Gadgetory

hey guys and welcome back to hardware box today we have for you a 3-way mechanical RGB keyboard battle now I've been sent a couple of keyboards over the past few weeks and I thought the best way to take a look at these guys is to do a battle to the death and two of these keyboards are reasonably new so we have the creative soundblaster x value zero eight if you're watching our unboxing series you would have seen this guy come in the sound blaster weapons create a couple of weeks ago this is a reasonably new keyboard one of the only ones you can get in the sound blaster range we also have one of the tried-and-true really high quality keyboards from Razer it is the BlackWidow chroma b2 really excited to take a look at this one and I just figured I'd throw into the comparison here one of my favorite keyboard makers Corsair this is a highly rated keyboard one that on techspot at least we've been recommending for quite some time it is the k70 RGB rapid-fire so three excellent quality RGB mechanical keyboards here most of which are designed for gaming and we're going to be checking all of these guys out throughout the rest of this video I'll just quickly dive into the specifications of each of these three keyboards and we will start with the Razer BlackWidow chroma v2 so this is a 170 dollar keyboard it comes with three key switch variants the Razer green orange and yellows at least in my review 'not these are Razer greens it has a 10 key roll over with a maximum polling rate one millisecond and supports up to 80 million keystrokes on those Razer green or any of the Razer key switches the creative soundblaster X value zero eight has on one press switches in it it has a twenty six key roll over one millisecond max polling rate 70 million keystroke lifespan and this is the cheapest of the keyboards here at one hundred and forty dollars as a standalone model and the corsair k70 RGB rapid-fire uses Cherry MX speed RGB key switches as full key roll over one millisecond max 50 million keystroke lifespan and it costs one hundred and seventy dollars at the same price for the courser keyboard as the razer keyboard as also worth mentioning to the case 70 series if you're not a fan of the RGB speed switches from cherry you can purchase this in a bunch of other switches including Cherry MX Reds Browns and blues so you don't necessarily have to buy the rapid-fire but there are a bunch of high-quality k70 models available we'll start off by talking about the design and there's a couple of things they usually look for when I'm buying keyboard and the first of those is of course comfort I want a very comfortable typing experience and I think this is where the Razer BlackWidow chroma v2 really shines because it has an extremely plush wrist rest this was an issue with the first generation chroma units is that they didn't actually come with a wrist rest at all but they brought that in for the version too and it's so plush and so comfortable to use for either typing or gaming that it really blows the offerings from quarter and created out of the water in that regard these both the Razer and the creative keyboards are mostly made of plastic around the body of the keyboard itself the creative keyboard probably has the best soft touch keycaps of all three of these keyboards although it's a pretty tight battle between each of them although the general build quality of the Corsair keyboard is probably the best considering it uses metal around the base of the keyboard and has quite a nice soft touch plastic wrist rest they're not as good as the Razer offering it's still very good nonetheless as far as the creative keyboard goes feels a little bit cheap in terms of that matte plastic that you use or see here for that wrist rest so not a huge fan of the creative design but I think that the course and razor ones really hit it out of the park of course the Corsair design is somewhat different because the keys sit above the metal back and that gives it a different sort of look to the keyboard whereas both the Razer and creative options have the keys inset the insert option actually gives a better RGB effect both of these keyboards use a white backing that reflects light around the keys and I think that gives it makes it a bit more brighter and vibrant for that RGB effect whereas the Corsair keyboard mostly relies on the light coming through the keycaps and also you see some glow and reflections around the edges but it's not as prominent as on the eraser or the creative options of course there's a number of features to talk about with each of these three keyboards as well and surprisingly the vanguard k08 has the best physical feature set of the three keyboards this is the only keyboard here that has both dedicated media controls which i think is hugely important in a keyboard as well as dedicated macro keys and a USB pass-through so all three of these features you will find on the creative offering moving over to the Corsair offering this does have media keys as well as quite a nice volume control it also has a USB pass-through but it doesn't have those dedicated macro keys which is a bit of a disappointment here considering that this is a feature only found in courses more expensive k95 keyboards you can get this feature in both the razor and the vanguard keyboards but you will have to pay more if you want it on the Corsair so as far as the Razer keyboard is concerned the BlackWidow chroma v2 like I said you do get a dedicated macro keys but there are no dedicated media keys now for me at least I tend to use media keys more than macro keys so the omission on the black widow seems to be something that isn't pleasing me too much but at least you do get media functionality integrated through some additional functions maps to the F keys on that keyboard not as quick to access but it is still included and as far as the macro keys on the Corsair keyboard is concerned you can actually set up macros for every single one of the keys on this keyboard you can do things like swap key functions launch applications and all of that but you will just have to map those macros to existing keys something like maybe page up or page down scroll lock something like that you can map your macros to which on the other two keyboards you can map those to five dedicated macro keys so just a bit of a difference depending on what you want there moving on to the area that I think you guys would be most interested in and that is the typing experience this is an interesting comparison because each of these three keyboards includes different key caps we'll start off with the Vanguard k08 because these use Omron pres key switches which I think are the weakest of the three they have a one five milliliter actuation distance and require 45 grams of four so they're designed mostly for gaming but they do have a tactile bump to them if you look at the information that creative provides but I don't think that these give a particularly nice tactile feedback this has been an issue for Omron switches for quite some time it ain't that a bit of a mushy response when you depress them the entire way which the other two keyboards don't give you this makes it closer to a rubber dome keyboard it still has a little bit of a mechanical feel but I just feel that that machinist that you get when typing isn't as good as you'll find on either the Razer or the Cherry MX key switches and I can't really recommend this keyboard from the perspective of those key switches although it is a cheaper keyboard so if this did have a cherry MX key switches you would expect to pay more money but I just I can't get behind the tactile feedback of the omron switch is too much here moving on to the Razer BlackWidow chroma v2 and in my review Nitai was equipped with Razer green key switches a 1.9 millimetre actuation distance and 50 grams of force these key switches are mostly designed for typing to have a distinct clicky feel and they're very loud they're equivalent to Cherry MX blue key switches so extremely quick quickie extremely loud and they're not too suited for gaming thanks to their extended travel distance and that clicky feel but for typing these key switches provide the best experience of all of these keyboards I love typing on the Razer green switches on the BlackWidow chroma v2 if you are more inclined to other types of key switches there are two other options Razer orange key switches which are a sort of a more silent version of the greens they're equivalent to Cherry MX brown so if you love the browns get this keyboard with Razer orange key switches they're also the brand new Razer yellow key switches these are very fast one point two millimeter actuation distance and 45 grams of force they are equivalent to the Cherry MX speed switches that we'll be talking a little bit in the k7e rapid-fire so if you are more inclined to do gaming on your keyboard you're not interested in a clicky response it's linear with the Razer yellows you should definitely opt for that in the by cuido chroma v2 so there's a bunch of options there I really like the greens but I think if I was purchasing this keyboard myself I'd probably opt for the oranges because I love the Cherry MX browns as for the Corsair k70 RGB rapid-fire Cherry MX speed RGB switch is here so 45 grams of actuation force and a one point two millimeter actuation distance they're a very responsive key switch thanks to their linear response their short travel distance so they're perfect for gaming very responses that bounce back quickly they're great for repetitive keystrokes and that's exactly what you'd want for a gaming situation I think they're a bit too heavy for general keyboard or tightening use the travel distance isn't as long as I would like if I was typing up extended documents but again you can buy the K 70 and a bunch of other key switches including Cherry MX blues Browns and reds so you can get this keyboard in whatever key switch you like but I think the rapid fires are definitely designed for the best gaming experience and the responsiveness of this case which is fantastic for that particular use case of course it wouldn't be an RGB keyboard battle without talking about some of the RGB functionality that you'll find in each of these three keyboards it's actually pretty similar across the board and what you can find in the software utility is provided by each of these companies all of them have preset RGB sort of patterns that you can set up and use you'll get the standard waves and ripples and a couple of other cool effects on some of the Corsair and razer keyboards that you might like playing around with so for those who don't want to customize the exact keys and exact colors for each of those keys each of these keyboards provides you with some fantastic presets out of the box so those that do want to customize I don't think creative software utility is quite to the standard of the core set or razor utility at this stage it does allow you to customize each of the individual keys so if for example you want to eliminate just the keys that are used in your game you can definitely do that on their creative keyboard as with the other keyboards but it doesn't have some of the functionality such as it's a bit harder to create the ripple effects or the wave effects to your exact working on the creative keyboard whereas in the corset and raise the utility is there or for you a ton of options that allow you to do all sorts of effects with your keyboard and create awesome effects the courser utility is probably a little bit easier to use than the razor utility in general for setting up things like customized lighting for each of the keys but the razor utility does provide slightly more options in terms of the RGB functionality that you get they also have a thing called chroma apps on the razor utility that can override your color options with supported applications for cool effects and integration with apps but the app support list isn't too great at the moment and it's not really what I'd say is a standout feature at the moment but I guess you know in the next couple years we might see some more application support for the Razer chroma apps if I had to recommend one of these keyboards I think it's unfortunately easy to discount the creative soundblaster x value 8 its build quality isn't quite as nice as the other two keyboards it's online key switches I think give too much of a mushy you feel and it's software utility isn't as mature as what you'll find for me the Corsair or razor is the cheaper keyboard in the United States at a hundred and forty dollars compared to 174 the other two options but I still think it's worth spending the extra money on either the corset or razor options in any case if you are spending over a hundred dollars on a mechanical RGB keyboard it's actually a mid tier keyboard in terms of pricing in Australia this keyboard will set you back 230 Australian dollars at the moment but the Corsair k70 RGB rapid-fire is cheaper just 190 dollars I think those of you in Australia that's a really good deal for this keyboard because the Razer BlackWidow chroma v2 retails for two hundred and sixty dollars seventy dollars more for the razor option I think is a bit too much to pay so for those of you in Australia the Corsair k70 RGB rapid-fire or any of the k70 RGB ranges a fantastic option at that price those of you in other nations though where these two keyboards the K 70 and the Black Widow are priced more similarly as you'll find the United States with their 170 dollar price it's actually a really close battle I reckon that the comfort of the Razer BlackWidow is superior to the comfort provided by the k70 thanks that extremely plush leather ish foam wrist rest it's awesome on the Razer BlackWidow it's also is probably a slightly better RGB effective that makes a big difference for you but the two software utilities between each of these keyboards is very similar the key switch options again very similar but of course you can choose different key switches for each of these keyboards Razer green orange or yellows are available in the Black Widow and Cherry MX speed brown blue and Red's are available for the k70 RGB series so I know the battle is really close and I think you can't go wrong with either the k7 or the Black Widow but if I had to make a choice just to end this battle once and for all as my personal preference I probably go through the superior comfort provided by the Razer BlackWidow chroma v2 although I do appreciate the media control softly Corsair k70 so it's a really tough battle and again I don't think you can go wrong with either of those two options anyway that's it for this mechanical keyboard 3-way RGB battle don't forget there is a written version of this video on text comm thanks guys we'll catch you in the next one