Performance
Cory has been using the Logitech G13 keypad since the first time I met him, in a match of Call of Duty 4. I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen him game without it, and none of them was by his choice. The following are his thoughts after replacing his G13 with the Nostromo:
"With the palm rest being at such an angle, it should have some type of no slip grip. I find myself slipping off and constantly re-adjusting. Up to 8 key maps per configuration is nice, however there is a slight delay when switching between them, which is quite aggravating considering during intense play you'd prefer to be in and out of a key map in under a second.
Even though I feel it could be quicker it's still great to have well over 120 key configs/macros. I was trying to use multiple key maps ( 4 to be exact ) and it took a while, but the LED's indicating what key map you're on gets easy. Although to be fair I don't feel like I can fully utilize more than 2 key maps.
It took me an eternity to figure out that in order to rebind the directional pad to WASD you have to simply disable the diagonals and the software will make up for walking in a diagonal direction. I was trying to macro the key presses W+A W+D S+A and S+D and no macro configuration was working correctly. I then gave up and disabled them, then realized I spend 20 min figuring out nothing, but I'm going to fault that with me and not the software.
I thought with the D-pad being at an angle it would take a while to adjust to but it was really just a matter of a few minutes."
I agree, it's difficult to imagine efficiently using that large of a number of key maps, but I'm sure there are those out there who can, and I know they'll appreciate the support. It worked out very well for me in arena strategy games like Defense of the Ancients, where one profile can be created for DoTA in general, and then each key map assigned for different heroes.
I didn't find my hand slipping of the wrist rest as often as Cory did, but the piece is made of a smoother finish and could easily feature more of an anti-slip material. Right now the Nostromo is comfortable to use, and I wouldn't want that to be sacrificed however.
I had a little issue with the macro management, but otherwise the software works great. It's easy-to-use and has an attractive GUI. The keys are all easy to reach, it did a little getting used to navigating the keypad without looking, but once I did I didn't want to go back.
I did find the analog stick on top of the directional pad to look a little clunky, compared to a pure analog stick on the G13. However, after talking about it we all kind of agreed that there seemed to be less uses for a full analog control than directional buttons.