Turtle Beach - Command Series KB5 Full-Size Wired Mechanical Gaming Keyboard for PC - Black

Nice Keyboard easy to install Swarm II Software ok

Setup: It was very easy to set up, literally plug and play. It took about 10min to setup and customize. I installed it and was able to download the SWARM II software and update the firmware in that time. I customized the screen so that I can have a mix of productivity, media control and screenshot/record. It was a quick draft style customization but it was pretty simple. Build: It has a very solid build, the keyboard as zero flex, it is lightweight enough that gives it a modern sleek look without compromising on the quality. The wrist pad is very comfortable, it’s surprising how comfortable it considering it is plastic and not a cushion. It attaches easily and is a nice large enough shape that provides support. Typing: The actual keys have a very premier feel, the travel is smooth, quiet with a satisfying click. The spacing of the keys, the media programmable keys are spaced very conveniently and out of the way to eliminate accidental pressing. The ability to program the macro keys is always useful and the inclusion makes the keyboard that much more useful. Touch Display: The display is a little gimmicky but surprisingly useful, I programmed it to do screenshots/screen record, multimedia controls and shutdown. I do catch myself reaching for the screen more often than I thought I would. Controls: The volume barrel style control is very easy to use, perfectly placed and a breeze to use. RGB/Software: The software is very easy to use; it isn’t as easily customizable as other software. To me I did find a bit of a learning curve to customize it to my taste. Overall, its easy software to assign macro functions and button re-assignment. There are also templates for the screen and pre-loaded functions depending on the game being played. Negative: I can’t say I have come across a true negative, a manual or guide to the software would be nice but that might be my preference and what I am used to Overall: I think any tech enthusiast who likes to have the modern new toys and loves the aesthetics of sleek modern devices will love this keyboard. I think a gamer or social media user will also love the versatility and flexibility of the assignable keys and functions to enhance gameplay or content creation.

First impressions out of the box were honestly a bit mixed. The keyboard felt solid and built well, but it is big. With the touchscreen and extra vertical row of keys along the left side, it's bigger than a standard full-size keyboard. While it takes up a bit more real estate area wise, it's actually slimmer in height. The upper case looks nice and typing on the keys felt good overall, but had a little less travel than I'm used to. I also like the fact that the usb cable isn't permanently attached, making it a little bit more portable, although the size is more prohibitive of that in this case. Things then began going poorly when I first plugged it in. Starting out, I wanted to see how the keyboard functions on my macbook before trying it out on my gaming PC. Although there is no software support for MacOS, the keyboard is still supposed to function as a basic keyboard. So I plugged it in to my hub, and was met with a power warning that the keyboard needed additional power and to plug it directly into my MacBook. I have a powered hub too that easily handles power hungry accessories. Even so, I plugged it in directly and it did start to work as a basic keyboard, for about 2 minutes. It then started acting weird. Keys would create weird character inputs before the keyboard seemingly became unresponsive. Seemingly because after several minutes, all the keys that were pressed when it seemed unresponsive, all of a sudden started showing up in my editor that I was testing on. With no software support (on MacOS), I couldn't check for an update and since this keyboard is meant for a gaming PC, I ruled it out of being in rotation for productivity use. Now I take it to my gaming PC, and what it was meant for. For testing purposes, I wanted to see how the keyboard worked without downloading the SWARM app or checking for updates. Since I had another gaming keyboard with a detachable usb-c cable that was already routed, I tried using that cable first, and nothing. My PC wasn't recognizing any connected keyboards. I know not all usb-c cables are created equal, but I thought since it was from another high-quality gaming keyboard, that it should work. Definitely not the case here, so I routed the included Turtle Beach cable. This time the keyboard lit up, so I load up a Steam game, start playing, and get no response from the usual 'WASD' inputs. I check the connections and decide to restart my PC with the keyboard connected from the start. With everything back on and restarted, the keyboard seemed to finally be working, so I load up the same Steam game again, and the inputs are working, for about 2 minutes again before keys started acting weird and not doing what they're supposed to. At this point, it's time to install the SWARM app and see if there are any firmware updates. Sure enough, there is. I run the first update, and it gets stuck at 0%. I hit 'try again', this time it runs, but then as it gets to the 'optimizing your device' part, it all of a sudden no longer detects my keyboard. So I unplug it, plug it back in, and it finishes. After, there was yet another update available, so I run the second update and this time it gets all the way through up until it said it was at 100% of 'optimizing your device', but still spinning as though it was still working on it, and I think it just froze here. I walked away for about 30 minutes and came back to the same screen, so I closed the SWARM app completely and opened it back up. I check for updates and it says the keyboard is now up to date, and keyboard seems to be working normally at last. As rough of a start as that all was, I was ready to give this keyboard 1 star, but knowing the updates should have hopefully fixed the bugs, I wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt. Which means now we can actually get to the part of this review where we actually get to use the keyboard and talk about how it works. First up, now that I have the SWARM app, I play around with some of the settings and features. I customize the small touchscreen and re-map some keys to what I like. As I'm doing all this I'm testing it all out and didn't run into any bugs. Now it was time to game, and I gamed, for hours and hours, and I'm happy to say there were no glitches. I liked the feel, and the game was as responsive as I was used to with my other gaming keyboard. Things were working smoothly. So smoothly that I now felt confident in this KB5 replacing the gaming keyboard I was using previously. Plus the extra macro keys should come in handy in the future, the game I was playing currently wouldn't really benefit from them. One feature that I do truly love is the scroll wheel for controlling volume. It makes it so easy to adjust on the fly without thinking or even having to look down, and clicking it to mute is easy to do as well. The most obvious feature though is the nice little touchscreen in the upper corner. I like how customizable it is, but in all honesty, it's a bit gimmicky and isn't very useful for me, mainly because the sensitivity of it was a little off. I'd have to press certain commands just right in the perfect spot for it to work, in some cases no where near the center. Personally, the only use I'll get out of it is just having a screen with apps that I use more often since those are larger buttons that work better and isn't something that can be done as easily otherwise. Lastly, while I do like having a wrist rest, I wish it was cushioned at least a little bit. I'm not a huge fan of the hard plastic rest. In the end, this KB5 keyboard was able to redeem itself. Truth is, had I started out with the SWARM app and getting the firmware updated, I would have never experienced most of what I did to start, although the update glitches may have still popped up. Removing that, I ended up at 4 stars out of 5. It works great for gaming, has all the customization options I need, and after letting my daughter use it for a few days, she decided she likes it better than the gaming keyboard she's been using, plus the audio control wheel is becoming a must-have. It wasn't enough to earn that 5th star though, with the update issues and an app that honestly could use some more polish, along with a touchscreen that also needs some work, as well as a cheaper feeling wrist rest, it lands firmly at a 4 out of 5. The core functionality though as a gaming keyboard is what makes it a more solid 4.

Pros: - Works as Plug & Play. - Touchscreen works like a more flexible streamdeck. - Quiet, Tactile, and Smooth switches. Cons: - Palm rest included is a hard plastic and uncomfortable for long sessions of gaming. - Touch screen sensitivity is low. Out-of-the-Box: Turtle Beach included in the box the Command Series KB5 keyboard, snap-on Palm rest, USB-C to USB-A braided cable, and a key-pulling tool with 4 alternative keys. The 4 alternative keys can technically be used anywhere but are shaped to replace the WASD, to provide additional texture for the movement keys most games use. I was pleased to find that the Command Series KB5 was Plug-&-Play, meaning it didn’t require any software to be used immediately. Though, to use the touchscreen requires the Swarm II software, which Turtle Beach conveniently provided a link to download on the touchscreen when you first turn on the keyboard. Software: The Command Series KB5 uses the Swarm II app for updates, configuration and customization. I’m familiar with the Swarm II app from previous Turtle Beach devices, I find it to be easy and straightforward to use. I still think Swarm II best feature is having all the settings easily accessible from the device tab. I did have some issues getting Swarm II to launch, but after a restart that resolved itself. In Swarm II you can set the different applications that can be launched from the touchscreen, such as Steam or Discord, which is helpful if you don’t have a streamdeck or other controller for quick launching. Build & Feel: The Command Series KB5 is a full sized low profile keyboard, with only 27mm/~1in of height when flat on the table. A major part of this is the Low-Profile Mechanical switches, which have low key actuation and travel distance. The key caps remind me of a laptop keyboard, both in feel and typing. The front plate is made of brushed aluminum with the back of the keyboard being a hard smooth black plastic. Unfortunately, the palm rest is made of the same material as the back of the keyboard, a hard black plastic. I found it to be uncomfortable during long durations of use, like a late-night gaming session. It did raise my hands up to the right level to use the keyboard comfortably, but if you’re going to include a palm rest for a gaming focused keyboard, at least make it comfortable for long durations of use. I ended up removing it to use a foam palm rest instead as my palm started to get sore after a couple of days of using it. The key caps have a good smooth tactile feel, but for a gaming keyboard I would have preferred a bit of texture on the keys over a completely smooth key. The included alternative key caps would be nice, except that the texture on them doesn’t really provide any more grip compared to the default smooth keys. It’s a preference, but I like matte textured key caps with a bit of grip, especially for tactile focused keyboards. Gaming on it worked well, my biggest complaint was the palm rest comfortability. The low-latency is helpful in more competitive games, but for average gaming it is less important than say a stable internet connection. I’m always cautious about using features like ReacTap SOCD, because in competitive games it is seen as a macro input for directional movement enhancement, but for casual gaming it is a fun feature to help improve your movements. Just check the Terms of Service before enabling it in online PvP games. Touch Screen: The touchscreen is the focus of the Command Series KB5, which works like a more powerful stream deck providing quick control for media and apps, being customizable in the Swarm II app. I found the touchscreen sensitivity to be lower than I would have preferred, it responded like a screen with a slightly too thick screen protector on it. It took a while to get the required touch down paired with the right motions to navigate. I was underwhelmed by it. I found being able to customize the applications I could open on the quick panels was the best part, as it made quickly accessing websites or tools as easy as clicking on the task bar, but could do so from the keyboard with less clicks. Switches: The Low-Profile Mechanical switches are the main reason the KB5 is as low-profile as it is. With an actuation distance at 1.2mm and key travel distance of 3.1mm, this is on the low end for most keyboards, the typing can feel a bit too sensitive or shorted as the keys activate quickly and bottom out sooner than you might expect. The short travel distance does take a bit to get used to, it is more like typing on a laptop or membrane keyboard than a traditional mechanical keyboard, the feel is very similar to chicklet keyboard typing. The switches are very quiet and tactile, there is a noticeable muted click but it isn’t loud. That is thanks to the pre-lubed stabilized keys. Overall, the typing is smooth and responsive. Conclusion: The Command Series KB5 keyboard by Turtle Beach is a good take on a low-profile mechanical keyboard. The built-in touch screen is an added benefit, like having a more flexible stream deck built right into your keyboard. But the sensitivity of the touch screen does make it a little difficult to use accurately, which is unfortunate. The included palm rest should just not be included; it raises your wrist up to the right height but is not comfortable over long durations of use. Overall, I don’t dislike using the Command Series KB5, but it leaves a lot to be desired which makes it a maybe consider it for my recommendation.

The Turtle Beach Command Series KB5 Full-Size Wired Mechanical Gaming Keyboard for PC is an excellent choice for you gaming needs. With true 8K polling, you get 0.125ms latency for extreme precision. It features a 2.4 inch ultra-responsive Command Touch Display for profiles, macros, stats, apps, audio management, streaming, and more. It has low profile Titan mechanical switches with 50 million keystrokes lifespan. It also features ReacTap technology to ensure you get smooth rapid keystrokes. The keyboard feels perfect for me without the wrist pad, but they do include one that clips into the bottom of the keyboard. The height of the keyboard is adjusted by two legs on the backside of the keyboard, and there are two heights you can adjust this to. The key strokes are short which I love, because it registers ultra fast and resets instantly to be ready again. The Turtle Beach Swarm II software is easy to install and use. You get access to all the additional settings like preset RGB profiles and you can also customize one. You can also edit macro keys and FN keys, as well as setting up the your 2.4" Command Touch Display. I really like that I can monitor my CPU and GPU by simply glancing down at the display. Before I used to run and overlay with this information on it, but it did distract from the games I'm playing. One thing I wish was different is that the RGB lighting is too dim for my liking. Even at the highest setting it's just not bright enough. Especially solid colors likes like purple. It's fine in a dark room, but if you have any kind of sunlight in your room, it tends to wash it out. Overall this is an excellent gaming keyboard, and I really enjoy using it.