PRODUCT INFORMATION
Elgato Stream Deck Mini
July 24, 2018
Type Controller
Price £90/$100
Just over a year after the original fifteen-button Stream Deck was released, Elgato decided to scale the device down to a miniature six-button docking station. A lot of people seem to be disappointed with this announcement because they wanted more buttons, not less. In the year since the release of the first Stream Deck, many enhancements have been made to the software (such as the Multi Actions tool) that encourage users to do more with the press of a single button. With the ability to do more with less, we’ll see if the cheaper (£90/$100) Stream Deck Mini is worth buying over its older, more expensive sibling.
Aside from the obvious change being the lack of eleven extra buttons, Elgato has improved the design of the Stream Deck Mini by making the device a whole piece. The Stream Deck Mini has a rubber cushion at the bottom to prevent it from sliding when accidentally moved. This means users can’t tilt the Stream Deck like they could with the original device, but I’d much rather accept that trade-off for an overall sturdier Stream Deck. The buttons themselves appear to be exactly the same as the original Stream Deck, i.e. they are of decent quality, but they can get stuck if you press the button slightly too hard.
Unfortunately, the Stream Deck Mini doesn’t feature a detachable cable, which was one of my main complaints with the original. The Stream Deck is best used both while streaming and as a handy tool for everyday use. If you use a Stream Deck, you probably have a streaming computer to lighten the heavy load on your gaming computer. A detachable cable would have allowed users to easily move the Stream Deck Mini from computer to computer. Hopefully in the future Elgato/Corsair will introduce a detachable USB Type C cable, if not for revised versions of Stream Decks but perhaps for a future larger Stream Deck? We can dream.
As I mentioned earlier, the Stream Deck software has improved considerably since its release last year. The biggest addition to the software has to be Multi Actions which allows you to perform multiple actions with the press of a single button. I’ve implemented a button to prep my entire stream: open three programs (OBS, Stream Labels, and Streamlabs Chatbot), go live, and tweet what I’m currently streaming. It’s basically nothing compared to how it can be used. The possibilities are endless with Multi Actions, and when you only have six buttons to play with, you really have to get creative when setting up your Stream Deck Mini.
Fortunately, smart profiles have been added to the Stream Deck software to prevent users from going through many folders. Smart Profiles automatically changes your profile based on the program you have open, giving you access to a whole new set of actions. This feature helps show off the Stream Deck’s capabilities outside of streaming, making it extremely useful when editing videos and photos (provided you take the time to set up the actions).
The Stream Deck’s software has improved so much that I would say this device is no longer comparable to a keyboard with pre-assigned hotkeys. With Multi Actions, the Stream Deck elevates itself to a must-have device for full-time streamers only because it saves so much time. To take full advantage of the device, you need to invest some time in setting up some actions, but it’s worth it in the long run.
There are a few bugs with the software, although they seem minor in the grand scheme of things. The thing that bothered me the most was transferring my old Stream Deck profile to the Mini. I couldn’t find a way to use the actions I had already created unless they were on the six buttons I wanted to use. Take the original Stream Deck with its fifteen buttons. Unless the actions I wanted were on the first six buttons, the remaining nine actions wouldn’t be available to choose from. Seems like a massive oversight to me, but how likely is someone with an original Stream Deck to upgrade to a Stream Deck Mini?
Review unit provided by Elgato. You can buy the device through Amazon.
seven
For those of you who own a Stream Deck, there’s almost no reason to buy a Stream Deck Mini because you already own the superior product. The Stream Deck Mini packs the exact same functionality into a smaller body, but with fewer buttons, navigating through multiple folders along the way can seem awkward in comparison. One of the main reasons to buy a Stream Deck is the convenience of performing multiple functions at the push of a well-labeled button, so limiting yourself to just six buttons seems counterproductive, especially when the price difference is relatively small. in the order of things. If you haven’t purchased the original Stream Deck and are considering buying one, I would still recommend the former model over the Mini. While the Mini’s build quality is significantly better, it simply doesn’t offer any other benefits other than a slightly lower price.
Performance8
Value5
Design & Aesthetics8
Characteristics9
Advantages
- Better design than the original
- Can be used with a second Stream Deck for smooth dual streams
- Software makes it easy to do what you want to do with just six buttons
The inconvenients
- Still no detachable cable
- The price difference between the big Stream Deck isn’t big enough to justify buying the Mini
- While they could settle for the Stream Deck Mini, people would much rather have more buttons, not fewer
