Tt eSports Challenger Ultimate Gaming Keyboard Review

PerformanceTesting of a peripheral such a keyboard is completely different to PC components – it goes against our instinct of quantifying electronics into graphs and being able to definitively say that one product is better than the other. Instead, you have to go by how the keyboard feels and the opinion of the reviewer. However, everyone’s opinion on what makes a good keyboard is different, some may like mechanical, clicky keys whereas someone else may like a soft, rubberised tactile feedback.

I’ll be the first to say that this keyboard is not the most comfortable in the world! The first reason is that lack of any wrist support, although you can rest your palms on the very small and steep rest, your wrist is left at the mercy of whatever surface you are using. This is not really conducive to long, comfortable gaming or typing experiences unless a very large mouse mat, like the Boogie Bug ones, are used to provide some cushioning. The actual typing experience is quite comfortable and does not cause aching in your fingers any more than other keyboards. My only gripe is the material used for the keycaps which is very slippery which I found very annoying for the first few days until I got used to it. I much prefer a more textured or rubberised keycap to keep sliding to a minimum. Replacing the WASD keycaps with the red ones provided does seem to eliminate this problem when gaming though.

Overall, there is very little emphasis on comfort when it comes to the Challenger Ultimate- but comfort is for wimps, right? Hopefully the gaming aptitude of this keyboard will shine through and blow my gripes out of the water!

When it comes to features, the Challenger is rich indeed! Featuring advanced backlightning, aggressive looks and many customisable macro keys the Challenger is superior to most others I have seen before.

The included GUI driver software is truly amazing and allows levels of customisability beyond anything I have seen before. The profile switching mode is very useful when gaming, switching between colours or using an outrageous number of macros!

I like the fact that Tt included a keycap remover and replacement keycaps as it allows you to replace the most heavily used keys that may suffer from wear. It also lets you remove the windows keys and replace them with a cover to prevent accidentally pressing it in-game. Although this is not the most technical approach I have seen, with many keyboards featuring a game mode that simply disables the key, it is a welcome feature and at the end of the day- when do you ever use the windows key anyway? The remover also allows you to remove the keys from your keyboard to clean it which I tried on my year-old Razer Lycosa. It’s not for the faint hearted, and I think I’ll leave it at that!

I do have a minor issue with the interface of the Challenger which is an issue that is becoming increasingly ignored by keyboard manufacturers. And that is the lack of a PS/2 connector or adapter. I can see you are thinking “PS/2? Is this 1995?”, but PS/2 has a few inherent advantages over USB, especially for us gamers and enthusiasts. Using PS/2 means that you are not putting more information though your USB hub which gives your keyboard a faster response once it has reached you motherboard and stops the keyboard eating up the bandwidth reserved for your other USB devices which may include things such as network adapters which are vital for us gamers. It also makes life easier when working with the BIOS because sometimes USB can be ‘moody’ when trying to enter the BIOS, and if you ever have to use fail-safe defaults on your motherboard where the USB hub is disabled, you will have no choice but to fall back to your old PS/2 keyboard.

The typing experience on this board is as you would expect from any rubber membrane keyboard. It is very easy and soft to type with and is not too loud. Personally, I prefer a mechanical keyboard but be wiling to get your money ready if you want to do so! All I would say is that the keys are a little more squashed together that normal due to the macro keys at the side, this is fine after a little getting used to. The same with the F-keys, it will take a little getting used to their altered position and size- but it makes way for the profile and media keys.