ROCCAT - VULCAN 120 AIMO Wired Gaming Mechanical Keyboard with Back Lighting - Black

I purchased this because my Thermaltake X1 is ok, but just wasn't completely satisfied. The ROCCAT Keyboard is one of a kind and is now my main keyboard on my home workstation. The product is packaged very well, everything was covered in a plastic film bag keeping it in perfect condition. The installation went without a single issue, minus I had to restart after the ROCCAT Swarm Application recognized and installed the drivers and update. Once completed it requested a restart and after restarting a New Firmware notice popped up. Firmware installed with no issues. The application is organized very well and finding my way around was easy. Under General Features I was allowed to add Sound Feedback and wasn't expecting this feature. I set mine to a click sound and adjusted volume till it was a nice click and not an annoying click sound. Key Assignment seems easy and organized with a Keyboard or List View. I dont use any macros or just dont have a need or desire to change anything in the key assignments. Key Illumination has 8 predefined selections and a Custom Mode. I like the AIMO Intelligent Lighting that matched my ROCCAT KONE Mouse. The keyboard keys are well layout for my comfort and typing is as expected. One thing I like is the ability to easily clean between the keys, cleaning is super easy because of the design. From the 3 RGB keyboards I have owned, this is my favorite and choice of keyboard.

Very tactile but not extremely loud clicks very responsive and worth every dollar. With the swarm app it is completely customizable. You can change each individual key to whatever color you want.

I've had a lot of keyboards over the years, probably 5 in the last 2 years. This is by far my favorite that I've ever typed on. The key travel is great, comfortable to type on, and the illumination can be dimmed or turned off for those that don't particularly care for it. Build quality is where this thing shines, it's heavy (with a plastic and metal frame), but it's very sturdy and a solid build. Cleaning the keyboard is easy, keys can be removed easy as well. The price tag is a bit daunting, but it is truly one of the finest keyboards I have ever used, and the build quality certainly justifies the price tag.

Pro - Very solid feel overall and brushed aluminum plate is a great look, one of the reasons it got my attention - Caps have very little wiggle when up but not when pressed down - Magnetic hand rest remained connected well enough when I was picking keyboard up to position it - Raised caps also make it really easy to clean - LED lighting effect does not blind me while sitting in front of it in the dark and they are still bright even in full daylight, LEDs themselves are only visible viewing from the side - Keys are very responsive, I have gotten used to only slightly swiping my finger over the top of keys or lightly tapping to activate them, no need to bottom out Con - A bit expensive at regular price (bought mine on sale at BB for $119.99+tax) - Would have preferred the volume dial be a bit flatter and also aluminum - The white buttons in the top right corner don't match the rest of the keyboard design but are not terrible Some people have had issues with the Swarm software installing. I had absolutely no issues at all installing it so either it's been updated or those people just had user error. The only thing I don't like about it is the custom lighting options and UI for custom effects. I ended up just leaving it on AIMO setting which makes an "organic" movement, an ebb and flow as if carried on water, of various colors and the "hotspots" created by button presses add to it nicely by also alternating colors themselves and not matching colors already being displayed. The "hotspots" grow depending on the length of button presses and number of buttons pressed in the same area. Instead of colors moving in one direction, they come from any point on the keyboard and move like water back and forth to any other random point. Best effect I've ever seen. No more boring rainbows. My previous keyboard was a Razer Deathstalker and coming from that you might think the Vulcan is too loud. It's not to me. Not sure if it's just the way I type on them but the Deathstalker was not much quieter if at all since the keys wiggled a lot and they rubbed on the plastic frame when not pressed in the exact center straight down. I did have to get used to the raised caps though because I had the habit of resting my left hand on the side of the Deathstalker frame which was not far below the keys. Probably would have preferred a linear switch instead of tactile since I think some of the Vulcan's noise is from the tactile bump although it's not clicky. Spacebar is easily the loudest key. This keyboard definitely stood out to me compared to all those other boring, similar looking, RGB keyboards and it does not disappoint.

I bought this keyboard to replace my second Logitech keyboard that couldn't handle the everyday use. I'm not a gamer, but I find that gaming PC hardware works best for my IT work and this is no exception. The mechanical keys are extremely sturdy and, so far, have held up to hours of typing code/emails. Customizing the backlight colors is a fun bonus, too.

I bought this as my daily driver in the office to give my old KBTalking Pro with Cherry MX brown switches a rest after 5+ years. First impressions out of the box: I would prefer the USB cable to be removable/replaceable via a mini-USB jack (or better) on the keyboard. The metal top plate is nice (a bit lighter silver color than it looks in most of the marketing pics), but the plastic trim around it is a bit chintzy, especially the thick strip along the bottom edge of the keyboard. There are two screws with large black heads above the F1/F4 keys -- I have no clue why these are here (no manual other than a 5-step getting started guide in 16 languages), but they stick out like a sore thumb against the silver plate. Especially when one of them is loose and protruding, as mine was out of the box. Do they even quality control check these? I had no issue tightening the screw down. The rear feet either flip in or out but are not adjustable to multiple heights. The wrist pad feels comfortable, but is thin, hard plastic -- given the magnetic attachment to the keyboard, there should be options (leather, gel, etc) since they are easily replaceable if they wear out. The first time I detached the wrist pad, a strip of adhesive plastic trim with tiny magnets came halfway off the wrist pad with the magnets sticking to the keyboard. I was able to push it back into place, but it is inexcusable that the magnets aren't solidly glued into place. Lighting: the LEDs are bright but can be dimmed (including dimmed to 0) via brightness settings. More light seems to shine out to the rear of the keyboard compared to what you see sitting in front of it. There are two buttons (FX and sound) beside the multimedia knob that let you switch between using the knob to control illumination level or volume level (also programmable to other functions). Software: Roccat Swarm is huge (200+ MB) and relatively basic. There are a couple of character repeat settings, but it is mostly key/macro assignment and lighting config that you can group into profiles. The installer installed a Windows runtime package first, then I had to reboot and run the installer again to install Swarm. On first run, there was an update immediately available, then had to add on the package for this model keyboard, and then had a firmware update for the keyboard itself. Last step of the firmware update is to unplug the keyboard, so you may want to update before you climb under your desk to plug it into the back of the computer. The stock lighting animations were a bit too distracting for me, so I went with “fully lit” with a custom blue hue at the lowest brightness. The “fully lit” mode divides the keyboard into six zones where you can set a color for each zone, but is annoying that if you’re setting the entire keyboard to one color you have to configure each of the six zones individually. Also annoying that if you switch away to another lighting mode, it doesn’t remember your custom color setting when you switch back to fully lit, so you have to set all six zones again. Also, “applying” the lighting changes is sometimes flaky – it took a few tries to get it to apply the first time (seems like the “apply” button didn’t work until I turned on “auto apply” and then turned it off again). I also had issues where I switched to one of the stock animation modes and then tried to go back to “fully lit” with the custom color, and the color only applied to the right two zones while the rest of the keyboard remained the old animation color. I had to apply a fully lit stock “theme” first and then apply a custom color to get the colors to reset. I haven’t had any issues with the keyboard changing colors or not remembering the last illumination setting upon reboot (Win 10). The six Ins/Del/Home/End/etc keys above the arrow keys are programmable as macro keys. FN + Scroll appears to activate Game mode, which enables the macro keys. On the plus side, the macros appear to be able to handle complex sequences of keypress (e.g. press/release ALT, then E, then S, then V) that can be easily created with a record function. On the negative side, I haven’t been able to get that macro to work in Excel. I haven’t had time to experiment or dig through the FAQs (again, no manual). I understand many keyboards are doing away with dedicated macro keys, but I would prefer these on the left side of the keyboard since your right hand is already doing double-duty with the mouse. Key action: didn’t really stand out initially, they are a bit quieter than my old MX browns yet a bit more “clicky” sounding and feeling (the browns always sounded more like a plasticy “clunk” than a “click”). But they really started to shine after a few minutes of long-form typing. Maybe it’s the shorter travel, and I’m no typing expert but it feels like “touch” typing – it only takes a light press of the key to register and you still get a clicky response. I haven’t gamed with it yet so can’t comment there, but a hard repeated press of a single key seems to have a pretty solid feel too. Speaking of shining (sigh), the keycaps are matte and show every greasy fingerprint. I haven’t decided if I’m going to try to keep them clean, or wipe them down with something that leaves a residue so they’re all shiny. Good chance they will get glossy with use over time as the matte plastic wears, so another odd design choice there. I hate to “not recommend” this keyboard since I don’t have a better one to recommend. I will probably keep it since I like how it types and I will rarely use the software once it is setup. But I don’t think it fully lives up to the price tag or the premium/luxury “German design and engineering” marketing.

I decided it was time for a change. I've been using a Das Keyboard 4 for several years and have found it well made but wanted a better typing experience combined with some nice back lighting. After reading a number of reviews, I settled on the Roccat Vulcan 120 AIMO Gaming Mechanical Keyboard with Back Lighting. Best Buy didn't have one on display so I asked the salesman if he would open a box so I could try out the keys. He kindly acquiesced and I could tell with just a few depressions that this keyboard was definitely an improvement over the Das Keyboard. After pluggin in the keyboard and installing Swarm software and firmware update, I set up a custom light display that keeps the keys softly illuminated in a coolish blue tone. Unlike other reviews, I don't find the back lighting too bright (only if you look way from the sides) and it's very easy to read the key labels. The touch is precise, not loud, and feels very comfortable (not too heavy or light). The wrist rest works well, is simple to attach and stays in place. Highly recommended for someone who types a lot and wants to add a some nice illumination and color to their desktop.

Love my Roccat Vulcan. I bought the corsair K90 and returned it because I happen to see this one in person at another Bestbuy location. Looks amazing and performs better than the k70. I went with the stainless steel finish. Lights are bright and customizable through swarm.