Gadgetory

I'm not gonna sit here and debate the merits of a keyboard mouse versus a controller for gaming today because the PC setup is obviously superior for the majority of genres whether you need accurate pointing in an FPS or a ton of key real estate in a MOBA but that doesn't mean that the keyboard and mouse is a natural interface there are a ton of movements here that take time and muscle memory to develop if you want to get good at them or at least there were what if I told you that you could offload some of those trickier moves to a third appendage allowing you to do more things with little effort I'm talking of course about the beacon get your mind out of the gutter man it's a Bluetooth controller design for your foot I said get your mind out of the gutter come on but is this just what you need to gain an edge and kick ass or is it a waste of your hard-earned money well it's a Kickstarter so it could very well be both let's check it out after I tell you about today's sponsor Mac Weldon Mac Weldon makes great underwear t-shirts socks wallets and more they believe in simple shopping and if you use code tech tips you'll get 20% off at the link below they're kind of big cut now our early test unit still has some rough edges from their small-scale 3d printer but it's got it where it counts the plastic construction is very solid despite being lightweight the strap appears to be durable enough and it's long enough to wrap around even your steel toed boots with foam cushioning on the bottom to contribute to a comfortable feel even after multiple hours of use which it's USB rechargeable battery affords so so far so good the unit is detachable thanks to a satisfyingly strong magnet though other than charging there's not really much reason to pick it up because aside from the on/off switch everything is communicated by differently colored LEDs and vibrating haptic feedback so then once you strap it on to your foot what exactly can you do with this thing well theoretically lots you can use it for nearly anything that your keyboard can do using the included software to map key presses to one of four actions roll left roll right pitch up and pitch down sorry aviation nerds there is no yah now the device calibrates itself every time it's activated and all of the movements are relative to your starting position so you can even use it with your legs crossed like if you wanted to stretch a glute while you game but it's more than just four extra keys each gesture can accommodate up to six keystrokes map sequentially across the gestures range of movement so the idea is that the farther you tilt the device the more commands you can execute in this way you can create pseudo macros but without actually using any automation like if you have to press down forward punch to throw a Hadouken then you can map that sequence so all you have to do is rock your foot to throw fireballs all day long as for the shooter and MOBA fans out there the beacon can be useful for you too in FPS I found the most useful commands to offload are the ones that would otherwise make you have to hold a key down like crouching sprinting or push-to-talk with the beacon you can do these things without inhibiting the movement of your fingers in any way and you can even do otherwise impossible things like strafing right and reloading at the same time and with MOBAs a mouse or RTS games it's really nice to be able to easily deploy spells or seldom-used abilities without fumbling to reach for keys that you aren't fairly familiar with notice that I said nice to be able to now there are lots actually lots of gamers out there with physical disabilities for whom this could be a total lifesaver since you can use it instead of a hand or PEC even wear it on your head but others might only get marginal utility from it which means that the price needs to be right so it's gonna be retailing for a hundred and thirty-eight euros or about a hundred and sixty US dollars it's a little bit out sheet and that's with them trying to keep the price down doesn't even come with a micro USB cable in the box compare that with other stomp based foot controllers that while may be bulkier and less versatile come in at under $100 although it should be noted that the stinky foot board which I'm referring to specifically did go out of business despite being widely adored so maybe that one should have cost more or less I don't know and unlike some pedals you can't expect the beacon to be able to simulate a gas pedal with varying amounts of force the input is either on or off just like a regular keyboard so should you invest in a beacon wearable controller well while it is pretty darn decent at doing what it says it's going to do offering you a tweak task amount of control over how the keys are pressed the reality is that most of us won't need something like this that badly so the main people we'd recommend it for are those with physical impairments or gamers finding themselves in desperate need of a few more buttons but who aren't concerned about complying with tournament play rules which generally don't allow macros which this could kind of be considered to be otherwise this kick starter might be a supposed to be shaking my my foot a non-starter fresh bollocks is the small business accounting software custom-built for how you want to work it's a simple way to be more productive more organized and to get paid faster you can create and send professional-looking invoices in less than 30 seconds you can set up online payments with just a couple of clicks to get paid up to four days faster you can see when your client has seen your invoice to put an end to the guessing games and you can take all that functionality with you on the road with their fantastic apps for both Android and iOS for your unrestricted 30-day free trial just go to fresh book Stockholm slash tech tips and enter Linus tech tips in the how did you hear about us section so thanks for watching guys if this video 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