Revoltec Fightpad Advanced

Conclusions

The Fightpad Advanced provided a nice surprise for us in that, while it certainly looks and feels cheap, it actually performs very well and the buttons are fall into easy reach.

The macro support is extensive and useful and the shape of the device is comfortable and easy to get used to, but as we mentioned earlier a pad like this needs to have something special going for it if it wants to sell to more than just the immature Counter-Strike players. It needs to have a killer feature of some description that can hook a wider audience of gamers and reel them in to a new style of interface that differs from their familiar keyboard setup.

Unfortunately, though the Fightpad performs decently in games and was definitely easy to use we didn't find a feature that made it stand out from other input devices and it was hard to see a tangible benefit over just using a normal or gaming keyboard.

Price and availability also have to be factored in and at the moment there's very little information for the global market about the Fightpad and the device isn't yet available for purchase in the UK or US. Revoltec informs us that the RRP for the Fightpad is €39.99, which equates to around $50 for the US and £25 at current conversion rates.


This price point is a little difficult to judge of course as a substantial discount or profit margin could be added by resellers to push prices one way or another. Bear in mind though that for about £30 in the UK, it would be possible to pick up an amazing keyboard like the Logitech G11, which we also reviewed recently.

The Revoltec Fightpad Advanced is a difficult product to judge then in terms of price as well, though our initial impressions aren't good. We collectively spent a while discussing just how good the Fightpad Advanced was in the office, and I tried my best to stand up for it, but ultimately it falls down no matter how much I try to hold it up.

It provides decent performance, but not any better than an average gamer could get from a keyboard. It has macro facilities that are pretty good, but the interface is cheesy and you'd be hard pressed to find a gaming device that didn't incorporate macro software in some shape or form. Finally, it has a price point which is a bit high for our tastes compared to other devices which are built better and are more flexible.

Ultimately, while we're happy to use the Revoltec Fightpad Advanced for getting our game on we'd never pay to use one as there are better alternatives about. We've no doubt it will sell well to younger gamers who want to cultivate a professional, 'l33t' image, but the average bit-tech reader is hopefully a bit more discriminating about their setup and for them the Fightpad isn't worth the projected price, nor the wait until they are released on a global scale.

• Build Quality
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• -
• -
• 6/10

• Features
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• -
• 7/10

• Performance
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• 8/10

• Value
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• -
• -
• -
• 5/10

• Overall
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• -
• -
• 6/10

What do these scores mean?