![]() Roccat continues its hot streak in gaming peripherals, striking a balance between visual appeal and function to deliver what's easily one of the best-looking mechanical keyboards to cross our desks. Power users who want a button for everything will love the Max, even if its keycaps aren't as comfortable as you might like. With Easy-Shift+ and smart keys, you can squeeze an incredible amount of functionality from a few key clicks. Roccat's Vulcan II Max might put beauty first, but it's got a lot of brains behind it. Verdict: With This Keyboard, We All Shine On Whether I was raiding dungeons in Final Fantasy XIV or scaling walls in Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, I never dropped a keystroke. RGB buffs will enjoy the glow (I'm a sucker for the Christmas tree aesthetic myself), and players of strategy and MMO games will appreciate the macro options. ![]() While expensive, the Vulcan II Max is competitive with premium offerings from Razer, SteelSeries, and Corsair, and backs its fancy lighting with the 24 smart keys and Easy-Shift+. You can specify single-key illumination and even edit the light reflected into the wrist rest. Swarm also offers RGB controls including AIMO, a lighting system that adapts the lighting organically with no need for manual configuration. Swarm isn't the most intuitive app out there, but once you get a handle on it, you can add tons of additional functionality to the keyboard. You use the downloadable Roccat Swarm software to set everything up. You can store up to five profiles loaded as well. And that's not even counting the 24 additional smart keys that add other secondary functions. When the Fn key is pressed, programmed keys shift to alternate functions. A Swarm of FunctionalityĮasy-Shift+ is Roccat's button duplicator technology, one we've seen employed in some of the company's other peripherals such as the Roccat Kone XP and Kone XP Air. The keyboard has dedicated media buttons as well as a volume roller, which every keyboard should have! You get even more shortcuts and alternate functions with Easy-Shift+, which we'll get into in the next section. Comfort is sacrificed for beauty, I suppose. In use, the wrist rest is somewhat stiff, feeling like hard plastic. This RGB lighting (with, Roccat says, double the refresh rate of most backlit keyboards) is some of the finest around, blending with the clear switches, clear keycap lettering, and wrist rest to put on a serious light show. Slip the transparent wrist rest into the openings and voila-you've got an RGB light show that extends all the way down. ![]() There are small vent-like openings along the bottom. ![]() A handsome chrome border wraps around the edges.Īt the top of the board, you'll find a cord with two USB-A ports that power the keyboard (there's no wireless version). Turning it over, you'll find two position-adjustable feet against a ridged surface with four rubber strips to keep the keyboard from sliding. At 2.2 pounds, it's fairly light for a full-sized board. The durable aluminum frame measures 9.25 by 18.2 by 1.3 inches (HWD), a bit taller than recent full-sized mechanical keyboards like the MSI GK71 Sonic or the Asus ROG Claymore II. Our keyboard's Red switches provide quicker key presses but don't have the most satisfying click. The Brown switches have a slightly higher actuation point (1.8mm versus 1.4mm) and promise a lighter sound. The difference is minor, at least on paper. The key switches are offered in two flavors, tactile Brown or linear Red.
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