Saitek Cyborg Rumble Pad Review

Aug 22 2007, 12:00am CDT | by Shane McGlaun

Lots of PC gamers like to have a game pad on hand for driving games and some even prefer them for FPS games. Today we are going to have a look at Saitek’s newest gamepad called the Cyborg Rumble Pad. The Saitek Cyborg Rumble Pad has a pretty unique feature that many gamers will appreciate. Read on to find out how well it performs.

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Benchmarks

Features & Specifications
Any gamer who has held a PS3 or Xbox 360 control will have a very good idea of what exactly the Saitek Cyborg Rumble Pad feels like in your hands. It’s a bit more substantial than the PS3 controller, leaning more towards the feel of the Xbox 360 controller.

The most interesting feature of the Saitek Cyborg Rumble Pad is the Cyborg-module which is a silver module on the left side of the gamepad that can be removed and flipped around. This allows you to put the D-pad and joystick on the left side into two configurations. If you put the Cyborg-module in with the joystick portion at the bottom of the controller, you get a very PS3/PS3 feel from the controller. Eject the Cyborg-module and plug it in the other direction and the feel of the Saitek Cyborg Rumble Pad is very different and akin to what Xbox 360 uses are used to with one joystick at the top of the controller and one towards the bottom.

The Cyborg-module can be ejected and switched around on-the-fly without needing to stop your game to swap. A small eject button on the bottom allows for easy removal, but keeps the module in place during gaming. Other features include a FPS button that reduces sensitivity when clicked to allow for tasks like sniping. Other buttons include a quartet of shoulder buttons on the top of the controller, D-pad, four buttons on the front of the controller and two small buttons under the FPS buttons as well as the second right side analog stick. The Saitek Cyborg Rumble Pad connects to your computer via a single USB port.

No software is needed to use the Saitek Cyborg Rumble Pad, you can simply plug it in and map controls to it in your game of choice. However, software is included to allow you to make profiles that you can load for specific games. The software works well and is very robust and full featured. You can also turn the FPS button into a shift buttons and map twice as many commands to the available buttons on the controller. You can also program any mouse or keyboard command to the controller via the SST software.

Gaming with the Cyborg Rumble Pad
I’m not a big fan of FPS gaming with game pads, but I have done it before. The Saitek Cyborg Rumble Pad works as well as any game pad and excels for FPS games thanks to the FPS button that allows you to reduce the sensitivity for sniping. This made things a lot easier in Battlefield 2142 when I needed to snipe some one. I preferred playing with the two analog sticks close to each other in a PS3 configuration, but I did switch the Cyborg-module around a few times, which gives the Cyborg controller a different feel. Hot swapping the Cyborg-module during the game caused no problems.

All the buttons and triggers give good tactile feedback and the programming software is good allowing you to do most anything you want with the programming of the controller. The software could be set up a bit better; programming the buttons can be a bit overwhelming when you first see the list of edits you can perform. The rumble feedback built into the controller uses Immersion technology. The only real problem with this is that not many PC games are rumble enabled. I know some are, but none of my favorite uses rumble at all. The only other issue I had was that the USB cable was too short. If you use a large desk like me and your PC sits further than six feet away after you thread the cable around your desk, you will need a USB hub to connect the Saitek Cyborg Rumble Pad.

Verdict

Conclusion

Pros

Cyborg-module lets you customize control feel
Comfortable in the hand

Cons

Software can be overwhelming to program
USB cable too short

Verdict
If you are the type of PC gamer that prefers a game pad for FPS titles over the mouse and keyboard, the Saitek Cyborg Rumble Pad is a great option. A wealth of programmable buttons and customizable controls will make the Saitek Cyborg Rumble Pad a great choice for the majority of PC gamers.

8.0

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Shane McGlaun
Leading our review center, Shane knows technology inside out. His extensive experience in testing computer hardware and consumer electronics enable him to effectively qualify new products and trends. If you want us review your product, please contact Shane.
Shane can be contacted directly at shane@i4u.com.