HUM24H
Godspeed
It's time to review the SRH SBB2 Button Box of Sim Racing Hardware and see how it's stands the tests.
This button box is priced at £120.00 ($187.00, €153.00) with shipping to the UK at £9.95 with EU shipping at £14.95 (€19.00) and International shipping at £17.95 ($28.00), pricing may very depending on currency exchange. The construction of the button box is made using a black plastic shell with SRH's multi-layer front which consists of a single piece of plastic with a Carbon effect and a clear acrylic piece to top it off. This design not only provides a solid construction but also provides great aesthetics, meaning the box will look great on anyone's rig. Plus if you want to remove the acrylic piece then you can, by simply removing the 4 allen screws on the front you can take the acrylic piece off to which gives you a nice black carbon look.
The Box:
The button box has a 3x4 array of buttons giving a total of 12 buttons, each row is a different colour allowing you to assign each row to a specific area such as Camera, Fuel, Telemetry, etc... Not only this but having each row a different colour allows you to visually remember the placement of the buttons, so that when you are in a race you can easily remember which button does what.
The buttons themselves have a very positive feel to them, they require a good amount of force to push them which means you won't be accidentally pushing these buttons. Also the buttons have a very good audible click when they are pressed and also a great tactile response, all this meaning you know exactly when you have pressed the button.
On top of the buttons there are 2 Rotary Encoders which also have different colours. These are good high quality encoders which have a decent grip to them so that you don't accidentally slip your fingers off them while trying to operate them and also the audible click and solid tactile response you get when turning the encoders provides a pleasurable experience.
Inside The Box:
Now let's get inside the box and see what's making all this magic happen. When we open the box we find a Leo Bodnar BU0836A 12-Bit Joystick Controller which is taking all of our buttons & encoders, then it sends that down to our computers via a USB Cable. Looking at the board we can see that there are plenty more connections for more buttons & encoders, plus you can add switches. So if you were into DIY or Modding then you can easily add more to this button box.
Mounting:
Attaching the button box to your rig is fairly simple, there are 4 small screw holes on the back of the button box which you could use to mount the box to a surface. Also if you wanted to you can easily drill into the box, avoiding the circuit board and USB cable, which would allow you to mount it to a surface with bigger screws/bolts (M6 for example). Alternatively you can use double sided sticky tape to stick the box to a surface. There really is no wrong way of mounting it but there are many ways of doing it, for me I bought a GT Omega Shifter Mount V2 and used double sided sticky tape to attach the box to the shifter mount but again alternatively you can use 80/20 Aluminium Profile and use screws to mount it. In all honesty the only limit to mounting the box to your rig is your imagination.
Final Thoughts:
Overall I enjoy using this button box, it has great tactile response on both the buttons and the encoders plus the audible feedback you get adds to the great feel when using this button box. I highly recommend it to anyone looking at getting a button box, it is set a great price plus like I have mentioned the circuit board here allows for expansion if you are willing to put in the effort to do so.
Update From SRH:
Since doing this review there has been an update from Brian over at SRH. Latest versions of the SBB2 Button Box use SRH's own JC 32 Input Board and the Board is directly mounted using stainless steel screws to the main housing. Also the USB port is now mounted to outside of the box.
If you would like to have your hardware products tested and reviewed by RaceDepartment.com email me at humzah.hussain[at]racedepartment.com.
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Well I felt that I would be lacking information that I feel is needed if I didnt open the box, plus that fact it being my own box meant I was more than happy opening it.
