Gadgetory

The resurgence of mechanical keyboards has taken the gaming and enthusiast PC market by storm over the last few years, as have the Cherry MX brand switches. There aren’t a lot of brands left that are employing their own key switch implementations, however Thermaltake happen to be one of them with their Tt eSPORTS Poseidon range of gaming keyboards. Today I’m going to be taking a look at the latest installment in this range - the Poseidon Z RGB, in conjunction with their Ventus X gaming mouse and XXXXXXXXXXXX desk mat to see what kind of gaming experience Thermaltake are offering up with their very best peripherals. Ready to dive in? Let’s go! I want to look over the design of the Ventus X first. The first thing you’ll notice is the unique aesthetics - there’s a hexagonal honeycomb cage at the rear of the mouse that shows off the illuminated Tt eSPORTS logo inside, and also offers ventilation for your hand. I think this is pretty clever, and will suit those with sweaty palms especially. The shape of the mouse itself is nothing too fancy - which is a good thing, and it’s overall size is bigger than most; definitely a little larger in the body than most of Logitech’s offerings, for instance. This size makes the mouse suited to those with slightly larger hands, and perhaps even a palm grip, though it’s not as though the mouse is huge and unusable for those with smaller hands. Both sides of the mouse offer a soft and also honeycomb-textured grip pad, which feel great beneath the thumb and pinkie finger and give the mouse a more premium feel. The Ventus X is certainly a right-handed mouse. The two thumb buttons are located on the left hand side, and the entire mouse leans off to the right to improve right handed ergonomics. Grooves around the left and right mouse buttons also help your fingers rest in place comfortably. The underside of the mouse features large teflon mouse feet, that offer a nice and relatively effortless glide over your mouse pad, and you’ll also find a little door, inside which you can configure the heft of the mouse with the included set of three nickel-plated weights. In terms of hardware, the Ventus employs an Avago 9500 laser and ARM-based 32bit microcontroller, which of course feel very accurate when gaming and in Windows, and can be adjusted in the Tt eSPORTS software from 100 DPI through to the maximum 5700 DPI. There’s also 128kb of onboard memory to store information such as profiles and macros on the mouse itself. The Tt eSPORTS software looks nice and is powerful enough to allow you to customise the mouse’s functionality as you see fit. All six buttons on the mouse are programmable, if that’s your thing, and you can also assign macros, create different profiles, and link these profiles to certain programs and games. With the mouse’s red-only lighting, you can toggle off the scroll wheel lighting and logo lighting individually, and also engage “Battle Mode”, where the lighting fires off in line with your clicks. Pretty cool, but I could see it being a little distracting. Currently available for $49 USD, or $59 AUD online it’s extremely hard to fault the Ventus X at all. Users that like to have a wealth of customisable buttons might be left wanting a little, but aside from that I think anyone would be happy to game on it. The hardware is top notch, the software is easy to use and powerful, and the ventilated body is a great idea and implementation. I’m a massive fan of large form factor mouse pads. To provide beautiful glide beneath the Ventus X, I have on hand Tt eSPORTS’ new DASHER Extended edition, which is a full 900mm wide, and 400mm high. The bottom side of the DASHER uses an anti-slip rubber base to keep in place, and the top side is a speedy cloth weave that feels as nice as any I’ve used before. Proving Thermaltake’s attention to detail is a fully solid sewn edge, which prevents any sort of annoying fraying or peeling away that can otherwise occur over time. The pad is 4mm thick, and provides a nice amount of cushion for your wrist, but still provides a nice firm surface for your mouse and doesn’t leave any sort of imprint where your keyboard legs sit. I love being able to sit my entire keyboard on my mousepad, so the Extended edition of the DASHER was a no-brainer, but you can also get it in a medium, and mini slim size, which is only 2mm thick. The Extended DASHER is just $35 in both the USA and Australia, and at that price it’s a really great buy, down under especially. Now let’s take a look at the Ventus X’s partner in crime - the Poseidon Z RGB mechanical gaming keyboard. I’ve been a big fan of Cherry’s keyboard switches, and in particular the very loud and clicky Cherry MX Blue switches, so I was very interested to check out the Poseidon Z with Thermaltake’s very own kailh blue switches. Upon using the Poseidon, I was immediately impressed and felt at home with the blue switches. They definitely aren’t identical to the Cherry MX blues, but the feel and sound is quite similar. The clicky feel is very similar - if anything it feels a little sharper, and there is definitely less key wobble. The sound the keys make is a little lower in pitch, and maybe a little bit quieter, but there isn’t a huge difference in volume. The key layout is very much standard, with the right side Windows key being replaced by the function key. The F keys all have additional functions that are enabled when this is pressed, including full media controls, lighting controls, and a macro record key for on the fly macros. The only extra button is a Windows key toggle at the very top right, which cleverly makes the Windows key instead function as a Ctrl key. Profiles can also be switched between on the fly by using the function key in conjunction with the Home, Insert, Page Up, Delete and End keys, and you can also toggle N-Key Rollover on the fly with the PgDn key. The underside of the keyboard features cable routes that go either way, which I like, and rubberised feet keep the keyboard in place. Fold down legs can adjust the keyboard’s height, and there are even two rubberised pads on the backside of the keyboard - these are designed to protect the keyboard when you place it backside down in your carry bag; particularly the Thermaltake’s own Battle Dragon Bag. The Tt eSPORTS software initially updated the keyboard’s firmware quickly and easily, and then I was away. Inside you can create and customise macros, select different profiles, and of course, play around with the RGB lighting. There are five presets to choose from, with options within each preset to customise further. In Oz-land, you can pick up the Poseidon Z RGB in brown or blue switches for $150, and on the USA Amazon it will set you back just over $90 USD. At this price, I think it’s a pretty great buy. I’m a fan of Thermaltake’s switches, and the keyboard will suit those that prefer a smaller overall footprint. There’s no wrist rest included, nor is there a USB pass through, and these are two of my favourite add-ons so it goes without saying that I would love to see a Poseidon model that included both of these features. Thermaltake kindly offer a 5 year warranty on their switches, so those that have never ventured away from Cherry MX can feel comfortable knowing that they are safe in Thermaltake’s hands.