G13?

[Makuab]

Im just curious about this item, the Logitech G13, and am wondering if anyone owns one, and what they think of it.

If you dont like it, what would you recommend? What is it good for? Tell be about it? Would you recommend it?

 

[Makuab]

bump

 

[Makuab]

bump

 

[Cerb]

First off: don't bump so much. OT has a neffing thread, if you want postcount. Your post is not going to get 'lost' anywhere by OT, in less than a day.

Assuming only Windows use...

Neither the N52te nor G13 are made for right hands. As of late, it seems these types of devices are getting used more and more by graphic design and CAD folk, that are either finding the keyboard/mouse too slow, or having RSI trouble with them for common repetitive tasks.

N52TE
Pros:

1. The wheel is very nice. I wish the G13 had one around where the 'left' joystick button is.
2. The flat stick is nice.
3. I find the square grid allows me to more easily get to all the buttons.​

Cons:

1. The 'angry blue' (cheapo 'white' LEDs) backlight is annoying as all hell if the room is dark, IMO.
2. The hump of the hand rest requires you to have your hand pushed back to use it, which I can't see as being good for RSI.​

G13
Pros:

1. The stick can be used a s a 4-way stick, analog stick (with poor centering--good enough for arcade style games, but not shooters or sims), 4 separate keys/macros, or as a titmouse.
2. There are way more buttons than the N52te.
3. Your hand can rest almost flat on it, making it comfy for long periods of use.
4. The base is nice, and not prone to moving.
5. The backlight can be adjusted by color and intensity, so it can be dim and not blue, if you want (I generally use dim reds, oranges, yellows, and purples).
6. The backlight color can change by profile/mode (each profile has up to three modes, accessed by the buttons above the keypad), so you if you use multiple modes for one game (or real productivity application), you can get feedback as to if you switched correctly by using your peripheral vision.
7. The software allows for highly flexible scripting, via Lua. It takes a little effort to more than basic macros with it, but it's awesome (and, most basic macros can be recorded in the software).
8. If you set up your keys and buttons accordingly, you can augment the software's functionality with other key/button software, such as autohotkey, xpadder, or joytomouse3.
9. If you have multiple computers you use it on, you can save your profiles to the device, so that if you adjust them, those changes stick. Not useful to me, but I can see it coming in handy, for actual professional users, taking their work home.​

Cons:

1. If you don't have long fingers, you will have to give up a row of keys. At this point, some previously-gibberish user reviews will start to make sense. Also, you'll get why people pay a decent bit used Saitek ones on eBay.
2. The key layout makes it hard to reach some keys, even though your fingers are right over them.
OTOH, While I can't use several keys, due to 1 and 2, I can still easily access more keys than are on the N52te. So, even if you have smaller hands, it's quite nice.
3. IME, the profile-switching software doesn't work right. It will automatically switch upon app start, but changing focus, it never switches back. What I did was enabled manual profile switching from the pad. Personally, I would like to have a force profile menu in the tray app.
4. Scripting can be time consuming. It's not hard (assuming you have some programming experience), but i takes a little time to get used to how they planned for it to be used.
5. You need plenty of desk space for it.
6. Very minor: they could have easily adjusted how the color setting works in the uC, such that the color palette actually give you an approximation of the color you'll see.
7. Personally, I find the device useless for games that have controls properly designed around WASD, and that are fairly customizable.​

Note: if using Vista or 7, and using it for normal Windows GUI apps, you may find it not working in some of them, even with a forced profile. The solution is to make the software run as Administrator, and deal with the UAC prompt.

 

[ripster55]

I modded my Nostromo N52 to take Cherry MX mechanical switches - all customized to my preferences.

Mod instructions here.

http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:7425

I may get a G13 if they ever fix that thumb stick.

 

[Makuab]

I dont understand, the g13 thumb stick doesnt work properly?

 

[Cerb]

I dont understand, the g13 thumb stick doesnt work properly?

No, it works quite well. However, if you're prone to oily skin or sweat, it could become slippery, whereas the Belkin will not suffer in that situation. You also have to center your thumb relative to it, limiting your hand's resting position, v. the Belkin (OTOH, the Belkin's wrist rest causes the same problem). I read somewhere where one guy took his apart and modded it to be flat, like the Belkin. However, I haven't taken mine apart, and what I read was not accompanied by pics, so...

 

[Makuab]

So it works well? I sometimes get sweaty hands, and I dont know if the positioning would be a problem..

 

[Makuab]

I'm worried about my hand size, is there a way I can measure to make sure it will fit?

 

[CurseTheSky]

Is there anywhere that you can still buy a N52te for a reasonable price?

 

[Makuab]

I got a g13, hopefully I wont regret it.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Is there anywhere that you can still buy a N52te for a reasonable price?

http://www.google.com/products

http://www.macmall.com/p/Belkin-Comp...=MWBGOOGLEBASE

If you're having trouble finding results on searches for Belkin N52TE, it appears that Belkin is stepping down and letting Razer take the lead now:

Belkin Nostromo N52TE:

Razer Nostromo:

http://www.amazon.com/Razer-RZ07-004.../dp/B004AM5RB6


The original N52's keys feel terrible, some of the worst I've ever experienced, and just about requires a mod like what Ripster did, at least IMO. Testing the N52TE in stores it feels leaps and bounds better but still don't think I could justify spending the ~$50-60+ on one after gaming on Cherry Blacks. Its too bad Razer hasn't updated the design at all, they did just pop their mechanical switch cherry with the BlackWidow, but the Nostromo with some mechanical switches + an extra row of keys above the directional cluster would make that pad near perfect IMO.

 

[Grendalsh]

I'd like to address some of the issues between the N52te, Nostrom and G13.

1. I chatted with a Razer rep at BlizzCon this year, and he stated that Razer had bought the license to the Nostromo line from Belkin, which allowed them to update the internals and revamp the profile editing process.
2. While the Logitech G13 has 'moar buttonz' than the n52te/Nostromo, many of these are not directly underhand, and require reaching/shifting the hand to hit. This kinda kills the selling point as an ergo-gaming peripheral.
3. While the n52te/Nostromo has fewer buttons than the G13, through creative use of modifiers and combination keypresses, it's possible to have 60+ keybindings on any of these devices, without changing Modes. If your program doesn't allow custom hotkeys, then the G13 is probably a better bet. Otherwise either has more than plenty keybindings available for most any game or program.
4. The dpad on the n52te got panned because of jittery diagonal movement. There is a fix; disable the diagonals in the profile editor. Screwy, but it works. For all three devices, either the thumbstick of the dpad is a better movement input option than using WASD on the keypad, plus it frees up those 4 buttons and 3 fingers for other tasks. On the Nostromo, the dpad works as expected out the box. The DPad on the n52te/Nostromo is VERY comfortable for extended play/use. I recommend pulling off the little thumbstick that it ships with (it is meant to just pull out); it messes with directions and isn't as comfortable as the base dpad. I'm thinking of putting some griptape on mine for those hi-movement encounters.
5. The n52te can be found on eBay, usually for <$40. Many folks have bought it, fiddled a while, and either couldn't figure out how to use it or didn't want to put the time in to reconfigure it. So there's many practically new units for sale, cheap. However, I'm quite pleased with the new Nostromo. If Razer can provide some added features to it in the future, it will easily be worth the $70 pricetag.
6. The hand naturally has a curved profile. The hump on the n52te/Nostromo supports this. The G13 doesn't, which I've found uncomfortable for extended use. The wrist rest on the N52te/Nostromo can be removed for smaller hands, or moved back for larger hands; just pull it straight up.
7. While a 4th row of keys on the n52te/Nostromo would be nice, you can bind the top row to the numrow. While this interferes with WASD playing, see my points about using the dpad for movement. Yes, I can run rings around WASD with the dpad.

FYI - I have a youtube channel dedicated to using the n52te/Nostromo for gaming. http://www.youtube.com/user/grendalsh.

 

[Cerb]

The hand naturally has a curved profile.

This is probably what should make the decision, more than anything else. Does your hand arch up as much as the N52's wrist rest, naturally? If so, it's probably the better device, regardless of other factors.

The hump on the n52te/Nostromo supports this. The G13 doesn't

Yes, it does. Apparently, useful for those of us with hands that don't naturally arch up so much. I do wish they'd put more thought into the key layout, though.

I got a g13, hopefully I wont regret it.

It would probably be worth paying a little more to get it from somewhere with a good return policy.