Elgato Stream Deck +

Another classic iteration of Elgato’s marvellous controller series

SINCE THE FIRST version of the Elgato Stream Deck launched a couple of years back, they’ve become a musthave accessory for streamers who want to make accessing their most used functions as easy as pie. There’s now a family of these products, of which this Elgato Stream Deck + is just the latest.

The big new addition is a series of four knobs to the bottom of the Deck, which adds more analog and tactile functionality to a device that’s literally a USB-powered button box. Elgato claims that those four dials will help integrate this particular Stream Deck into the wider brand of streaming gear that the Corsair-owned brand provides, such as its Wave line of microphones and sets of key lights. With the dials, you can adjust mic gain and key light color temperature, which is especially handy.

Each dial also has a press-down button for things such as muting. Speaking of more functionality, the Stream Deck software also has this Dial Stack feature, where you can assign multiple functions to a single dial. Outside of the addition of four metal and tactile dials, the Stream Deck + is another classic iteration of Elgato’s marvellous product. There are a total of eight buttons that you can control, each with their own display so you can customize them using myriad selectable icons within Elgato’s software. While the main use for these buttons is on Twitch or YouTube, or in programs such as OBS, there are a shedload of plugins available for other apps to make the Stream Deck + an excellent device for productivity.

For instance, you can control PowerPoint or Keynote presentations with it, as well as select specific functions in Photoshop. Or, if you’re feeling particularly clever, there are even games you can play using the buttons. The long and short of it is that the Stream Deck + is an immensely enjoyable product to use, with seemingly endless amounts of functionality. Other versions of it may have more buttons, but the additional dials just add another form of control. All of these different doodads, plugins, and gizmos you can use with the Stream Deck + can be found within Elgato’s Stream Deck software, which is remarkably easy to use.

WORTH THE PRICE?

Grabbing plugins for the Stream Deck is as easy as downloading them from the free store contained within the app, and once they’re downloaded, they should show up on the right-hand side of the app’s main interface. Getting them onto the Stream Deck + is a simple exercise in dragging and dropping. Mine’s got media playback controls for Spotify, a widget for CPU power, as well as one for weather, an analog clock, and stocks.

The Stream Deck + is a good-looking contraption, with a solid construction that helps to justify the $200 price tag. The buttons themselves are pretty big, and the displays inside them are bright enough for both daytime and after-dark working, while the touch bar above the dials is also pretty responsive to use, as are the dials themselves. It’s also convenient that all you need to use the device is the included USB Type-C cable. Hopefully one day Elgato will make a wireless version of the Stream Deck, but for now, a single USB Type-C cable is decent enough.

The Stream Deck + is a useful tool for not only streamers, but also those who want to make their workflows as simple and easy as possible. Slapping down 200 big ones for the sake of adding some dials may not appeal to some, though, not least if you already own a Stream Deck that comes with more buttons already and therefore as much if not more functionality as this one, just in a different form. For those of us who haven’t had the pleasure of using one before, though, it’s pretty easy to see the appeal.

VERDICT

8

Elgato Stream Deck +

DECKED OUT Sleek build; easy-to-use software; lots of plugins; single Type-C USB connection.

HIT THE DECK Not necessary; pricey versus standard Stream Deck.

$200, www.elgato.com