First off, a quick thanks to Belkin for providing us
with a review sample.
As you can tell from the title of this article, today I am looking at the Nostromo SpeedPad n50.
I doubt there are many among you, the reader, that haven't at some time played computer games. And the
chances are that you actively play computer games. In fact you probably wanna go play some CounterStrike
right now, don't ya ? Well please hold off a bit as you may find something that will give you that edge
when playing !
The object of the review - the SpeedPad n50
This is what Belkin has to say about the SpeedPad n50 :
"Keyboard gamers have been waiting for a device for years that will play better than their keyboard.
The n50 SpeedPad makes it easy to transition, fast to pick up and improves your game."
I will hopefully be showing you how they have done this and to see if it does live up to their claims.
What's included
The SpeedPad n50 itself
What is the SpeedPad n50 ? Its a cross between a gamepad and a keypad with a throttle control to boot.
Many people playing games like to use the WASD or ESDF keys for movement, however with the addition of the
D-Pad you can avoid the finger cramp that often accompanies hours of gameplay. Also, with the position of
the D-Pad, you only require your thumb to operate it whereas using key combinations such as WASD or ESDF
require the use of two or three fingers.
The D-Pad
The keypad
They keypad as you can see is two rows of 5 keys, totalling 10. There is also the option to set one or two
of the keys to be "shift keys" - allowing you to program alternate functions to the keys when you use the
"shift keys". Thus you can actually have about 24 different keys within the reach of your left hand. More
than enough ! You can also map some keypresses to a "macro" ... ever wanted to Ctrl-Alt-Del at the push of
a single button ? You can now hehe !
The throttle control
A feature I didn't expect to find was the throttle control on the SpeedPad. Helpful for those driving
or flight sim fans ! I didn't get to use it in my testing, but then maybe I'm just not very inventive !!
USB connector with a fairly long lead
The SpeedPad connects to your pc via a USB port - which means installation is made a doddle. You just install
the software off the cd, and then plug in the controller and it picks it up. Simple as that :)
There are tons of game profiles that come with the device, and I found a large database of user submitted
game profiles for the gamepad. I however found it best to experiment with making my own profile and I now
have something I'm comfortable with.
Depending on how far you want to go with it, you can merely subsitute the portion of your keyboard you use
for your game controls which makes it easy to become accustomed to the SpeedPad, or you can keep on playing
and playing with the controls until you get the buttons just how you want. To get started with it the included
profiles are a good idea - just make a note of which keys the SpeedPad is mapped to !!
Conclusions
Overall I think Belkin have come through quite well. What the individual gamer gets out of using the SpeedPad
n50 is based on how far they want to go in experimenting with their own game profiles. There is a handy
launcher that will let you launch your favourite game with your chosen keypad profile as well thus saving
you time.
PROS
- Comfortable when in use
- Easy installation
CONS
- Depending on the individual, can be easy or hard to get accustomed to
I'd recommend it if you are looking to gain the edge - you may just find it with the SpeedPad n50 !
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