CORSAIR - Strafe RGB MX Silent Gaming Keyboard - Black

I am a 22 year old gamer female. I had never purchased specific gaming peripherals before - I have just used a regular keyboard because I am just a casual gamer. With that being said, when I decided I wanted a new keyboard, I spent A LOT of time deciding what keyboard I should purchase (upwards of 6 hours over several weeks spent online, reading reviews and product features, as well as going into different electronics stores and trying out various keyboards in person multiple times). I would say that I am picky despite being a casual gamer, but as most would agree, a keyboard is an essential and very personal piece of equipment, and I am also very intent on buying what I think is the best product for a good price. Many people have told me that Razer is the way to go for gaming keyboards. They have solid products and the Razer Blackwidow Multi Chroma was the other keyboard I was debating on buying. While the Corsair keyboard software is not as "broadcasted" as the Razer keyboard software, I think it's just as robust and customizable. Yes, the Corsair software is a little less "user-friendly" but you would have to be either incredibly impatient or a true idiot if you aren't able to figure it out - it's not that complicated. It might take you a few extra minutes to get comfortable and acquainted with the interface, but overall it's comparable to the Razer functions. The cherry strafe silent keys are excellent - something I also looked into. My apartment has high ceilings and while the Razer felt incredibly comfortable and easy to type on, I was very worried about the volume and, let's face it, clunkiness of the keys that really clack when you type; in my experience, going to various stores and trying out different mechanical keyboards, I found that Razer is definitely one of the loudest, if not the loudest, mechanical keyboard. It can be a nice sound but I thought that it, personally, might get annoying, especially in my environment. The cherry strafe keys on the Corsair are not fully "silent" although it may be advertised as such. You still get some sound to your key strokes which is nice but definitely not at the obnoxious volume of the Razer. Something I have to comment on is aesthetics. Razer has somewhat of a cleaner presentation than Corsair for several reasons: the font on the Razer products is personal preference. I think it's a hit or a miss: either you like it or you do not. I think it's an ugly font but the keys are much more settled/deeper into the keyboard than the Corsair keys which stick out. This makes the backlighting color features a little less clean on the Corsair, but better on the Razer. I ended up buying this product because BestBuy was having a competitive sale going on. I figured I would purchase (knowing I had a 30 day return policy) and really use the keyboard for awhile to see if it was something I could get used to, enjoy, and that wouldn't get annoying. The quiet type keyboard was definitely a major selling point - and if you're looking into aesthetics and backlighting, don't let Corsair's low profile on backlighting trick you - there's just as many/most of the same backlighting options as the Razer software! I hope this can help at least one person!

-Pros- Lighting Layout Customization -Cons- Thick cable Bulky / flashy cable connections Prior to purchasing this keyboard I was using a rather standard HP keyboard with a few multimedia keys I never really used. So when I started searching for a new keyboard I decided on a few things I was after. 1) Natural feel I wanted a keyboard that I didn't have to "learn" how to use and just felt natural to use. I tried a couple different gaming keyboards like the G910 and Blackwidow before this one and found the layout uncomfortable with the macro keys extending the keyboard out the side instead of up which threw off the natural feel for me. The strafe felt incredibly natural to me with no new "learning" needed. It doesn't have any extra dedicated keys like the other keyboards though aside from the keyboard lock button and lighting button, which is fine for me because I have played just fine without them so far. 2) RGB lighting Since I first saw lighting on keyboards I have always wanted one instead of my usual hum drum keyboards with no lighting. The strafe puts on a fantastic light show and the software allows you to set up a bunch of different variations of lighting such as: wave, pulse, visor, rain and my favorite spiral rainbow - THE COLORS! You can also customize different lighting options in the software that are not presets. It has a white back under the keys which some RGB keyboards do not have that gives the lights more presence. 3) Sound I wanted to dive into the mechanical keys, but I didn't want keys that sounded like they could overpower a conversation while typing. The strafe has keys that are quieter than standard keyboards that use membrane keys which was a nice selling point for me. I usually hate textured things on peripherals and thought the textured space bar would be a real nuisance for me, but surprisingly it doesn't feel bad at all and almost feels natural, which I found odd having used non textured space bars all my life. -Notes- I would like to mention I recently had an issue where the preset lighting effect I had selected did not come on when I turned my computer on like it normally did. I went into the software to see if anything needed to be updated, but everything was up to date. So I unplugged the keyboard and plugged it back in and the lighting effect came back on. It has only happened once so far, but figured it worth mentioning if you have similar issues. The keyboard also has a USB port in the back, which many find convenient, but I never use it so I did not include it in the pros section. It should be noted that in order to use that port you have to plug the second cable that is split off from the power cable into a USB port on your computer, so you don't get an extra port, but rather relocate the one on your computer to the back of the keyboard. In the cons I mentioned thick cable and bulky connections. The cable itself is very thick being about three times the thickness of my standard keyboard. In the middle of the cable it splits off into two smaller cables to power the keyboard and for the USB port on the back of the keyboard. The connections also have this bulky and flashy yellow casing. These things aren't really an issue for me personally, but I also don't see them as pros and could see them as cons for many neat freaks and people who like a somewhat low profile on cable management so I included them in the cons.

I bought this keyboard for my office. I am a big fan of corsair peripherals and use M65 mouse in my office. Together they both look very nice however there are some downsides to using this set up. I can not install ICUE software on my work computer and therefore the RGB functionality is very limited. You can plug the keyboard into a machine that has the software installed and set up a RGB profile and save it to the keyboard. Once you plug the keyboard into a machine without the software, the motion features are disabled and you are stuck with the static back lighting. This cosmetic feature shouldn't be a huge deal as long as you know that before spending the premium on a fancy RGB keyboard. What is great is the response of the switches. They are very nice and have a short reset. I got the silent version which doesn't have the distinctive click you expect from mechanical keyboards. It is still a little noisy when typing at full speed and could irritate your coworkers more than if you used a membrane keyboard. One other down point for me is the texture on the keys. They are very smooth for my liking. The included textured WASD and QWERASDF keys are very pleasant. I wish I could purchase this keyboard with the textured keys option. Much more comfortable for me.

Call me old, but I really enjoy typing on a mechanical keyboard. I purchased this keyboard not for gaming, but for keyboarding/typing. Personally, I prefer keyboards that have a little bit of a click to them. This is a silent keyboard that does not have the tactile "click" when I type, which I kind of miss. I do not blame Corsair for this... They market it as a quiet mechanical keyboard, and I did have an opportunity to try it out on a display at Best Buy before buying it, so I have no one to blame but myself. Ironically enough, my wife likes it better because my previous "clicky" keyboard drove her nuts. What makes me tolerate the absence of my tactile click when I type is the LED effects on the keyboard. For me, it serves no function but simply aesthetics, but I really like it. Makes me feel like a geek, I suppose. One thing I do not like, however, is that the lighting themes are controlled through a program on the PC and when my computer goes to sleep, the keyboard goes back to the default lighting scheme (which is really not very cool or attractive, in my opinion). As soon as I log back in, the keyboard goes back to the previous theme, so it is not a huge deal, but I really wish the keyboard itself would somehow remember its theme setting so it would boot up in that setting and stay in the theme even when the computer goes to sleep. Another minor annoyance that I did not even notice when I bought the keyboard is that the numeric and other special keys have the characters reversed. The number keys, for instance, have the numbers on the top of the keys, not the bottom, with the symbols on the bottom, not the top. Good thing I am a touch typist, otherwise this would bother me even more than it does now. I use the shift key to access the characters on the top of the key. With the way this keyboard is physically set up, I have to use the shift key to go "down" to the special character on the key. This is very counterintuitive and a huge annoyance. I would also like a way to toggle the function keys as opposed to having to hold the special function key any time I want to increase or decrease the volume. Maybe I'm spoiled by my Mac, but I find myself using function keys less and less for their F1 through F12 functions, and more for things like skipping songs and adjusting the volume. There is a button on the keyboard that allows me to toggle the lighting between three different brightness settings (or off entirely) without having to do anything within the operating system itself, which is nice. In the end, my complaints are somewhat minor and it is a good keyboard with a solid, albeit soft (due to the lack of the tactile click) feel when typing. Now if only they would start making mechanical LED keyboards like this one for the Mac...

This is now the second Corsair keyboard I've purchased. Somehow I managed to need a keyboard when these Corsairs were on sale, so that was good luck. Quality wise, you can't beat the construction. They are solid, well-built and the Cherry MX switches are the best I've ever used. (I've used Cherry switches in other keyboards and they've never let me down). The version of Cherry MX switches I bought is the "Red" switches, and they are the perfect blend of tactile feel and feedback. They are also relatively silent, which is my personal preference. With their newer keyboards, Corsair is also using a software app called "icue." This allows you to easily customize the LED lights for a variety of looks and you can even isolate certain keys by making them a different color altogether. So if you regularly play games where you use the W-A-S-D keys, you can change their color to more quickly find them, visually. In theory, I think you could just about assign a different color to every key on the keyboard. I think you can also use the software to bind certain functions to various keys, but I haven't experimented with it yet. Don't quote me on that, though. Overall, I would definitely buy another of these Strafe keyboards. The last Strafe keyboard I bought (and still use on a different PC) was the version with red LEDs only, and so this RGB version was new to me. I love having all the color options! More than that though, I love the Cherry MX switches. Cherry has been around for a long time and it shows in their products. I'm glad Corsair was smart enough to use them.

This is a good mechanical keyboard that I'd rate 4.5 stars. To provide some context to my review, my other mechanical keyboard has Cherry MX green switches which are clicky, loud, and have more resistance (which I love). I chose this keyboard with silent Cherry MX switches because I needed something that I could use at home at night that won't wake the kids, yet I still wanted the "feel" of a mechanical keyboard. The clickiness is obviously different but it still feels like I'm typing on a mechanical keyboard, so mission accomplished. The keys are narrower than other keyboards and it takes some getting used to; thus the subtraction of half a star. This is a full-sized keyboard with a ten-key number pad so I don't understand why they didn't make it a little larger with "normal" sized keys I needed back-lighting but didn't require anything fancy so the multicolored lights are a bonus. I haven't played around with customizing the lights or keys nor do I intend to in the future. To summarize, pros include: * Still "feels" like a mechanical keyboard even though the switches are silent * Backlit keys (multicolored a bonus) * On each side of the keyboard is a strip of white light that both looks cool and provides ambient light around my desk * You don't have to install or run the Corsair software in order to have backlit keys; there is a default backlight setting * There is a dedicated button to dim and turn-off the backlighting * The keys are raised or "floating" which makes it easy to clean since the spacing is so large i.e. there aren't any small crevices for junk to get into (you can also just pop the keys off for more thorough cleaning) Cons: * Keys are narrower than typical keyboards

Admittedly, I didn't buy this for gaming, rather for work. I needed a good keyboard that had keys that actually sat up instead of the trend toward these flat key keyboards. And I love the feel of the mech keyboards, especially those with a positive click feel to the keys, but figured I would drive everyone nuts with the constant clicking. Enter the Strafe RGB Silent, which has all the feel and features of a mechanical keyboard with a much quieter key activation. Keys are responsive and typing on it feels better than just about any keyboard I've used. The keys are individually lit with RGB LEDs, so each key can be configured to a different color. FPS and MOAB lighting layouts are pre-programmed, or you can control them yourself easily with the Corsair program. The program also includes color schemes you can download from the community, including things like flags, a Matrix-like color pattern, etc. If you buy the Corsair mouse, and even the mouse pad & headphones, you can link the color schemes together such that as a color transitions off the keyboard it will "flow" into the mouse, then the mouse pad, then the headphones before flowing back into the keyboard. Kind of a cool feature. The keyboard also features one (1) pass thru USB slot, which generally you're going to use for your mouse, but could do anything up to & including charging your cell phone. The only con I found was the wrist pad. Corsair says it's just the right balance between smooth & tactile to keep your hands in place, but it's anything but. It's like putting your hands on a wrist pad covered in vegetable oil -- your hands will slip right off it. I found me removing it like 5 minutes after I put it on. This is an absolutely great keyboard and highly recommend it.

I got a coupon from Logitech and picked up a keyboard only to find that it was a mecha-membrane and only had "zone" lighting and not per-key. Returning it was an absolute nightmare, and I decided that despite a decade or more of loyalty to them, I was going to look somewhere else. I looked around at a bunch of different keyboards, and finally settled on this one. I'm very happy with it! The keys are MX Silents, which feel a lot like Reds I think. They are linear switches, so you don't feel a bump or hear a click, and they've been slightly altered to make the sound of the key hitting bottom even more quiet. I had a friend over and he typed on it and said "holy crap, I thought your keyboard -looked- cool, but it is SO NICE to type on!" The software is easy enough to figure out after fiddling with it a little bit and you can import things pretty easily. The only thing I kind of wish was different was more games having interactions with the lighting. I know that Logitech keyboards will have colors that reflect the current scene in Terraria, for example. Other than Diablo 3, I haven't seen any games cause the keyboard to have some special effect. Overall, I'm extremely happy with it. Seems very sturdy, it's comfortable, it's beautiful, and I expect to use it for years to come.