[section_title title=”Packaging & Closer Look”]
Packaging & Closer Look
Corsair follow a black and yellow colour scheme now, which is prevailent on the STRAFE packaging. A small graphic in the top right corner highlights the use of quality Cherry components. Something that we all take pleasure in seeing is that Corsair have gone back to the original sails logo, instead of the “tramp stamp” logo that we found on the K70 RGB keyboard – great!
The back of the box features a graphic of the STRAFE with a break down of its features.
Inside the box, you get the keyboard, some contoured key caps for MOBA and FPS.
With the first look of the STRAFE you will notice some familiarities with its cousins, like the K70. It has a very similar design, sleek and industrial, especially with the lip across the top edge, although this time it’s textured plastic. Corsair have gone with a red theme for this keyboard so it has a nice red plate, which the Cherry MX red switches sit nicely in.
The top right edge has just two buttons in addition to the indicator LEDs for caps lock, scroll lock and num lock. This replaces the volume wheel we found on the Kxx series. The sun button controls the brightness of the backlighting, and the windows padlock locks the windows key, which could be useful when gaming.
Along the top edge, next to the cable, there is a USB 2.0 port for connecting flash drives or headphones to.
The reverse of the keyboard is relatively simple with just the standard product label.
Corsair have opted for side opening feet with the STRAFE – which I think is better over the standard front opening ones, as if you nudge the keyboard too much, they often collapse – this wouldn’t happen with side opening feet.
The space bar has a textured industrial feel to it, which not only looks good, but actually feels quite nice when typing on it.
The STRAFE comes in two switch flavours: Cherry MX red and brown. This model has the red switches. You can clearly see the red plating and even the LEDs for each switch.
The STRAFE comes with additional key caps for FPS and MOBA style games. They have grey textured tops and are contoured, making them comfortable and incredibly easy to locate without looking at the keyboard.
The contoured key caps are incredibly easy to install using the supplied key puller.Interestingly, despite the STRAFE having a red/black theme, the USB connectors have a yellow/black theme to fit in with Corsair’s overall theme. I’m not entirely sure why they haven’t made them red like the rest of the keyboard… one plug is used for the overall connectivity and the other is a pass through cable for the USB port. The cables themselves are unbraided and fairly rigid and thick.
