Cooler Master products are always mediocre devices with the highest possible prices. The quality of their products is just about average and for the asking prices there is invariably a better product in the market. So, just look at the price and start looking for something better at that price. There is a 100% chance that you will find the ideal product at that price or even lower. The same is true about Logitech as well.
The Quickfire Rapids were always the best deals on mechanical keyboards, and were available for very reasonable prices. From the looks of it, the Pro S with white LEDs runs $100 on Amazon, which is still very reasonable. Maybe their MSRP is unreasonable, but market prices are generally very good. That also goes for Logitech (or at least the only Logitech products I care about)
Well.. MSRP is always a joke, but the CM keyboards are great on sale. I got a TKL quickfire for $60 and a logitech G303 for $24.99. Definitely not complaining
Both are good buys, and it's nice you got a flawless sensor above anything else here. Too many people fall for the "gaming mouse" advertising but don't investigate as to whether the mouse sensor is flawless from acceleration, angle-snapping and other such things.
Yeah it's a shame but it sells. The good thing is that Razer, CM and Logitech use good sensors in their mice (well now they do thanks to more enthusiasts especially those at Overclock.net) and Logitech heard the feedback and took it to heart this time around.
I was going to agree with your comment...until I read your last sentence. That's where I completely disagree. I've owned a lot of Logitech products in my life from mice to keyboards, speakers, remotes, adapters, webcams, headsets...and what not. The quality of their products is top-notch. Full stop. If that's your opinion on Logitech, you're probably wrong about Cooler Master as well.
So you never came across any stories of the abysmal failure rates of mice like the G5 or G7 (regarding the mouse buttons executing a double click for a single click due to poorly designed mechanisms within), or perhaps the dodgy mouse cables that fray and fail, or perhaps their "flasgship" keyboard, the dinovo edge, costing well over £100 which can't even hold a bluetooth connection for 5 minutes without requiring you to unplug and re-plug the dongle?
Logitech certainly make some good products, and have certainly improved, but they have a far from top-notch track record. And it is not like we're talking about budget peripherals, we're talking about their top of the line models.
I beg to differ. I've been using -daily and for the entire day - a Quickfire Pro for a few years, and it's a fantastic keyboard, whose sole inconvenient is that not all keys are backlighted.
At the time of the purchase, it was by far the best price for a mechanical keyboard in my region
Wow, the design is extremely reminiscent of my CODE keyboard (which in turn is based on a WASD keyboards design). Seems like they took the minimalist design of the CODE, dropped the backplate, swapped the Cherry clears for browns, and added some basic macro functionality. All in all it seems like a decent drop in price for folks not interested in the $150 range CODE/Ducky/Das models.
CODE keyboards are sold with Brown and Green switches also, at least on Massdrop. I got a CODE tenkeyless with browns there for ~$133.74 after shipping not too long ago.
I would've gotten a Cooler Master Master keys if it was available in tenkeyless form factor when I was looking for a somewhat portable 2nd mechanical keyboard to put in my LAN PC peripherals backpack. The full 104-keys is a bit too tall to comfortably zip up on my backpack, and I don't think I quite need the numpad when I'd likely just use the WASD keys 90% of the time.
Definitely reminds me of the CODE, and its cheaper too. There might be cheaper options out there but they dont have the minimal style. I wish this was out back when I was shopping for a kb
I've got two CODE keyboards, so I was interested in seeing this review, but I feel it left of some important details.
1. Can I re-program the damn caps lock to be a Control key in hardware? I *never* need to use CAPSLOCK in my life, so putting the Control key back on the home row for this die hard emacs user is a key (sorry for the pun!) feature.
How durable will the key caps be? My CODEs are already showing wear on the keys, to the point that the A key isn't much more than a blob of white surrounded by black.
I do like the cheaper price and I might think about getting one of these down the line.
It is nice seeing that people are starting to realize that good keyboards are well worth the investment, esp for those who use them day in and day out.
Dear E. Fylladitakis, I'd appreciate your keyboard reviews even if more you had some spec sheet on the first page, like in other reviews. Switch type and price should be in this list (plus whatever you think is relevant). With that I could take a quick look an judge whether it's worth reading the review.
Finally, a simple solid product without big bullshit logos and stupid colours and rgb lighting. Just simple discrete aspect with white light. Excellent.
A counterpoint to the conclusion - there is no way in a million years I would have the 'Cougar Attack X3' on my office desk, whereas the CoolerMaster is close to the ideal candidate. As such, I don't see the Cougar as a direct competitor. If anything, this is up against Code, Ducky et al IMHO, and is accordingly priced just fine.
I don't care much for mechanical keyboards. The IBM Model M was a good board, but modern mechanical switches are pretty horrible for typing comfort compared to pretty much any decent membrane board. The price premium is pretty much unjustifiable and espoused durability is a checkbox feature rather than representative of reality. In 30 years of computing, I've only seen two keyboards die...the Model M and one cheap Gateway branded membrane board so saying they last longer is, in my opinion, delusional fantasy presented by manufacturers to help justify higher margins in conjunction with clueless computer users looking for a way to make themselves feel better about being willingly taken in by the features list.
However, if I had to use a mechanical keyboard, the Cooler Master in this review is one of the very few AT has looked at that I'd consider putting on my desk because this particular version doesn't waste its time with a lot of no-value-added macros and rainbow lighting. Still, I'd firstly stick with the keyboard built into my laptop before resorting to something like one of these. It'd be an absolute last resort.
I have found my perfect keyboard in Logitech Orion 610 with Brown switches. I'm leftie, so macro keys usually don't mean much to me. On the other hand, I prefer small footstep keyboards but full-size layout with volume and basic media keys included.
This looks quite a bit like Orion 610, only without media keys.
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23 Comments
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versesuvius - Friday, October 21, 2016 - link
Cooler Master products are always mediocre devices with the highest possible prices. The quality of their products is just about average and for the asking prices there is invariably a better product in the market. So, just look at the price and start looking for something better at that price. There is a 100% chance that you will find the ideal product at that price or even lower. The same is true about Logitech as well.Inteli - Friday, October 21, 2016 - link
The Quickfire Rapids were always the best deals on mechanical keyboards, and were available for very reasonable prices. From the looks of it, the Pro S with white LEDs runs $100 on Amazon, which is still very reasonable. Maybe their MSRP is unreasonable, but market prices are generally very good. That also goes for Logitech (or at least the only Logitech products I care about)b4bblefish - Friday, October 21, 2016 - link
Well.. MSRP is always a joke, but the CM keyboards are great on sale. I got a TKL quickfire for $60 and a logitech G303 for $24.99. Definitely not complainingJoeyJoJo123 - Friday, October 21, 2016 - link
Both are good buys, and it's nice you got a flawless sensor above anything else here. Too many people fall for the "gaming mouse" advertising but don't investigate as to whether the mouse sensor is flawless from acceleration, angle-snapping and other such things.Omega215D - Friday, October 21, 2016 - link
Yeah it's a shame but it sells. The good thing is that Razer, CM and Logitech use good sensors in their mice (well now they do thanks to more enthusiasts especially those at Overclock.net) and Logitech heard the feedback and took it to heart this time around.3ogdy - Sunday, October 23, 2016 - link
I was going to agree with your comment...until I read your last sentence. That's where I completely disagree. I've owned a lot of Logitech products in my life from mice to keyboards, speakers, remotes, adapters, webcams, headsets...and what not. The quality of their products is top-notch. Full stop. If that's your opinion on Logitech, you're probably wrong about Cooler Master as well.hughlle - Tuesday, October 25, 2016 - link
So you never came across any stories of the abysmal failure rates of mice like the G5 or G7 (regarding the mouse buttons executing a double click for a single click due to poorly designed mechanisms within), or perhaps the dodgy mouse cables that fray and fail, or perhaps their "flasgship" keyboard, the dinovo edge, costing well over £100 which can't even hold a bluetooth connection for 5 minutes without requiring you to unplug and re-plug the dongle?Logitech certainly make some good products, and have certainly improved, but they have a far from top-notch track record. And it is not like we're talking about budget peripherals, we're talking about their top of the line models.
Silma - Wednesday, October 26, 2016 - link
I beg to differ.I've been using -daily and for the entire day - a Quickfire Pro for a few years, and it's a fantastic keyboard, whose sole inconvenient is that not all keys are backlighted.
At the time of the purchase, it was by far the best price for a mechanical keyboard in my region
Wwhat - Sunday, October 30, 2016 - link
Logitech prices are always twice as high as cooler master though.Grimmm - Friday, October 21, 2016 - link
Wow, the design is extremely reminiscent of my CODE keyboard (which in turn is based on a WASD keyboards design). Seems like they took the minimalist design of the CODE, dropped the backplate, swapped the Cherry clears for browns, and added some basic macro functionality. All in all it seems like a decent drop in price for folks not interested in the $150 range CODE/Ducky/Das models.JoeyJoJo123 - Friday, October 21, 2016 - link
CODE keyboards are sold with Brown and Green switches also, at least on Massdrop. I got a CODE tenkeyless with browns there for ~$133.74 after shipping not too long ago.I would've gotten a Cooler Master Master keys if it was available in tenkeyless form factor when I was looking for a somewhat portable 2nd mechanical keyboard to put in my LAN PC peripherals backpack. The full 104-keys is a bit too tall to comfortably zip up on my backpack, and I don't think I quite need the numpad when I'd likely just use the WASD keys 90% of the time.
pierrot - Friday, October 21, 2016 - link
Definitely reminds me of the CODE, and its cheaper too. There might be cheaper options out there but they dont have the minimal style. I wish this was out back when I was shopping for a kbl8gravely - Wednesday, October 26, 2016 - link
I've got two CODE keyboards, so I was interested in seeing this review, but I feel it left of some important details.1. Can I re-program the damn caps lock to be a Control key in hardware? I *never* need to use CAPSLOCK in my life, so putting the Control key back on the home row for this die hard emacs user is a key (sorry for the pun!) feature.
How durable will the key caps be? My CODEs are already showing wear on the keys, to the point that the A key isn't much more than a blob of white surrounded by black.
I do like the cheaper price and I might think about getting one of these down the line.
It is nice seeing that people are starting to realize that good keyboards are well worth the investment, esp for those who use them day in and day out.
MrSpadge - Friday, October 21, 2016 - link
Dear E. Fylladitakis, I'd appreciate your keyboard reviews even if more you had some spec sheet on the first page, like in other reviews. Switch type and price should be in this list (plus whatever you think is relevant). With that I could take a quick look an judge whether it's worth reading the review.MrSpadge - Friday, October 21, 2016 - link
Sorry: "even if more you" -> "even more if you"mobutu - Friday, October 21, 2016 - link
Finally, a simple solid product without big bullshit logos and stupid colours and rgb lighting. Just simple discrete aspect with white light. Excellent.DanaGoyette - Sunday, October 23, 2016 - link
Keyboard replaces the context-menu key with FN, while leaving two Windows keys... fail!When I bought my most recent keyboard, "doesn't throw away the context-menu key" was one of my criteria.
I'll admit that I don't use that key as often as I did in the past, but I still consider the key rather important.
asfletch - Sunday, October 23, 2016 - link
A counterpoint to the conclusion - there is no way in a million years I would have the 'Cougar Attack X3' on my office desk, whereas the CoolerMaster is close to the ideal candidate. As such, I don't see the Cougar as a direct competitor. If anything, this is up against Code, Ducky et al IMHO, and is accordingly priced just fine.BrokenCrayons - Monday, October 24, 2016 - link
I don't care much for mechanical keyboards. The IBM Model M was a good board, but modern mechanical switches are pretty horrible for typing comfort compared to pretty much any decent membrane board. The price premium is pretty much unjustifiable and espoused durability is a checkbox feature rather than representative of reality. In 30 years of computing, I've only seen two keyboards die...the Model M and one cheap Gateway branded membrane board so saying they last longer is, in my opinion, delusional fantasy presented by manufacturers to help justify higher margins in conjunction with clueless computer users looking for a way to make themselves feel better about being willingly taken in by the features list.However, if I had to use a mechanical keyboard, the Cooler Master in this review is one of the very few AT has looked at that I'd consider putting on my desk because this particular version doesn't waste its time with a lot of no-value-added macros and rainbow lighting. Still, I'd firstly stick with the keyboard built into my laptop before resorting to something like one of these. It'd be an absolute last resort.
nikon133 - Monday, October 24, 2016 - link
I have found my perfect keyboard in Logitech Orion 610 with Brown switches. I'm leftie, so macro keys usually don't mean much to me. On the other hand, I prefer small footstep keyboards but full-size layout with volume and basic media keys included.This looks quite a bit like Orion 610, only without media keys.
NotLupus - Tuesday, October 25, 2016 - link
Sexy keyboard review, Anandtech, as always. Keep these revelent reviews on keyboards cuming.fist003 - Tuesday, October 25, 2016 - link
love the simple design and without the flashy RGB lights. prefer with dedicated media buttons thoughMariam24 - Wednesday, October 26, 2016 - link
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