Razer Orbweaver Chroma Mechanical Gaming Keypad

This thing would be interesting if that was an analogue thumbstick... why hasn't anyone made a combo of keyboard and analogue stick yet?

 

Logitech made one: The G13. By default it is set to be programmable to keys like WASD, but it can be switched to an analogue joystick. The G13 doesn't have mechanical keys, though. I'm interested in the Orbweaver, because it's easier to switch to other layouts than the G13 and I rarely use the G13's LCD screen. The Orbweaver, because of its mechanical keys, is probably more responsive as well.

I love the idea of these kind of devices. You use your left hand to control that little keyboard. Because your thumb controls the WASD keys, you have your other fingers free to press buttons. Your right hand is controlling the mouse as usual. I'm using the G13 for years now and play all my games using it.

The only time I'm using the analogue stick is when using some kind of vehicle. Choppers are great to steer with that stick and a mouse. However, not many games are supporting an analogue stick these days, so it is not that useful as you think.

 

Looks nice, i could see my self using that thing in Flight Simulator. (which i love to spend my time on)
I would like it wireless though.

 

I love these things. Have an norstromo and wouldn't play fps games without it.

 

As long as they have cloud-based drivers, I am not interested in their wares.

 

Thanks for the heads up. I didn't know this. After getting some info about this, no Razer products for me.

 

It's not a great problem that their drivers are cloud-connected, at least for me. The real problem is that their drivers tend to crash and misbehave.

Examples from my experience:
Razer Blackwidow - keystrokes sent as if the key was depressed after unlocking Windows (Win+L)
Razer Orochi 2013 - stops working from time to time, huuuge lag on high CPU load, sometimes ignores DPI settings and button assignments
Razer Mamba 2012 - used to randomly stop responding with drivers from some time ago, including pretending to have LMB depressed; then it was ok, then random events when it stopped responding and the base station had to be reconnected; now, with latest drivers, it keeps ~650dpi no matter what in wireless mode
Oh, and on top of that, Razer software uses a ton of resources, and reports frequent conflicts if you have multiple computers.

All of these products worked great at the time when they were bought, but with Razer Synapse software, they don't age like wine, but like milk.

I think I'll ditch them, and replace with something like Bloody (A4Tech) products, which work well, they're super-responsive, and cost a fraction of what Razer asks. ... or pay some extra $$$ for Logitech or Zowie

 

I use Roccat Kone XTD Optical. You create your profiles (5), can save them on HDD, write them to mouse for use.
And then you uninstall its drivers and profiles go with mouse no matter where you plug it. That's how it should be.
And its driver is lightweight, not causing lag on anything. (only annoyance is 'achievement system' which tracks how many times you clicked, how much you moved it around, ... And fact that by default it plays annoying sound when you reach certain threshold => has to be disabled as 1st thing after installation.)

So my point of view:
Should I buy $80~100 Roccat mouse which has everything always ready and working once set up?
Or should I buy $100~150 Razer mouse which has limited functionality without driver and with driver it misbehaves and potentially 'calling home'?

I think many $10~25 mouses are better choices over Razer ones.

My 1st and last (for now) key-pad is Saitek Pro-Gamer Command Unit. And it still works just fine.
Bit old on ergonomic side, but works.