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(More customer reviews)I've had a Nostromo for years when it was still being manufactured by Belkin. They sold it Razer a while back and stopped driver support for the N52 which became a issue for me under Win7, so I figured since I liked the Death Adder mouse and Tarantula keyboard so much, surely their take on the Nostromo would be golden. It is...mostly, but they did fall short of a perfect redraft of the N52.
First, the software that comes bundled with the Razer Nostromo is very good, very solid and stable, and IMO better than what Belkin had going with their profiler. The Nostromo's profiler software under Belkin was good and easy to use, very intuitive on most levels as far as programming macros and keystrokes were concerned, and allowed you to set up 3 keymaps with page flipping fairly easily. The Razer version has the same ease of use, but is smoother and cleaner with its layout, it enables far smoother profile changes even within a game to other game set ups, something the Belkin version couldn't, and has 8 keymap options compared to Belkin's 3.
However, when I first got it, I was very annoyed with the device, because the thumb directional pad had this knob sticking up from the center that significantly interfered with my use of it as a directional movement button. It was intended to be a thumb joystick, but its responsiveness was abysmal, enough so that I regretted buying Razer's Nostromo and seriously considered taking it back. Then I discovered after a few days after seriously considering taking a Dremel to it, that it was removable and the thumb button's slightly dipped design was much more natural. It is however, not as good as Belkin's original, and for the same reason that the other thumb button at the base isn't as good as the original, they're both too tall and have as a result, too much depth of depression requirement. The amount of effort required to engage these buttons is thus unnatural and interefers with response time and often you think you're engaging it with enough pressure and you're not.
In contrast, the keys on the keypad are excellent, the texture of the buttons, the lighting, and the amount of distance that your finger has to depress them is all spot on and natural in the amount of effort and response, which is why it gets so annoying when you use the directional pad and thumb button, the depth and pressure required on both is very unnatural in comparison to the rest of the keypad. Were it not for the design of the two thumb buttons, this would get 5 stars from me. Considering how much effort Razer puts into their products otherwise, I have to admit I'm very taken aback at the change in the design they pursued for their version of this keypad, Belkin's was perfect and all 3 variations that I possessed up till having to retire my N52, the thumb buttons required but light pressure and very little depth to engage, it was natural and I never missed a keystroke with them. Using Razer's nostromo, I frequently have to pay far more attention to the device and making sure the directional or the bottom bar engage, and it has cost me more than a few matches as a result. Considering Razer bills itself as "By Gamers, for Gamers", I have to wonder what got into them when they picked up the rights for the Nostromo and then dropped the ball like that.
Wondering if it was just me, I had given my old one to a friend who still runs a XP operating system, under which the drivers and the profiler work without any issue, and he can't believe how much its changed his gaming experience, both from a enjoyment perspective and a effective improvement in his performance. I asked him to play his WoW and DCUO character with my rig, which his is very similar to, Nostromo on the left, keyboard center, mouse right, for most games, you barely touch the keyboard with this setup once you got your nostromo's profile and macros set up the way you want. He immediately commented on the thumb buttons, saying they felt unnatural and required more effort than the Belkin's, and I hadn't said a word to him about my annoyance with those two features. He played for a while a couple of pvp matches in both games, and in every match, he gripped about the movement pad and the base thumb switch taking way too much effort to engage, as he said it "I have to mash the button instead of tap it, what the hell were they thinking?"
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Razer Nostromo Gaming Keypad (RZ07-00490100-R3)Whether your passion lies in FPS, MMORPG, or RTS games, the Razer Nostromo\' gaming keypad is designed to give you the upper hand with cutting edge ergonomics designed for intuitive game control while you play in complete comfort. With an arsenal of tournament-grade controls including 16 fully programmable Hype response\' keys, 8 key maps that you can switch between on the fly, and an 8-way directional thumb pad all integrated into one dedicated gaming keypad, you\'re prepared to take on all challengers.
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