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Matthew S.

Matthew S.

Joined on 05/13/13

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 3
Most Favorable Review

Superb Quality Mechanical Keyboard

Corsair CH-9000019-NA Vengeance K70 Mechanical Keyboard
Corsair CH-9000019-NA Vengeance K70 Mechanical Keyboard

Pros: This keyboard has served me well for almost a year. I'm writing this review with it right now. It retains its comfort since the day I bought it. The wrist rest has a soft rubber smooth texture with small nodes imprinted for friction. Overall it's a very nice touch and clicks in securely but easily too. Typing on the Cherry MX Red switches was a whole new experience that has spoiled me from membrane mushers forever. I've tried Blue, Brown, Black, and Red switches and can say that the reds are my favorite. Browns are great for typing, Blues are a little gimmicky and get annoying fast (for me, some people live by them), and blacks were a very close match to the reds except were not quite as sensitive. That made it better for typing than the Reds but I preferred the quicker response. Moving on to the LED's and lighting, the lighting is some of the brightest and most reliable that I've experienced. It has four options ranging from off to VERY bright. I tone it down sometimes because of the intense luminosity. Some say that the F keys are dimmer, but they are slightly so, only because the LED light isn't centered underneath the laser etching for F keys. The lights are fine. I have never had a problem with one of the LED's going out. Strong clean blue was a personal favorite and are going strong to this day. The keys themselves have a great smooth texture, and a simple font that looks a lot better than certain other brands that try and have a greenish gamer pseudo-futuristic style that I find juvenile. The laser etching ensures that nothing will erase the imprints. The spacebar has a great texturing on it, that's actually pretty insignificant but is a nice touch. The anodized aluminum backing is awesome, keeping the keyboard feeling solid. The K70 is easy to clean because of the space between the keys and the backing, and they come off easily with the included keycap popper. The cable is a thick braided cable that is VERY thick and strong. No fraying for over a year and it's been bent around quite a lot. The USB Passthrough works great and the back ends of the K70 cable shows you which USB is for the board and which is for the passthrough. I believe they are gold plated. There are four feet on the bottom for adjustment, and if you take the wrist rest off there is even a spot for the old one from the K60. Finally, there is even a BIOS switch along with the polling rate switch which let me use this in BIOS when building my brother's computer without needing to get an old PS2 keyboard. Great addition.

Cons: The lighting options are cool— they have individual key backlighting and good lighting level adjustment but for the same pricing other brands offer insane lighting modes like snaking, etc. I think there could be more profiles since there is only one right now besides the default, and perhaps more modes in the future. The spacebar is a bit wobbly for me, more so than other keyboards but not by much. Just a small thing I thought was worth mentioning. The overall biggest con besides those small features is the lack of rubber feet. Even the $10 membrane board I used before this one had rubber feet. There are four of them and they can really help with raising the level to the right comfort level but they can't be used because otherwise it will slide around too much. Almost all other keyboards in this price range offer that. It's a shame that slipped by Corsair.

Overall Review: In conclusion, I was extremely pleased with this keyboard. Despite some minor issues I found the quality to be incredible. The keys are fantastic, the lighting is great, the design is top notch, and the wrist rest and cables are also sturdy. Would strongly recommend over almost any other keyboard in this price range for somebody looking for a cleanly designed quality mechanical keyboard. Also, there is a reactive backlighting mode that they do not advertise, but I think' it's cool. You can activate it by pressing Ctrl and the keyboard's record key for setting the profile at the same time. Pretty cool feature.

Most Critical Review

Poor Fan Design

GELID Solutions Slim 12 UV BLUE Case Fan
GELID Solutions Slim 12 UV BLUE Case Fan

Pros: It was slim and the wires were well sleeved and came with an extension.

Cons: First of all, the lights on this fan do not turn at all. It still blows, but the lights don't work. Another issues is that the screws can only go in for the fan to be oriented as an exhaust fan. I bought this fan to fit in a tight spot as an intake, and that should've been advertised. This fan was very disappointing especially after wrestling with the screws, the lights didn't even work. There are better fans out there.

Overall Review: I don't know if this is common or not for the lights not to be working but nobody really needs a slim fan it's better to get a trustworthy standard size that you know will work. No tricks with how it will screw in, and it's a lot cheaper. Not worth the price.

great monitor with a catch

Asus VH238H Black 23" Full HD HDMI LED Backlight LCD Monitor w/Speakers 250 cd/m2 ASCR 50,000,000:1
Asus VH238H Black 23" Full HD HDMI LED Backlight LCD Monitor w/Speakers 250 cd/m2 ASCR 50,000,000:1

Pros: This monitor has fantastic colors! I haven't messed with the settings yet but the Splendid tech really is splendid. No ghosting, beautiful full 1080hd. Worth every penny I paid. There is a catch though...

Cons: The one catch is that the monitor is really wobbly. No matter what kind of desk it will wobble because it will really wobble for no reason because it is meant to wall mounted.