[section_title title=”Performance”]Performance
I’ve had the Trigger Z a little over a week now and have used it constantly for work and play. Before I do talk about the performance of the keyboard, I just want to say a quick reminder that because of how subjective switch type is, I won’t be including this in the review. Typically MX brown switches are my favourite as they are a good middle ground between blues and reds, so are great for lots of typing and at the same time, gaming. The Trigger is available in three Cherry switch flavours, so you can choose which type you prefer.
Setting up the keyboard was a breeze and configuring the software wasn’t too taxing once I knew how to record a macro. The soft touch coating really makes the keyboard feel great in the hands, but it gets dirty and marks incredibly easy. I found the wrist rest very comfortable, although some users prefer to go without – which isn’t a problem as you can simply detach it.
Gaming
First up are the multitude of different genre to test the Trigger’s mettle when it comes to gaming. I played several FPS games, RTS and MMO/RPGs, so it gave me a good overall feel for the performance of they keyboard. Sinec I like MX browns I found the keyboard very enjoyable to use – like any other, however I did have issues getting used to the additional marco keys. By instinct I would position my hands slightly more to the left thinking that the macro keys were part of the main body of keys, so I often pressed the M5 key instead of Ctrl. To counter this I just remapped the M5 key to Control, so I would no longer miss crouching in FPS games. The macro keys came in really handy for playing some RPG games. I could queue up orders and commands in the macro creater then assign them to the macro keys. I also created several different sets for different games and taught it to flick between the profiles when the application/game was launched.
General use
For day to day tasks such as typing, browsing the web etc the Trigger was very satisfying to use and very comfortable. For listening to music I mapped out the macro keys to act as one press media keys – instead of having to press the FN key and the necessary function key. I also opted to bind various commands in Photoshop and Illustrator to these keys (using the profiles), which meant that I could easily access commands and bind shortcuts. Typing for prolonged use (like writing this review), was strain free due to the inclusion of the wrist rest, although this is mainly down to how I type, so could be different for others. Late night typed is also aided by the backlighting, which isn’t excessively bright.
