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Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 1:58 am
by Cakedaddy
It's the Belkin n52te.
It's this thing. My son figured I'd like it. I think it's something he's always wanted. . . so now I have it.
Anyway, played a bit of TF2 with it. It didn't not turn me into a pwning machine. Yet. I don't know if it will.
So far, it's awkward to use. The buttons are obviously slightly different than on the keyboard. The default config matches the left side of your keyboard. I've remaped a few of the keys. Like, the button on the right side is my "q" key for switching weapons, and the hat switch "up" is my space bar for jumping. Jumping with the is awkward. But that button below the hat switch is currently mapped to space bar. And that's too far to reach without leaving the home keys.
The palm rest is adjustable, and I have it all the way back for my hand.
While playing with it, it didn't really affect my game play for the better or worse as most of what you are concentrating on is aiming with the mouse. I do think I will like having my "q" key available with my thumb so I don't have to let go of the "a" to press it. But, I could have mapped it to something else on my keyboard as well.
If I can master the hat switch (8 way), I'd be able to do alot of remapping so that I could do alot more with my thumb, thus keeping my other fingers on the "awsd" keys constantly.
In summary, it has potential. $70 worth of potential? Yet to be determined. But, I'll spend some time with it to see if I can get used to the different feel. See if it cuts down on muscle fatigue, or makes it worse. It's just weird. My hand has been on the keyboard's "awsd" keys sinse the early 90's. Naturaly, moving those keys slightly is causing some issues. But, I was able to make it playable very quickly, and I think I'll continue to get more used to it.
I'll keep you posted. I have at least 2 weeks before I have to return it if it's a bust.
Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 12:30 pm
by TPRJones
Please do post updates. I've been considering finding other options for FPS controls, and that looks interesting.
Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 1:38 pm
by Malcolm
Dude in the university nerd club'd something similar. h4rD c0r3 or so I'm told.
Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 8:46 pm
by Cakedaddy
I've spent more time playing with this device while playing Warhammer Online. For Warhammer Online, it's awesome. You have all the normal keys at your finger tips. But then you have all the thumb stuff. I programmed all the other keys that I use (M for map, Space for jump, etc) onto the hat switch. Being able to bring up the map and shut it real quick without taking my fingers of the home keys is awesome. DEFINATELY useful for this type of game. It's still not quite as natural using the home keys as the keyboard is. But again, I've been using the keyboard for 15+ years now. I am getting use to it pretty quickly though. In the middle of fighting and stuff, I don't really struggle with it. Biggest has been the tab key equivelent. It's just different enough that I sometimes miss it. And I think it's mostly because it's not big like the tab key. So, when I hit it, it feels like a smaller key (cause it is), and my brain registers that as not the key I'm looking for.
But over all, I like playing Warhammer Online with this thing way more than I do on the keyboard. 8 out of 10 for slow paced RPG type game that uses the home keys along with many out of reach keys.
I haven't spent enough time playing TF2 or any fast paced FPS games to judge yet. Haven't played Eve with it at all yet.
Haven't tried the macros yet either. But, I did look at the editor. It's seems pretty in depth. It records delays between actions, how long you hold a key down, etc. Way more functionality built in than the macro stuff that came with my G15 keyboard.
More to follow as I use it more.
Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 9:00 pm
by Cakedaddy
Played more TF2.
It doesn't have the number keys. It has "qwert" and lower. So, being an engineer with the default settings was impossible. Unless someone can clue me into selecting things to build without hitting the number keys. So, that hurt alot. I tried mapping 1-4 to the thumb switch, but couldn't remember where I put them. "Is 1, up or forward?". I kept selecting the wrong thing. The thumb button is way too low. It's a long journey for your thumb when it's using the other buttons on that side. I taped a spacer on it and it's much better. That lower thumb button is way too low though. It still feels different. Normal moving with "awsd" is fine. But, the other keys are just different enough to mess with you a bit. I'm still going to give it a chance. But my fingers are resisting due to the 15+ years of training they've had on a normal keyboard. More than once I wanted to just dump the thing and go back to the keyboard. But, I stuck it out. The wheel on the device is near useless. It's in spot that your hand has to do some weird things to stay near the home keys and use the wheel. Lastly, it only goes down to the "Shift, zxc" row. So, no ctrl. Which is the crouch key. So, no crouching without a remapping of keys. What I might try is binding macros to the hat switch for the engineer building selections. This will make destroying difficult. But I rarely do that anyway.
So far, I'm not liking it with the fast paced FPSs I play. It's just different enough that I'm not as good. I have to get use to it. I'll keep trying. . .
Still really like it for Warhammer though. Works VERY well for that so far. This thing would have owned UO. All the macros I could have assigned to those keys. Would have been awesome.
Edited By Cakedaddy on 1230170512
Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 9:06 pm
by GORDON
My crouch is X. Alt-fire is Control.
Edited By GORDON on 1230170785
Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 4:50 pm
by Cakedaddy
Final verdict:
It was returned today. I just couldn't get used to it for FPS games. Was missing buttons. Had to put my hand into a wierd position to hit buttons. Just wasn't feelin' it. It was working great for Warhammer online. However, there was a time that I had to play on the normal keyboard again, and, I didn't miss it. So, even though it worked well with it, it's wasn't a must have. So, playing Warhammer a different way, not a 100% better way, wasn't worth the $70. I still think it would have been awesome for UO. All those programmable buttons for all the spell macros and stuff. The keyboard always worked well for that too. But you had to pick keys you hardly ever used or you'd be setting off macros by accident. So, there are probably games out there that would really benefit from this device. But, I don't think I'm playing them.
I felt bad not giving it more than a few hour chance in TF2 and insurgency. But, I dunno. It wasn't fun playing with it. I didn't feel that relearning the contols on that thing was going to make the game better or more playable. It just would have been different. I think the concept of one of those devices is decent. That implimentation wasn't perfect though. The lower thumb button was way too low. The missing number keys was unforgivable. The palm rest that just didn't fit right. Perhaps a better try would be a normal keyboard layout from the "~" key down to the "v" and spacebar, with some some other contol type of thing for your thumb to do. I liked having all new options for my thumb, because it's definately underused on the keyboard. But this device wasn't quite right.
Anyway, there you have it. I can't give it a thumbs up. At least not for the games that I'm playing right now.
Now, maybe an RTS or something would have been worth trying. But there again, it would be just asigning macros to the keys, and I can do that with a normal keyboard. So. . . dunno.
Edited By Cakedaddy on 1230501105