Customer Reviews
Swing and a miss. 
2008-06-05
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.
Great for gaming... 
2008-06-04
I bought this mostly for first person shooters and it's been great so far... I can't say it's improved my gaming at all but it's MUCH more comfortable than using the left side of a keyboard.
Belkin n53te 2008-06-03
Great item, it improved my gaming aibility 10 fold. I am very pleased with the simple set up, ease of use and quality! Well worth the cost to improve the agility and speed my "toon" accomplishes in PVP. I now top the list in damage done on our battlegrounds. Thanks to my gaming partner for finding it for me too!! I think he just wanted a better "wing man"
A giant step backward for Belkin. 2008-05-27
I am gonna make this short and aim it squarely at fans of the Nostromo who know basically what they are getting into and what they want. I used the old N50, the N52 for years, and recently purchased a N52TE.
1. The old programming interface was much simpler, more attractive, and allowed more customization.
2. The old N52 allows 4 different keymap states, the TE only 3. Huge difference if you are used to making full use of the N52 shift states.
3. The lights are too bright.
4. The giant foot on the bottom of the standard N52 is worlds better than the TE's six rubber feet. Like wobbly keyboards? Me either.
There are a few positives, including the feel of the keys, the much improved thumb button above the d-pad (if you know, you know) and I actually like the new "space bar" location though NOT as a spacebar.
Overall this is a downgrade and I for one would urge serious Nostromo fans to just buy an extra N52 for later, as I fear this new edition is the end for Belkins gamepad division. Or is it Razer now?
Mmmhmmm. Skip it. Do not buy. The original N52 is still the best.
N52 works great with Age of Conan 
2008-05-18
I had a problem using shortcut bars in games with a standard keyboard ... the N52 seems to be the answer. Improved my reaction time probably 500%.
With respect to all the negative reviews.. 2008-06-26
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.
took awhile but i really like it 2008-06-25
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)
razor messed it up BAD!!! 2008-06-13
The game pad is no improvement over the n52, some will think it's cool, some won't.
BUT... THE SOFT WEAR IS SO SUBSTANDARD (I want to use harsher language)
The software packaged with the n52te is so much LESS than what you could do with the n52 its amazing it sells at all.
The only reason I own it is because there is no driver or software support for the n52 for win xp64.
With the n52 when you created a MACRO you could edit the MACRO button hold and pause any where from 0 micro seconds to as large a pause as you needed.
With the new razor software you only have the choice to set it 50, 100, 150 or 200 micro seconds. So when I need a 2.03 second pause between button selections I tried to insert 10 ea 200 micro seconds in the MACRO and the program would not save it.
On a high resolution screen you can't read the program.
The bottoms don't identify themselves correctly in two ways, if you have ever used the n52 you would know how much better the n52 software identifies the bottoms. For instance if you move your mouse over the button on your screen or if you press the button on the n52 it lights up not only the pad diagram, it also lights up the key slot corresponding to that key.
BIG STUPID ERROR on the joy stick in the program the up or north direction is actually the forward direction on the game pad.
All in all the software is a undeveloped, worse than the original, piece of DOO DOO.
Unless you have win xp64 save your money and get a better product, the n52.
The right stuff! 2008-06-10
I am an avid WoW player and this device has seriously improved my game. My advice is to stay away from this unit so's I can own your butt in pvp!
Recommended for Hardcore PC Gamers - Excellent Build, Great Tactile Surface 2008-06-05
I just bought the n52te yesterday after so many people loving it, and I overnighted it with amazon prime (god I love that service)... I have the thing sitting in front of me and I'm already loving it without even playing with it yet. Very ergonomic.. and will go nicely with my Razer Lycosa keyboard. I almost think they designed the n52te and the Lycosa as sister products... because they are very similarly made in their design and aesthetic. Overall, great so far, and my only complaint is that the spacebar feels less bouncy then I would like.
