MaximumPC 2007 02

W

e’ve played games on just about every console that’s ever come out

and pretty much all the big PC games of the last 15 years. We can’t

remember a single time when sweaty hands—caused by prolonged, intense

gaming bouts, of which we’ve experienced many—have caused us to lose

our grip on the action for even a split-second (what a great excuse that

would make for losing a tight game of Madden!).

Nevertheless, Logitech has stepped in with a new controller equipped

with a built-in three-speed fan aimed at solving the “great sweaty palm”

syndrome that’s apparently afflicting gamers. (The short-lived Nyko Air Flo

tried to do the same thing a couple years ago.) The ChillStream does work

as advertised—it definitely felt cool in our hands, and we didn’t get sweaty

palms when using it. Heck, vents on the top of the handles mean that even

our thumbs stayed cool. However, as stated earlier, we don’t have a sweat

problem—and the dang fan is distractingly loud on even the lowest setting.

Thankfully, you can turn it off.

Fan aside, this is still a pretty “cool” gamepad: It’s comfortable to

use and lightweight but durable, and its design mirrors the Xbox 360 pad’s,

which is pretty much the blueprint for developers to support from now on.

The ChillStream works out of the box with Games for Windows–labeled

games that include support for simple gamepad setup. The fan—in reality a

two-speed fan, as the third speed is “off”—is clearly Logitech’s way to dif-

ferentiate its me-too design. Personally, we’d rather the fan was left out and

the pad carried a lower price tag, which would make the ChillStream easier

to recommend over the 360 pad.

As it stands, the annoyingly loud fan delivers only negligible benefits

and isn’t enough to make up for the lack of rumble feedback—

unless, of course, you are a

very sweaty gamer.

—Steve Klett

Logitech ChillStream

Gamepad

Solving the problem gamers don’t like to talk about

W

hen you take all of the SP-510 UZ’s pseudo-SLR features and quality glass

lens into account, it’s hard to believe how small and light (11 ounces) it is.

However, despite the drop in size and increase in features when compared to

previous Olympus cameras, the 7.1-megapixel 510’s image quality is not up to

the level we’re accustomed to—so smaller and lighter ain’t necessarily better.

The 510 is simply more sensitive to noise, and one reason for this may be

that Olympus elected to leave out optical image stabilization, choosing digital

image stabilization instead. Essentially, this does little more than automatically

boost ISO speeds, which enables you to shoot at faster shutter speeds—while

also increasing noise sensitivity. (Many competing cameras offer optical stabi-

lization, which adjusts the lens to compensate for camera movement.) With the

510, we saw evidence of noise in soft shadows at ISO speeds as low as 200,

with more obvious issues at ISO 400 and above. Also, while the 2.5-inch LCD is

plenty big enough, its resolution is less than impressive.

The 510’s 10x optical zoom lens has high-quality construction, is fast,

and delivers very good images under ideal shooting conditions, and the digital

image stabilization does help in low-light conditions. However, several other

cameras in this segment offer 12x zooms.

Still, at this price, which is at the lower end of the super-zoom segment,

the 510 has a lot going for it. The full-manual controls are a nice option and

there’s a generous stable of preprogrammed scene modes, 21MB of built-in

memory, burst and continuous shooting modes, a built-in guide that steps you

through the camera’s features, solid macro performance, and excellent auto-

matic white-balancing that compensates nicely in natural and artificial light-

ing conditions. Then there’s the ability to shoot in RAW image mode, which

most cameras at this price point do not offer—shot-to-shot performance is

extremely slow (10 seconds) even with a fast flash xD card. Still, we’d rather

have RAW support than not. The video mode—640x480, 30 fps—is also better

than average.

The 510 is extremely easy to use, its controls are well placed, and it’s

affordable, making it a solid choice for beginning photographers who

want a camera that will give them

room to develop their abilities.

—Steve Klett

Olympus SP-510 UZ

Stepping over dollars to pick up nickels

the ChillStream’s design mirrors that of the Xbox 360 for

Windows gamepad—aside from its cooling fan, of course.

the SP-510 UZ has a generous stable of features but one glaring

omission: optical image stabilization.

7

olympus sp-510 uz

$300, http://www.olympus.com

6

Chillstream gamepad

$40, http://www.logitech.com

2.8"

2.9

"

4.2"

reviews Tes Ted. Reviewed. veRdic Tized

78 MAXIMUMPC february 2007