Reddit reviews Belkin Nostromo Speedpad n52

I posted this before, but there is another option without having to try and adjust to a left stick.

Still using a joystick in the right hand for yaw/pitch/roll. On the left a PC game pad like a Nostromo N52(Ignore the pricing, just a crazy Amazon seller).

A speedpad type controller has the hat for strafing vertical and horizontal. The keys in front (like W/S on a keyboard) for forward/backward thrusters. Then a throttle roller for setting fine throttle and you can easily hotkey any of the keys for % throttle jumps.

Then your hat on the joystick for view. Keys on the speedpad for menus and toggles.

That would probably be the most natural feeling 6DOF setup for most people. Moving one arm with a joystick is a change to many people because they are used to a mouse. Trying to coordinate 2 sticks would be tough.

http://smile.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0000DC643/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all
Here are some that are cheaper that aren't completely disgusting. I'm not sure if anyone would buy that for the cost of shipping without you cleaning it very thoroughly.

Just tested on my trusty Logitech dual action, and in the time it takes me to get the stick from center to edge (as in, only just started turning pretty much) I can move the mouse from the edge of the screen to about 2/3 of the way across, and I only play at average sensitivity for mouse control. Most PC gamers will play at a high enough sensitivity that you only move your wrist to complete a full 180+ turn. Most movement is done with the fingers or pivoting on the wrist bone (depending on preferred grip). Some crazy people like the sensitivity so high that moving the mouse the same distance as center to outside on an analogue stick will do a 360 rotation for them. These are a fairly small subgroup of PC gamers however, as you need to damn good to have sensitivity that high and still be able to accurately hit stuff.

The difference between m/kb and controller is not so much about the speed but the accuracy however. A mouse you can move and stop dead exactly where you want it, a controller it takes time for the stick to recenter itself. With a mouse you can have a much higher resolution that analogue sticks by having a higher DPI sensor, where as controllers have a fixed polling rate that is dependent on the game generally. Changing sensitivity is insufficient as it is a multiplier, so you get less accurate readings (say your scale moves in units of 1 between 0 an 10; multiplying by 5 to expand that range to 50 gives you 10 steps off resolution. If you have a sensor that has a resolution of 50, it's immediately 5 times as accurate.

Most of the error for using a controller comes from the time it takes to re-center the stick, and the loss of resolution when ramping up the sensitivity. If you had a controller with max sensitivity (to match a high DPI mouse's movement speed) and no auto-aim/aim assist, what are the odds you would be able to consistently swap target extremely fast and stop with your cross hairs directly over the targets head? It would be pretty damn low I would guess (theres a reason that controllers cap the sensitivity so low and have auto aim etc.).

I will give you that an analogue stick is probably a superior input to wasd for movement. It would be cool to see more stuff like the belkin nostromo being made with plenty of hotkeys for our 4 other digits, and an analogue stick for out thumb.

Also, as an interesting side note, the moving from/to center with analogue sticks is pretty much having the exact same effect as mouse acceleration. Ask any PC gamer what they think of mouse acceleration and the response will be something along the lines of "OHGODKILLITWITHFIRE!!!".

This is my set up, full time. I game with a 360 controller or with Nostromo N52 (not razer), Logitech G500, and Logitech K400 keyboard/trackpad on an approx 2'x3' wood board on my recliner.

Rebind dodge to your mouse.

As for the rest, do whatever works for you. I personally go with esdf for movement, and I rebind s and f to strafe instead of turn. I use weap skills on wqa34, r for heal, tgb class skill, v for my elite. Honestly, this is the first MMO I have played that has made me deeply consider buying a speedpad.

Nostromo Speedpad n52. I haven't seen/held the new models, so unfortunately I cannot compare.

I just couldn't use both the keys and the thumbpad; the thumb button was totally out of my reach. I have med/large women's hands, too. Maybe I have short thumbs? :P

I used to have one of these, a Belkin Nostromo N50. I thought it looked cool - it was the first thing like this, at least to my knowledge - and I've always liked unusual peripherals. What I mainly wanted was something that improved ergonomically on a standard keyboard and allowed me to have more controls to hand. I mainly like FPS so I had it set up for that, and on the whole, it worked simply OK. It was good for GTA:VC as well, and I particularly liked the throttle wheel. It also worked really well as a great winamp remote controller when not in games. However it was too limited by lack of buttons and the ergonomics just weren't quite right - button placement was a bit off, and the palm rest was too big. The palm rest was removable and I used it like that, but that just left a sort of cavity that didn't support my hand. It was a good idea that wasn't quite good enough.

Then this came out and I got that - better ergonomics, more buttons; sold, I thought. Yes and no; there were now enough buttons but some, particularly the big orange one and the thumb "space bar" one were too stiff/hard to press, and the throttle was replaced by an ordinary scroll wheel, which was basically redundant because I have one on my mouse. The ergonomics also weren't better, just differently wrong - button placement was better, but it was still too fat for the palm, and now the palm rest and heel rest were one piece so if I took it off, my palm was comfortable but the heel of my hand was now floating. The N52 saw less use and I eventually gave up on it for games and went back to just using the keyboard. I got a media control keyboard and it went into the parts bin.

Right from the start I got the impression that the things were mostly aimed at competitive RTS gamers, who are doing complex repetitive actions. The whole customisable macro thing is the real strength - in RTS it's great for e.g. sending build orders or micromanaging squad abilities via shortcut keys. I can also imagine it might be good for the likes of PvP in MMOs, or maybe message macros to co-ordinate raids or whatever. These aren't really my genres, so I think they were kind of wasted on me. Of course now MOBA is the new hotness and I imagine that's the focus for a lot of competition and thus for hardware makers. I don't play MOBA so I don't know enough about whether the capabilities these offer would actually help.

If you get this G13, I'd say this: actually try it in your hand first if possible, or if not buy from somewhere you can return the opened package to without fuss if you don't like the feel. The G13 looks like it was supposed to be ambidextrous at first but then they decided to slap the d-pad on the side, so the whole thing looks suspicious to me from an ergonomic angle, and if it's not more comfortable to use than a keyboard you might as well get one of the full keyboards with macro support and/or a sub-screen. The screen looks like something that might be very useful, but would depend entirely on game support to be usable - there's a list here and if your games aren't on it, that's basically a waste.

Belkin don't make the N50 or N52 any more but Razer seem to have bought the N52 design; it's something of a competitor.

I had one of these back in the day and I don't think I used it for more than 5 minutes.

Between having to re-learn where the buttons are and being a pain in the ass to map all the keys, I just went straight back to the keyboard.

But maybe it is not a Noobish binding setup. You don't know what hardware he/she is using. Back when I played WOW I used a Nostromo Speedpad and bound all the numbered keys to the keys around what would be WASD. My main spells (Fire Mage)1,2,3,4,5 were bound to the D-pad and that big orange button.

I have the cheap version of Razer's Nostromo, the Belkin 'Nostromo' SpeedPad N52 which I do not like. The buttons are cheap and have poor tactile feedback.. I like the idea, just the execution on the Belkin was cheap, but it was given to me so no skin off my back.

If I had the money, I am sure a higher quality one would not be bad

Have you considered getting a G13 or N52?

I have a first edition G15 + G13 right now (and have been using them for years). Though in the past I have used an N52 (original one, not any of the newer ones). I really like the ergonomics of having a gamepad off to the side and being able to map the keys with specific settings per game. I'd try them both (N52/G13) since they each have a slightly different shape/layout and see which is more comfortable for you.

On the LCDs that Logitech puts on some of their products: What type of games do you play? Do you use voice comm software like ventrilo/mumble/teamspeak? Depending on what I'm playing the LCD has been extremely useful. My primary uses are secondary score/stat screen, clock for timing spawns, and knowing who the hell is talking in voice chat (getting around the ubiquitous I need help! Who is I? calls that go out from time to time).

Just because people have already suggested steam controller etc. There are vertical mice and such that look like this http://www.clickwithyourmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/VM4R-med-300x241.jpg, that might be a superior option. AND something like a speedpad might work over a keyboard eg. http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-F8GFPC100-Nostromo-Speedpad-n52/dp/B0000DC643/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1462120318&sr=1-3keywords=speedpad

EDIT: There are also foot pedal systems you could get if you wanted to assign certain functions to your feet to make it easier. eg. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=computer+foot+pedal

The original was from Belkin, then Belkin and Razor teamed up and came out with the tournament edition, which was the blue one. Shortly after, Razor made their branded one, which took over as the mainstream.

Definitely. It's all I've used since my bilateral carpal tunnel surgery about 14 years ago. Once you get past the learning curve, they are quite precise.

I actually use the exact model you linked to, I have three sitting on my desk right now. I also use a Nostromo gamepad, like this one

Like this? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Belkin-Nostromo-SpeedPad-Directional-Throttle/dp/B0000DC643

I don't think my hands would know what to do, haha. At the moment I pretty much use Shift, W, 1234 and click everything else even though I tried binding my attacks to Z, X, C, B, G, and R. Maybe I need big stickers on my keyboard or something.

Have you tried a game pad? Something like https://www.amazon.com/Belkin-F8GFPC100-Nostromo-Speedpad-n52/dp/B0000DC643. I have it and love it. Thumb rests on the arrows for movement and you've got all those keys resting under your fingers to bind to your quick bars.

http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-F8GFPC100-Nostromo-Speedpad-n52/dp/B0000DC643/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1376217955&sr=1-2


Before they added melody I used one of these to twist songs. Worked great.

I use a Logitech G5 Laser Gaming Mouse like this one here

I found it a year or so ago at Walmart for clearance price of $40. It has the weights you can add to it underneath, and all the buttons are programmable if you so choose.

I don't know if it's just the mouse, or me just being used to it, but I love that damn thing, it's crazy precise and has a good weight to it. Adjustable weight, that is.

Pick one up if you can pay less than the $189.99 it's going for on Amazon. There's a newer model that has another button by the thumb, but any of these are great for FPS gaming.

I also rock a Nostromo N52 programmable keypad. Can't give that thing enough props. Been using it and its predecessors since the Counter Strike 1.6 days. Especially great for games where you can't change the keys (like Transformers.) PM me if you're curious about it, but if you do pick one up, try to find an N52 over the N52TE. The older N52 used different and superior programming software, where the hardware on the N52TE is better. Folks have done a full swap too.

It looks very similar to my old nostromo.

https://www.amazon.com/Belkin-F8GFPC100-Nostromo-Speedpad-n52/dp/B0000DC643

Its a one handed controller used mostly for MMO's.

I had to dust off the old Nostromo from my early WoW days.

I love being able to strafe/move with one finger using the thumbpad... plus there's enough keybinds/combinations for anyone.

Ok, so I understand the intention of that rule, and agree with it that we should try to eliminate unfair advantages for people.

But when it comes to things like this that are entirely clientside and completely undetectable, it's probably a good idea to just let them be. I could play with a nostromo pad, or a programable keyboard, or a Dvorak keyboard, and as fas as the client knows I just pressed the "9" key, regardless of what my mapping is.

It's like making a rule that says "All players must wear pants while logged into the server". You can't detect it, and you can't enforce it

You could bind it elsewhere. I'd also recommend a left-hand gamepad, if you're having issues with your left hand cramping up. I'm using a Belkin Nostromo Speedpad n52 from over a decade ago, and it still feels great. Stops my wrist from crapping out on me. I know Belkin and Razer are still developing them. Check one out.

I have the Belkin before it was razer. Maybe it's time to upgrade.

Belkin model

While I haven't had a go with the Naga, I personally have been using a Nostromo n52 gamepad for about 10 years now for playing wow, or any MMO to be honest, 14 buttons, and a thumb macro key that allows you to map 42 different buttons, as well as full on macros. I cannot play with out it, I have the D-pad set for movement and the button above set for tab targeting. That page listed is an example as they do not make them anymore but there are other versions out now (exact same functionality) that you can buy.

http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-F8GFPC100-Nostromo-Speedpad-n52/dp/B0000DC643

I wish. I use a Nostromo 32 which fits the 5 flask / 5 spell thing very nicely. its helped over a keyboard. Thing just drives me crazy it has built in macro function and I could set up a flask macro in 30 seconds but they decide to ban that. I don't cuz I'd rather not get banned from my favorite game. It just feels stupid. I come from eve where they (against the rules) program mining bots so they can literally just leave their PC on while at work and come back home to tons of profit. Now I don't agree with that, I'm just saying automation is to the point the mining bot's can literally defend themsevles against the asteroid belt NPCS and everything.

But in Eve they allow multiboxing where you can have 20 damn accounts tied together. I guess technically, this would count as "1 key press" per action... Times Twenty... I dunno how GGG would see that, probably as totally unacceptable but. I dunno. Tech keeps advancing and they want us to not use something as a simple flask macro, just to make our fingers hurt apparently.

Right now I'm actually using a rotgut in flask 1 and Withered step in skill 1 to zoom across maps, so I guess if I was i'd have to break a popsicle stick in half anyway XD

Edit: for anyone interested this is the gamepad I use https://www.amazon.com/Belkin-F8GFPC100-Nostromo-Speedpad-n52/dp/B0000DC643/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=nostromo+32&qid=1568371343&s=gateway&sr=8-1 . Bought it years ago for funs sake. But I only started using regularly with POE. it really does feel better then a keyboard. Just sucks having to switch over to type for trade and chatting stuff.

It could be organized under a different hotkey layout or even a different keyboard. I use a Belkin Nostromo controller myself, which has its own programmable keys and layout.
https://www.amazon.com/Belkin-F8GFPC100-Nostromo-Speedpad-n52/dp/B0000DC643
That's the model I bought in 2005, and it still works great.

Belkin Nostromo n52

The original had mechanical keys and had 4 states (blank, red, green, blue), whereas the TE had bubble buttons and only 3 states (no blank state). Belkin then sold the concept to Razer which made an even worse version. The original was better in every way except aesthetics.

The original

Tournament Edition

Razor