Mountain DisplayPad and MacroPad Review: Great Stream Deck Alternatives

Mountain has finally expanded its range of products with two new ones – the DisplayPad and the MacroPad. These two are mainly aimed at streamers and content creators but they also feed into the modular nature of their previous products – mainly the Everest Max keyboard. It’s seemingly a great decision seeing as streaming has never been more popular and also the fact that there aren’t very many specialized products of this type out there.

As with their previous products, the Mountain premium experience begins even before you start using their products – with the packaging. The DisplayPad and MacroPad are safely tucked inside along with their respective cables and accessories so you can carry them wherever you want. Both products are completely standalone so besides the Mountain Base Camp software, you don’t have to have any other Mountain products for them to work. So although these can be mounted onto the Everest Max keyboard, each still has to be connected to your PC with its own cable so the mounting option is there simply so that you can keep them close at hand.

Both the DisplayPad and the MacroPad are available for purchase over at Mountain.

DESIGN

DisplayPad

The DisplayPad is just as its name would suggest – a macro pad with a twist in that there is a customizable screen underneath the buttons. It’s made out of two detachable segments – the DisplayPad itself and a stand in case you don’t want to strap this onto the Everest Max keyboard. At 538 grams, the stand is as heavy-duty as they come. Its outer layer is made from plastic which hides a metal construction on the inside. Combine the weight and the fact that the entire bottom of the stand is rubberized and you can bet this thing isn’t going anywhere. 

The DisplayPad module itself is fairly light as it’s made from a combination of brushed aluminum on the top and plastic on the bottom. The bottom part of the module also features some rubber so you don’t scratch the keyboard or the stand when mounting it. Of course, the main feature here is the 12 TFT buttons and these are almost the same as previously seen on the Everest Max Numpad.

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These don’t have the same soft and pudgy feel of the Elgato Stream Deck and instead feature very short travel distance with a clicky tactile bump when pressed. It’s not that the experience of using one is better than the other but it’s important to note the difference in order to manage your expectations. 

The area in which the DisplayPad does beat out the StreamDeck is the screen quality and brightness. The colors look really saturated and crisp and since it’s an IPS screen, the viewing angles are great. The entire thing definitely looks and feels really premium and I see it as a great fit, and even a centerpiece of any PC setup – gaming or otherwise. At $110, it’s a cheaper alternative to the Elgato Stream Deck while definitely feeling superior – at least in terms of hardware. In terms of software – check the performance segment down below. 

MacroPad

The MacroPad is a simpler product as it gives you 12 standard keyboard buttons to assign whichever function you want. It comes with Mountain’s own proprietary blue “Tactile 55” switches. These basically feel and sound like a subdued version of Cherry Blue switches so expect a somewhat loud and crisp tactile feedback. With that said, they are factory lubed, smooth to press, and fast enough considering the purpose of the device. Somewhat unexpected but welcome nonetheless is the fact that they are hot-swappable so you can change them if you want something even faster or with a better sound profile.

Of course, Mountain also added RGB so you can go from the stealth black aesthetic to something a bit more colorful. Same as with the DisplayPad, the MacroPad module by itself is fairly light, coming in at mere 118 grams but it comes with and can also be mounted to the same heavy-duty stand.

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The materials used here are also the same as on the DisplayPad. So, aluminum front panel, plastic and metal construction of the stand. Of course, the module can also be mounted to the Everest Max keyboard and the rubber bottom prevents it from moving when pressing buttons. 

Overall, the MacroPad is definitely not as flashy as the DisplayPad but it also comes in at almost half its price. You can still use it in the same way as you would the DisplayPad with the obvious downside that you’ll have to memorize the function of each button instead of perhaps having it displayed on the button itself. Great choice nonetheless if you want a cool, functional piece of tech sitting on your desk for when your keyboard just doesn’t have enough buttons or feature-rich software.

PERFORMANCE

BaseCamp is Mountain’s own software and it serves as a hub for all of their products – DisplayPad and MacroPad included. As mentioned in our Everest Max and Everest 60 reviews, Base Camp is fast, straight to the point, and easy to use while offering most of the features you’d expect of a premium product. 

First and most important for these macro devices is the ability to create and customize different profiles. What’s great is that you can set different profiles to launch when you launch a specific software so you don’t have to manually change the settings. The function of each key is done through the key binding tab. These range from running specific OS commands (task manager, calculator, explorer, locking or shutting down PC etc), controlling your media, launching any kind of specific software, using it for mouse functions, keyboard shortcuts, checking your PC info, and more.

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For the DisplayPad, it’s here where you can also assign either the preset images for each key or even add your own. Ideally, these will be 104 x 104 but you can upload images of any size and the software will let you crop a piece of it to be displayed. It supports BMP, JPG, PNG, and even GIF so basically anything goes. Oh and don’t worry – the DisplayPad doesn’t limit you to 12 buttons since you can easily create folders with layers and layers of different functions.

To make things even better, the devices also feature integration with Twitch, OBS Studio, Adobe (Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro), and Davinci with probably more to come down the line. The integration entails what you’d expect, from fully controlling your streams to immensely boosting your productivity. It all works as expected and you can create your perfect macro setup with just a few clicks.

Of course, for the MacroPad you also have a tab to control the RGB. Here you have several preset effects and a simple custom mode to create your own shiny presets. Both products also allow you to record macro shortcuts if you need something a bit more complex to be executed with a press of a single button. 

CONCLUSION

Ultimately, both the DisplayPad and the MacroPad fall perfectly in line with the rest of Mountain’s lineup. They both look and feel premium while performing their function without a hitch. In a market dominated by few established products, these are a breath of fresh air and present a fairly affordable alternative. Knowing Mountain, they’ll continue to improve the software and I can easily see them catching up to the competition on that front in time. For now, these will still be great whether you’ll use them attached or standalone, whether you’re a streamer, content creator, or simply want something cool on your desk.