If you’re an aspiring (or successful) streamer looking to upgrade your production value, the Elgato Stream Deck family is an excellent way to put your most important controls at your fingertips. Right now you can score the upgraded Elgato Stream Deck +, with eight buttons, an LCD screen, and four knobs, for just $160, a $40 markdown from its usual price.
As a former (unsuccessful) Twitch streamer, I can attest firsthand to how useful the Stream Deck was for managing my broadcasts while also gaming and dealing with chat. The main draw here is close integration with streaming platforms like OBS, letting you adjust stream parameters, mute or unmute audio tracks, and even change layouts with the press of a button. That made it exceedingly easy to switch to my AFK screen when I needed a break, run end-of-stream credits and music, or adjust my audio levels in response to viewer feedback, all tasks that might’ve required hands-on time with OBS instead.
In addition to streaming-specific integrations, you can also set the Stream Deck to run a surprising number of other functions on your computer. It connects with a variety of apps to run simple tasks like playing media or launching applications, and can even run multiple functions with a single key press, either all at once or with delays in between. People have pulled off some really neat tricks with these devices, and you can often find icons and macros they’ve shared to improve your workflow.
The Stream Decks aren’t just for broadcasting either, and they are surprisingly useful for us average folks. Since I stopped streaming, I’ve used mine for a variety of different functions, thanks to the wide support for custom button inputs. I have folders for different games so I can shortcut their menu buttons or other special functionality to keys, like job switching in Final Fantasy XIV, or changing between different toolbars in Satisfactory, all with their own custom icons that just require a glance for info. I’ve used it for working in apps like Adobe Premiere too, to reduce the amount of time spent undoing wrong hot keys.
You can find the discounted Elgato Steam Deck + in black at Amazon for $160, or for $10 more you can scoop up the slightly less-marked-down white version. We’ve got a great guide for leveraging all of the advanced Stream Deck functionality too, so make sure to check that out.
