Pros: The build quality on this keyboard is amazing. I've had this keyboard for almost a year and it still works fine, all the LED's are functional, and all promises are fulfilled. The brushed aluminium looks amazing and is very easy to clean. Any crumbs that could make their way into a normal keyboard is easily handled on this keyboard.

Cons: Only con that I can think of after a year of using this product is probably the program CUE (Corsair Utility Engine).
It's a little confusing to use and can be pretty frustrating as far as programming macros and color schemes. It has gotten better through recent updates but still leaves me unsatisfied.

Other Thoughts: Corsair did an outstanding job as far as build quality goes but lacks the dedication to the software. I am very happy with the customization of this keyboard.

Pros: It's a pretty good mechanical keyboard. Takes macros, lets you play with lights, lets you switch keys around. Nice and heavy, so you'll know it'll stay. The exterior looks very nice.

Cons: It detects triple taps WAYYYY too frequently. In a game where I have to double tap in small time frames, this is by far the worst choice. 50% of the time I input W twice, it'll activate a triple tap and stop me dead in my tracks. It's quite annoying.

I also noticed that switching the BIOS trigger to a different setting screws up profiles, and the colors are not saved at all.

Other Thoughts: If you're playing a game that doesn't rely on rapidly tapping the same key a certain amount of times, then I would consider this. The typing is pretty solid, and the keys can be precise. People who want a keyboard for rapid movements, I would recommend the K70. I had a much easier time with that model than I have had with this one.

Pros: Looks pretty. Has a nice, heavy duty cable.

Cons: No CD with drivers comes with the product. Wow! I had to have an old keyboard on hand to download Corsair's drivers,

Can't say much about performance. This one was dead on arrival. It lit up pretty for a few seconds before it went dark.

Other Thoughts: On the tech-knowledge question. I started with an Apple //e and have built a few IBM-compatible systems and fiddled with getting things to work in the "old days."

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Customer,

We are sorry that you are having trouble with your Corsair K95 Keyboard. In order to assist you we will need additional information. Please contact our Tech Support at 888-222-4346 or submit a ticket at corsair.force.com and we'll be more than happy to troubleshoot the issue.

Thank you,
Corsair Customer Support
Corsair Support Email: support@corsair.com
Corsair Support Phone Number: 888-222-4346

Pros: This is one of the best gaming keyboards on the market at this time, its super responsive, has full RGB control and tons of macro keys. this is a premium keyboard that isnt made out of plastic. It is very easy to replace the keycaps, you can pull them off with your fingers if you know what your doing.

Cons: the Corsair Utility software, it is very complex and could be simplified in several ways to make it less obtuse.

Other Thoughts: this is a great keyboard that performs how you would expect it to.

Pros: Beautiful default lighting wave. Solid construction. Awesome braided cord. stellar macro software.

Cons: You know I came from a Logitech G19 and I paid nearly $200 for that so this keyboard is superior in every way. So glad I got it.

Other Thoughts: I came from a Logitech G19 and the two are night and day different. In every category I'd rate this K95 2 stars higher. The logitech was mediocre at best even brand new.

I have struggled a bit going from the G19 key sensitivity vs this K95 cherry red sensitivity. Also the key layout is tighter on this K95. I'm still trying to adapt.

** I also use a MAD CATZ RAT 7 MMO. and have been since the original RAT 7 came out years ago. Their macro software on their mice is awesome. That software totally prepared me for this Corsair suite. I had zero issues jumping right into the software and using it.

Pros: The brushed aluminum keyboard is sturdy and very pleasing on the eyes, also very easy to clean with the design of the keys. Cherry reds work great and I really like the keyboard itself.

Cons: The LED's on this keyboard are terrible, I've had this for several months now and I already have 7 dead LED's. Looking online it seems to be an extremely common thing and RMA's don't take long to have the same issue, for the price of this keyboard I believe this to be unacceptable.

Other Thoughts: If it weren't for those pesky LEDs...

Pros: -Keys are great
-The keyboard software is rather simple in my eyes(Check cons)
-The amount of G keys is crazy(18), i only use 3 xD
-What you can do with the LED's are crazy and its pretty amazing.
-You can have 3 different effects at a time.
-The wrist rubber pad is really nice and I use it most of the time.
-The volume changing roller thingy is great, it makes changing the volume different, not just another button.

Cons: -The software, for the most part is nice. Except out of the blue one day, for some reason it said my files were corrupt. It took around a week for me to fix this nonsense. Not a huge problem, but still meh.

-Not a problem with the keyboard itself, but the "Corsair Gaming" sticker on the top isn't all the way on, I noticed this only a minute after un-packing, not a huge problem, just another meh.

Other Thoughts: Overall a great keyboard, great purchase in my eyes.

Pros: THIS KEYBOARD HAS A DEALBREAKER CON, WHICH I WILL HIGHLIGHT IN ALL CAPS BEFORE BEGINNING THE FORMAL REVIEW. THE KEYBOARD CAN NOT DISPLAY 16.8 MILLION COLORS. PRODUCT DESCRIPTION USED TO ADVERTISE 16.8m COLOR, BUT THAT WAS REMOVED AFTER CORSAIR OFFICIALLY CONFIRMED A HARDWARE LIMITATION REGARDING THE DISPLAY OF COLOR. THIS KEYBOARD IS NOT CAPABLE OF FLUID COLOR TRANSITION. TRANSITION OF COLOR FLICKERS VISIBLY. IF YOU ARE PRONE TO SEIZURE, YOU MAY WANT TO STAY AWAY. IF YOU ARE ONLY GOING TO DISPLAY ONE COLOR AT A TIME IN A STATIC MANNER, AND NOT LOOKING TO CHANGE IT OFTEN, THIS CON IS IRRELEVANT.

Cherry MX Red keys really are a pleasure to type on. I also own a Razer Blackwidow Chroma, and typing on the K95 Red yields a better feel for your fingers and speeds up your typing since the actuation force required for Cherry MX Red keys is the lowest out of all the mechanical keys at 45g. Razer's keys are more similar to Cherry MX Blue, which gives you and audible click and tactile feel at the point where the key press is registered but has a higher actuation force at 60g. For gaming or speed typing, I prefer Red far more as my key presses are registered earlier since key presses require less force, and there is no clicking mechanism slowing you down.

The RGB uses clear Cherry MX keys and places the rgb LED inside the key so as to reduce color bleeding. This is pretty hard to visualize. On the Razer Chroma, the LEDs are unfocused, and the colors from separate LEDs tend to blend together. This does not happen on the K95.

The aluminum frame gives the keyboard a truly premium look and feel - both to the touch and when moving the keyboard. However, the aluminum frame is only on the top of the keyboard - and not even the entire keyboard at that. The aluminum frame DOES NOT COVER THE MACRO KEYS ON THE LEFT. See CONS.

I know the Corsair Gaming logo is a polarizing aspect of the product - many love it, many hate it. Personally, I enjoy the new logo very much and I find myself glancing at it pretty often.

I enjoy having dedicated media keys, and I enjoy the volume dial even further. Instead of mashing a volume up key 20 times, I need only roll the dial to the exact volume I want.

18 extra macro buttons! This is the biggest difference between the K70 and K95, and exactly what motivated me to get the K95 over the K70.

The software is certainly difficult to navigate as a beginning user, but thankfully the Corsair forums has many downloadable pre-programmed color effects - some of which get very fancy.

Cons: To reiterate the deal breaker con, this keyboard is not capable of the fluid color transition that other 16.8m keyboards do. I wanted the RGB keyboard for the fluid color transitioning effect advertised, which this product is not capable of.

The K95 is the K70, but with 18 more macro keys. Corsair makes that pretty clear, as there is a visible break between the keyboard and the macro keys - also as if the macro keys were literally stitched onto a K70. This leads us to the next TWO cons.

The software is difficult to learn. As I stated above, you don't need to learn it since you can download user programmed color effects. Unfortunately, since the K70 is far more popular, most of the community of programmers DO NOT release code for the K95, and the K70 color files are NOT compatible with the K95. Furthermore, the latest update to the Corsair software broke the old K95 files, and not enough programmers care about the K95 enough to update them.

The aluminum frame does not continue through the entire top of the keyboard. The aluminum stops just before the macro keys. The frame around the macro keys is plastic, and it's rather jolting and displeasing that the nice aluminum frame stops 4/5 of the way on the top of the keyboard. The aluminum also does not cover the sides or the bottom, which further detracts from the premium feel.

Other Thoughts: In the end, I returned the keyboard based almost entirely on the fact that Corsair had advertised fluid 16.8m color, and the keyboard didn't provide that. I assume that the Other than that, this keyboard is probably the best one I've ever used. I highly suggest the K70 if you can give up the macro keys and overlook the poor color transitioning.

Pros: Great look and feel. The keyboard itself looks and feels like quality product.

Cons: The LED's don't last! I have sent it back for a replacement (which took months due to low inventory), and the new one is doing the same thing. They last for a few months, then one by one, the LEDs begin to fail.

Pros: The keyboard (please read cons) is really fantastic. The physical elements of the keyboard are of the highest quality I've seen in a keyboard. The keys feel great, the mechanical (I have MX Cherry REDs) are fantastic. However, coming from a standard Vengeance K95 keyboard (the predecessor to this keyboard) not much has changed in the keyboard's construction. And i don't think that's a bad thing. I think they nailed it. I love the feel and construction, it has quality written all over it. This is a solid keyboard as far as construction goes. HOWEVER-- (cons, and please understand, this is not just my experience. Everyone feels this pain in Cons.)

Cons: What they promised with this upgrade from the K95 Vengeance is delivered, but with a HUGE drawback. The drivers on this keyboard are some of the worse I've ever seen. They still release drivers for it, trying to improve, but the same problems persist.

THIS KEYBOARD IS REGULARLY NOT RECOGNIZED BY THE COMPUTER. this means, that any 'color' or 'graphical' settings that you have, do not always apply upon start up. I've found myself re-installing the drivers EVERY time that I turn on my computer, just to get the 'rainbow' effect going. Otherwise, the keyboard is LED-dead (though you can change profiles for color, but they are factory default settings).

I don't know why this product is such a bummer. I'm happy when it works, but for me to 're-install' (and by re-install, i mean open my documents/download, and run the latest driver .exe) every time I turn on my computer, just to get the settings that I want... No. Unacceptable. Corsair. Fix your product. Fix your drivers or firmware, or w/e. Fix it. This is stupid.

Other Thoughts: If you don't care about the cons i said, don't buy this keyboard. Find another solid mechanical keyboard that works on boot. I'm only writing this because seriously.. this is ridiculous.

Other things:
1) no USB pass-through compared to the K95 standard (bummer, but fine). This is because the keyboard needs 2 USB connectors if the best connectors you have are USB 2.0. Plug in both keyboard USBs for USB 2.0 connector. Plug in ONLY the USB connector with the 'keyboard' image if you have USB 3.0 connector.

2) The LED construction compared to the standard K95 is a massive improvement. They changed this because 90% of their standard K95 keyboards had LED failure at 6months or less, which ultimately led to more LED failures and RMA returns.

3) Fantastic Keyboard. Make this work. Just make it work like you promise/promote... ... ...