Keywiz Eco2

[diverdown]

 
Snaps to groovy game gear.


I wanted a quick solution for my 2 player 3 button each CP.  I have used Ultimarcs ipac4 and Jpac so i thought i may as well try the competition.

It arrived safely.

I bought the no solder option as I know if i went too near the pcb with a hot iron i would need to order a new one. On that topic I have no idea how I would have gone if I had bought the solder version. The thing is so small I would have ended up with a led ball.
It was a bit of a hassle working out just which wires of my IDE ribbon lined up with which pins. I had no idea at first but managed to decrypt the pattern. I even counted right the first time on a few controlls.

This is not a problem of the Eco as I knew I would have to do this when I ordered it......Just something to think about if you are not too cluey on soldering.

I have no issues with making this look nice as its well hidden up under the CP but the eco is probably not the flashiest option around. Don't get me wrong the board itself looks great. It is only because you have to split an IDE cable and connect the split wires to others long enough to reach the CP. I ended up encasing my resultant spaghetti wiring job in electrical tape................ more practice needed.

I turned the PC on and it worked first time, well I had connected P1 buttons to P2 pins, easily fixed

Since then I have had no issues. All the controls work as they are supposed to and for the price that's great.


The keywiz eco2 is a budget solution for a simple cab. It has enough inputs to suit most users. It is time consuming to install (over both the ultimarc options and other keywiz options).

You will need a multimeter and a soldering iron for both the solder and "no solder" option.

For $20 I don't think you can beat it.

I have no need for the "shazaaaaaaaaaam" function in this cab so cannot really comment on it.


Would I buy one again?

I'm sorry but probably not. I liked the novelty of decrypting and soldering the ide cable, but only as a novelty. If i was to do it again I would stretch the budget and get a board with screws! The keywiz max in only $15 more. I would not recommend this to someone to use as a first excursion into CP building. I am only a newbie but without having used other versions before I would not know where to start or what to expect.

My next purchase will most likely be the keywix max or an ipac.


Still the product does what it says it does and that's really all that counts.


Well done Groovygamegear   

[MaMeNnO]

I'm using the KeyWiz ECO2 for my first cabinet. I agree to the hassle of working things out with the IDE cable. I had the wrong IDE cable, so I had to work out a solution for that, but that turned out really well. I probably won't use it the next time.
I'm going to use the Shazaaam! key, but I haven't tested it yet. It looks pretty straight forward though. Shouldn't be much of a problem.

[Tiger-Heli]

You will need a multimeter and a soldering iron for both the solder and "no solder" option.

For the no-solder, you can get by without a soldering iron if you use terminal blocks (terminal strips).  Of course, if you're going to buy this, you're not too far in price from just buying the KeyWiz Max.

[MustardTent]

I purchased the no-solder version -- I don't really know why, maybe I thought it would have the screw-down contacts even though the picture didn't show that ( I need to read more carefully).

I did not enjoy using an IDE cable -- I'm not good with wire management already, and I would say that this resulted in the messiest cabling job I've ever done. If I had known better, I would have ordered the KeyWiz Max.

As far as the operation of the device, it is excellent.  Shazaam works very well, and I have not had any problems. 

But the KeyWiz Eco2 does it's job and does it very well, so overall, I am happy with it.

[RandyT]

I just wanted to clarify the group of folks the Eco lines are targeted for.

Before the KeyWiz Eco, folks who had more time than money were forced to hack gamepads or keyboards in order to take part in the hobby, and then after all of their hard work, usually ended up with a very sub-standard result.

If you think using an Eco is a challenge, you should see what a keyboard / gamepad hack entails     People spend long hours bugging out the pins on the chips, decoding the marix, attaching wires to small pads (not holes) on tiny circuit boards, soldering in diodes to combat ghosting, etc... 

The Eco was designed and placed at a price point to alleviate some of the pains of doing this for a group that might not be able to come up with the extra costs of the MAX, or who are comfortable with soldering / wiring and don't mind saving some money.

It's also designed for OEMs, who will often have cable assemblies made to just "plug and go" with the No-Solder versions, or who just need a few inputs and the soldering of a couple of wires is more cost effective.

The MAX version may be a better choice for those who can afford it, but the Eco does the same job for less cash and a little more involvement in the process.

RandyT


Side Note:  Before designing the KeyWiz, I used a keyboard hack in my machine, next to a mouse hack spinner and a gamepad hack to make up the difference.  It took over 3 days of mostly unpleasant work to achieve what was at best, a mediocre result.  Motivation to try to make that common experience a thing of the past, played a big part in my offering of the Eco.

[MustardTent]

Randy,
  Thank you for developing the products that you have.  They are excellent and I always recommend your store to people I know that want to get into this.  My issue with the Eco2 is due to my inattention to detail, not to the functionality/price/design of the device itself.

[Tiger-Heli]

soldering in diodes to combat ghosting, etc... 

which 95% of the time will not actually help b/c they have a blocking rather than a ghost problem.

(Just trying to keep some misinformation from becoming more ingrained).

See my keyboard hacks page or the wiki for more details.

[quarterback]

I liked the novelty of decrypting and soldering the ide cable, but only as a novelty. If i was to do it again I would stretch the budget and get a board with screws!

I did not enjoy using an IDE cable -- I'm not good with wire management already, and I would say that this resulted in the messiest cabling job I've ever done.

I'd love to see somebody sell premade IDE -> centronic connectors.  Not only could I avoid the delicate slicing and stripping of the IDE cable, but it'd also be easily set up to use for swappable CPs


I love the GGGear products and have, at this point, bought three ~$20 no-solder controllers from them along with terminal strips, but having an IDE -> some other connector would be really cool.

[MustardTent]

Agreed.  If something like that was available, I would use it to re-wire my cab and make it all nice an clean.

Bad cabling, even when hidden, makes me feel dirty.

[bb040]

try using the round cables ..sure they cost a little more but they are easyer to strip and they make for a clean install

[quarterback]

Not to hijack this review thread any more than it is, I started a thread in the Main forum.  RandyT has chimed in and it looks like these will be offered:

Somebody make me an IDE->Centronics cable and sell it for ~$5... please?

Agreed.  If something like that was available, I would use it to re-wire my cab and make it all nice an clean.

[Xam]

I purchased a GP-wiz (slightly different I know) and have had no issues with it. I got the solder version and thought I would end up with a mess...if you take your time, you may surprise your self! (I know I did)

Works great and Randy was very helpful with any tech advise i needed.

I will say, though it was not extremely difficult to do the soldering, I would probably buy a no solder version next time.

Xam

[More Cowbell]

I purchased a GP-wiz (slightly different I know) and have had no issues with it. I got the solder version and thought I would end up with a mess...if you take your time, you may surprise your self! (I know I did)

Works great and Randy was very helpful with any tech advise i needed.

I will say, though it was not extremely difficult to do the soldering, I would probably buy a no solder version next time.

Xam

I second that emotion. I have used the solder version 3 times so far and plan to use it again. Take your time and it goes just fine. The only problem I have had was when one or two of my shoddy soldering jobs came loose and suddenly I'm missing buttons. The product itself works exactly as advertised right out of the bubble wrap. That includes the SHAZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM key which is a fancy spelling for "shift". It allowed me to use less buttons on the control panel while still getting the functionality of the tab, escape, and enter keys. I just hide the SHAZAA "shift" key on the bottom of the control panel.