Custom PC – October 2019

Go all out and you could use multiple pedals
to select weapons, fire off macros and
much more, all without having to move your
fingers from the most important keys and
buttons on your keyboard and mouse.
Add analogue pedals into the mix and you
have even more potential. Okay, so the uses
here may be less game-orientated,buthaving
a pedal that can adjust volume,scrollingspeed/
direction and so on could
certainly be useful.

The options
Considering all this
potential, you’d expect
gaming peripheral
companies to have long
since cottoned on to this
cash cow and milked it
dry. However, not a single
well-known peripheral
company has got on board
yet. It’s quite bizarre.
That said, there’s still a few optionsif you’re
willing to take a punt on an unknowncompany.
Search online for gaming foot pedals,andoneof
the first options you’ll see popupis theFragpedal,
made by Good Work Systems.Builtwithgaming
in mind, the Fragpedal is availableintwo-pedal
or four-pedal versions and it certainlylookslike
it has potential. Unfortunately,weweren’table
to get hold of one for this feature,asthesmall
US-based company doesn’t yetshiptotheUK.
With that promising option ano-go,wefound
just two programmable USB footpedalsthat
appeared to be widely availableroundtheworld.
Both appear to be made by a Chinesecompany
called PCsensor (the softwareforconfiguring
both pedals is made by this company),although
they’re marketed under all sortsofdifferent
names depending on where youbuythem.
The first is a 3-in-1 pedal board,whichyou
can find sold under the Sodial brandonamazon.
co.uk for just £20 inc VAT (it’s listedastheFS3
in the PCsensor software). The second can
also be found on amazon.co.uk under the
Docooler brand, with the single-pedal version
(FS2016USB1) costing £18 inc VAT and the two-
pedal version (FS2016USB2) costing £30 inc VAT.

Not reallyknowing

what toexpect,we

ordered one each of theSodial

and the two-pedal Docooler.Aftera

reliably short Amazon delivery time, both pedal

boards arrived unscathed – clearly both products

were stocked in the UK. A quick download of

theconfigurationsoftwarefromPCsensor.com

andwewereabletogivethepedalsa workout.

Straightaway,it was

obviousthattheDocooler

pedalwasmuchmorerobust

thantheSodialone.It hasa

thickmetalbasethatmakes

thepedalsbothsturdyand

weightyenoughnottoslide

aroundthefloor.Thefoot

switchesthemselvesare

alsolarge,heavilysprung

andprovidea clearlyaudible

clickwhentriggered.

Incontrast,theSodial

havea flimsyplastic

base,andthep

lightlysprung.T

thepedal,soit’

difficulttopress

thepedalwith

justthetipof

yourfoot.This

arrangementwas

annoyingenough

thatweflippedthe

pedalsaroundand

usedthemwith

theUSBcable

directedtowards

us.Thebuttonsalso

audibleortactilefe

Settingupboths

easythough.Thesoftwareclearlyli

productsit supportsdowntheleftside,andit

automaticallyshowswhichonesareplugged

intoyourPC.Selectthedevice,andyoucan

assign to each pedal either a single key press,

a mouse button click, a string of key presses,

a multimedia key function or even emulate

game controller buttons. You can also opt to

have key presses trigger once or continuously.

TheSodialFS3-P

is a cheap USB

pedalboard with three

programmable pedals

USBfootpedal

boardwithtwo

programmable

pedals

Theideaandoverallbenefit

ofusingyourfeettoadd

morecontroltoyour

computershouldn’ttake

muchexplaining

mallandmuchmore

ingefrom thefrontof

odon’tprovideanysortof

edbackwhenth ed.

setsofpedalswa

ft l l li

TheDocooler

FS2isarobust

USB foot pedal