Product on Review: COUCHMASTER Cycon
Manufacturer & Sponsor: NerdyTec
Street Price: UK: £149.99, EU: €159.99
For a long while now, at least in our perspective, gaming has been the prime living-room activity. Though PC gaming is often sidelined to a desk only situation due to the inconvenience of having to support a number of peripherals at any one given time, and so the consoles reigned supreme. Though judging PC sales, we can argue that this is one paradigm that is changing. Arguably it wasn't until the availability of Xinput and Dinput on desktop PCs (along with the Xbox 360) until there was a reliable standard for gamepads and controllers to get behind, before then, most gamepads were low quality, or were programmed in a rather clunky manner of manually remapping keys to the pad in-game. Despite the availability of high quality game pads, PC gaming is about the keyboard & mouse combo with the odd steering wheel, and flight-sim or mech-control deck thrown in, and this simply makes many PC specific games unfeasible.
Enter the lapdesk... they come in various sizes and proportions from fold open tables for laptops, to the cushion on the lap style boards such as the Corsair LAPDOG and the ROCCAT SOVA. NerdyTech released the COUCHMASTER and various versions of it a number of years ago, but now they have refined the design, creating a lighter, more convenient solution that has the advantage of comfort, stability and versatility that other manufacturers are yet to replicate. The COUCHMASTER Cycon features a pair of lightweight, but firm cushions that provide a supportive base for the board itself, that features a 4way USB 3.0 hub and cable routing space for your mouse, keyboard, headset or any other peripherals. Because it takes advantage of using a 5m long active USB 3.0 cable, there is no need for additional power cables (unless you exceed 900mA) that would otherwise cause more clutter. As it is flexible and spacious, it is compatible with almost any gaming peripheral and is suitable for left and right handers.
Overview by NerdyTec
This hand-crafted system finished in high-quality artificial leather or microfiber offers you the most comfortable way possible of operating your PC from your couch. The Couchmaster is the perfect platform for long gaming sessions or ergonomic working on your living-room TV. The large cushions provide optimum support for your forearms. The integrated USB 3.0 hub provides connections for up to four input devices (such as mouse, keyboard, headset, etc.). What is more, the latest chip technology makes it possible to run the whole system without a separate power supply*. The 5m active USB 3.0 cable supplied connects the Couchmaster directly to your PC.
