Customer Reviews

Ideazon MERC Gaming Keyboard

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a great gaming keyboard for FPS games. With all the keys you really need on the left hand side and the butterfly direction keys, this keyboard makes the WASD keys obsolete. It'll take sometime to get used to but once you're used to it, there's no turning back. With every game key on the left hand side labelled, you won't forget which key is which in the heat of battle anymore. Also, every key is conveniently placed so you won't need to lift your main fingers from the butterfly direction keys, you can use your the other pinkies to do the work.

Now for the downside. Most gaming keyboards nowadays have the cool backlighting, this one doesn't. I don't know why it wasn't added. It doesn't have the macro memory keys but real gamers don't need macros!

The right side number pad is all screwed up. The length of the keyboard is already so long because of the left hand side gaming keys, they had to save space on the right side. So forget about using the number pad because it's all in difference places. And to use the page up and down keys, you need to disable the numlock as they're on the 9 and 6 keys. You CANNOT get used to this trust me. I've tried and I find the number pad impossible to use. You're going to need a backup keyboard for normal work.

On the whole, if MERC 2.0 has a backlight and a 'normal' number pad, it'll get a perfect score for sure. However, that aside, once you're into favorite game (BF 2142 for me), you won't care the keypad sucks.

I am not really sure why the first reviewer decided to rant about this great keyboard but I have to disagree. The Merc keyboard has an awesome layout and has definately improved my key access to more complicated FPS style games. While it does install Microsoft's .NET, the only time the Merc software attempts to use an internet connection is when you initially launch the keyboard manager so that it can check for updates to the program. Without an internet connection the application launches fine while greying out the "Check for Updates" button. If thats spyware..... Also, while there are limited presets for games, how many people leave a games controls at the default? Any game player can select the default layout preset and then customize the game to use the key presses as desired. Configure the game to work how you want to play it, not how someone else thinks you should. All in all one of the best gaming purchases I have made in quite some time. The only reason I gave it 4 of 5 stars is because I would have liked to have see a few more buttons below the movement keys as well as the thumb/pinky keys having been half sized and doubled for more options.

I picked up the MERC and it is the best bang for the buck on any keyboard I have ever owned (Including other Gaming keyboards- I had a Logitech) (Under $40_ for the MERC)

HARDWARE POSITIVES
It has about 40 game specific keys on the left and then a full QWERTY on the right - great touch and feel. Multimedia keys also. The gaming center on the left has keys labelled for RUn, Reload, and othe rmain commands layed out ideally. (Play with it for an hour and you are up to speed). If you play MMO's it is perfect, because you move around with the directional keys on the game center and then you chat with the full keyboard. Keeps them seperated - Nice

HARDWARE NEGATIVES:
Not illuminated

SOftware: The software gives you pre-defined layouts for 100 games to their best fit, and sometimes that was not my best fit. But they have a new Z-Engine, in BETA format and I just downloaded that. You can re-map the whole keyboard with Drag and Drop pictures. for any game. Absolutely unbelieveable.

Main reason I am righting this review, the new software pretty much puts it over the top.

The good:
Seperate WASD control with keys spread around it for easy finger access.
Controls can be customized with in game settings.
Volume control from the keyboard and 3 programmable "hot buttons" that will open various programs.

The bad:
Media buttons ONLY work with windows media player.
You cannot rebind the keys. If a button says "Tab" the only way to make it do what you want is to set it in the game itself, you cannot rebind the button to be another key.
In order to get full functionality a game must be "supported". Not many games are supported, and many aren't helped by the Z board, they don't release updates very often, and more or less ignore customer requests, otherwise you'd be able to edit the keys yourself, and bind the media buttons to a program of your choice (like virtually every other keyboard with them).
Some examples of idiocy:
Everquest 2 is supported, Everquest 1 is not, despite an EQ1 insert being available for their other line of keyboards (which means that while it has a keyboard inset, it doesn't support itself.)
F.E.A.R. is supported.
F.E.A.R. Combat is not supported (the multiplayer only version of the game.

The keyboard also seems to spontaneously decide to bind keys to ridiculous things, I've been in the middle of counterstrike matches and had the keyboard suddenly side that the "W" button should open a web browser, and I have to switch back to the normal section of the keyboard.

Also, to keep size down, they condensed the arrow keys and PGUP, PGDN, DEL, HOME, END, INSERT, and DEL keys into the num pad.

While I like this product, if I had it to do over again, I wouldn't buy it.

There are many so-called gaming keyboards on the market. Most of the gaming keyboards that I have used in the past fail to be anymore useful to gaming than a standard keyboard. Then there are specialized gaming keypads which are not useful in anything other than games.

The MERC is different in respect that it is actually useful in gaming, while still being useful for everyday use. Many other gaming keyboards provide programmable keys that are not usually located in a convenient location. As a result, I never found myself using any programmable keys on another gaming keyboard. However, the MERC has a gaming key layout that I WANT to use because it is such an improvement over the traditional WASD+QE setup.

The layout of the keyboard places the gaming keys to the left of a standard keyboard area, with a modified number pad to the right. The cursor keys have been integrated into the number pad which takes some getting used to. The area between the number pad and alpha keys which is traditionally reserved for cursors, home, end, prnt scrn, etc., has been omitted, with those keys relocated to other areas. Additionally, there are audio controls across the top left above the gaming pad.

The MERC software is fairly easy to use and contains pre-defined profiles for the most popular game titles. Additionally, new profiles may be downloaded via the software utility. I was pleasantly surprised to find a new profile for The Witcher when I checked today.
You can also define your own profiles for the MERC keypad.

I have owned the keyboard for about about 6 months now and have used this keyboard extensively with Vanguard SOH, Oblivion, WoW, COD1,2,4, Battlefield 2, The Witcher, and Crysis. The key placement of the gaming keypad is exactly the same as standard WASD keys, but the keys themselves are slightly larger.

My only complaint is lack of illuminated keys... but there is the MERC Stealth which has this feature.

PROS:

* Easy transition from WASD to new gaming keypad.
* Still useful for everyday work.
* Highly configurable
* Presets for most popular games.

CONS:

* Touch of keys is not really an improvement over a standard $20 keyboard.
* Slightly larger than a standard keyboard.
* Keys are not illuminated
* Some standard keys have been relocated - get ready to hunt for PRT SCN, HOME, END, and PG UP/DOWN.

I have been using the Merc a month now and I've decided:
It's a really good idea...the only problem is well, the design (the hardware), and the software. The gamepad is too spread out, its just as hard to reach all the keys as it is on a normal keyboard, it involves too much hand movement. I have big hands and I can't come close to reaching the top row of numbers comfortably. And as far as using it for regular typing when not gaming, you have to push num lock before you use any windows hotkeys...so it's not that great for gaming, and its awful for typing. Once you finally get the software set up just the way you want it, it randomly resets itself. Have yet to figure out why. It is decent for shooters, but not for MMORPGS (Warcraft), mainly due to it randomly changing key bindings and sometimes sluggish response. I honestly can't recomend this product, maybe with a few revisions.

This will be the second Merc keyboard I bought. I liked the the first one so much I ordered another for our 2nd computer. Makes a big difference playing WoW in how fast you can respond to things in game.

This keyboard is perfect. I had a regular saitek keyboard and my friend got me to try out this board. The difference was huge. the merc has faster responce time, expertly laid keys and a list of top games they keyboard automatically has macros and bindings for. Even if you want to play a game not on the list the Merc still works great! 5/5 stars

This is what Zboard should be...
I can play WOW and type a paper without a hitch!
This was a very good idea for a keyboard, the Zboard is a bells and whistles and I really don't give a rats ass about that, they can keep sending out new keyboard sets to all the games that come out!

This keyboard is clean and simple, end of story....

Only real problem I have is the orientation of the game pad keys. Gel wrist pad would help too. Placement of some of the keyboard keys (delete, num lock, etc.) takes some getting used to.