Corsair Peripherals for around £150 – But Are They Any Good?

A Closer Look

So you’ve got your new computer or decided to finally invest in some new peripherals for your current one. Again, this bundle isn’t focused on spending big bucks, but what do you get for your money? The more affordable bundle here comes with the fantastic K55 keyboard. It’s not mechanical, but it uses plunger switches over a membrane design, giving it a similar feel at a drastically more affordable price. Not only that, but there’s an included wrist rest, and a Harpoon optical gaming mouse.

For work and gaming, this is a pretty feature packed keyboard that pretty much has all the standard features of Corsair’s more expensive models. There are programmable on-the-fly recordable macro buttons on the left side. These are brilliant for productivity tasks like copy, paste, macros, launchers and more. However, they’re just as handy for gamers, especially MMO/MOBA and sim games where macros can be a real game changer.

The included wrist rest may not be anything too fancy. However, it does help a huge amount with long-term comfort while you’re at your desk. A good wrist position can greatly reduce RSI and other forms of fatigue. If it helps you work harder and game longer, you’ll hear no complaints from me.

The mouse is no slouch either, with a Pixart PWM3320 Optical Sensor, as well as Omron switches. For those that don’t know, that’s a pretty tried and tested sensor that’s in many gaming mice. The PWM3320 is known to track really well and works great for competitive gaming, and day to day PC uses. It can be adjusted from 250 DPI for slow and accurate tracking right up to a snappy 6000 DPI for those who need faster tracking on high-resolution displays.

The ergonomics are pretty slick too, with a tough rubber grip on each side, and a shape that lends well to virtually any grip type. It doesn’t matter if you play palm rest, fingertip grip, or claw grip. The only thing is that it’s a little small for me, so if you have large hands, likely not the palm rest play style. However, the grips do help, and the curvy design gives it great ergonomics and makes it very nimble for twitchy shooters. The addition of an oversize scroll wheel, DPI switch and large PTFE slipmats, all make it easier to live with too.

So what about that lovely headset? The HS50 isn’t the most feature-packed headset in regards to specifications. However, it comes with all the cables you need to hook it up to your PC (that’s the Y-split cable). However, since it comes with a standard 4-pole 3.5mm cable hard-wired, it’ll connect to your games consoles, mobile devices, and virtually anything else with a 3.5mm jack. There’s detachable microphone for when you need it. However, if you only want them as headphones, just remove it and the headset won’t look stupid while you’re sat on the bus listening to music.

Finally, that MM330 mouse mat. Not the most exciting item in the world, I know. However, it’s a quality gaming surface, it’s not too big, not too small, and it looks fantastic too.

It comes with a very tightly bound edging too, so it’s not going to shred the edges after extensive use.

It also has plenty of grip thanks to the rubber textured underside, so it’ll stay where you put it with confidence.