Pros & Cons
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- High customizability via both software and hardware.
- Powerful, intuitive driver software.
- Carrying cases included for all major components.
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- Function key row can interfere with game play.
- Certain design elements make typing a chore.
- No Mute key.
- Detachable cooling fan is underpowered.
For years Thermaltake has been renowned among DIYers for its components: power supplies, cases, and coolers that span every imaginable price category and performance demand. What's lesser known is that the company also has a newer subdivision, Tt esports, which is dedicated exclusively to peripherals for the fragging-minded enthusiast crowd. One of Tt esports' latest releases is the Challenger Gaming Keyboard series, which is meant to compete with the backlit, macro key–heavy offerings from the likes of Microsoft, Logitech, and Razer. Judging by the Pro incarnation ($69.99 list), Thermaltake will both fit right into that group and provide little substantial competition.
This is not for lack of features or customizability; Thermaltake has not skimped in that department. The Challenger Gaming Keyboard Pro sports ten macro keys, five on either side of the primary typing area. Four intensity levels for the red backlighting range from off to bright, and may be adjusted independently of the large Tt logo on the palm rest (which may only be turned on or off, not dimmed). A row of media keys let you play or pause, rewind, fast-forward, or stop playback altogether, as well as raise or lower the volume (though there's no one-touch Mute button). The keyboard has 64KB of on-board memory for storing up to four complete profiles, which can contain lighting settings and configuration data for the macro keys, and may be exported, imported, or uploaded. The most unique addition is a one-inch fan which may be plugged into either the upper-left or upper-right section of the keyboard, and automatically turns on; Thermaltake claims this is to keep your hands cool and reduce sweating. When you're not using the fan, you can store it in a recess at the top of the keyboard.
There are a few interesting external extras as well. There are ten key replacements, which have been designed to give gamers more control over their most-used section of the keyboard. Just use the enclosed plastic tool to pry off the W, A, S, and D caps and replace them with a set that's either red with white lettering or red with white arrows (up, left, right, and down). If you dislike getting ejected from a full-screen game because you hit a Windows key when you meant to hit CTRL or ALT, you can pull off both keys' caps and apply dummy caps that essentially deactivate the keys. This may be a USB
Is that necessarily the case? It depends on what kind of games you play—and how much other typing you expect to do.
In terms of gaming, the Challenger Gaming Keyboard Pro is somewhat less than ideal if you're enmeshed in a title that makes frequent use of either the function or number keys. The former are half the depth of the other keys on the keyboard, and are separated from the number row by only one-eighth-inch of space. This makes it very easy to hit them accidentally, when you're trying to use a number key to switch weapons, for example—something we did a lot. Also, unlike on a traditional keyboard, the function keys are not divided into separate banks for F1-F4, F5-F8, and so on: They're simply arranged in a single, unbroken string starting with the Esc key, and passing without break through the function keys and the PrtScn–ScrLK–Pause trio, the six media keys, the backlight adjustment, and the profile switcher. It's very hard to get the right one merely by touch. Yes, the backlight helps, but it requires you to look down at the keyboard—something we rarely do anyway, and almost never in the heat of battle.
As for typing, we had some problems there, too. The keys are very low and flat, and more stiff than springy (as we'd expect from a dome-switch style), and we had to apply enough pressure to get them to register that we noticed our typing speed dropping considerably whenever we had to pound out more than a few words at a time. (It proved somewhat less than ideal for writing this review, for example.)
Of course, this keyboard is mainly intended for gaming, but it felt weird even when our hands were in the standard gaming positions. We eventually discovered that the reason for this was the keyboard's dimensions: Its width and depth (about 20 inches by 7.75 inches) are par for the keyboard course, but it's far shorter: only seven-eighths an inch high without the pop-out legs engaged, the preferred position for healthy typing. Extend the legs and it rises to 1.375 inches—better, but still below a regular keyboard and seeming lower still because of the squat keys. It took us several hours to become usefully comfortable with this layout, and even then we never completely warmed to it.
Though we weren't sure we drew much benefit from the hand cooling fan (maybe we're just not hard-core enough gamers to get sweaty palms?), we liked all of the other gaming features on the Challenger Gaming Keyboard Pro; and the included driver software made it a cinch to set up the macro keys, lighting options, and profiles. (Although we could do without the timer informing us exactly how much time we've spent playing in each profile—some things we'd prefer to not know!) We never found ourselves particularly limited by the hardware, but if you feel like you may need more, the Ultimate edition ($89.99 list) has four more macro keys, up to 256 possible backlight colors, and integrated headphone and microphone jacks; if you can get along with less, the standard version ($49.99) has but six macro keys.
This means that there's a Challenger Gaming Keyboard for every type of gamer, and the Pro is certainly decked out well enough to satisfy most. But, at least until Thermaltake makes its good gaming keyboard a good keyboard as well, only gamers—and intrepid ones at that—need apply for a bout with the Challenger.
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