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Fragpedal Elite

Written by DM on Monday, May 21 2007

The PC game market has always been a place where unique, one-of-a-kind, control and input devices can do well more often than not. The annals of PC accessory history are filled with such gadgets. Today I have the good fortune to be able to review one of these items – the Fragpedal Elite. The Fragpedal is basically a way that gamers can use their feet to access four buttons for gaming, or even general windows use. Is it worth buying, or does it belong in the bargain bin?

The Fragpedal is about the size of two iPods sitting next to each other. The package comes with two of these pedals, and each pedal has two round buttons. The buttons themselves are half-spheres, and they do require a bit of pressure to activate, so do not plan on using these as hand-buttons in a pinch. The pedals are about as thick as an iPod as well, and they are backed with rubber that helps the pad not to move when you smack it with your shoe. The two pads are connected to each other by a wire that is long enough for Paul Bunyan to place one by each foot, and there is a USB cable of about the same length for plugging in to your PC.

The pedals are easy to hook up, of course, they are USB. Once plugged in, you get to operate the software. As soon as I plugged in the Fragpedal, Windows XP recognized the peripheral. Without the software installed, by the way, the buttons will be right and left mouse clicks.

Keep in mind that the software gives the Fragpedal almost all of its special abilities. The Fragpedal has an embedded Cypress Microprocessor which gives the pedals their macro capability. This means, for you laymen about, that the macros you create are stored right on the pedal themselves. This is very important for professional gamers, as they are constantly switching PCs from tournament to tournament. This is what Good Work Systems, the makers of the device, call the “Embedded Intelligence and Memory.”

Once the software is installed, you can change the buttons to pretty much whatever strikes your fancy. The button setting feature is really only the secondary function of the drivers, the main attraction is the macro programming software. You can build any macros you like with a simple point and click interface. You can even create and edit macros directly using the PAL 2.0 programming language. The functions you can use for the buttons include press, press/release, toggle, and timed multi-use. The last function allows you to set different functions for a single, double, or even triple tap. There is also a handy “shift” function which basically shifts the buttons to a second function, ostensibly doubling the functions you can assign to the pedals.

In the beginning, the Fragpedal was a bit awkward. Once I got used to the device though, it worked like a charm. I had a bit of a problem when using the Fragpedal on a smooth floor, but some double-sided tape took care of that. When I used the Fragpedal on a carpet though, there was no slippage whatsoever. I used S.T.A.L.K.E.R. to test the Fragpedal in-game, and I can say, without doubt, that this thing is certainly a clever piece of hardware. The best use for the pedal I found was one pedal for crouching and running, and one pedal for weapon scrolling. The best part is that every command that the Fragpedal sends to the PC is basically a keyboard or mouse standard command, so there really is no issue with lag or compatibility.

The only possible concern that I have with the Fragpedal is that it may not be useful enough to warrant a purchase. The software and hardware perform very well, but I found myself wondering why gamers would prefer to use a pedal setup instead of something like a macro programmable keyboard. Of course, this device can and has found great success with the handicapped gamers’ caucus. As for the everyday gamer, you have to ask yourself if freeing up some buttons and button press motions on your mouse is really worth purchasing the Fragpedal setup. All I can tell you is that if you even have the slightest question that the pedals may help you, then buy them and try it. At the very least you will end up with a set of solidly-made, very well programmed input devices.

For more information on the Fragpedal Elite and all of the Good Work Systems products, check their website at http://gamingmouse.com/.

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