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I wanted something right in the middle - clicks not too quiet but not too loud, design not too aggressive looking but not too basic either, font something professional but also relaxing to look at, and something practical to use without running into too many gimmicks. I always preferred low profile keyboards because for me, the normal profile keyboards are too big, bulky, and in my opinion, a remnant of the 90s. After hours of typing and gaming, your fingers get tired of wrestling around with the keys. At the same time, you don't want a super sensitive keyboard either that registers a hit just as soon as you breathe in its general direction. For this reason I decided to go with the cherry red & brown switches (the best "all around" switches for typing AND gaming). Both of them have the same activation force (45cn) and are fairly quiet but audible enough, the only difference being, the brown switches have a tactile feedback whereas the red switches are linear. Think of this tactile feedback as a minor "bump" in the road to let you know the conditions of the road without actually seeing the potholes. Being a fairly confident typist, I decided to go with the cherry reds since the tactile feedback could in theory become tiresome over long periods of time. Keep in mind even with linear keys, you can still feel the key so it's not like you are typing on nothing. It comes down to more or less "clicky" feeling. Finally, the RGB lights. I had no real preference on them. They look cool but at the end of the day, they are just fancy lights you don't really need for gaming or typing.
My research was complete so I dropped by microcenter. Keyboards everywhere, most of them the same generic 90s keyboards I dreaded using but with a price tag of $150 and above. One keyboard definitely stuck out above all others - the Roccat Vulcan. A sturdy aluminum plate, low profile keys with the switches visually exposed, and an overall sleek design with multimedia controls, I immediately knew I had to touch it. I hopped on, opened a word document, and started typing. It didn't disappoint one bit. It performed just as well as it looked. I powered through sentences as fast as I could type them (last I checked, my wpm was around 50-60). Minimal mistakes were made and that's solely because I didn't have a chair to sit on. Only one final test remained - gaming. Seeing as microcenter didn't have any available games (or chairs for that matter), I decided to pull the trigger.
3 days later my keyboard came in and once again it didn't disappoint. This keyboard, personally for me, is built as close to perfection as possible. Hitting the keys are now so incredibly satisfying now and they feel incredible. I love everything about the keyboard. It's great for long term typing and gaming - going on 5 hours now no problem. It's visually pleasing to look at, even without the RGB lights but the lights do make it even more of a pleasure to look at. I didn't fool around with the lights too much yet but there is a program (Swarm) that lets you customize the light patterns as well as setup multiple profiles and macros. The keyboard also comes with a magnetic wrist rest and braided cable to let you know it's of high quality design. Most importantly, the $120 price tag is extremely reasonable for a keyboard of this quality (I believe it's $150 at microcenter). Most of its best selling competitors are $150 and up and they don't even look half as good. The K70 low profile starts at $160 as well as the Razer Huntsman Elite. I'm a huge fan of the DeathAdder (my current mouse) but Razer Huntmans Elite keyboard clicks were EXTREMELY audible and I hear their build quality has fallen off in the past few years. Roccat is a German manufacturer so when they advertise that they take pride in their builds, I can believe it.
I haven't run into any cons yet, at least nothing noticeable. As for improvements to future models, I know Corsair includes a USB port on their keyboard as well as a giant X underneath the keyboard through which cables can be run and held in place - both of which this keyboard lacks. Not a complaint from my end as I have more USB ports on my rig than I know what to do with and the cable's length is long enough - around 5-6ft I believe. The final test for this keyboard is the reliability test. I'm hoping it lasts for at least 3 years. I will report back if I run into any issues with soft or hardware.
Final verdict: 10/10 - I highly recommend it.
