TourBox Lite Overview
Just like the NEO, the TourBox Lite is designed to sit on your desk, typically in close proximity to your keyboard, mouse, or drawing tablet, depending on your use case. In this review, I will focus solely on Windows-based PC connectivity, though the Lite does support use with Apple devices as well. If you are anything like me, despite having a fairly large table top, desk space is at a premium, and the even smaller size of the Lite (compared to the NEO) didn’t make me feel like it was going to be taking up too much space. The Lite comes in 4.4″ x 4.17″ x 1.53″, which is small enough to allow me to easily access all of the input options without having to move my hand around much, but still large enough to contain a large number of buttons and control surfaces. Sitting side by side, you can see that the Lite is just a bit smaller all around than the NEO.
The Lite has a solid build quality to it, and along with that a good amount of weight, coming in at 11.6oz. This weight helps keep the Lite in place, along with the four rubber feet on the bottom of the unit. Unlike the NEO, the TourBox Lite has a smooth plastic finish across all surfaces and inputs, aside from the glossy Tour button. Even the scroll wheel, which had a rubberized texture on the NEO, has a hard plastic feel on the Lite, with texture lines to help with identification. The Knob, Tall, and Top buttons all have texture lines for identification and grip, and the C1 and C2 buttons now have textured dots in their centers, in addition to their concave tops. The Scroll wheel still has texture lines like those found on your typical mouse, but it now scrolls smoothly and not with a notched feel. The Scroll wheel can still be clicked for access to additional functionality.
Taking a look from the top down, you can immediately see the variety of input options on the TourBox Lite. There are a total of eight inputs grouped into the following sub-types: 6 buttons, 1 knob, and 1 scroll wheel. TourBox has identified three sections on the Lite, based on their operational logic – Rotating, Prime Four, and Kit. A small LED indicator is also present on the top surface of the Lite in order to indicate connectivity status.
Rotating – The Rotating section consists of the Knob and Scroll inputs. These two controls are used to adjust various parameters quickly and accurately, and they can be paired up with other buttons to gain access to additional controls.
Prime Four – The Prime Four section, even though there are only three options on the Lite, is a grouping of the Tall button, Short button, and Top button. These all sound like very basic options, but they are shaped and placed in a way that makes sets them out to be the most commonly used inputs. And like all of the other inputs, you can pair them up with other buttons, or even double-click them to access additional functions.
Kit – The Kit section is made up of the Tour button, and buttons C1 and C2. Their default settings offer access to functions that can be switched easily, but as with all of the other inputs, they can be mapped to whatever custom option you would like via the TourBox console application.
Taking a look at the sides of the TourBox Lite, you can see that there are no buttons to be found. The slightly shorter height of the Lite compared to the NEO was actually a bit more comfortable to me in my use as well.
The lower side of the Lite doesn’t contain any input options either, but it does feature a contoured design where your hand can sort of rest in a more comfortable position as opposed to just a straight edge.
Moving to the top side of the NEO shows us the center-oriented USB Type-C port, as well as another view of the top-mounted inputs and their heights.
Flipping the TourBox Lite over shows us four rubber feet that elevate the unit just slightly on your work surface, as well as a standard sticker with the various regulation and certification identifiers.
