This review is a compilation of my own thoughts and experience using this product!
For Christmas 2011 I bought myself a new set of gaming peripherals, including the Roccat Isku Gaming Keyboard, Razer Lachesis Gaming Mouse and SteelSeries Siberia V2 Gaming Headset.
I though I would to a quick review on the Roccat Isku.
Cost: £69.99
Specs:
- Illuminated keyboard with 123 keys
- Enhanced anti-ghosting capability
- 3 programmable Thumbster Keys (T1-T3)
- 5 programmable Macro Keys (M1-M5)
- 20 additional Macro Keys (Easy Zone)
- 5 Profile-Status LEDs
- 3 Status LEDs (Caps Lock, Easy Shift™, Num Lock)
- 1000Hz polling rate, 1ms response time
- 2m USB cable
You don't need to have 20/20 vision to know that it just looks absolutely beast.
First thing I noticed when I used the keyboard for the first time was the wrist rest, it's pretty big which is very comfortable but not so great if you've only got a small gaming/working area.
The 5 buttons on the side allow macros to be used without using one of your ordinary keyboard buttons, although you can still use them if you'd like with the use of it's EasyShift function which, sadly replaces the Caps Lock key, to achieve Caps Lock you must hold this and press a pre-defined key on the keyboard, it is set as T1 as default which is one of the thumbmaster keys located under the space bar.
The software for making the macros is great once you learn how to use it but can be a bit stressful getting used to it, you can record macros on the go, just hit the record button and a button to assign it to and you're away! This can be later edited for tuning and so forth.
The keyboard looks great in the dark, the only quarrel I have is that when you lean back you cannot see the LEDs so well, but that was to be expected.
The media centre at the top (unfortunately not lit up by LEDs) is great if you want to change track on iTunes or Windows Media Player whilst gaming, unfortunately I haven't seen a way to have it work with Spotify but I am not fussed because I fell out with the software after they introduced limits.
The keys for me are a good size, I don't make mistakes too often in comparison to my older keyboards but I still do make them, I guess that is my own fault and not the keyboards though, ha.
To wrap this kinda short review up:
Pros:
Looks epic
Nice to type on
Comes with great software
Media center
Thumbmaster keys
5 programmable macro keys
Live macro recording
Adjustable brightness levels for the LEDs
Cons:
No Caps Lock (can still do it but it's just strange)
Can't change the colour of the LEDs (Although I would have chose the colour it's in)
A little bulky
Thanks for reading.