Corsair Gaming Strafe Mechanical Keyboard Review

Final Thoughts

Corsair has upped their game since we last saw a keyboard from them. While the switches are not out personal go to for switches, the Cherry MX reds are soft feeling with linear travel, and there is the potential to hear the caps tapping on the steel plate. Otherwise after some use, we did find ourselves typing with lighter hands than we need for blues or greens. The frame is sleek leaving the LEDs exposed and allowing for a much brighter LED effect than in most typical thick framed designs. To be honest, everything is solid, works as intended, and every feature we tested worked as described, even down to the NKRO support and anti-ghosting that both passed testing without issue.

What is going to be a huge selling point is the CUE software used with the Strafe. Of course, you can remap the keyboard, and being a Corsair Gaming product, it would be silly not to offer a fully comprehensive Macro window. And with it, enough onboard memory to house various profiles so that you can show off your programming efforts to others when you travel with the Strafe. This time, however, the software takes things up a notch and reminds us of what the Cooler Master Rapid keyboard offered. With it, you could do darn near anything with the LED lighting from programming it to flash in certain games a specific way or just about drive yourself crazy with the options.

As we said earlier, looking at the Strafe in its full package context, it is hard to find faults. The low profile frame is sleek and simplistic looking, leaving the keys exposed and allowing more of the LED to flood the room. So just on the basic level, things are better than many other designs. Once you add in the software, you could make this keyboard do almost anything. Open applications, run Macros for any game, it can be completely remapped over various profiles. And said profiles can be tagged to boot with specific applications, making all that hard work easy to play with when it comes time to actual gameplay and typing. We really cannot say enough to say just how nice the feel of this board is, or just how much fun it has been coming up with new lighting ideas and ways to try to make the keyboard more fun during gameplay.

At just $109.99, Corsair Gaming's Strafe keyboard falls into the "sweet spot" of mechanical keyboards. And that alone makes this an easy choice for your next mechanical keyboard, without all the fun that the software brings to the table.

Chad's Peripherals Test System Specifications

• Motherboard: ASUS X99-E WS - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• CPU: Intel Core i7 5930K - Buy from Amazon
• Cooler: Corsair H100i GTX - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Memory: KLevv Cras DDR4 3000 - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Video Card: ASUS GeForce GTX 980 Matrix Platinum - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Storage: Intel 730 480GB - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Case: SilverStone TJ11 - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Power Supply: Corsair AX1200 - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Professional 64-bit - Buy from Amazon

Product Summary Breakdown

Performance	95%
Quality including Design and Build	97%
General Features	99%
Bundle and Packaging	98%
Value for Money	100%

Overall TweakTown Rating

98%

The Bottom Line: If this were just a plain red backlit mechanical keyboard, we still feel the price is justified. Keep in mind though you get two extra sets of specialized keycap sets, a cap puller, and software that may just blow your mind with capabilities in the Corsair Gaming Strafe.

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