Know Your Type: Five Mechanical Gaming Keyboards Compared
Tt eSports Poseidon ZX Performance
Key Switches
Tt eSports doesn't overtly advertise the brand of Blue key switches it uses in the Poseidon ZX, but it also doesn't go out of its way to hide it, either. A quick pluck of a key cap (or visit to the product page) reveals the presence of Kailh key switches.
Opinions on these vary, but generally speaking, they're considered the poor man's Cherry MX Blue. They're presumably cheaper to produce, and there are complaints of them requiring variable force, which leads to an inconsistent typing experience.
There are no special/custom drivers to install, nor is there a software interface to adjust any of the settings. However, there's not much you can adjust anyway -- just the brightness of the backlight, which you can increase or decrease (or turn off) using Fn+F12 and Fn+F11.
As for typing, we could easily tell a difference between the Kailh key switches and Cherry MX Blues found on other planks. These feel a bit softer with less tactile feedback, and they're quieter too. If you're familiar with Cherry MX Blues, you'll find that these alternatives are lighter on the definitive 'snap' feel and sound that they're known for.
It's not a bad typing experience, though it is inferior to keyboards we've sampled with Cherry MX Blue switches in our opinion. However, if you've never played with Cherry MX Blue switches before, you won't know what you're missing and will be more likely to enjoy the Kailh switches. And they're clearly superior to any rubber domes. In that regard, it's a good gateway keyboard into the land of mechanical key switches, especially at just $80.
That said, we should note that we had some issues with the "I" key on our test sample. We don't know if that's indicative of Kailh's quality in general or if bad luck was to blame -- either way, we would have requested a replacement if this was a unit we bought for ourselves versus a test sample. Good thing for that 5-year warranty!
Opinions on these vary, but generally speaking, they're considered the poor man's Cherry MX Blue. They're presumably cheaper to produce, and there are complaints of them requiring variable force, which leads to an inconsistent typing experience.
Software and Performance
There are no special/custom drivers to install, nor is there a software interface to adjust any of the settings. However, there's not much you can adjust anyway -- just the brightness of the backlight, which you can increase or decrease (or turn off) using Fn+F12 and Fn+F11.
As for typing, we could easily tell a difference between the Kailh key switches and Cherry MX Blues found on other planks. These feel a bit softer with less tactile feedback, and they're quieter too. If you're familiar with Cherry MX Blues, you'll find that these alternatives are lighter on the definitive 'snap' feel and sound that they're known for.
It's not a bad typing experience, though it is inferior to keyboards we've sampled with Cherry MX Blue switches in our opinion. However, if you've never played with Cherry MX Blue switches before, you won't know what you're missing and will be more likely to enjoy the Kailh switches. And they're clearly superior to any rubber domes. In that regard, it's a good gateway keyboard into the land of mechanical key switches, especially at just $80.
That said, we should note that we had some issues with the "I" key on our test sample. We don't know if that's indicative of Kailh's quality in general or if bad luck was to blame -- either way, we would have requested a replacement if this was a unit we bought for ourselves versus a test sample. Good thing for that 5-year warranty!
