ROCCAT Vulcan 121 AIMO Review
ROCCAT Vulcan 121 AIMO
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Developer: ROCCAT
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As PC gaming technology pushes forward, so too does that of the accessories to go with them, and ROCCAT is one of the companies spearheading this charge. Nowhere is this more evident than with the Vulcan keyboard, which promises to be one of the fastest, most innovative keyboards on the market. Keystrokes and mouse-clicks have changed the world as we know it in innumerable ways, perhaps the most enjoyable of these innovations is that of the gaming industry. Having come full circle, keyboards are back to their mechanical roots – albeit with some tweaks and modifications along the way. Let’s take a look!
Don’t Blink – You Might Miss It!
Human reactions and response times have never been tested as seriously as they are now. With latency delays ever-dropping and framerates constantly on the rise, we are reaching a point where individual human reaction time is the greatest variable in gaming performance. While that might not sound like a big deal, when you stop and think about it – it’s quite incredible. In some small way, human engineering has exceeded that our of genetic evolution, something that should never be taken lightly.
ROCCAT’s Vulcan keyboard comes screaming into this scene with its completely redesigned Titan Switches, engineered to minimize side-to-side wobbling, ensuring that each key press feels sturdy. Its mechanics have also been optimized to produce a cleaner signal which can be read faster, allowing for an increase in speed of up to 30% with an actuation point of 1.4mm and a total travel distance of only 3.6mm.
Comfort is King
Aside from its immaculately-designed and lightning-fast switches, the ROCCAT Vulcan 121 AIMO keyboard features a harmonious blend of durability and comfort. The anodized aluminum plate makes the keyboard incredibly robust, while keeping the weight to a minimum. The keys are also raised above the housing, meaning nothing can fall down between the keys that cannot immediately be removed – a major plus for those of us who are notorious for messy keyboards.
Not only has the housing been engineered to minimize the impact of dust, dirt and spills but the keys themselves have also received an overhaul! Specifically designed for easy maintenance, the key caps have a shortened height, which may take a bit of getting used to, especially on the edges of the keyboard where you can easily slip your finger between the bottom of the key cap and the top of the housing. Once I had adjusted for this, I began to truly appreciate how light and crisp each key was, and how much of the gorgeous AIMO RGB illumination I was able to enjoy because of it.
Blinded by the Vulcan Lights
While there is truly a lot to love about the Vulcan 121 keyboard, a keyboard that reaches to the high-end of the price range deserves its fair share of scrutiny. To that end, we reach my single dislike about ROCCAT’s latest line of keyboards, the media controls. Considering how sleek and well-engineered the rest of the keyboard is, the media controls feel, well, clunky and outdated. The three rubber buttons don’t match the aesthetic at all, and some key controls are missing entirely, such as Play/Pause, Skip Forward and Play Last.
Without those keys, the media controls are really just volume and light FX controls, pretty disappointing for a keyboard of this calibre. That being said, if media keys aren’t a focus of yours, it might be comforting to know that they are indeed the only downside to this otherwise superb PC gaming accessory.
In the end, the ROCCAT Vulcan 121 AIMO keyboard is a phenomenally designed piece of gaming technology, providing an almost flawless experience but for the lackluster media keys. For anyone looking to up their keyboard game, look no further!
For more information on the Vulcan 121 AIMO keyboard, visit: https://en.roccat.org/Keyboards/Vulcan-121-AIMO