PXN CB1 Review: Affordable Button Box With Surprising Features
OfficialPXN
The PXN CB1 could be an excellent alternative for those who do not want to breakt the bank for a button box - and it even comes with a few cool features.
This review has been produced and published by @Yannik Haustein
Walking around gamescom 2024, you could spot quite a few sim racing-related booths at Europe's biggest gaming expo. MOZA Racing had a fairly big presence, as did Corsair and Fanatec, plus the WRC booth that our own @Michel Wolk manned as a presenter - there was no shortage of places to go for the sim racing enthusiast.
Not quite as obvious but somewhat tucked away in a corner of the hall, PXN had set up shop. The hardware manufacturer showed a new 10-Nm wheel base, inching away from its more entry-level oriented kit it had released before. One thing that stood out to me when I visited the booth to give the new gear a try and have a nice chat with the PXN folks was their button box, though. Dubbed 'CB1', it left a solid first impression, with a clean look and plenty of buttons and switches.
Since sim racers tend to run out of real estate when it comes to buttons on their wheels themselves, button boxes can be a handy way to solve that problem. And the PXN CB1 is certainly a good candidate to consider, if you ask me, as it can be had for less then €/$100.
After spending some time with the CB1 mounted to my rig, here is my review of the button box.
A nice surprise is the table clamp, though, which is also included in the package. With it and the three screws plus hex key that are also provided, you can mount the button box to any table up to a thickness of up to 70 mm (~ 2.76 in), so it should fit most desks.
Furthermore, a printed manual is included, but a digital version is also available via PXN's website.
To hard mount the box, it comes with a 100x100 vesa-compatible layout in the back. Using the rather versatile Sim-Lab SLA007 Button Box holder, fixing the box to my rig was extremely easy.
The PXN CB1 easily mounts to the Sim-Lab SC007 button box holder.
The CB1 features two rotary dials for TC and ABS that act as extra buttons as well when simply pressed. Below them sit eight large buttons in different colors. The buttons give a satisfying clicky feedback, but do not have much resistance when being pressed, and the rotary knobs are also very light. However, I have not encountered an instance where I was not sure whether or not I had actually pressed a button, even with gloves on, so they do still work as intended. The blue ones at the bottom of the two rows latch, so they are not just simple toggle switches.
This is also true for all but one of the four switches at the very bottom - only the one on the left returns to its center position after pushing it up or down, the other three stay in place sending a permanent "button pushed" signal. For sim racers, this is likely not very useful, and more switches like the one on the bottom left would have been desirable. What's rather positive is that all of these switches, including the ignition toggle, use metal components.
At the top right, there are two more switches, one with a protective cover, the other an Engine Start button. The neat part about those two is that they are connected: Open the cover and flip up the switch, and it will light up - if you press the Engine Start button afterwards, that lights up, too, indicating that your engine is indeed running. Flip the ignition switch back down, and the Engine Start button is also no longer lit up.
This does not automatically respond to the car's in-game state, though, so if you forgot to switch off the ignition toggle after resetting to the pits, your ignition sequence will be out of whack.
The latching switches may not be super useful in sim racing, but could come in handy in other types of sims.
It is possible to change their behavior so you can use them as regular mappable buttons, too. Simply hold down the 'Handle' button while pressing the ESC or ENTER button, and that's it - more buttons to map in-game functions to. This works for the TC and ABS dials too, by the way, with them acting as multimedia controllers that can change volume or skip music tracks. The 'Handle' button also has another surprise in hand, by the way.
Using the 'Handle' button, you can change the color of the lighting by turning the ABS dial. In total, there are seven colors to choose from - it is not possible to give individual buttons different colors, however. Meanwhile, turning the TC dial while holding down 'Handle' controls the brightness of the lighting.
Interestingly, the PXN CB1 does not need any additional software at all - it is a simple plug-and-play experience.
The ignition switch and Engine Start button being connected for how they light up is also a nice little detail - it should not make much of a difference in use, but it does look just that bit cooler with both lighting up in sequence.
Furthermore, the joystick on the bottom right is quite handy. Mapping to menu controls in titles like EA Sports WRC can make navigation much easier in combination with the ESC and ENTER keys, especially if your wheel does not have a funky switch or joystick of its own. Other functions it can come in handy for include seat position adjustments, in-car menu navigation, or looking to the left, right and back of the car.
In general, the CB1 has a good quality feel to it, and mounting it is fairly easy - especially considering the included table clamp, which should be a nice extra for those sim racers that mount their setup to their desks.
Not everything is perfect, though: The pre-applied labels cannot be removed, and a sticker set with more options for added customizability would have been nice. That said, creating your own labels and sticking it on top of the existing ones is a way around this problem.
Furthermore, some of the switches and buttons would be more useful if they were toggle switches instead of on/off switches, as there are hardly any functions in sim racing that require a permanently active input - at least as long as sims don't let us switch on fuel pumps and similar in-car systems - then flicking the switches like the pilot of a plane would be kind of cool.
Despite this, the PXN CB1 button box offers quite a good value at its price point, considering the many much more expensive options out there - especially if you are looking for features like backlit buttons.
Of course, there is also the DIY route to get all of this much cheaper, but for a pre-built button box, the CB1 is a good piece of kit to consider adding to your setup.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Not quite as obvious but somewhat tucked away in a corner of the hall, PXN had set up shop. The hardware manufacturer showed a new 10-Nm wheel base, inching away from its more entry-level oriented kit it had released before. One thing that stood out to me when I visited the booth to give the new gear a try and have a nice chat with the PXN folks was their button box, though. Dubbed 'CB1', it left a solid first impression, with a clean look and plenty of buttons and switches.
Since sim racers tend to run out of real estate when it comes to buttons on their wheels themselves, button boxes can be a handy way to solve that problem. And the PXN CB1 is certainly a good candidate to consider, if you ask me, as it can be had for less then €/$100.
After spending some time with the CB1 mounted to my rig, here is my review of the button box.
PXN CB1 Button Box - Contents
As you would expect, there is not too much you will find when first unboxing the CB1. The box contains the button box, of course, and two USB cables - one USB-C to USB-C, and one USB-C to USB-A to connect the box to your PC.A nice surprise is the table clamp, though, which is also included in the package. With it and the three screws plus hex key that are also provided, you can mount the button box to any table up to a thickness of up to 70 mm (~ 2.76 in), so it should fit most desks.
Furthermore, a printed manual is included, but a digital version is also available via PXN's website.
Compatibility
The PXN CB1 button box can be used with PCs, but is not compatible with consoles.To hard mount the box, it comes with a 100x100 vesa-compatible layout in the back. Using the rather versatile Sim-Lab SLA007 Button Box holder, fixing the box to my rig was extremely easy.
The PXN CB1 easily mounts to the Sim-Lab SC007 button box holder.
PXN CB1 Button Box Features
As mentioned, the CB1 comes with a good amount of real estate when it comes to assignable buttons and switches. Its ABS resin-based body feels decent quality-wise, though not as nice as more expensive boxes, and sports a nice carbon finish in the front, with button labels already applied by default. These labels are etched into the box itself, however, and there is no sticker sheet included - something that PXN might want to improve upon for future versions. Granted, though, thanks to the placement and size of the control elements, I rarely ever looked at them when using the button box while racing, anyway.The CB1 features two rotary dials for TC and ABS that act as extra buttons as well when simply pressed. Below them sit eight large buttons in different colors. The buttons give a satisfying clicky feedback, but do not have much resistance when being pressed, and the rotary knobs are also very light. However, I have not encountered an instance where I was not sure whether or not I had actually pressed a button, even with gloves on, so they do still work as intended. The blue ones at the bottom of the two rows latch, so they are not just simple toggle switches.
This is also true for all but one of the four switches at the very bottom - only the one on the left returns to its center position after pushing it up or down, the other three stay in place sending a permanent "button pushed" signal. For sim racers, this is likely not very useful, and more switches like the one on the bottom left would have been desirable. What's rather positive is that all of these switches, including the ignition toggle, use metal components.
At the top right, there are two more switches, one with a protective cover, the other an Engine Start button. The neat part about those two is that they are connected: Open the cover and flip up the switch, and it will light up - if you press the Engine Start button afterwards, that lights up, too, indicating that your engine is indeed running. Flip the ignition switch back down, and the Engine Start button is also no longer lit up.
This does not automatically respond to the car's in-game state, though, so if you forgot to switch off the ignition toggle after resetting to the pits, your ignition sequence will be out of whack.
The latching switches may not be super useful in sim racing, but could come in handy in other types of sims.
Joystick
On the right of the box sits a joystick which serves as a d-pad with 8 inputs. Above it, two smaller red buttons labeled ESC and ENTER are located, and by default, they act as just that universally, so like the same keys on your keyboard would.It is possible to change their behavior so you can use them as regular mappable buttons, too. Simply hold down the 'Handle' button while pressing the ESC or ENTER button, and that's it - more buttons to map in-game functions to. This works for the TC and ABS dials too, by the way, with them acting as multimedia controllers that can change volume or skip music tracks. The 'Handle' button also has another surprise in hand, by the way.
Backlit Buttons
Looking at the back of the CB1 button box, there is an On/Off switch. While this does not switch the box itself on or off, it does enable or disable the backlit buttons the CB1 comes with - a cool little feature that adds to the overall look of the box.Using the 'Handle' button, you can change the color of the lighting by turning the ABS dial. In total, there are seven colors to choose from - it is not possible to give individual buttons different colors, however. Meanwhile, turning the TC dial while holding down 'Handle' controls the brightness of the lighting.
Interestingly, the PXN CB1 does not need any additional software at all - it is a simple plug-and-play experience.
Verdict
For less than €/$100, the PXN CB1 button box offers quite a nice experience. It looks good (although that is subjective, of course), offers a good amount of buttons, and the lighting options and switchable system buttons are a very nice touch.The ignition switch and Engine Start button being connected for how they light up is also a nice little detail - it should not make much of a difference in use, but it does look just that bit cooler with both lighting up in sequence.
Furthermore, the joystick on the bottom right is quite handy. Mapping to menu controls in titles like EA Sports WRC can make navigation much easier in combination with the ESC and ENTER keys, especially if your wheel does not have a funky switch or joystick of its own. Other functions it can come in handy for include seat position adjustments, in-car menu navigation, or looking to the left, right and back of the car.
In general, the CB1 has a good quality feel to it, and mounting it is fairly easy - especially considering the included table clamp, which should be a nice extra for those sim racers that mount their setup to their desks.
Not everything is perfect, though: The pre-applied labels cannot be removed, and a sticker set with more options for added customizability would have been nice. That said, creating your own labels and sticking it on top of the existing ones is a way around this problem.
Furthermore, some of the switches and buttons would be more useful if they were toggle switches instead of on/off switches, as there are hardly any functions in sim racing that require a permanently active input - at least as long as sims don't let us switch on fuel pumps and similar in-car systems - then flicking the switches like the pilot of a plane would be kind of cool.
Despite this, the PXN CB1 button box offers quite a good value at its price point, considering the many much more expensive options out there - especially if you are looking for features like backlit buttons.
Of course, there is also the DIY route to get all of this much cheaper, but for a pre-built button box, the CB1 is a good piece of kit to consider adding to your setup.
Rating: 4 out of 5