Belkin n52te Tournament Edition SpeedPad
by Belkin Components
|
List Price: Category: CE See more product details |
|---|
(Click here)
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Belkin n52te Tournament Edition SpeedPad
Customer Review: took awhile but i really like it
Summary: 4 Stars
i know allot has been said so im going to keep it short.
Im a N52 Nos owner and I bought TE as its replacement when it came out, i primary play FPS or 3rd person action games, so far my TE has seen several months of consecutive service,some of the games its trotted though: COD4, RB6V, RB6v2, FEAR,Half life,portal,A-Creed, Lost Planet,and even Tiberium Wars,
The good: N52TE has the same good button setup,
same awesome feel as its predecessor, and the back lighting rocks!
other major improvement are in looks, keys are a bit bigger, the dpad is easier to handle, the scroll feels tighter,the new plastic palm rest is VERY smooth and soft,and the on board memory concept works,it also appears that the scroll wheel/mouse driver conflict Glitch- (that hindered the N52 NOS) is not a problem with the TE.
The Bad: where Razer initially blew it,-happened with the drivers and the firmware. Version 1.01 was terrible and glitch-y, just bad software design all around, not to mention the design was a huge departure from form the N52 NOS as it was simplified down to the max. Newer driver versions have sought to bring back some of the complexity as well as fix existing issues (ENTIRE MACRO SYSTEM for starters) while keeping the "Razer" interface. (The original N52 NOS, featured a rather bland interface that was complex but functioned beautifully) another downside is that you cannot import your old n52 nos profiles even with the new 2.10 driver and 1.02 FW versions today, so you get to remake them.
now granted, this is actually not a HUGE hassel,
both editors can be run at the same time-
so if you put one next to the other, and re-input the data by reading off the old profile-you will be done in no time- 1 hour for me for all of my profiles.. 15+
*So should you get it?
The biggest reason for getting this is the same reason that would drive an individual to get its predecessor: If your looking for a palm sized fully functional,fully programmable, gaming keyboard, then this device may work for you. Also a device like this will work wonders for games which have fixed non remapable in game keyboard controls. with the N52 NOS &TE each key can be mapped to take any key or macro sequence: (Example-> Splinter Cell Double Agent has this problem)thus giving you the ability to fit the entire control scheme to your personal needs, (whether the game designers wanted you to or not)
Customer Review: With respect to all the negative reviews..
Summary: 5 Stars
You'll find plenty of negative reviews about this little guy anywhere you look. I took all the negative points very seriously (there are a lot of very valid points) and decided not to buy it. However, I saw it at bestbuy a few days ago and man, I kind of drooled a little. Looks even better in person, so I thought what the heck, if I really don't like it I'll just return it and make up a story about bogus Mac software (which works impressively well, by the way. Not at all like your typical Razer software).
Its important to note that I never used the original n52, but I couldn't be happier with the n52te. Firstly, The spacebar isn't giving me the problems I was expecting. I see what people are talking about, when they mention not being able to hit it on the edges, but hitting the space bar at the far ends feels uncomfortable and unnatural to me anyways. I haven't hit space bar without it registering unless I try to get it to miss. I thought I'd have to pop the key off and put something in there to make it a little more stable, but it's really just fine the way it is.
The thumb stick comes off to reveal a d-pad, which I prefer. The small hole in the middle isn't a problem for me now and I don't see it being a problem later on.
I spent two days away from WoW just getting my macros in perfect order, and I honestly can't imagine needing more than is available with the n52te. Sure there are only 3 KeyMaps, where the original apparanly had 4, but I think I've got more than I could handle anyway.
There are blue, red, and green lights under the spacebar to let you know, out of the corner of your eye, which keymap is currently active. Very helpful, but these three lights are way too bright, in my opinion. I put a few layers of tape over them. Problem solved.
I'm just writing this to encourage folks not to give up hope, if you were initially really excited about this and swayed by all the negatives. I'll honor all the negative reviews and assume that if you're already accustomed to the original n52, you'll probably be disappointed. For everyone else, I really recommend you give it a shot. This thing works very well. Its made of quality materials, its comfortable, and dead sexy to boot. Looks incredible next to my blue DeathAdder. Five stars, absolutely.
Feel free to comment and ask me questions. I'll be more than happy to respond.
Customer Review: Belkin N52TE -- Not Ready for Market Yet
Summary: 1 Stars
The purpose of a macro enabled gamepad is to ease the use of multiple game commands and improve both the timing and execution of commands as compared to a player who is pressing keys on a normal keyboard.
The Belkin N52TE comes with a lot of marketing hype. It is easy to assume that it will soon eclipse the Belkin N52, which has been the standard for gamepads for several years. Unfortunately it falls a bit short.
The N52TE has an improved keypad that seems to be mechanically better than the N52. Unfortuantely, the spacebar on the N52TE must be depressed precisely in the center and travels nearly 1/4 inch to make contact. This makes it difficult press and to use quickly.
There is a conveniently located thumb button that could be a real asset but has a mushy feel with no 'click' to indicate when it has been depressed. This makes it useless for quick, momentary functions.
The backlighting feature, instead of only showing the key tops, surrounds the entire perimeter of the keys with bright, blue light. Since one of the reasons to use a keypad is the convenience of not having to look at the keys for finger placment, this is more of a distraction than a help. Fortunately the backlight can be turned off.
The new N52TE has three, selectable keybanks. The N52 had four.
The software has a completely new UI. If you are a N52 user, you cannot transfer any of your current macros to the new unit, you must start from scratch. The new programming software contains most of the fuctionality of the current N52 software but lacks several features that most users consider essential:
---As currently offered, if a macro is running, hitting any other key will stop the macro.
---There is no access to the timing between KEY-PRESS and KEY-RELEASE. The timing between events within the macro is limited to a preset value and cannot be edited.
---While you can create and save macros by selecting [RECORD] and entering the keystrokes, there are bugs that prevent the effective editing of the macro.
I find the software to be unusable and I have put the N52TE on the shelf until the developers come up with something that works.
Belkin n52te Tournament Edition SpeedPad
Customer Review: Best thing since......the crappy keyboard I used before...
Summary: 5 Stars
When I first saw this on Amazon I thought that looks cool and since I hate using a normal keyboard this might me awesome....but the reviews ah the reviews, some good and some very very bad. And not just I hate it cuz I suck a games kinda bad reviews. But well thought out bad reviews.
Anyway it looked to pretty and nice for me to pass up, the blue back light calling to me,
and I couldn't help myself and I took the chance and blindly bought it, like a good consumer, pulled it out of the box and plugged her in. Now I understand why it was calling to me in such a way, this thing is friggin awesome, I never used the old n52 so I can not speak to that. But this is wonderful, I'm not sure why I was so skeptical, all the bad reviews are wrong IMO.
Quality: does not lack, it's solid doesn't feel too plasticy or anything. The USB looks to be gold plated (it's so choice)
Layout: Almost perfect.......it's like they used @sssss for a spacebar, I mean come on, you have to hit right on the number and hard or it doesn't go down. D-pad/stick thing, very nice, it works well.
Comfort: The designer must have had hands just like mine, but with really long triple jointed thumbs to hit that spacebar. Over all it feels nice and is great for extended play.
The look: don't get me started, please it's beautiful,
It comes with some neat software for 3 different key configurations, and 3 is enough for me, oh and macros too, over all it's good stuff.
-1 Star for the space (rolls eyes on how bad it is)
6 Stars for everything else. (and being a sexy piece of hardware)
= A 5 Star product.
Totally worth the money, as my first gaming keyboard, oh and I use a Razer DeathAdder it lights up blue too and Destructor gaming mat.
********Edit 11/06/09, after 2 months of solid use*********
Still no problems, it just keeps on getting better, and now I can't even use a regular keyboard, because I'm just so in love with the n52te. I have sort of halfassed gotten use to the space bar. The programmable keysets and software work nice, I couldn't be happier.
My only real complaint is the nice black soft finish on the wrist rest is warring a little so it doesn't look `new' anymore, but this does not inhibit game play.
Customer Review: Swing and a miss.
Summary: 1 Stars
I play a ton of different games, but mostly Team Fortress2 and Warcraft. I've been looking for some sort of an extra gamepad or keyboard to improve my gaming experience over my craptastic Dell keyboard and 5 button mouse, but this isn't it.
I've never used a N52 or any other gamepad, but I could tell 5 min out of the box that this wasn't going to cut it, for anyone, so it really makes me wonder what they were thinking. The main advantage of a gamepad is it gives your left thumb something to do other than hit the spacebar, which mine does a lot. Placing all your movement on your thumb is a great idea, and it's the main reason I bought it. The rest of the pad is completely irrelevant, just the thumb's area is really important, and the N52te fails horribly.
First and formost, the Dpad. it comes with a removable joystick button, which is almost as big as the dpad underneath it. it's also made of hard plastic so your thumb has nothing to grip. In trying to use the joystick, I usually was pressing the edges, which is a lot of unnecessary thumb movement, which slows you down considerably. Easy fix, either rubberize the button or make it half it's size, it'd be perfect. But when it comes to moving the dpad, I wanna meet the gorrila that ok'd that one. It's stiff as a rock, and completely unresponsive to any level of finesse short of Hercules.
And I'm simply disgusted the other two thumb buttons. the alt button above the dpad is very mushy and lacks a clicky response, you don't know if you're hitting it or not, and that's very bad. The 15 button below your thumb is too far toward your palm and needs to be hit dead center to register, requiring complete repositioning of your hand to use it.
Now, I could go on about how the upper key's faces are too close together, causing fingers to get "lost," a scroll wheel with 1/4" of play, or really overly bright backlighting, but I think you get the point. The software was OK and the rest of it I really didn't mind, but when the thumb area, the only advantage a gampad has fails so completely, kinda makes you wonder.
Don't buy it, whatever you're using now is probably better.