The keyboard is an essential part of any PC… These devices have evolved over the years, and there are many options on the market today for a wide variety of needs. The gaming segment is no exception, because here we are offered a variety of options – from membrane to mechanical with their own characteristics.
Recently, a gaming keyboard from the company came to us for a test. ASUS – model ROG Strix Scope RX… Its cost in the official store ASUS is 10 990 rubles…
COMPLETE SET AND APPEARANCE
The keyboard comes in a colorful double-layer cardboard box, mostly black with red and black sides. The front shows the ROG Strix Scope RX itself, there is the Republic of Gamers logo, and also lists the product features, such as the presence of proprietary AURA Sync backlighting and ROG RX RED opto-mechanical switches.
On the reverse side, the manufacturer gave more details on the characteristics of the ROG Strix Scope RX. Inside it is packed in a polyester bag, black format cardboard, and the wire is hidden in a special compartment. Below the keyboard you will find a brief instruction in several languages, including Russian, a warranty card and a set of stickers.
ROG Strix Scope RX is a full-size optical-mechanical keyboard. Its dimensions are 440 mm x 137 mm x 39 mm, and its weight is 1070 grams. The top panel is made of gray aluminum, and the bottom is covered with durable matte plastic, except for the large ROG logo with a glossy texture. There are also five rubberized feet on the bottom, which confidently hold the keyboard and prevent it from sliding. In addition, there are two more rubber-tipped folding feet to raise the back of the keyboard for ease of use.
A rather thick cable emerges from a recess in the middle of the lower part of the case, which at the end is divided into two USB-type A connectors. One is used to power the keyboard, and the second is used to transfer data from the built-in USB 2.0 pass-through port on the back of the keyboard.
KEYS, FEATURES, BACKLIGHT & SOFTWARE
There are 104 keys in total on the keyboard. Keycaps are made of plastic with transparent engraving of letters, through which light passes evenly, highlighting not only the engraving on top, but also on the sides of some buttons, where there are additional designations. Combining the FN button with different keys allows you to use additional modes of operation of individual buttons. For example, blocking the start when combined with the Windows button, or FN + INS (aka FN LOCK) allows you to activate additional modes of the F5-F12 buttons, such as controlling the sound or the player, as well as activating the stealth mode. The latter completely minimizes all windows and mutes the sound. It is especially convenient for those to whom relatives like to burst into the room without knocking, if you understand what I mean. In addition, you can configure macros from the keyboard and save up to 5 user preset profiles without installing software.
Under the keycaps are the proprietary ASUS ROG RX RED switches. According to the manufacturer, they should not only provide fast and accurate response, but also a long service life of 100 million clicks. An initial force of only 40 g is enough to start pressing the button, and the built-in optical sensor in each button is triggered already when pressed at a depth of only 1.5 mm.
In practice, pressing works with lightning speed and clearly. To fully press the 4 mm button, a force of 50 g is enough. This is the beauty of optomechanical switches. Although when typing quickly, the author sometimes managed to touch the buttons, but here it is more likely a problem due to his unaccustomedness to such high keyboard keys, since he himself uses in most cases low-profile membrane keyboards. The buttons cannot be called quiet either, although the sound from pressing to the noise of a typewriter clearly does not hold out.
One of the main features of the ROG Strix Scope RX is IP56 dust and water resistance. The keyboard has a dustproof shell, which should almost completely eliminate the ingress of dust (although a small amount can still penetrate, it should not be reflected in the operation of the device).
According to this standard, moisture protection should withstand the ingress of water jets on the keyboard without any problems without any consequences for the operation. So if you spill water, tea or coffee on it, then, in theory, nothing should happen to it, but we probably won’t check this and take the manufacturer’s word for it.
As for the backlight, here it is capable of producing all the colors of the rainbow. Lit in the corner on the right and the logo in the form of an eye.
The proprietary AURA lighting can be controlled either from the keyboard (a combination of FN and arrows, where up and down adjust the brightness, and left and right the glow effect), or from the Armory Crate and AURA Creator applications.
From the effects, I especially liked the Ripple mode, which sends a wave through all the keys around from the one you pressed. Also in Armory Crate you can activate AURA lighting sync.
More detailed RGB lighting customization down to each individual key is available in the AURA Creator app. The application allows you not only to adjust each effect for yourself, but also to correctly arrange the position of devices during synchronization or make it work in time with the music.
Other useful functions of Armory Crate are the ability to reassign various buttons to the actions you need, for example, to quickly launch the desired application or go to a page on the Internet. In addition, from it you can conveniently configure macros, manage user profiles and, of course, update the device software. There is also a built-in game library that displays games installed on your PC.
The Popular section is a browser that links to various offers on Steam. It works very crookedly, which cannot be said about the “News” section, where fresh news about the ASUS brand technology have gathered.
RESULTS
ASUS ROG Strix Scope RX is a high-quality keyboard with very fast switches and pleasant bonuses in the form of dust and moisture protection for those who like to messily drink tea between matches, as well as very flexible and convenient settings both with and without software. In general, it should appeal to fans of shooters, RTS and MOBA, but for printing multi-page texts, not everyone will like it.
Author: Sergey Dyakonenko (madnfs)
Read also: MSI Vigor GK20 Affordable Gaming Keyboard Review…
