MadCatz S.T.R.I.K.E.5 PC Keyboard Review

I’m been careful no to say too much about what I think of the Strike5 throughout this review, its certainly a tough product to review and its an even harder product to summarize in a love/hate kind of way. Some people are going to absolutely love this keyboard the moment they see it, for those people, it doesn’t matter how well it performs, they just want a crazy and cool looking keyboard. Fortunately for that group, the Strike 5 is very cool, its also just as crazy and fortunately it also performs well too.

Yet here I am, because I don’t like it. It’s just a little bit too much for my liking and while I loved its performance I’m not so keen on its price. So lets see if I can break this down and find the good and bad in all of this. The fact I don’t like it is fine and it is purely a style thing, I think it looks cool and funky, but it looks stupid on my desk and out of place with the rest of my setup, but that’s the joy of personal taste and style, its clearly not designed to be to everyone’s taste.

Its performance is rock solid, while its design seems intentionally extreme, it does bring a lot of functionality with it. Being able to customize the layout of the components, having all those extra keys, adjustable, removable and changeable wrist rests and a customization OLED screen all help make this a highly functional keyboard that is great for day to day typing and browsing the web as well as a high performance gaming board.

Build quality is easily some of the best I’ve seen also, so much care and detail has gone into every inch of this boards design. From the high quality braided cables, to the design of the fold out feet on the underside, its all been put together superbly and its something that goes a long way to justifying that high price tag. If this was all just lights and gimmicks it wouldn’t be worth your time, but because of the high end components, robust design and solid construction it should have a decent life expectancy even under heavy usage.

Normally I would be looking to award something like this with our Editors Choice Award, it’s clearly a product that is aimed to excel at everything it does, but I think its just a little bit too big in terms of design and a little too high in terms of price. However, its performance in gaming is something that really stood out for me and if money isn’t an issue to those who want a top of the line and futuristic looking gaming keyboard, then this is well worth your consideration.