Hope you all enjoy my review, if you would like, step over to my website where I have many other reviews and such. Thanks! http://www.slot1gamer.com/reviews/pc-hardware/logitech-g710-plus-review/ --- MX brown switches and loads more, it could be better though! The G710+ is a fully back-lit, single color, mechanical keyboard. Boasting genuine Cherry MX Brown key switches, all in a slim package! First looking at the keyboard, it has a nice finish, the back-lit keys are a nice touch but one thing that I don’t like about the design right off the bat, is the (soon to be) horrid gloss accenting.. Glossy plastic is a utopia for scratches, dust and fingerprints…. The cool white back-lighting has two ‘zones’, each independently controlled using two small keys up the top of the keyboard. Change the brightness at the push of a.. errr… wing! One lighting zone is underneath the W-A-S-D keys, handy for late night Call of Doody sessions, the other controls the rest of the keys. Because you can step each zone by four brightness levels, you can have W-A-S-D slightly brighter than the rest of the keyboard. Like every other ‘gaming’ peripheral out there that uses LED’s, the G710+ uses PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) to adjust the output intensity of the LED’s. While this is ok in day to day use, it does make the keyboard a wee bit camera shy.. Tomato sauce not included! The G710+ uses genuine Cherry MX Brown switches for the main keys on the keyboard, however all the smaller function keys are squishy membrane keys (still feel nice however). They don’t taste like cherries ! This being my first mechanical keyboard, I have to say I’m a little disappointed by the MX Browns. They are just too…. bleh! Yes they fairly accurate but there isn’t very much definition when performing keystrokes, MX Browns are meant to be quieter but in the situations where a quiet keystroke would be required, this keyboard is actually going to be to loud. The only advantage to having ‘kinda’ quiet keys would maybe be for people who use a microphone whilst playing online.. However the trade off in keystroke distinction for a more quieter typing experience, is one I’d recommend spending a considerable amount of time pondering over. As for ‘gaming’ features, well it’s kind of lacking in that regard, now some could argue that this is Logitech being minimalist but that only works if the idea is executed correctly… So ,you might ask yourself, what are these lacking minimalist features you speak of?? Well as mentioned it does have adjustable back-lighting and it does have fairly accurate switching but there are only two other real ‘gaming’ features. You have a few macros as well as six of Logitech’s ‘G Keys‘, which from what I understand are used in a very similar way to macros. Now a side note on programming said ‘G Keys’, you have to use Logitech’s ‘gamer’ software to actually use them and this kind of works.. Nothing wrong with the hardware but (at the time of testing) the software was unstable, maybe it’s windows 10 but I couldn’t get consistent results when using it.. Now one more thing with programming keys on this thing, to the best of my investigatory work, there is no MCU or EEPROM (although I think even the most complex of macros could fit in MCU memory). This would mean that all the macro functionality is stored on each computer, so if you where to move the G710+ to another computer, you would need to copy your profile over as well. However I can’t 100% confirm or deny this as the software, at the time of testing, was not functioning correctly. Hmm, I have gotten a little side-tracked, lets continue! The other ‘gaming’ feature is one, that at first I thought “that seems a bit useless”. However after giving it the benefit of the doubt and admittedly accidentally minimizing my game whilst in the midst of an epic battle on the streets of Hello Kitty Roller Rescue a few times.. I came to appreciate it! That is the Atari Joystick, better known for it’s role as The game Mode Switch ! Behold! The Game Mode Switch! Kneel before it’s glory and it shall spare you from the damnation and despair, that is the Windows Start Menu!!A simple feature that comes in very handy, all it does is disable the Windows key! As for the rest of the features, the non ‘gaming’ ones, it has about what you’d expect. Basic media keys, volume controls, detachable palm rest, secondary USB 2.0 pass through (basically a USB extension!), some adjustable feet and full numeric number pad! One thing that strikes me as out of place is the volume controls, being a roller it’s quite fiddly to adjust the volume, ESPECIALLY seeing as this is a GAMING KEYBOARD! Trying to change the volume whilst in the middle of playing a game is more difficult than it needs to be, simple volume buttons are much easier to just press. Also ‘gamer precision’ is bs, this is a rotary switch, pulling an input of the matrix decoder low, this input is digital and windows is still going to treat it as a 2% change in the volume mixer (same as every other keyboard!). As far as usability goes, it very ironic in a way, the G710+ does everything well EXCEPT for it’s main purpose, TYPING! I’m not going to beat around the bush here, the G710+ is kinda crap to type on. There is virtually NO textile distinction between major function keys and the QWERTY key caps, none, zip, zilch ! Probably why they put the kill switch for the start key on there.. It’s like playing Russian Roulette with ‘A’ and ‘Caps Lock’ keys, another problem is the space bar, it’s too skinny. Again you either hit space or fifteen other keys! There is no slanted edge on the space bar, which make typing comfortably a bit difficult.. The G710+ does have 26 key roll over and 110 key anti ghosting, so if you have legs of ham for fingers you are going to be fine. Aesthetically the G710+ is quite pleasing, not too fugly gamer PWN?AGE esque. Overall footprint with the palm rest, is very tight, I do like the edging on the left hand side. It makes the keyboard seem very affixed to the desktop, almost as if it’s melting into it in a way… However one huge aesthetic wart is the white function lock LEDs, they are pointed right into your eyes and to top it all off they are super bright! I actually ended up putting black tape over them to save my sanity, as you can’t adjust them like the LED’s under the key caps.. There is a small amount of wobble in the key caps themselves, which could be seen as both a good and bad thing but the biggest build quality issue is the volume controller, it has a very rough movement to it and feels like its fallen in slightly on one side.. It’s seems Logitech spent more time making a keyboard and software to impress prepubescent teenagers rather than something that functions well.. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fairly good keyboard in it’s own right but it just left me wanting more… The Logitech G710+ currently retails for a hefty $200 and honestly I was expecting a lot more for the price… Thanks For Reading, LeHaM
Nice review Leham! I love cherry brown personally, I like the caving in when they register before hitting the bottom of the spring; you can feel it when typing fast and not press all the way, for a lighter feel. Although I use my mx brown keyboard to write and code, not to game really. I use it in an office and my colleagues don't complain even in intense furry typing; I think they would kill me if I had blue keys.
I only borrowed the keyboard from Logitech, so I'm not out of pocket for a KB I don't like Like I said in chat, I'm keen to find some Thank you Which model keyboard do you have, most of my issues are mainly with Logitech's side of things but again I'm a whore for the clicky sound hahahah
I use a noppoo choc mini. It's a compact 84 keys keyboard, honest little keyboard without extra features; no backlight or special keys (some multimedia and Windows-disable are on functions modifier though). It's kinda inexpensive, I got mine for 50$, but it's normally around 100$. I like the size and the accessibility of the home/pgup/pgdn/end keys at the rightmost column.
I don't think I use a numpad more than twice in a year! And anyways that makes you move your hand way too much! But a KB is a very personnal thing, whatever you prefer is what you should get!
I use the number pad a lot at work and so I'm very used to quickly typing numbers that way, I can touch type on the number pad now actually I should add that's $200 AUD, in US dollars it's about $120 on their site
