Logitech G710+ Mechanical Gaming Keyboard with Tactile High-Speed Keys - Black

I wanted to fully test Logitech's as much as I could before writting this review, so rest asured that I have done my homework and like the tittle of the review says, this is a Gamers Dream. (Bought in December of 2012 and have been using it since)First, its features:Dual zone lighting, at first I thought this to be a simple gimick, but if you play in low to-almost-no-light rooms, the dual zone comes in handy. With the press of a button, you can adjust the brightness of the entire keyboard, but also isolate the W,A,S,D and arrow keys, so you can have the entire keyboard off with only those keys on. I found this to be extremely useful for when playing games like BF3.Macros, both on the fly and pre-gaming. Macros can be done on the fly. LUAs are done before hand. Whatever your style, you'll find this to be an easy task and will become familiar fairly quick. Logitech has experience with macros, so if you've used their keyboards before, you should have no problems here.As expected, and which should be the standard with gaming boards, the G710+ has a "gaming" key, which will render the windows key useless while playing games, so no risk of accidental window mode taking you to the desktop while playing.USB 2.0 passthrough. Great for peripherals, such as mice, headsets, etc. I tested it with a razer mamba and had no issues, I also tested it with Logitech's own G700 mouse and worked perfectly.Media keys, which enable playback, track foward/back, stop and a very useful and well built volume wheel, which feels solid and extremely responsive.Now, the main reason this keyboard is a beast and a gamers dream...The superb, anti-ghosting mechanical keys. These are excellent in every sense of the word. If you are an avid FPS player, this keyboard will improve your input/output ratio with great results. Each key has a Cherry Brown switch made by the masters at ZF Electronics, which used to be called the Cherry company. Do not fear though, the quality is still there and you can feel it.While playing BF3, the board did an excellent job at translating my every key stroke into a perfect output, each key stroke engages its respective switch, eliminating ghosting. Multiple key functions are also improved, going to prone, to crouch and slidding at the same time is done with such ease that I my hands/fingers felt more natural and at rest, even after hours of playing.During RPGs, RTS and other genres, I found the macros to work as I had them programmed. Reaching for the keys was never an issue. Menus and their subs, such as inventory, quest, etc. worked with each key stroke as well.Typing: not really the reason why I bought the board, but worth mentioning. Have you ever tried to login into your email acount and mistakenly press more keys when entering your password? With the G710+ you won't, because as you get to use it more and more, your brain will adapt to the fact that each key represents a single digit, period and you'll feel it as well.Build:Well made, high quality parts. Heavy, but not like a brick either, it's hard to describe. It is well balanced and feels very comfortable to use during long gaming sessions.Noise:Logitecs claims this keyboard to be very quiet, but that's not the case. They tried to decrease the amount of "click" noise by including O-rings under each key to function as noise dampeners, which work to an extend, but if you are migrating from a common rubber membrane style of board (Logitech G19, G510, Razer, etc), you will notice the noise even more. But quite honestly, it can't be avoided. Don't be fooled though, the noise is not incredible loud either, I've heard statements such as "if your neighbor (gaming neighbor) doesn't like noise, then mechanical is not for you", this far from true, the fact is , it does make noise, but not hammer and chisel noise. If you have a rubber membrane board, press on a key, it makes noise right? well, the mechanical does the same but it is more of a dry, more pronounced noise.In conclusion. If you are a PC gamer, you should defenitely give the G710+ a try. You can trust me and buy this keyboard. If not, go to your local PC store and play around with their display models. I did and tried Razer's Blackwidow Ultimate, which uses Blue switches, I also happened to try (from a friend)the "stealth version", which uses Brown switches, and quite honestly, the amount of noise was just about the same, but the "tactical" feel was a bit loose, at least for my taste.So there it is. I tested this bad boy and as always, Logitech delivers. Not only has it made an excellent mechanical keyboard, but it has kept it at an affordable price with hight quality parts. The software is easy to use and the user experience from gaming to typing has improved, at least for me.

I have been using the G710+ for the better part of a month now and I feel it is fair to give it a review. After venturing into the mechanical keyboard world with an Azio Mech 4 (pronounced: complete dung) a 9 months or so ago from my trusty Logitech G-15, I found I missed several features from the Logitech keyboards. At the time when I bought the other mechanical there was not a mechanical gaming keyboard offered by Logitech. This has all changed and I was very elated when I found this G710+ for sale. This keyboard has (almost) all of the features I am after in a gaming keyboard while offering up mechanical switch action which is so nice and solid feeling.My azio mechanical was so loud that my wife who shares an office with me would constantly complain about the clacking sound it would generate. The G710+ comes in at much less on the "clack" scale but do not believe for a second that this is a "quiet" keyboard, not even close when typing with normal/hard force. No worries though for me since this thing has such a solid feel and the typing (and gaming) is so smooth that any sounds it makes is simply a reassuring action of this thing doing what it does. Let me be clear here on this most important part, this thing is silky smooth in regards to key action, I love the feel of this keyboard.The back lighting on this keyboard while being only cold white is very bright, I actually keep it running a setting or two below brightest and it is still plenty bright. Nice to know the extra brightness is there should I need it. I also like that I can control the WASD and arrow keys brightness separably, I did not think much of this feature on paper but in practice I find it moderately useful in FPS games. At first I thought having more color options for the back light would not hurt here but really the white looks good and fits the design well. The orange plastic on the left side by the G keys is not popular with some (and can be removed and repainted with a little work on your part, look it up if so inclined) but it does not bother me at all. The volume cylinder is a nice touch and saves space while still offering the satisfaction of a volume knob as opposed to volume buttons (I hate those). Really though did they have to go and switch the layout of the special characters to below the numbers along the top row (and use a strange font for them to boot)?With all of this said I feel this is by far the best keyboard available now (for me). I can see some areas where they may revise this keyboard and make it slightly better (a screen perhaps, I like some of the functionality of a screen but is it worth the increase in footprint?) but as it stands today this is one fine gaming keyboard with the best mix of features, style, design and functionality out there. As with the G-15 the G710+ is an auspicious start for Logitech's mechanical gaming keyboard line.