CM Storm Quick Fire Stealth Mechanical Keyboard Review

Introduction

Last year I was not so aware how serious Cooler Master, more specifically CM Storm, were about their keyboards. It wasn't until I received the Trigger with Cherry MX green switches that I realized they were taking real strides to innovate and give customers a full gamut of choices when it comes to switch types offered on their keyboards. CM Storm is one of the only manufacturers on the market even offering green switches, let alone the fact that they offer multiple choices on all of their designs as of late. This means that the customer does not have to sacrifice anything with CM Storm choices just to get a keyboard with your particular favorite switch on it; you just order the one that feels best for you.

One of the cooler things I got to see at CES 2013 was in the Cooler Master suite, and is also where I got to meet Carter who is designing these keyboards and trying to make CM Storm one of the top names in mechanical keyboards. In his pursuit to come up with something out of the box without taking it too far, he designed a mechanical keyboard where initially I thought all of the letters, icons, and numbers had been removed, when I saw it at a distance. After asking Carter about it, he then pulled the keyboard out so I could take a closer look. The idea behind this keyboard was to give the purists and elitists something they would be proud to own, while still making something a visual typist could use and just feel cool for having the top of his key caps blanked out, while still having something to go off of to locate where the key is on the keyboard, too.

There are quite a few "hidden features" in the latest submission from CM Storm. Hence the naming of this keyboard, the Quick Fire Stealth. Just like in warfare, this comes all black to sneak up on the enemies - at a quick glance it has nothing to give it away as far as bold lettering that is plainly visible, and just like the plane, with this keyboard, you can order it with whatever switch type serves the job best under the key caps for you.

I say we dive right in and see what these hidden features and all this talk about the blanked out key caps is all about so that you can make the call for yourself whether or not this is one of the coolest keyboards you have ever seen.