Just carried this thing home - literally. I've had time to unpack it, unwind the (very thick, very unwieldy) USB cord and plug it in. Now I'm typing on it - badly, because I don't use proper finger placement, I rely on muscle memory to locate each key and switching between different keyboards always cause me problems for that reason.
I'm getting better and better though, but the weird palmrest Corsair included with this thing is a bit of an issue with regular typing.
As you may or not know, the K60 features mechanical key switches* - I assume they're in reality leaf switches, ie two springy lengths of metal being held apart by a plastic wedge mounted on the key, which when pressed down will allow the two springs to make contact and thus close the circuit. The feeling when typing on this type of key is slightly different compared to ye average silicon dome switch - this particular switch, called "Cherry Red", has a linear resistance curve and will register a press after only 2mm of depression (full stroke is a mere 4mm). This supposedly gives very fast reaction times for action games, but regular typing may be less accurate since it's (at least in theory) easier to "misclick" these very sensitive keys.
In reality I think typing's actually pretty OK. The keys aren't ridiculously sensitive, so it's possible to rest your fingers on them without causing random input. This is a NOISY bitch of a keyboard though, since each key bottoms out with a hard stop. Not sure if the chassis, which is made of aluminium, is a contributing factor to noise or not. There's some heavy duty sticky rubber feet underneath which seem to do a good job of keeping the keyboard in place, but don't do much to isolate from noise - not that I'd expect them to - typing don't exactly equate to hammer blows...
Since this is a mostly FPS/action gaming oriented product there is a set of orange-reddish replacement keys included that have red, textured rubber key tops for the WASD group and numbers 1-6. Some of the keys are contoured - keys 1 and A slope towards the right, D and 6 slope to the left, and W slopes downwards. Theoretically this should increase key "hitrate" when gaming, but in reality I find the benefit relatively minor; the largest impact is from the high-contrast color of these keys which allow me (who still is quite unused to WASD finger placement since I've always used the arrow key groups for movement in the past) to find my way home quickly with just a rapid glance down at the keys.
The space bar is also textured to allow gamers to identify it easily by touch I assume, although not orange or rubberized, and there's no plain-jane replacement included either. Anther gaming-centric adjustment includes a shrunken Windows logo key (which can be disabled entirely with a button toggle) and a slightly increased-size Ctrl key. There's also extendable feet under the keyboard both at both the front and the rear, but they don't seem to be very sturdily made so any nerdrage fist attacks are liable to break them. There's also no anti-slip rubber under the feet, so I keep them retracted (I've broken more than a few keyboard legs over the years; finally I've learnt my lesson...
)
Speaking of sturdyness; some rubber dome keyboards I've owned have been nearly indestructible since the PCB has been just a set of plastic sheets; no actual board that can crack, and the dome switches themselves being silicon rubber are also very very sturdy generally. I don't think these plastic switches will stand up to NEARLY the same amount of abuse, but supposedly as long as you don't pound the keyboard with your fists the switches are meant to last at least 50 million operations. That's probably a lot longer than most people will actually keep this keyboard.
Some reported issues on the interwebs have included key tops fading, despite supposedly being "laser etched". The text looks printed to me, but who knows...? Stuck keys have also reared their ugly head, with Corsair recommending a "firmware update" to fix this issue.
"FIRMWARE?!" I hear you guys exclaim. "For a KEYBOARD?"
Yeah, looks that way. I guess there's a microcontroller or a FPGA or such stuck inside this thing to read keystrokes since there's supposed to be no "dead keys", IE, any combination of key presses can be detected without a key becoming unreadable as a result. That is, any combination of keys, up to 20 simultaneous presses. Regular USB keyboards supposedly offer up to 6, and that's why I suspect there's some custom hardware sauce cooked up for this particular product. I haven't opened it up to confirm though. Not that I understand why anyone would need so many key presses all at once, but if you regularly game using both hands and both feet, now you can do so unhindered by technical limitations! (Schlongs not included in example to not unfairly exclude our female forum colleagues!)
* Oh, yeah... Not ALL switches on this thing are mechanical. The top row of keys as well as the block above the arrow keys are all standard dome switches. The domes are softer than most I've encountered though so the difference isn't super huge, but it's definitely there. Some people may be annoyed by that, and it's not mentioned on the product packaging either. Bit naughty of Corsair to do this in such a gaming-centric product methinks. I notice it mostly while typing; I quite frequently use the home, end, pgup/dn and delete keys and it throws me off when I feel a difference in "feel" when pushing the dome keys.
The bizarre wrist support for this keyboard only covers the left hand, for when you're FPS gaming. The board itself is quite low profile (as long as the legs are kept retracted), so you don't really need a handrest if it feels wonky with it attached just for one hand (and yea, it does). The handrest is covered with a synthetic rubber surface (which feels quite smooth, and not sticky at all) and also functions as storage for the extra keytops and their corresponding removal tool. Pretty neat idea.
Neat (or cheap) idea number two is the USB passthrough port at the back of the unit. This is as the description suggests just a passthrough; the (aforemented very thick) USB cable actually ends in two separate plugs, one to serve the keyboard and the other the extra USB port. There's no actual hub built into this thing which I think is kinda crap really.
Other big missing feature is backlighting. I think no serious gaming keyboard should lack it, but this one does. Oh well. I'll live, I guess.
Finally, there's a group of "multimedia" keys above the numeric pad, along with a mute button and a metal volume roller (which feels pretty flimsy). These all work as expected (and no, they don't use mechanic switches either.)
I'm getting better and better though, but the weird palmrest Corsair included with this thing is a bit of an issue with regular typing.
As you may or not know, the K60 features mechanical key switches* - I assume they're in reality leaf switches, ie two springy lengths of metal being held apart by a plastic wedge mounted on the key, which when pressed down will allow the two springs to make contact and thus close the circuit. The feeling when typing on this type of key is slightly different compared to ye average silicon dome switch - this particular switch, called "Cherry Red", has a linear resistance curve and will register a press after only 2mm of depression (full stroke is a mere 4mm). This supposedly gives very fast reaction times for action games, but regular typing may be less accurate since it's (at least in theory) easier to "misclick" these very sensitive keys.
In reality I think typing's actually pretty OK. The keys aren't ridiculously sensitive, so it's possible to rest your fingers on them without causing random input. This is a NOISY bitch of a keyboard though, since each key bottoms out with a hard stop. Not sure if the chassis, which is made of aluminium, is a contributing factor to noise or not. There's some heavy duty sticky rubber feet underneath which seem to do a good job of keeping the keyboard in place, but don't do much to isolate from noise - not that I'd expect them to - typing don't exactly equate to hammer blows...
Since this is a mostly FPS/action gaming oriented product there is a set of orange-reddish replacement keys included that have red, textured rubber key tops for the WASD group and numbers 1-6. Some of the keys are contoured - keys 1 and A slope towards the right, D and 6 slope to the left, and W slopes downwards. Theoretically this should increase key "hitrate" when gaming, but in reality I find the benefit relatively minor; the largest impact is from the high-contrast color of these keys which allow me (who still is quite unused to WASD finger placement since I've always used the arrow key groups for movement in the past) to find my way home quickly with just a rapid glance down at the keys.
The space bar is also textured to allow gamers to identify it easily by touch I assume, although not orange or rubberized, and there's no plain-jane replacement included either. Anther gaming-centric adjustment includes a shrunken Windows logo key (which can be disabled entirely with a button toggle) and a slightly increased-size Ctrl key. There's also extendable feet under the keyboard both at both the front and the rear, but they don't seem to be very sturdily made so any nerdrage fist attacks are liable to break them. There's also no anti-slip rubber under the feet, so I keep them retracted (I've broken more than a few keyboard legs over the years; finally I've learnt my lesson...
)Speaking of sturdyness; some rubber dome keyboards I've owned have been nearly indestructible since the PCB has been just a set of plastic sheets; no actual board that can crack, and the dome switches themselves being silicon rubber are also very very sturdy generally. I don't think these plastic switches will stand up to NEARLY the same amount of abuse, but supposedly as long as you don't pound the keyboard with your fists the switches are meant to last at least 50 million operations. That's probably a lot longer than most people will actually keep this keyboard.
Some reported issues on the interwebs have included key tops fading, despite supposedly being "laser etched". The text looks printed to me, but who knows...? Stuck keys have also reared their ugly head, with Corsair recommending a "firmware update" to fix this issue.
"FIRMWARE?!" I hear you guys exclaim. "For a KEYBOARD?"
Yeah, looks that way.
I guess there's a microcontroller or a FPGA or such stuck inside this thing to read keystrokes since there's supposed to be no "dead keys", IE, any combination of key presses can be detected without a key becoming unreadable as a result. That is, any combination of keys, up to 20 simultaneous presses. Regular USB keyboards supposedly offer up to 6, and that's why I suspect there's some custom hardware sauce cooked up for this particular product. I haven't opened it up to confirm though. Not that I understand why anyone would need so many key presses all at once, but if you regularly game using both hands and both feet, now you can do so unhindered by technical limitations! (Schlongs not included in example to not unfairly exclude our female forum colleagues!)* Oh, yeah... Not ALL switches on this thing are mechanical. The top row of keys as well as the block above the arrow keys are all standard dome switches. The domes are softer than most I've encountered though so the difference isn't super huge, but it's definitely there. Some people may be annoyed by that, and it's not mentioned on the product packaging either. Bit naughty of Corsair to do this in such a gaming-centric product methinks. I notice it mostly while typing; I quite frequently use the home, end, pgup/dn and delete keys and it throws me off when I feel a difference in "feel" when pushing the dome keys.
The bizarre wrist support for this keyboard only covers the left hand, for when you're FPS gaming. The board itself is quite low profile (as long as the legs are kept retracted), so you don't really need a handrest if it feels wonky with it attached just for one hand (and yea, it does). The handrest is covered with a synthetic rubber surface (which feels quite smooth, and not sticky at all) and also functions as storage for the extra keytops and their corresponding removal tool. Pretty neat idea.
Neat (or cheap) idea number two is the USB passthrough port at the back of the unit. This is as the description suggests just a passthrough; the (aforemented very thick) USB cable actually ends in two separate plugs, one to serve the keyboard and the other the extra USB port. There's no actual hub built into this thing which I think is kinda crap really.
Other big missing feature is backlighting. I think no serious gaming keyboard should lack it, but this one does. Oh well. I'll live, I guess.
Finally, there's a group of "multimedia" keys above the numeric pad, along with a mute button and a metal volume roller (which feels pretty flimsy). These all work as expected (and no, they don't use mechanic switches either.
)
