forums.naturalpoint.com

Hello!

I've been using a head-pointer mouse to play FPS for many years. The unit I use is called the HeadMaster from Prentke Romich. Its been around awhile and its design is on the bulky side. Its not the most comfortable thing to wear for long periods of time. However, its extremely responsive and accurate. It only functions as a vanilla mouse, but when used in tandem with my Kensington trackball, I've been able to hold my own in FPS games.

I'm a quad so I have limited hand control and striking individual keboard keys rapidly and accurately is impossible for me. Along with my HeadMaster and trackball, I use a joystick w/a little keyboard emulator for movement. This keeps keyboard keystrokes to a minimum for me, especially while in combat.

Anyway, I've been curious about NaturalPoint for a couple years. I tried a couple other head-pointers a few years back, but compared to my HeadMaster, their performance was sluggish and unsuitable for FPS AFAIC. Hopefully I�ll find the TrackIR/SmartNAV adequate for FPS gaming. I recently decided to get another head-pointer for a different setup I'm planning on using. A couple days ago I ordered the TrackIR 3Pro, but now I wish I ordered the SmartNAV EG as it has switch inputs for mouse clicks. I was under the impression that the SmartNAV was not as good for gaming as the TrackIR, but now it seems like the latest SmartNAV is an enhanced version of the TrackIR 3Pro, so it should perform just as well.(Even though I�m disabled, the reason for me using head-pointers is gaming. I do desktop work with my trackball)

I�m glad to read there are plans to add TrackIR Enhanced support for some FPS games like HL2. There will be a TON of mods released based on HL2. Even the plain deathmatch is pretty fun. Once you�re able to get HL2 working well with TrackIR, it would be nice is there was a server available where TrackIR users could play with/against each other, honing their TrackIR FPS skills. I�m sure this would generate a bunch of feedback as well.

I�ll probably end up exchanging my TrackIR for the SmartNAV EG once it arrives. I should have read up on the most recent info before I ordered, lol.

Happy Holidays!

John

p.s. I�m sure you guys have probably seen this, but there is a great(at least in concept) product coming out called the DX1 by Ergodex. It is a fully customizable keyboard that looks really cool.

[ December 24, 2004, 09:55 PM: Message edited by: Cannon Fodder ]

i believe you've been emailing with kevin about this?

basically as i understand it.
the HeadMaster only offers three settings (slow/med/fast) via a switch.
you should really try the SmartNAV3, john. tons of settings.
- adjust speed up / down separate from left / right.
- smooth out motion if you like.
- use it in "absolute mode" and you won't have to recenter the cursor by bouncing it off the edges of the screen all the time.
- If you do have usage problems, the software will actually help you to track it down (whereas, if a hardware based headmouse starts acting strangely, you'll never know why).
- all you have to wear is a tiny reflective sticker (no clunky headset).
- etc.

plus the smartnav3 has a 30 day money back guarantee. highly encourage you to give it a test drive.

right now the TrackIR is geared towards complimenting other pc inpts (mouse, keyboard, joystick, etc.). TrackIR isn't about replacing any of these inputs.

SmartNAV3 is a hands free cursor controller, designed to be better than a mouse, and should work far better than your HeadMaster. And as an added bonus, SmartNAV units will work with the TrackIR software. But you can't use both software packages at the same time.

hope that clarifies it somewhat, both for you and others reading this thread.

[ January 03, 2005, 06:18 PM: Message edited by: Warren Blyth -webdev- ]