BRSMA  An incredibly useful, powerful and, as far as I can tell, mature extension to get the most out of your input devices – if you are willing to spare some time in the beginning. It took me about 1 hour after installation to register this jewel. Never regretted. The only obvious downside lies in feeling quite clumsy and crippled when using a different computer. ;-)

Setting up and configuring devices is suprisingly user-friendly, though at first sight still somewhat complex. CM mostly takes a graphical programming approach with building blocks which can be freely “wired”. Basic stuff like (re-)defining keys, buttons or acceleration comes still quite easy. But CM really starts – and shines – where other drivers I tried before end. And you will need to learn about and explore the different available modules to achieve at more intermediate to advanced configurations. Switchable configs, basic maths and logic, time logic, custom acceleration curves, etc. – it is (nearly) all there. You can even make your gear behave differently depending on active application/context. Nonetheless, the time spend at learning and tweaking pays back well: in terms of convenience, efficiency and, at least in my case, even less muscle strain. (My hands feel less stressed and tired after working long if my input devices are better adapted to me instead the other way round.)

The only thing I would currently like to see added to CM is something like reusable macro blocks or nested structures. Think of e. g. Quartz Composer, which might have been amonst the inspirations for the CM interface, anyway. Macros and examples for some for common configuration tasks should be directly provided with CM. (Something like e. g. a well behaved click-lock is not as trivial to set up as it might seem at first sight.) Further, this might also help to accomodate users who want to have CM “just work” with their device(s) and initially do not want to spend much time at configuration.

Bottom line: if you happen to own some non-standard gear that you want to hook up to your mac or if you would like to highly improve the usefulness of your existing input devices: get this now.

BTW, some equipment manufacturers should better license CM for their gear rather than further distributing their own OS X-challenged drivers. I am looking at you, Logitech.

(Not affiliated with the developer in any way, just extraordinarily satisfied with his product.)  
(Version 4.3.8)

CORPSECORPS  BTW, i've never had the background helper use an even noticeable amount of CPU.

And ControllerMate isn't just to give your mouse more functions. I've given my Cherry keyboard F13, F14, and F15 function keys, corrected the placement of alt/option & command/gui (i know, that's in prefs, also), caused the 'Num Lock' and 'Scroll Lock' LEDs to indicate things applicable to Mac, as well as restoring volume-up, volume-down, mute, and eject as Control+ numlock, keypad-/, keypad-*, and keypad--, respectively!

Simulated Eject responds MUCH faster than the Eject key on my old crud-catching Apple keyboard did.

I was even able to fix 2 problems i sometimes had when gaming with my Logitech MX620 mouse. Sometimes during heated play, when i would press the "Search" button (right next to the left mouse button), i'd accidentally press left-click also.

With ControllerMate, i programmed the two to be incapable of operating simultaneously.

Ditto for left scroll-wheel tilt and right-click. Easy to accidentally press the right mouse button when only intending to click left-tilt. Just programmed them not to function close together.

What other universal gadget driver will allow you to create a keyboard shortcut such as {command(left)-command(right)-option-F}, simulate keystrokes that don't exist on your particular keyboard, enable/disable parts of itself depending on which controllers are present, and what software is running?!

Amazing stuff can be done with this thingamajig! It's actually fun seeing what crazy things you can get it to do, and how it can make different devices interact.

Well worth $15!  
(Version 4.3.4)

CORPSECORPS  Eh. So you can't set it up lickety-split like Steermouse or USB Overdrive.

But this thing is SERIOUSLY cool, and EXTREMELY versatile! It just takes a little time to get into it's groove.

Practically endless possibilities for making all kinds of gadgets do all kinds'a bizarre functions.

Tech support has been A+, too! Here's a Dev that actually listens to what people say!

I've only had it seriously choke once, whereat my system became completely oblivious to left (primary) mouse clicks. Had to restart the system and that would have had to be accomplished with the actual power button, had i not had my Wacom tablet to fall back on.

.

('Playability?' Reviews as a game?)

.  
(Version 4.3.4)

BIMBLE  I love this software. The interface isn't as scary as it looks - if you poke around on the web site there are decent examples that make it clear how you can customize the interface. Yeah, it might take an hour to get comfortable with it, but it's entirely worth the time spent. It's very easy to use considering how powerful it can be.

Once you're used to it, the interface is quite intuitive. It's a cinch to set up events for buttons, tie them to scripts, set up conditionals, and all sorts of controller tweaking. I used it to set up my Logitech G15 keyboard in an afternoon to control iTunes from the media buttons, and to set up macros for the extra keys that would only be active when certain games are the frontmost application (and much of that time was spent looking up AppleScript controls for iTunes and deciding what macros I wanted to program).

It helps that the interface is set up to make it easy to find the controls you want and to test them. Hit a key and the matching controller set highlights in the list of controllers. Select a controller set to see all its contents, and you can hit that button again to get it in the list. Then drag that button out to your "page" (the controller flow), and attach actions and tests to it. The on/off buttons highlight when you do so to show you how the controls will activate.

On top of that, the developer is very responsive. He answers support emails quickly, and frequently answers questions on the application's forums. This program is worth every penny I spent on it and then some.  
(Version 4.3.2)

SCHLAEFER  The versatility of the programm is utterly impressive. And compared to other products (which are mainly in the 'do some configuration of your *mouse*'-business) it's a complete bargain too.  
(Version 4.3.10)

ZX  Destroys the competition (USB Overdrive X,SteerMouse, Logitech Control Center)!!!

Super versatile and 0 issues.

thanks:)  
(Version 4.4)

TAZINTOSH  Powerful application. You can control & program almost anything you want. The node UI, like Shake, QuartzComposer & others app. Possibilities are infinite.

A must have!

Btw, choosing Bezier lines by avoiding straight lines connections and deleting them by double-clicking (or pressing suppr) on it for example, would be cool for the futur. Sometimes, nodes alignment isn't perfect too.

Really great support.  
(Version 4.3.5)

SGGINC  This is one fabulous program.

With a flick of my mouse I can trigger any event.

A flick of my scroll wheel does something else. Limitless options.

Thanks for a GREAT program.

Ken  
(Version 4.1)

PLAID COW SOLUTIONS  The program is way too complex out of the box for someone just looking for a gamepad controller. I don't have an hour to dedicate to getting it set up to figure out if it is any good.  
(Version 4.1)

TC  If it could pick up the scroll wheel on a Microsoft Office keyboard, I'd use it. I don't know if this is a problem with ControllerMate, or MS using non-documented interfaces for the wheel - though I'd be inclined to blame MS on this one! If support could be added, though, that would be wonderful.  
(Version 3.2)