[section_title title=”Performance”]
Performance
As mentioned in previous mechanical keyboard reviews we have done here at Play3r, the emphasis on switch type is in no way, shape or form going to effect the score as everyone has their own personal preference and taste when it comes to switches. I can however comment on the availability offered by each brand and in the case of Tesoro, the Tizona is available in black, brown, red and blue Kailh switch types (effectively Cherry MX). The 4 major switch varieties are covered which is sure to please many but you will need to check in your region in terms of availability as the ones tested today are browns.
Gaming
As gaming is the primary focus of Tesoro’s branding, I figured it would be the best place to start and overall, I had a pretty mixed reaction to what the Tizona had to offer. The Tizona is named after the sword used by El Cid of Spain back in circa 10th century Europe. With this in mind, I have selected a few games suitable to hopefully get the most from the Tizona; Counterstrike: Global Offensive, League of Legends and World of Warcraft. All 3 games of course have completely different play styles and the idea is to show resolve and the flexibility of the Tizona.
Overall the Tizona was a quite comfortable to use but with no options of a wrist rest, you will either need to purchase your own like I currently use or pick another keyboard. While playing CS:GO which is pretty full on and fast paced, the Tizona was pretty sweet and the NKRO was effective; I often press more than 6 keys at a time and the Tizona had no problem with this; point Tesoro. Touching more on just the main keyboard itself, I wouldn’t say this was the ideal keyboard for MMO games such as World of Warcraft as on keyboards without macro keys, I tend to use the numpad and although I have one here, people looking to purchase just the TKL part should bear that in mind. League of Legends was fairly suitable for the Tizona and although I’m no LoL pro, I can imagine gamers who are deep into the ranks will need macros/key binds to help them progress; even just for that 1 second less on an ability to make that forever wanted pentakill.
The Tesoro Tizona G2N Elite was fairly comfortable but one thing I wanted to address was the key caps; they feel a little cheap and when you combine them with switches which are effectively cheaper Cherry MX knock-offs, I am guessing a combination of both play there part. That is not to say the Tizona is not a bad keyboard, I just expected a little bit better from Tesoro.
General
General testing is all about the word processing, general web browsing and even things such as image creation in programmes such as Adobe Photoshop. The Tizona is fantastic for all of the above and the media shortcut keys to the south of the spacebar have been very useful, especially for checking my email etc.! I have to say I usually prefer Cherry MX red switches but the Kailh brown switches feel good to type on; albeit the keycaps do feel a little cheap as previously mentioned. Brown switches are usually the hybrid of choice for gamers and those who intend to use their mechanical keyboard to do a lot of typing etc. which should mean this keyboard with browns should be my ideal choice; technically speaking.
To make a real point of it, not only have I been using it solid for the past week but I have typed up the entire review on it and although I am a reds guy, I was swayed a little by the browns but I am still unsure of the Kailh switches used.
The Tesoro Tizona G2N Elite has 2 main modes; regular and game mode. This effectively allows you to disable the pesky Windows key as pressing this mid game can minimise and have you killed!; DO NOT WANT! There are also some shortcuts to be made aware of which include:
PC/G mode switching – Fn + F12
Multi-media buttons – Fn + F1 – F6
GN/Full Nkey switching – Fn + INS (6) or Del (N)
Windows key disable – Fn + Winkey
Tesoro have effectively provided multi-media keys via the function key and a combination of F1-F6 which is good; this saves space from having extra keys and after all, this is more of a budget keyboard than what you would consider to be top of the range.
Overall though, the Tizona is a good performer all round and even with the Kailh switches, I was moderately impressed.
