CM Storm Quickfire Rapid-i Mechanical Keyboard Review

Final Thoughts

Price

The CM Storm Quickfire Rapid-i certainly isn’t cheap, at £99 it’s one of the more expensive TKL style keyboards on the market. Of course, you are getting additional features such as the backlighting and rock solid build quality; so it’s still a sound investment.

Overview

I’m personally not a fan of TKL keyboards, as I heavily rely on the number pad for my day to day work. However, the Quickfire Rapid-i is still a fantastic keyboard and I would be a fool to say otherwise. There are a lot of benefits to TKL keyboards that can make them very attractive to gamers. First of all, very few games actually rely on the number pad for gaming. Keyboard and mouse gaming doesn’t benefit from any controls that involve you taking your right hand off of the mouse, or your left hand away from the WASD keys; gamers likely won’t miss those keys. Then you’ve got the smaller form factor, which is perfect for those who have smaller desks, as it frees up a lot of extra room. The extra space is a big benefit to those who want a larger mouse pad as it frees up extra space for movement of your mouse at low DPI settings. Finally, you can also chuck this keyboard in your backpack, in fact it’s even small enough to fit in most laptop bags if you really needed it to. With the rise in popularity of LAN gaming events, having a high-quality keyboard that you can pick up and take with you is a big win.

Build quality is exceptional on this keyboard, it’s easily one of the toughest in its class. The chassis is heavy and the exterior has been coated in a hard wearing soft touch rubber which looks and feels great; it’s also very easy to clean. The key caps are of a very high quality and since this is a Cherry MX keyboard, you’re also able to remove the keycaps for easy maintenance, or to install your own custom caps. This is made even easier thanks to the included key-cap puller. The keyboard isn’t hard-wired, meaning that you can easily replace the cable should it ever get damaged. Although, cable damage is pretty unlikely, given that it has been treated to a thick braiding that will help protect it.

The only downside to this keyboard is the noise, the switches and key caps combined are a little clanky. This “clank” does give a very pleasant tactile sensation, but you may find yourself turning up your speakers a little more or switching to a headset for fear of drowning out your game audio. Of course, you can also install a set of O-Ring mods to calm things down, which would easily drop around 10 dBa from the overall acoustics.

Pros

• Durable build quality
• Stylish design
• Choice of Cherry MX switches
• Key-cap removal tool included in the box (so many manufacturers don’t do this!)
• Durable kick-stands
• Clear back-lighting
• Detachable braided cable
• Great for gaming

Cons

• Noisy keys, you may want to install a set of O-Rings

“The CM Storm Quickfire Rapid-i is a great gaming keyboard. It’s perfect for use at home, but it’s durable and compact design make it ideal for throwing in your backpack and taking on the road with you. It is a little expensive, but it looks, feels and performs well enough to justify every penny of it.”

Thank you CM Storm for providing us with this sample.