[section_title title=”Closer Look”]Closer Look
Right, time for a better look at the keyboard.
As you can see it has a pretty angular design which if I’m honest isn’t much to my tastes, I prefer a more traditional look but it’s by no means tacky. The stand out things for me are firstly the nice matte black finish and then secondly all the features on offer with the many macro keys and dedicated media controls.
In these shots we can see the dedicated macro keys, I can’t imagine there won’t be enough for even the most demanding players here! The placement of the macro keys below the spacebar is pretty nice, they are relatively easy to press without moving your hand too much which is crucial for some players when it comes to trying to maintain a high apm.
Along the top of the keyboard we have a series of LEDs which give us a lot of info such as an active profile, macro status and the standard caps/num/scroll locks also. We can also see some of the function keys that can also be used as macro buttons which gives the keyboard a crazy total of twenty one macro keys!
The underside of the keyboard is pretty standard but there are plenty of grip pads and the fold out tabs have a rubberised material on the tip which really helps them grip nicely, combined with the generous weight this keyboard really doesn’t slide around of its own accord.
Pulling off a couple of key caps we have a good close up of the Cherry MX Red switches being used as well as the LEDs that give the keyboard its back-lighting.
Here you can see the replacement key caps in action, personally I wouldn’t use them as you forfeit the back-light by doing so but it’s still nice to see them as an included extra.
Finally we have the cable/connector, the cable features a nice cloth braid and the connector has a cool custom housing with a gold plated contact to boot.
My thoughts are mixed on the looks of the keyboard, it’s a bit pointy and aggressive for my tastes but it still gives off the quality feel you expect from a mechanical keyboard. Ultimately it fits in well with the Strix house style and whilst I can’t say I love it, I certainly don’t hate it.
On the next page we’ll take a look at the software that accompanies the Tactic Pro.
