Belkin n52te Tournament Edition SpeedPad
by Belkin Components
List Price:
Our Price: $67.01
You Save: $2.98 (4%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: CE
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Digital product summary information
Manufacturer: Belkin ComponentsAudio: English (Original Language)
Release Date: 2008-03-10
Platform: Mac OS X
Model: F8GFPC200
Color: Black
Product features:
- Gaming accessory incorporates keyboard and gamepad functions into one easy-to-use device
- 15 fully programmable keys built for complete customization and speed
- Programmable 8-way thumb pad with removable joystick
- Adjustable wrist pad and backlit keypad and scroll wheel
- Embedded memory powered by Razer allows you to personalize multiple player profiles for all your games
Digital camera reviews of Belkin n52te Tournament Edition SpeedPad
Digital camera Review: Very nice, there are a few missing features though
Summary: 4 Stars
Picked up this sweet, sweet controller. One of the things that has always bothered me about MMOs is the sheer number of abilities jobs/classes/whatever the hell you want to call them have, and how practical it is for us as humans to access them when it's vital. We only have so many fingers, ya know? This really comes into play when PvP is introduced, where split-second timing is incredibly important. It doesn't do anybody a lot of good to have spell interruption abilities if you can't find the right Ctrl-Shift+Number key fast enough to use it before your face is melted off with a fiery blast.
So with that in mind I went on a quest to find a controller that would meet my needs. I wanted something that I could rapidly mash buttons on in a way that wouldn't require me to have to hunt them down visually, so being able to place my fingers strategically on the device was a must. It would also have to fit on the smallish slide-out keyboard tray that my desk has, and easily share the space with my mouse, which also sits on the keyboard tray. It would have to have enough buttons to make the most useful abilities my class has a button-push away. I had originally thought that a device which mimicked MMO ability bars would be perfect (something like 2 or 3 rows of very large buttons that you could smack, mounted above a keyboard.) However, that wouldn't be practical for a lot of MMO games which rely heavily on abilities, WAR being one of them. So I dropped that idea (such an accessory doesn't exist anyway) and moved on to browsing through pages of controllers.
I examined gaming keyboards as well as gaming mice. I decided to get a new mouse, as the one I had was just a standard 3 button mouse, and picked up a Razor DeathAdder. Great mouse, extremely sensitive, good feel, but holy crap I was in the usersettings.xml changing the mouse sensitivity faster than a grasshopper jumping off a hot skillet. Even the slightest mouse movement caused my screen to whip around so fast I almost fell out of my chair. I digress, however. One of the top rated controllers was the n52te. I read the feedback from users on this one, as well as other highly rated controllers, and the n52te, while disappointing to people who owned the original n52, had good reviews from people who had never owned the older version. I took a chance and bought it, because it looked like it might meet my needs.
A couple of days later it was in my hands; yesterday, as a matter of fact. Plugged it in, went to the website and downloaded the latest drivers, and away I went. Placing my hand on it I knew that ergonomically it was fairly well thought out with the placement of the various buttons, as well as the thumb hat switch. There are a few buttons that are just not practical, depending on how you use the controller. The way I use it is the thumb hat switch controls movement, and the buttons laid out on the top row are for the most commonly used abilities. The second row is for debuffs, and the third row (which is pretty awkward to use, requiring the user to have to curl their fingers up to reach) is morale abilities since they're used infrequently. The mouse is used for camera panning, and the mouse wheel is used for jumping. The right mouse button is held in almost all of the time to facilitate camera panning. The middle button is assigned to jumping, and the easiest to use side button cycles through enemies, while the button next to it targets the nearest enemy.
It took a bit to get used to moving around with my thumb instead of WASD keyboard input, and getting a feel for where the buttons are for abilities is something I'm still getting comfortable with. However, the potential for rapidly and intuitively selecting abilities is really obvious. Once this controller becomes second nature to operate, woe be unto Order!
Now for the cons.
- The buttons directly above and below the thumb hat switch are next to useless when using the thumb switch to move your character around. When you're running an enemy down, you certainly aren't going to take your thumb off the direction controls to try to press one, otherwise the enemy will be out of range or worse, strafing around you pwning your face. As a result, they're assigned to really infrequent tasks. Namely bringing up the map, and I don't think I even have the bottom button assigned to anything at all.
- The hat switch doesn't depress to act like another button. This is such a HUGE miss on Belkin's part. Why? Because the controller has the capacity to operate in 3 different modes, each one mapping to different sets of keys. This means that all of the character abilities that could be accessed with regular number keys, ctrl+number keys, and alt+number keys could have been selected if a hat switch button was present to cycle through the different modes. As a matter of fact, as far as I know, there's no way to cycle through the different modes using the controller! I could be wrong (and probably am), but looking through the documentation it never mentioned how to map a key to cycle through modes. The point is, being able to cycle through different abilities using a hat switch button would enable the user to continue moving around while selecting upwards of 42 abilities! As it stands, the controller relegates its users to only 14, which is still really REALLY freakin' nice, but I can't help but think about how awesome it would be to have access to 42.
- The controller's key mapping editor. It's HORRIBLE. Apparently they thought it would be a good idea to use some fancy graphics which doesn't scale at all on large resolution displays. So, if you're like me and run at a high resolution, good luck trying to read all that tiny text. The way the help is integrated into the editor is also horrible. HORRIBLE! It has these bizarre slide-outs that allow a user to interact with the index and subjects. You just have to see it to understand how bad it is. Couple it with high resolutions and it's made of pure fail. Also, the fact that you can only map a SINGLE key, as opposed to key combinations, to a button is retarded. I'm sure if you delve into making a macro you can use key combos, but why the hell can't I just do it in an easy fashion? Overall, the editor is clunky, ugly, and incredibly counter-intuitive.
- The rows of buttons aren't spaced far enough away from one another. I think it would have made people a lot happier if the buttons were a bit smaller so the spacing between them would be distinctive enough to know which button is which when feeling for a selection. As it stands there's not enough room to really know which buttons your fingers are aligned with without having to glance if you've moved your fingers for whatever reason. It would also help if the buttons were more concave, to really give a user good tactile feedback that their fingers are centered on them.
That's about it. Overall it's a great controller, and if and when they fix that god-awful editor it will be a hell of a lot better. That missing hat switch button is truly a huge oversight on their part though, and one that can't be fixed without a new revision of the device itself, unfortunately.
Summary of Belkin n52te Tournament Edition SpeedPad
Whether for FPS (First Person Shooter), MMORPG (Mass Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game), or RTS (Real Time Strategy) games, Belkin's n52te is built to dominate with swift execution. Gain a competitive edge with fully customizable keys, portable player profiles, cool blue backlighting, and Razer's killer performance tools. Bring on all challengers and see why your n52te won't be the only thing that's lit up. Enhanced tactile feedback and button responsiveness for rapid key presses Backlit keypad and scroll wheel for total control in dark conditions System Requirements - Windows XP, XP 64-bit, Windows Vista, Vista 64-bit, Mac OS X v10.2.8 or above, USB port, CD or DVD drive, 35MB free space and DirectX compatible video card  The n52te is an innovative keyboard and gamepad with incredible personalization options powered by Razer. View larger. |
 Engineered to optimize your gaming speed and prowess. View larger. |
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Keyboard and Gamepad Functionality
The n52te puts keyboard and gamepad functionality into one small and easy-to-use unit, delivering more tools for customizing your game than ever. Using feedback from hundreds of gamers, Belkin's engineers designed the n52te's intuitive nature and stylish versatility to give you easy access to your arsenal of deadly maneuvers.
An adjustable soft-touch wrist pad offers maximum comfort and endurance, while the backlit keypad and scroll wheel give you total control in dark conditions. Gamers demand speed and instantaneous response, so the n52te features enhanced tactile feedback and button responsiveness for rapid key presses. Non-slip, rubber stability pads keep the device in place so you can concentrate on firing, bobbing, and weaving.
Supreme Customization
Need to custom tune your device to match your unique fragging needs? Not a problem with the n52te. Fifteen fully-programmable keys and three keymaps are built for complete customization and speed, giving you intuitive setup and performance. The 8-way thumb pad is programmable, as well, and it sports a removable joystick.
Powered by Razer
Thanks to Razer SynapseT embedded memory, you can personalize multiple player profiles for all your games and access killer performance tools. The inclusion of onboard memory also means that you get plug and play versatility with no additional software installation.
What's in the Box
Belkin n52te, quick start guide, and Nostromo Array Programming Software.
Game Hardware Games
Cameras and Photo
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