Sidewinder X6 Review

(Quick review, please comment if anything wrong or could be improved, havent had chance to go over much- Sorry for the poor quality non flash shots, couldnt shown the backlights as the sun was shining and the flash ruined it :P)

Right, the item I am reviewing today is the Microsoft Sidewinder X6 which was brought out in late 2008 and was part of Microsofts push with the newly resurrected Sidewinder brand.

Packaging:
The box this keyboard comes in is just like the normal MS keyboards, red and not too ‘in your face’ type like a lot of manufacturers use. The front looks pretty basic but does show you a render of the keyboard and the name, all you need on the front in my opinion. The back has a lot more going for it and details all the important features that this keyboard has, I cant say the packaging is bad as it does its job at protecting the keyboard and customers can clearly see it’s an MS keyboard and what model just by glancing at it. Once you open the box it’s a very simple affair, there’s a keyboard, a manual and the driver CD held in the box.
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/h.../Review010.jpg
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/h.../Review011.jpg
(mines a german keyboard so remember it would normally be in english)

The Keyboard:
Initially when I picked up the keyboard out of the box I knew this was a real solid keyboard, the weight of it just make it ooze with quality and I to me it felt heavier than my G15v2.
It is bigger than your standard keyboard, it has some gloss black parts around the keys and the actual keys are not your standard plastic rough coated type, im not really sure if its gloss as it doesn’t seem to attract finger prints at all but it looks pretty nice and contrasts well with the overall design. The wrist rest is built into the board which is solid and not flimsy, this is what I feel is a good design for keyboards because I didn’t like the G15 with that cheap removable pad as it was flimsy but I prefer the extra length. The wrist rest is plastic with a dull black finish and has a key built onto it which is used for macros which will be discussed later.

http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/h.../Review018.jpg
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/h.../Review019.jpg
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/h.../Review020.jpg
Now for the extra keys, on the top row there is the following (left to right):
• Quick launch button
• Auto Pilot
• Macro recorder
• Mode Changer
• Play/Pause
• Previous
• Next
• Mute
• Brightness Dial
• Volume Dial
The quick launch button works exactly how you would think, you define the program you want it to be assigned with and when you press the button it immediately launches. As default it’s assigned to Internet Explorer but you can change this in the provided software. The auto pilot is probably the best addition ive seen and I actually found use for it, basically if you hold a key down and then press the auto pilot button you will see the LED light up next to it which means its on this now means the key is constantly being held down. Here is a real simple example from my experience, I’m playing an mmorpg and whenever killing a mob there’s a lot of loot so, to make life easier I can just press space and use auto pilot to loot everything and then use just the mouse to navigate and attack other mobs and repeat, this leaves me to just drink my coffee or have something to eat :D.

Mode launcher, this key is pretty much like most other gaming keyboards where it allows you to increase the amount of macros you have by switching ‘banks’. These 3 settings, bank 1/ bank 2 and bank 3, bank 1 is the general mode so only the macro keys on the side are useable as macros and nothing is disabled. On bank 2 however this is defined by Microsoft as the ‘Gaming’ mode, this basically means that the num pad changes into a programmable macro board so all the keys on the pad can be assigned macros. Too help you know that you’re in this mode the num pads backlight changes to amber just like the 6 macro keys on the side, another helpful design on the num pad is that at the bottom of every key there’s a number with an s in front of it, this represents what key it affects in the programming software. The gaming mode also disables the windows key like most other keyboards are doing now, it’s a useful feature and I’m glad Microsoft didn’t leave it out.
Finally bank 3, this is as far as I’ve found doubles up as an “auto” mode where in the Microsoft keyboard software you can add any game exe file so that when you launch that game it applies its own separate macros. So for example I had assigned the counter strike source exe to this and when I launched css my macros for buying certain kit were active, to show your on this automatic mode (when the game is launched) the red led used to show you what mode you’re in changes to amber and light up the bottom half of the mode bar. It’s a very nice feature as long as you can spend the time setting macros.
Media buttons are just your average play/pause/next/previous, work fine with my media player so nothing bad there. The dials on this keyboard look nice and work pretty well, the first dial is the backlight dial where it adjust the brightness of the backlight and whether it’s on or off, this has a min and max value (you can’t turn it 360degrees). The volume dial is essentially the same but affects volume however this dial has no min or max value ( I thought mine was broken!), it seems a bit silly to me as I don’t need it turning 360 degrees and does require me to take a second to realize if I had it set to low or high.

Right the one major point the x6 has over any other keyboard is that fact it has a removable num pad, this means its suited for lefties and righties, along with allowing a bit of preference to where you want your macro buttons, all in one place or 1 set on the left and right. MS did this very well, its so easy to remove you just pull it up and it comes away, its also super easy to attach with the num pad using magnets to hold it in place. It connects with a USB looking connector, takes less than 5 seconds to start up and the backlight to start but as soon as that’s done it works flawlessly. The magnets do a very good job at holding it in place, just one thing I feel MS overlooked is the plastic feet, the rest of the keyboard has sturdy rubber feet so it would have been nice to have rubber on this as it would help keep the grip even, however It still hasn’t really affected me so maybe it was a cut that could have been taken.
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/h.../Review015.jpg
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/h...fReview014.jpg

Macro buttons:

Right I haven’t touched up on this much, the x6 has 6 macro buttons on the side, these are lit with an amber backlight and work just like other macro buttons similar to the g15 etc. These keys can be assigned to many macros with the use of the 3 bank’s however these another way to increase macros and keep to the same game bank, this is done by the use of a little key under the last macro button (in the wrist rest) you press this and you change the mode to change the 6 keys to be used as macro key 6 to 12. I use this in CSS, as most will know there’s 2 teams (ct/t) and with that there’s two different buy macros needed, I press the little button when I’m on ct and press it again to use the normal mode when I’m on T, this little addition adds to MS ability to market the 90 programmable macros which actually has proven its use so I applaud MS for adding this.
The Num pad takes up the macro count from a max of 12 to 30, and then the 3 different banks allows for easy access to a total of 90 Macro keys.

The typing:
The main part of a keyboard is to type so it would be wrong to miss out this, so far ive been using it for a few weeks and I to me the X6 feels like a cross between laptop and full sized keys (leaning towards the latter), they travel less than my el cheapo MS keyboard but its so easy to type and feels a lot better than the g15 I had. I haven’t had any discomfort while using it and ive been using it for hours on end recently. I cant really comment anymore on it as its all down to personal preference, I didn’t like the G15 as it felt really hollow typing but these keys feel firm and react to my typing better, typing on it doesn’t create to much noise and they seem decent enough.
One problem ive had is that the keys are intermittent, this is purely because its faulty and MS have sent me a new replacement (just waiting for delivery :D). I cant say how much I appreciate MS replacing this as it was bought secondhand off ebay, I wasn’t expecting it and I wasn’t sure it would be this quick (its just as good as Logitech IMO). However the reason I mention this is because it seems a problem that people get, its not rare (although not extremely common) but it tends to happen after the keyboard is 12months or older. Its simply caused by the fact the membrane part in the back of the keyboard loses its position as screws come loose, I have found a simple fix for this by just undoing the back and re aligning the membrane and then screwing it back into place, however this does void your warranty so you should only do that if its out of warranty!. Thankfully MS give you a 3 year warranty so your sorted .

Price, the price of this keyboard is around £30-£40 where as I got mine for £15. I’d gladly pay £50+ for this, I feel its much better than razers or Logitech’s expensive keyboards where it offers good features not gimmicks (LCD :P).

Pros:
Great to type on
Removable keypad
Good strong even backlight
Good macro keys
Auto pilot
Design
Robust

Cons:
Bigger than standard keyboard
No choice of backlight colour

Overall score? 9/10 or 95%

Edit: forgot a conclusion :D.

In conclusion i believe MS have successfully revived the Sidewinder brand with the release of a good gaming mouse and now a keyboard that hands down beats the competition of similary priced boards. Its pleasent to type on, almost silent while doing so and feels sturdy and has a nice wrist rest and it looks the part when using it, id even go as far as saying its good for the office :). One possible bad part for people is the size of the keyboard, its bigger than the average keyboard so its not good if you have little room UNLESS you can live without a numpad then its the same if not smaller than the normal keyboard :). An added touch could of been different back light colours (bar the num pad orange and red), it would be nice to have say Blue/green or something just to help in customisation apart from that though theres no real flaws with this keyboard.

From wolvemanzbytes http://www.wolfmanzbytes.com/pc/msswx6kb/msswkb5lg.jpg

Heres a screen shot of the software, it lacks a good gui but its certainly just like XP or something :P. Basic simple colour scheme but it does the job very well and is easy to access everything

Nice review..i just wanted to add that I've had one of these for about 3 months now, got the keyboard and the older (better than the "newest" model) sidewinder mouse, and they are simply the best combination of gaming keyboard/mouse that I have ever used.

I've always used Microsoft keyboards and mice simply because I genuinely believe them to be the best - quality is always excellent, design is good and comfortable and of course the support is second to none if something does go wrong (usually due to overuse). Logitech are not even close imo, they have more gimmicks but can't reproduce the same quality in terms of build or design.

I tend to use my sidewinder mouse fully weighted which makes it close to the heavy wireless mice i'm used to, but just light enough to be able to move it quickly and easily, and also use the keyboard most of the time without the numpad. I have enough macro keys on the left hand side (which are much more logical anyway since right hand is on the mouse..)for WoW and CSS, and the space saving aspect is a good one. If doing some development I can simply attach the numpad and away I go..simples.

The looks do leave a little to be desired as it is very retro imo, but both are very comfortable to use..matching the comfort of my wireless laser desktop that I used to have before this.

I don't really need to say much else except that both the keyboard and mouse are a great buy - mine cost £40 and £20 respectively from PC World a few months ago (reduced from a frankly crazy £80 and £40) , well worth it!

Good review Hicks, been pondering buying one of these for quite some time. Think I am going to take the plunge soon. Shame about those monster dials on the top though, ludicrous!

I honestly think the dials suite it :P, they do their job perfectly but again it is down to personal taste. I think you should stop pondering about buyying and buy now, it really is a good solid keyboard so all i need to change now is the mouse but im still debating what to get first :D.

Knobs beat buttons every time when it comes to volume.

Just thought id say that i got my replacement keyboard today! An english replacement so im happy :), i have to saying having the keys work flawlessly now just makes it even better to type on. Its only taken a week for MS to get me a new one and with their warranty when you get a replacement the warranty renews so i got another 3 years :D.

The warranty replacement is better than Logitech, without a doubt.

I had one, no risers so sold it on, I like a height adjustable keyboard :)

Ah yes fair comment finlay and i forgot to mention it, although i used to have to always have the keyboard risers on for any type of comfort, I can safely say for me the wrist rest and overall design seems to make it better to type on and means there no need for it for me.

But yeh that is a negative for quite a few people :P.