While reading through one of WR posts this morning I noticed he mentioned the G15 gaming keyboard. This reminded me(as if I needed reminding) of the fact that I have been playing games for several years on a cheap $20 Belkin keyboard. Another thing that has prompted me for the need to upgrade is playing Batman Arkham City which screams for a gaming keyboard. I did recently upgrade my mouse to a Logitech G400 which I like, so all is not lost. Looks like the G15 is an older model which has gone through a couple of upgrades but is still available. So what is the latest and greatest today that is comparable to the G15? I see the G110 and G510 both have a 4 star average on Amazon. So any advice?
Gaming Keyboard Recommendation Needed
(14 posts) (4 voices)-
Whiterabbit-uk
Games GuruI've mulled over this for some time and still haven't decided what to upgrade my present board with. For me (at the moment) it's a toss up between the Logitech G19 and the Razer BlackWidow Ultimate Stealth Edition. Both have their advantages, both are well made and both get mainly good write ups from the community. I'm favoring the Razer at the moment because of it's mechanical key presses (and my son has a razer and it seems much better quality than the Logitech I have at the moment - still using the G15), but I like the look of the Logitech more plus apart from the color screen is more compact than the razer. However if those are too expensive (because they are the top of the price range) I'd consider a Cyborg v7. I bought one for my daughter as part of her new build and she loves it. It's less than half the price of the two I mention above and has some interesting features such as steel protected keys on the WASD, Space bar and cursor keys, as well as a pleasant lighting system that allows you to light up various areas of your keyboard in different colors. (the keypad, WASD, Cursor keys, the main keyboard area and the memory keys on both sides of the keyboard (there are 12 programmable macro keys. There's a range of colors from green, orange, red, yellow and blue with some in between colors as well and five levels of brightness. The lighting is controlled by a touch panel at the top of the keyboard so you can change the colors on the fly. Personally I'd prefer a on screen control for that, but hey, that's me. Still, I've used her keyboard and although to me it doesn't feel as good as my sons Razer, it's still a nice keyboard for the money. You can check it out HERE though I've seen it cheaper £44 (lost the link. You can see a you Tube video of the lighting system HERE. The steel series also have a good reputation. In the end it really comes down to preference and money. I'd check all of those you can find from the following manufacturers then tick off what you like about them and decide on which you feel is best for you. I've read various reviews; one will say keyboard X is better yet another will say Y is better. You can see a selection of Logitech Razer, Steel Series Thermaltake and Cyborg (Saitek) keyboards HERE
Logiteck G19:
Razer BlackWidow Ultimate Stealth Edition:
Cyborg v7
Tech Radar did a comparison of what they though were the best 10 keyboards which you can find HERE, but it's not directed specifically at gamers; though there are gaming boards included. Also check THESEAmazon.
I'd list the ones you fancy then list the features in a heading that you can make into columns all of the additional features they have that you actually think are useful on each keyboard. Then see which comes out on top for you. (Not explained that very well, but I'm in serious need of some sleep).
p.s. If you have money to spare I'd certainly consider the two I've listed as my favorites. Both are quality products We have earlier versions of both here and I can say both are very well constructed. I'd go for Razer on the aesthetic side, and for useless but must have features I'd go for the Logitech (the color screen that can be used as a mini monitor). By the way for the money the cyborg is a very good keyboard. The shop where I sometimes purchase my hardware said they had sold out three shipments within days. Cyborg are basically cyborg who have created some fantastic controllers for such things as flight sims for example the X52 Pro Flight Stick and joystick combo which you can see HERE. They have also created a whole range of other controls that can make a flight sim enthusiast look like they are flying in a real plane. All of these manufacturers are dedicated game control developers and all have released some brilliant hardware. You really can't go wrong with any of them.
I decided to spend a little more than usual several years ago because i was going through cheap £20 or less keyboards at an alarming rate when I really got into gaming in a bigger way than I'd had time for before my accident.
You can check out Razers selection of keyboard HERE. My some has the Razer Starcraft Maurauder, which is a really compact and well built keyboard, though personally I don't like getting hardware like this named after a game, lol. (oddly he's not even into Starcraft, he just chose the keyboard because he knew I liked razer products and he likes the look of the board. (I'd already bought him a razer mouse) It's the only keyboard in the house that'll fit in my keyboard drawer on my desk because it's really narrow compared to other keyboards. It has memory keys (for various keyboard set ups and macros) but they are accessed via shortcuts instead of dedicated keys like most other gaming keyboards have, which explains why they are a few centimeters shorter in width.
I hope the above has helped somewhat.
By the way if you want a mouse recommendation for the price the Razer Lachesis is brilliant. you can change it's sensitivity via two extra mini buttons placed just below the mouse wheel (this is very useful when you want the speed of a melee fight or the accuracy of a sniper rifle) For a sniper shot it's best to set the sensitivity low so that when you are sighting your enemy small hand movements don't translate into large movements on screen, whereas when you are in a close quarters fire fight speed is very essential so mouse sensitivity goes up and with the Lachesis you can do it very quickly and easily. Plus it has another four programmable keys as well as the usual main buttons and mouse-wheel button that's accessible through a moderate pressure on the wheel, making a total of 9 programmable buttons. (though your LMB, RMB and the sensitivity buttons are best left at default. It also has a programmable two color glow to it that can be changed to virtually any color you wish. The mouse wheel and the razer symbol. Some of the razer mice (like my sons and the spare I have upstairs) also have a glowing edge as well.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Anonymous
UnregisteredThanks much WR. You've given me a lot to mull over. One of the things that has come up when looking at different keyboard reviews is the way you program macro keys. Some people complained about having to program the buttons with software. How else would you do it? Not sure what they mean unless they are referring to doing it on just the keyboard. Anyway I was looking at the Tech Radar site and they show one of the keyboards I had actually thought about getting. It's the Microsoft Sidewinder X4. I know it's on the low end but it looks to be a pretty decent keyboard and for me it would be a significant upgrade. I like the looks of the Razer Blackwidow but it looks like you can only buy it from the Razer website. I'm going to do a little more research before deciding. As you said a lot depends on personal preference. Thanks again for being such a good resource. It is much appreciated.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Whiterabbit-uk
Games GuruNo you can get the Razer cheaper from amazon. Buying directly from Razer is costly, however the Black Widow has been sold out at the moment.
The Sidewinder X4 is okay, though the X6 has much more gaming functionality except they did add the anti ghosting on the X4. Both of my favorites also have anti ghosting with up to several keys pressed at the same time. The x4 does have reasonable write ups though and if you don't want to spent (Can't remember whether the cyborg v7 has offhand) the extra on a better keyboard it's worth getting. It looks like a well made keyboard. I still use one of those contoured Microsoft keyboards on one of my computers where the keys are et at an angle that fits in with your left and right hands and to be honest, it's been the most comfortable keyboard I've ever used. Trouble is, it doesn't have any of the features you find in any good keyboard. :)
I gotta go to bed. Only 200 minutes before the next giveaway and I have to be up to post the review. So off to bed with me. lol
Good night.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Whiterabbit-uk
Games GuruCould be I was mistaken. To be honest at this point in time I've forgotten what the difference is. I purchased my sons keyboard directly from Razer. It was shipped over from Holland very quickly, then discovered I could have got the very same keyboard from Amazon for almost £30 cheaper ($45). That was annoying.
I could have bought a spare diamondback razer mouse for that. They are excellent cheap razer mice that I used originally before firstly getting my copperhead then the Lachesis. My next razer will be the Mamba. It has a 6400dpi 4G Dual Sensor System as opposed to my Lachesis's 5600dpi 3.5G Laser sensor. I like the Mamba because of the dual sensor array, plus it's got that much better speed at least 255 faster than my present mouse. I'd love to get a Naga Epic as well for my rts gaming, but they don't do a left handed version. The array of 12 extra buttons are really useful for better gaming plus it also has the same two buttons for changing the sensitivity just behind the mouse wheel (I've found being able to change the sensitivity on the fly very useful), unfortunately the Naga (both versions i.e. the Epic and Hex which has fewer buttons) is not for left hander's boo hoo, lol.
Posted 12 years ago # -
pavid
gamer extraordinaire & knowledgeable computer nerd who likes to argue, but is still a very nice guyThe difference between the Razer Ultimate and Razer Stealth comes down to two things.
The Stealth is only available from Razer and the mechanical keys make no noise, hence the Stealth name.Posted 12 years ago # -
Wmplynig
MemberMy personal preference is for the Zmerc from Ideazon.
--Please no hotlinking! Picture deleted.--
Customisable and relatively inexpensive. It's very comfortable to use as well.................Moderator comment..............
I've included an non hotlinked image for you that I uploaded to picdepict a free image uploading service. (www.picdepict.com)
regards
W.R.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Whiterabbit-uk
Games GuruYes, I like the Z Merc, but it's too large for my desktop. My desktop is only a small one with a width of 3'7", on that I have a mid sized Razer Scarab hard mouse mat, my normal gaming keyboard (at the moment still using a Logitech G15 which has given me good service for a long time but I finally ordered the Razer Black Widow Ultimate Stealth which I've been waiting for for over a week now) plus a hand keyboard called a Wolf King, which is 8.5" in diameter (it's a round board). The Z Merc just wouldn't fit on my desk. I love the extra keyboard keys at the left hand side, but they are basically useless to me because I'm left handed and use the mouse in m left hand. to reach the extra keys I'd have to e reaching over all the time.
If they did a left handed version it could have been a contender. :) The wolf king has a similar number of keys to that extra on the Z Merc which you can see here and enables me to use it in conjunction with my main board to the right of me. I was considering replacing it with the extreme version (second image below), but that is just too wide for my desk. The new board, when it arrives is slightly wider than the G15 so space is going to be at a premium, especially if I want to use my joystick:
though I was going to replace it with a later model:
What I really wanted was either a Logitech G13 or the Razer Nostromo, but, as with most gaming perhipherals they are also designed for right handed users. (Which infuriates me sometimes). I've always wanted the Razer Naga Epic or the smaller Hex varient (which only has 6 buttons on the side as opposed to 12 on the other Naga mice) for when I play my RTS games, the array of 12 buttons on one side is great for such games but again all the variants are right handed designes.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Anonymous
UnregisteredIn regards to keyboards and games. Can you download premade keyboard profiles for games or is it pretty much something you have to create yourself? For example I find it difficult to play Batman Arkham City with just a combination of mouse clicks and the movement keys. On a contrary note, in a review of this game, the reviewer made the comment that if games were designed properly you wouldn't need to use macros. Thought that was interesting.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Wmplynig
MemberI can only answer for the ZMerc, as that is the only gaming keyboard that I have used.
There are pre-made downloadable game profiles for the ZMerc, but having said that, the controller program is so easy to use, creating your own is a doddle.
I do tend to create my own for games, as the downloadable ones are somebody else's preference to key positioning, and they often don't match my own preference for key mapping.The only odd thing about the ZMerc is the lack of the Z or X keys on the game pad - but as these can be easily remapped, it's only a minor irritation.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Whiterabbit-uk
Games GuruIt wasn't me that noticed the hot-linking. I'd just assumed you'd used a site like http://www.picdepict.com or photobucket. It was probably Graylox.
As for the standalone, no I wasn't. That certainly does look ambidextrous and could be the answer to my needs. I've had my Wolf King for several years and the cable is starting to wear where it enters the keyboard (probably because I'm always moving it). I do like the Wolf King, but the Merc definitely looks more comfortable, plus I like the labeled keys. I may just invest in one.
I have read that there can be problems using the Fang with Win 7 64 bit, plus apparently it's not made any longer. there is an alternative in the Cyber Snipa, but it doesn't have as many keys (37).
Cyber Snipa Keypad
The Cyborg Command Unit is another possibility, but again it's not as versatile as the Fang and has even less keys than the Cyber Snipa keypad; otherwise most others are basically X-Box controllers rather than game pads. Cyborg do an interesting looking wheel based key pad, but I haven't a clue how it's mounted?
Cyborg Command Unit
I agree with Wmplynig, profiles are usually a matter of personal preference. You can easily create your own. All gaming boards will have programmable keys so you can create the key bindings most favorable to your gaming style and the macros for programming key and mouse combinations
Here's another from Thermaltake called the Ttesports, it has a hand fan to keep your hands dry during hot gaming sessions, lol. you can find it HERE :
Check this out for a key pad
Posted 12 years ago #
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