with a wireless trackball and it surprised me by working flawlessly so far.) I am not looking to buy one right now. I am in the scouting ahead phase of my buying process. I will link in a post full of potential keyboards I have been considering. I am very open to suggestions. Thank you each in advance.
Microsoft SIDEWINDER X4 This is not preferred, as it suffers tactile keyswitches. It has a supposedly unique method of anti-ghosting technology though, so it may be worth trying. $45 Logitech G110 This is one of the less expensive "Premium" gaming keyboards offered by Logitech. It has good reviews and sounds nice except that it sounds like it tries to do too many things at once. (Who buys a keyboard for audio?) Also some of the reviews mention the keys require a bit more force than usual for a gaming keyboard. $65 Logitech G510 This is a bit more expensive than the previous one, and sounds almost identical with exception of a few little things I doubt matter. $100 Logitech G19 As above, but even more expensive. $170 Corsair Vengeance K90 Very nice solid aluminum chassis with laser etched aluminum keys and fully mechanical keyswitches. (Except the function and macro keys.) This is a premium keyboard for real. The issues are that the software it uses is garbage and the pain peels off the keys in a few weeks of use. Sad. But it may still be the best available at this point. $130 Anyone have another suggestion? How about any real experience with these? I would appreciate any advice.
