N52 or Not.

[Lost Ninja]

I've been dual/triple boxing for several years and my main method of control is the Nostromo n52 (Belkin). I currently play games under windows XP but am really liking the RC of Windows 7. It looks unlikely that Belkin will release drivers/software for the original n52 for Win7, or if they do and follow the shambles of software for Vista x64 it might be months or even years after Win7 goes live. :(

Can anyone reccomend a replacement?

I've looked at the Saitek Cyborg, but dislike the look of the layout. And while I like the look of the Loitech g13 I dislike the price. What else is there?

On my n52 I use keys mapped to the thumb pad as my main bar numbers (1-4 on the thumb pad), how well would that work on the above? I find actual movement on the thumb pad close to impossible as it stands and wouldn't want to lose some keys due to not being able to program it correctly, so my final question would be how good is the software that comes with whatever devices you've tried?

[lordmythic]

My Nostromo N52 works fine with Windows 7 RC 1 32bit, drivers and all (it worked in Vista too). I'll be putting on the 64bit version soon so I can let you know how that goes but I expect it will be fine

[Fef]

My Nostromo N52 also worked fine on Vista 64 bits. I stopped using it when the G13 came out, though, and I don't regret it a bit. The thumb stick on the G13 is excellent for character steering.

[shdwdrgn]

I figured i'd throw in my 2 cents on this one also.

I upgraded to Win 7 64 bit and have the original version of the N52 and the software worked without an issue.

I'd suggest just keeping the N52 :)

[Svpernova09]

I've used the original N52 on XP, Vista 32, Vista 64, Win7 32, and Win7 64. No problems here at all.

http://www.belkin.com/support/article/?lid=en&pid=F8GFPC100&aid=5234&scid=231

I just used the "Windows XP 32 BIT, Windows Vista 32 bit, Windows Vista 64 bit" drivers.

[Xar]

This is good to know, I was wondering myself. Been using an n52te since I started boxing and running into key assigning problems now, sometimes they won't assign to a key in the crap Razer software. I have a couple of old n52's lying around that I was thinking of building an n52 Ultra (putting the te keys and housing on an old n52) then using the n52 drivers. I bought a G13 recently but it went back to the store, the thumb stick would get stuck to the right and the key layout is horrible compared to the belkins.

[Lost Ninja]

This is odd then.

I'm running the x86 version of Windows 7 and while they keys on the n52 work I don't use default keys and with the software not working I can't remap them.

The software installs okay and the PC detects the device alright. It even works on the first use. But after I reboot the software stops responding to any clicks (icon in the tay) and closing it down and re0running it has no effect. I checked a variety of forums and many seem to be having the same issue. :?

Hence my questions here.

I've tried every version of drivers that I can find from the original CD onwards including the one above.

[jettzypher]

you should actually try out the saitek one. yeah it looks odd, but feel is more important. plus it has mroe keys and is easier to change modes than the n52.