Review(for ED) : Stream Deck XL(and my profile)

dognosh

dognosh
NEW PHOTOS LOWER DOWN
What is it : Basically it is a "macro"/"app launcher" capable keyboard companion with 32 buttons(LCD) ! ( STREAM DECK XL )
Who is it for : Out there for streamers, here for those who can't(or won't use Voice Attack) and/or don't have a HOTAS(or have HOTAS but need more buttons/switches)
Release : I think May(2019) so about 2 months ago

CONS :
PRICE !!!!!!!
Some user made apps for the XL only work first time(like the analog clock or macro app) but the ones by Elgato(now Corsair) work fine
Maybe some sort of sound in future versions(nice for acknowledgements etc.)

PROS :
Each key has an LCD display
The display can handle all images and also animated GIFs
No size editing needed for the LCD screens as the software auto sizes it(very handy)
Surprisingly the software is intuitive for a Corsair company(my macro/LCD gaming KB has terrible software) but then I guess it was made by ELGATO before being bought?
Better built than the 15 or 6 key products(detachable longer USB cable now, and the stand is spot on compared to the older ones)
Feels solid and quality looks very good(but I wouldn't know how reliable they are)
Profiles can be set to auto detect(for auto switching purposes when software is run, like ED)
Each key programming is 3 stages at most : Text->graphics->Actions
Multiscreen capable as it handles multi-nesting(no limit) so in theory it can store 1000s of commands/actions/macros
First screen has 32 usable buttons, subsequent nested screens have 31 only(top left is the "Back" icon to come out of a nest by 1 level)

Previously(last year) I read some were having problems with their products(6/15 key versions only as XL only just got out) with regards to the more complicated commands, the ones that had combination of Shift ALT and CTRL in them. Currently all working fine, I set my ED with bindings like CTRL+ALT+Shift+Y and XL recognised them.
Some photos in spoiler :
Excuse my profile as I found most of the images online and only made a few of them. And it is a work in progress still :)
(Also it looks much better and clearer in real life, phone cam, terrible photos and photographer :( )
Forum seems to be having troubles regarding my links so click on them to see photo, sorry.

https://imgur.com/ZH5hn1R
Source: https://imgur.com/ZH5hn1R

https://imgur.com/1uadWqz
Source: https://imgur.com/1uadWqz

https://imgur.com/BSnvSNQ
Source: https://imgur.com/BSnvSNQ

https://imgur.com/iFl75ry
Source: https://imgur.com/iFl75ry

https://imgur.com/cLcZmdu
Source: https://imgur.com/cLcZmdu

https://imgur.com/30pRCpr
Source: https://imgur.com/30pRCpr
 
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Stealthie

Stealthie
Kind of reminds me of Google Glass.

What I mean is, it looks like a nice bit of hardware but the way it's marketed, and the proposed uses for it, make me want to run and hide in a dark room.

If I could have a smaller one of those, with perhaps 10 buttons on it, that could be bound to all the secondary controls ED uses - and change depending on whether you're in the cockpit, SRV, station menu, maps, scanners etc - I'd be all over it like a rat up a drainpipe.

As a device for controlling how I broadcast myself on social-media, however, it's about as much use as a parachute that opens on impact.
 

dognosh

dognosh
Nearly a year later and I am still loving my stream deck(I don't use voice attack or VR) :cool:
I also use the Stream Deck on Guild Wars 2, Kerbal, WoT and NMS.

Some changed screens for ED :

aY9NSoq.jpg


pM5beNb.jpg


QglLcJI.jpg


jL4Xadg.jpg
 

Amy Pendergast

Amy Pendergast
@dognosh Thanks for this idea, I was always wondering for a tactile replacement for PowerGrid. These Elgato Stream Decks are quite a bit expensive but if you use a lot of macros I think they are completely without competition.
Directly ordered a XL version myself, got it yesterday, was a breeze to setup and works absolutely fine - I can't fathom how I could ever play without one ;)
 

dognosh

dognosh
I love VA, but I use speakers and also discord, so they get in the way and I prefer buttons to voice anyway .
I love VR but my rift is not comfy enough, can't see KB or throttle and res is not so good, maybe in future !!!
So, I use a Stream Deck :)
 

Amy Pendergast

Amy Pendergast
I use it together with VoiceAttack and my HOTAS - yeah makes a rather crowded desk. But especially in VR the tactile buttons shine and I can use them without putting down my Rift.
Anyone here perhaps has a nice collection of icons to use or a profile to share?
 

Crank Larson

Crank Larson
Thanks for the review. But at £200 for basically a keyboard with fancy buttons? I could build one with a Pi or Arduino much cheaper - and I suspect it could do more. I guess the price is as it is due to the limited market...
 

Amy Pendergast

Amy Pendergast
Crank Larson said:
Thanks for the review. But at £200 for basically a keyboard with fancy buttons? I could build one with a Pi or Arduino much cheaper - and I suspect it could do more. I guess the price is as it is due to the limited market...
Click to expand...

Yeah, the price point is really something to think about. I also build things like that myself but the real killer is the app, not the display with a few buttons on it. I could easily build the hardware myself, but to create the usability through software for this, I think this will need a bigger budget than 250 Euros of my time. And if your solution could do really more in the end is something where I might be a non-believer, because at least while using the Elgato SDK and for instance Bar Raider's SDK for .Net you can do absolutely anything with this you can imagine.
Okay, perhaps my imagination is a bit poor with this one, but I honestly did not find any use case I can't satisfy this way :)

YMMV as always though.

Edit: As a sample, I wrote a nagios plugin for it that shows server states on buttons and on press switch to a view of the containing services. Working services=green buttons, problematic=red, a push of the button of a service takes you into the web interface of said service. Sure, a niche usage, but immensely useful for me and shows what you can do.
 

Crank Larson

Crank Larson
Having thought about it a little more... I could just as easily write an app on my tablet with those buttons as touch buttons on the screen. That would actually be better than this Stream Deck as you could have any button shapes you wanted, and also have dials and other bits... But neither would be useful to me in VR anyway. :D
 

Amy Pendergast

Amy Pendergast
Crank Larson said:
Having thought about it a little more... I could just as easily write an app on my tablet with those buttons as touch buttons on the screen. That would actually be better than this Stream Deck as you could have any button shapes you wanted, and also have dials and other bits... But neither would be useful to me in VR anyway. :D
Click to expand...

Sure, there are even apps out there that do exactly that like PowerGrid from Roccat, I used that before and it worked quite good. But I prefer tactile buttons I find blindly, using the tablet or cell phone I miss this. On the other hand: If you own an iDevice, Stream Deck is also available as app for these, but honestly I didn't try them as they are far from free.
 

Arvel Yael

Arvel Yael
I seem to struggle setting mine up to work in ED. Key presses don't seem to do anything in the game.
What am I doing wrong? It's not that it doesn't work in ED, it's that I can't get it to do anything in any of my games(with the exception of console commands in deus ex) :D.
 

Amy Pendergast

Amy Pendergast
Arvel Yael said:
I seem to struggle setting mine up to work in ED. Key presses don't seem to do anything in the game.
What am I doing wrong? It's not that it doesn't work in ED, it's that I can't get it to do anything in any of my games(with the exception of console commands in deus ex) :D.
Click to expand...
Do you use multiple key presses or just single key hotkeys? In the first instance make sure that you have a delay inserted between the different keypresses, ED is a bit notrious for a slowish macro input.
 
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