ZBoard????

portnoy · Post by **portnoy** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 5:57 pm

I just received one as part of a graduation gift, one of those gifts that I wasn't brave enough to part with $50 hard earned for, but as a gift, I was happy to receive it.

Wow, I use it mostly with Unreal 2004 and Call of Duty for my short stints of gaming, and I got the free (after rebate) EQ2 board and use that board for EQ2 (duh). Wow again, love the control, love the modular nature of the board, like the feel. And well, the USB ports on the top though at first I thought were kind of useless, I may have use for them in the near future (iAudio MP3 player on the way, woot)!

I requested it as a gift after playing around with one in CompUsa and reading a few reviews (Toms Hardware, Avault). Has anyone else dabbled with this gizmo? And if so are you enjoying it? Hating it? Or just kind of non-plussed by the whole experience?

I am done with school in less than 7 hours (final project needs to be submitted by midnight) and I am so going to powerlevel in EQ2 next week!!!! May have to call in dead to work or something!

Eduardo X · Post by **Eduardo X** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 2:55 pm

I'll budge.
What the hell is a ZBoard?

Turtle · Post by **Turtle** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 4:32 pm

It's a keyboard with customizeable key pads called Zboards. Basically, you remove the entire key setup from the board which folds up into a Z patten. These boards contain key setups that are tuned for certain games, with all the common hotkeys clearly laid out and labeled.

Very useful, I wouldn't buy one for myself, but getting one as a gift would be nice.

Freezer-TPF- · Post by **Freezer-TPF-** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 8:33 pm

Just curious, how much is the keyboard and how much are the keysets?

Faldarian · Post by **Faldarian** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 9:08 pm

I've got the backlit Saitek gamer's keyboard now, and I'm seriously considering trading it to someone and picking up a ZBoard.

Anyone able to compare the two? I've never even seen a ZBoard except for online, but what I've read and seen seems very positive.

Chaz · Post by **Chaz** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 11:05 pm

The boards themselves are $50, and I think it comes with a generic keyboard layout and a generic FPS layout. The game-specific keysets are $20 each, and it seems like there's a $20 mail-in rebate if you get the board and either the WoW or EQ2 board.

Personally, I can't see myself getting one. If I got one as a gift, maybe. For FPS games, I'm pretty sure I can remember the seven keys I need. The WoW one seemed like it would be nice until I looked and saw that the movement keys are on the right side, where the arrow keys are on a normal keyboard. I use WASD for WoW, since using the arrow keys is uncomfortable, and if I have to remap the movement keys anyway, I may as well use a regular keyboard.

crumsteel · Post by **crumsteel** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 11:14 pm

I been looking at this keyboard but there seems to be one problem for me. How do you type a message while you are playing? Or after a match. It appears the left side of the keyboard for a fps would be hard to type without knowing what keys are what.
Is there any experience with this?

portnoy · Post by **portnoy** » Tue Dec 14, 2004 1:47 pm

I just got it last week, and as for FPS I rarely say a word to the people I play with. Would rather spend those extra seconds putting a round into another players head.

As for the MMORPG board, it's nice being able to throw emotes around in the midst of a conversation. Makes it feel a little more like a real conversation. But those boards seem to change the num pad and the keys between the qwerty part and the num pad.

Another week of playing with it, and after playing some Far Cry and Call of Duty, there is a learning curve as keys have been moved around, but after getting used to the changes, my game has improved. Don't really think that my EQ2 game has improved per se, but it just is a little bit more fun to play now.

crumsteel · Post by **crumsteel** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 9:57 am

My old keyboard started to go (thanks to my dog) and I am getting one of these zboards. The price is down to $37 at amazon with free shipping so I can justify that a little more. It should be here today.

Any more impressions on how it does with FPS. I am still curious about how to send messages when using the FPS keyset.
Does anyone have the WoW keyset? Is it worth it?

\/\/olverine · Post by **\/\/olverine** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 5:04 pm

Gaming-Age has a pretty good review of the Zboard

Atheist · Post by **Atheist** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 6:34 pm

I had one...

I didn't like it too much. The space bar isn't as responsive as other keyboards and half the time wouldn't 'space'.. so I actually got into the habit of hitting it twice everytime I needed a space in a text message or something.

That was pretty much the only thing that drove me up the wall with it but it was annoying enough that I "accidentally" spilled juice on it and went back to my old POS keyboard.

The other irritating thing is that you couldn't customize the volume and player control settings to work with winamp.. (aargh).

RookieCAF · Post by **RookieCAF** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 10:21 pm

I have no love for USB Keyboards, Even tho I really liked having handy USB Ports. I just found myself an old IBM Clicky Style compact Keyboard (PS2) and really am loving it. Granted, I actually missed the Windows Keys for a few days but I've adjusted now.

crumsteel · Post by **crumsteel** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 10:51 pm

I got to play a little with my zboard and I agree with the spacebar. The spacebar is awkward to use just for typing and the keys feel very different from other keyboards I have had. Over time I will see if I get used to them. Also to answer my own question; It is all most impossible to send a text message while playing a shooter, a second keyboard will be needed.