Thermaltake Tt Esports Challenger Prime Keyboard Review

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Conclusion

To call the Tt Esports Challenger Prime a budget gaming keyboard is a bit unfair as it put you in the mind frame of missing more than you are getting; this time though you are getting quite a lot for your money, perhaps more than you are paying for. It’s definitely going to appeal to a gamer who for whatever reason doesn’t want to, or can’t, spend a fortune on feature-rich peripherals but still wants those features.

With 6 macro keys and 3 macro profiles giving up to 18 macro button options, 13 function keys to control everything from lighting colour and effects to polling and refresh rate, 9 media keys for your usual playback options as well as openings common program shortcuts you’re getting those features in spades.

Sadly it’s not all good news, the flex on the bezel that causes the keys to deflect is unforgivable. I can’t see how it got past quality control as it should be something that’s relatively simple to fix by reinforcing the body.

In the traditional style of a news sandwich though we come back to the good points, the lighting is really well implemented. The glow between the keys really helps if you have to look while you’re typing because even in a very dark room the boundaries between each key are easily identified, something that is a huge problem when only the letter of the key is lit. If the light coming through the keyboard is too bright, the dial control means that you really can get the perfect balance between ambient lighting and useful feature without suffering from glare or distraction.

Still on the lighting, the colour choices are really vibrant from the cool blue to a very angry, aggressive shade of red and the purple that comes from combining the two. Sadly it’s no 256 colour RGB spectrum but the money saved is going into the other features.

When it comes to typing, the Tt Esports Challenger Prime performs exactly as you would expect it to. The keys are slightly stiff but once you get used to them there’s not difference to using the keyboard for gaming or office applications.

All said and done, this keyboard does provide excellent value for money, retailing around £27.99 in the UK and it would be easy to pay a lot more for features that are provided. Software is often a poorly conceived afterthought, especially when the retail price for a product is low, but the software provided for the Tt Esports Challenger Prime is excellent working flawlessly on my Windows 7 Pro computer throughout the testing.

The Tt Esports Challenger Prime only slightly missed out on our Performance Award due to the build quality but considering everything you get for the price it easily achieved our Value Award.

Thank you Tt Esports for providing this sample for review.