January 15, 2005

• Saitek PC Gaming Keyboard

  Saitek is a relatively new company for me as I am not familiar with their name. A visit to their website reveals that they were founded in 1979 and started making gaming peripherals in 1993. I was hunting for a new keyboard but I thought I would look for one that was suited for everyday use and for gaming. The z-board came to mind but it just doesn’t appeal to me. So I googled for gaming keyboard and sure enough z-boards are popping up every where then I saw Saitek’s PC Gaming Keyboard. After reading about it, I wanted to get my hands on one of those so I purchased it.
  
  The keyboard is USB and have volume adjust buttons, mute, and on/dim/off button for the “Cool Blue” back lighting. Included in the box is the keyboard, command pad, wrist pad, and a software CD. The appearance and style of the keyboard itself is awesome. The way its shaped looks like it came from a sci-fi movie. The bolts at each corner is a nice touch. The command pad have 11 buttons; 1 throught 9, Mode A, and Mode B allowing a total of 27 commands to be programmed. One of the minor detail I notice are the fonts for the keys, they are large, easy to read, and I do enjoy looking at them.
  
     
  
  The size of the keyboard is pretty compact and slim, standard 104 keys and the command pad is a little bigger than my Logitech MX500. Love the silver and black paint scheme.
  
  
  
  The command pad is connected to the keyboard at the top through a port similar to RJ-45 (network port), and the connector it self looks like a RJ-45 connector except it has 5 pairs of wires instead of 4 found in network cables. It also have feets at the top to tilt the keyboard.
  
     
     
  
  The wrist pad itself is adjustable, it has a built-in mechanism so you can adjust how far you want it from the keyboard. It has 3 settings: 0 for those with small hands, 1 for those with medium hands, and 2 for those with large hands (me). Saitek didn’t really name the settings, I came up with those myself. Nevertheless, it’s wonderful they thought of the adjustable wrist pad so that people with different size hands can type/game comfortably.
  
     
  
  
  Here comes the good stuff, the “Cool Blue” back lighting. Let me just say it looks great and it’s nice and bright. There is not much to say about it, you can turn it on, dim it, and turn it off. It would be cool if the back lighting shines through the keys and the letters glow but that would drive up the cost of the keyboard. Then again you probably won’t use it in total darkness, even using it with the light off your monitor will give you some light.
  
     
  
  
  This is how it looks in total darkness. Too bad the Mode A and Mode B button doesn’t light up. The dim feature works but my camera didn’t pick up the difference so I’m not going to put any pictures for it.
  
     
  
  This keyboard is comfortable to type with. They keys are quiet and have a very good feedback, it’s soft and doesn’t require a lot of effort to press the keys but it’s not squishy that when you lay a finger on it it gets depressed.
  
  
  

  
  

  Saitek SST Programming Software

  First you have to install the software from the CD included with the keyboard, it installs Saitek’s SST Programming Software. Once that’s done and you run the program you will see a little command pad icon in your system tray.
  
  
  
  It would bring up a small menu when you right-click on it and select Profile Editer.
  
  
  
  This is what the Profile Editor looks like. You can add a new key press, new macro, new advanced command, or assign the key to a command you already programmed. After you’re done assigning commands to the pad, save it, activate the profile and take it for a test drive. From the pic above I had previously created a profile for Counter-Strike: Source where I programmed the buttons to buy things for me and it works great. The software is easy to use and offers lots of possibilities. One feature I wasn’t able to test is printing a reference map of the profile you created.
  
  
  
  
  

  Final Word

  The keyboard has been great, no real complaints except they could of made the Mode buttons glow on the command pad. Great price for a keyboard like this, it’s comfortable and looks beautiful. Sure they probably could of made a more expensive wireless version and you’ll also spend more money replacing the batteries, I don’t think it’s worth it. I didn’t have any problems installing and using the SST, it’s easy to figure out. I would recommend this keyboard to anyone that is looking for one that’s suited for everyday use and gaming.

  • 11:10 pm
  • 15 Comments