 splendid keyboard |
| Review Date: September 11, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Wiggly, California, USA |
| Highly recommended, and the price on Amazon is more reasonable than many brick & mortar stores too. This keyboard has wonderful keys that are neither too springy nor too soft, great for typing, and great for games too. It's a pretty sturdy piece of kit too, and requires no extra drivers. So, of course it's main 'selling factor' is that it offers three different illumination colors - blue, red, and purple - and these can be dimmed or brightened. Worth noting is that the areas around the keys and the keys themselves are lit, so perfect for a darker environment. I like the blue color best, but that's probably the darkest, but I still find it's illuminated adequately. The purple color really shines though, and there's side strips that light up your desktop too. Very blingin'? Yes, for sure. Overkill? Perhaps, but I don't think this keyboard looks too tacky, in fact I've found it super useful to have a comfortable and durable keyboard for those late night gaming sessions. |
The best keyboard I've ever owned.
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| Review Date: November 18, 2006 |
| Reviewer: FlamingoNut, NJ |
| I've been typing on various keyboards for 20 years now, and nothing is comparible to the old IBM mainframe keyboards, which had a great feel to them. I've hated every lightweight generic keyboard I've encountered, and this one stays put. On a whim, I purchased this keyboard from another site, at a great price. Well, my only regret is not purchasing another to use at work. The lighting is adequate if you're simply typing to the light of your monitor, like I frequently do at home. I wish it were a little brighter, but overall, I love this keyboard, and when the price is right, I'll get another. I prefer the purple, dislike the red, and can deal with the blue. When the computer is rebooted, it automatically reverts back to blue, which I don't consider an inconvenience whatsoever... |
Eclipse for Non-Gamers
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| Review Date: June 15, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Picky Consumer, |
I'm not a gamer, but I benefit from all the things the Saitek offers gamers: fluid keystrokes, solid and weighty base, lighted keys.
Some notes:
-What are the keystrokes like? Not as shallow as a laptop, not as deep as the logitech g15 or the ibm model m. Its a very comfortable medium depth especially if you type on a laptop as well as your desktop, the transition will be refreshing but not disruptive.
Keystrokes and feedback (both tactile and sound) are very fluid; you'll hear a very very low-level 'snip snip snip' as you type; and you'll feel little resistance on the downstroke, followed by a solid stop (there's no doubt that you've pressed the key, therefore), and when you release, the upstroke pushes back on your finger (so there's no doubt that you've released). Not much resistance at all, the dominant experience is the solid stop at the bottom of the (medium-depth) stroke.
-As a non-gamer, I *love* that it has an absolutely standard key layout, with the two alt keys on either side of the space bar, and the two windows keys on either side of that. No suprises whatsoever in the layout. This is helpful also because I have a ton of macros in autohotkey, and I would hate to have to readjust them all.
-The lighted keys are obviously one of the bigger draws here. 1) they are *neat*. Would this keyboard be as special without the lights? Without the lights it would be a weighty-solid keyboard probably great for office work because of the relatively quiet and fluid keystrokes. The lights however push it over the top. Three colors, dimmer, can even turn the the key lighting off.
-How effective is the lighting? Effective enough that if you're not sure where a key is you can glance down and figure it out, even if leaning back in your chair. However when you lean back like that, the topmost row (numerals and symbols, including the backspace key) is NOT visible. You have to bend over the keyboard to see the lighted keys there.
What others have said is true - the purple light is the brightest; also, on startup it always defaults to blue, which is a bummer. It should remember your previous choice. Maybe in the Eclipse III.
-Media and volume keys are handy, if rudimentary.
-Someone mentioned that after a year of use, the keys wore down to the point where additional light was shining thru the center of them and one could no longer make out the alphabet marked on the key. I've decided to head off that potential future problem by buying a roll of "clear vinyl tape" (avail on amazon, few bucks; look for manufacturer JVCC). Take a strip, lay it across a row of letters horizontally, take a small sharp scissors like a sewing scissors, cut the strip to length. Then, snip the length of tape between the keys, and take a pencil eraser and rub/press the tape in between the keys. Repeat for the other 2 rows of keys. Presto, a 2-minute "keycap cover" made of vinyl- durable, cheap and replaceable. I dont know if it was worth doing, but if it means my keyboard will last two years instead of one, then thats fine.
All in all, even non-gamers should buy gaming keyboards - they're better in every way for a writer or anyone who types a lot. The logitech g15 even has built-in macro keys where writers can store their snippets of text or other useful things. I went for the eclipse because my macro needs are taken care of with autohotkey and I just wanted solid normal keyboard that lets me type in the dark or in dim light. This one was absolutely perfect. Love it. |
UPDATE! THE W,A,S,D KEYS RUB OFF
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| Review Date: October 22, 2006 |
| Reviewer: M. Zietlow, SD USA |
Had this keyboard for a few months and was loving it for the 1st month. Its SOLID, keys are quiet yet firm. By the second month I started to notice the S key was showing wear, by the third month the S was rubbed off, and the A key began to show wear... Here I am 4+ months later looking for another keyboard because the W in now rubbed off, and D is next (W,A,S,D).
I had a cheap $19 M$ keyboard thats been going strong for 3years and even though you can see the WASD wear the letters are not faded in the least. A keyboard manufacturer clearly marketing to gamers, should anticipate someone was going to game with it. I find it inexcusable that the paint rubs off the most popular keys in the gaming industry, and you should to.
SAITEK, being a stand up company did send me replacement WASD keys however I'm not sure if this is gong to be a Yearly thing with them. |
Best keyboard ever used
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| Review Date: May 22, 2007 |
| Reviewer: lynrat, south texas |
Been using this thing for over 6 months now, love it. Was skeptical about paying that much for a keyboard, but have no regrets about it.
People complain about the brightness of the LEDs, could be brighter, but works well enough and much better than no LEDs at all. The brightness knob is useless and should have been a volume knob. This thing is heavy, with good rubber feet, does not move around, even under heaviest gaming actions. Three colors of LEDs to choose from, purple works best for me in the dark hours when playing WOW. Buttons have good solid feel to them, not too noisy when typing at full speed. The media buttons work well for controlling sound, would've preferred volume knob instead of volume buttons.
Overall this is a great keyboard and would recommend it to anyone looking for a solid keyboard for gaming or working. |
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