When it comes to gaming, I won’t beat around the bush – I prefer car racing games, and I like to race them in a race-seat and with a steering wheel. So testing out a gaming keyboard wasn’t going to be comprehensive with me behind the keys.
Instead, I went to a generation below me – to someone who loves gaming, and PC gaming at that. I handed the Logitech G910 over to our mate John Abood to see what he thought of this multi-coloured gamer specific keyboard.
The Logitech G910 Orion Spectrum is an exceptional mechanical keyboard that you will find in stores or online for around ~$200 – (ed: The RRP is $279.95). And for said price, it is absolutely brilliant. Now similarly to the other tools in Logitech’s 900 series arsenal, the G910 may be a bit overkill to a newbie, however those that have tried and tested many a keyboard, this device is equipped with the bells and whistles, and some.
As a lot of gaming keyboards do, the G910 has an easy plug and play mode that allows you to use it prior to installing the Logitech Gaming Software. However once you have, the driver software allows you access to the absolutely stunning RGB LED backlighting. Fully equipped with 16.8 million colours to choose from, as well as lighting modes such as:
- Colour Cycle – Fade between each colour of the rainbow.
- Breathing – This fades the specified colour on and off.
- Solid Colour – Simply one solid colour.
- Colour Wave – Horizontal, Vertical or Center-Out waves of colour.
Now as per the name this is a mechanical keyboard, meaning that there are physical switches beneath each key to determine a press. To some that might seem unnecessary with , but to a gamer, it is a wonderful, crisp clicky sound and a strong tactile feedback.
The G910 Orion Spectrum is geared up with Logitech’s ‘G’ keys. There are 9 programmable ‘G’ keys on this keyboard, each of which can be individually programmed in the Logitech Gaming Software, whether it be a shortcut to buy a weapon in a game, or a push-to-talk microphone button, these keys are positioned on the left hand side of the keyboard and have quite easy access.
Media keys aren’t a recent innovation in keyboard technology, however Logitech have done it extremely well with their range of media keys available on the G910. Equipped with a microphone mute, rewind, fast forward, stop, sound mute but most importantly, a volume scroll wheel. I found these incredibly useful and easy to use mid-game.
Logitech’s ‘Gaming Mode’ is a simple feature that simply, when pressed, disables the Windows key so that while you’re in an intense fire-fight in the Arabian desert, you don’t accidentally “tab-out” of your game. A very simple however very useful feature that I am sure to always turn on before a game.
The ARX Dock on the keyboard is, to simplify, a phone stand. Now while that is a bit of an understatement, the ARX Dock is used to hold your mobile phone, while you leave open the Logitech Gaming Software App you downloaded in order to monitor keyboard functions and functions of supported games.
I have talked about a few exceptional features of this keyboard, however there are a few things that some may find troublesome.
This is an issue more of personal preference, nevertheless, I felt there were too many keys crammed in too close together. Logitech’s G keys take up quite a bit of space and force the Caps Lock, Left Ctrl and Left Shift a little too close to the rest of the keyboard for my comfort. However after a few days I did adjust, only making occasional gaming errors.
One thing about mechanical keyboards that I myself enjoy, is that they are quite loud. The Logitech G910 Orion Spectrum runs on Logitech’s Romer-G switches beneath the keys, which while making a very crisp clicking sound, are extremely loud and for those living with others, potentially unreasonable.
I had an issue that I couldn’t find much support for, being that most times post-locking my computer, the keyboard wouldn’t wake. The lighting still functioned, however none of the keys made it through to the PC. A quick restart fixed this, however it seemed a very isolated case.
To summarise, the Logitech G910 Orion Spectrum is an exceptional mechanical keyboard with brilliant RGB LED lighting customisation that would be at home in any gamer’s kit.
Sounds like a winner, and for someone who loves their gaming – possibly a fantastic gift idea!
[schema type=”review” rev_name=”Logitech G910 ORION SPECTRUM Keyboard” rev_body=”Hard core gamers love it, the mechanical keys, customisation and wide colour range make it a hit” author=”Trevor Long” pubdate=”2016-12-05″ user_review=”4.5″ min_review=”0″ max_review=”5″ ]
