I've had my Xbox for nearly 3 years now, back in the day not many of my friends had the console, and I didn't have Xbox Live to begin with, I just had a couple of games I'd sit and play on my own. As more and more of my friends got Xbox consoles, and I finally got onto Xbox Live I found myself sending loads of messages to my friends, and fellow players online. It would take a fair while to do so using the on screen keyboard and I'd find myself losing concentration in games as it would take so long for me to message people back when they replied. So when I was shopping in Morrisons one day after work I noticed this cracking bit of kit in the games and DVD's aisle, I never even knew these kits existed so I bought it instantly.

Inside the pack is a QWERTY keyboard which you attach to the bottom of any Xbox 360 controller, it fits nice and snug onto the bottom of the controller and clicks when it's fully into place. At the bottom of the keyboard is a hole in which you can plug your headset into if you want to use that at the same time as having your chat pad attached. It's as simple as that, there are over 40 buttons obviously with all the alphabet plus some extra keys that are shortcuts to various things including MSN messenger. The keyboard is backlit making it easier to see the keys, there would definitely be loads of spelling errors on my behalf if there were no lights behind the keys.

The headset fits into the bottom of the chat pad making it the ultimate kit for gaming and chatting. The headset is just your basic Xbox 360 wired headset, there is a switch half way down the wire in which you can turn your microphone on or off, this also has a little volume slider on the side to turn down the headphone volume.

You can purchase the messenger kits from pretty much anywhere it seems, prices vary obviously depending on where you buy it from. I purchased mine from Morrisons over a year and a half ago for around £15 and it had a months free Xbox Live Trial with it. There is a black version available now if you want to colour co-ordinate your chat pad with your black Xbox controllers. I'm not that fussy though so I still use my white chat pad with my black controllers. The black messenger kits cost a little more at over £20 from most gaming retailers it depends how fussy you are as to which kit you want to buy.

The headset is a little flimsy and I've gone through a few whilst I've had my Xbox console, but it's always just been a problem with the wires getting tangled and weakening so they split, I'd still recommend people purchase this kit, as it really is a bargain. If you want to splash out there are plenty of other headsets you can purchase. I'd still probably have paid around £10-£15 just for the chat pad itself as it really is a great bit of kit for me, I don't know how I went so long without having one, it takes forever to try and send a message without it.

I'd recommend every Xbox 360 gamer who has Xbox Live to purchase one, especially if you like to chat and play at the same time, it really is a great piece of kit. It's great for sending quick messages to fellow gamers, or for signing onto MSN to chat to your friends online that way.