i-Rocks Rock Series K10 Gaming Keyboard Review - Tactile... but not Mechanical??!

8:00 AM gaming , i-rocks , k10 , keyboard , review , tech 1 Comments

   
     When you clicked on this post, you might be wondering who is i-Rocks. So let me do brief introduction to the brand. i-Rocks is a Taiwanese brand that's been producing IT-related peripherals that suit the needs of almost anyone, from IT workers to professional gamers.The peripherals that cater to the gamer audience is under the Rock Series. Recently, they expanded their operations that enables me to review this interesting keyboard. Let's dive deep into what the i-Rocks Rock Series K10 Gaming Keyboard is all about.

WHAT'S IN THE BOX, KEN?

The keyboard itself and a piece of product information

TECH SPECS

• Interface: Full Speed USB
• Polling Rate: 1000 Hz
• Key number: 104 keys (by language)
• Key stroke: 3.8±0.5mm
• Key force: 55±15g
• Switch life: about 20 million life cycles
• Cable length: 180cm
• Dimensions: 448 (L) x 148 (W) x 34(H) mm
• Product weight: about 1.2kg
• N-key Rollover with 30 keys trigger capability
• Membrane key-switches with plunged key structure

REVIEW

the K10

     In case you haven't read the tagline of this review, let me inform you that the K10 is actually just a membrane keyboard. And if it were to be just a normal membrane keyboard, this review would reflect on how lackluster it would be. But, that is not the case.

     The K10, a membrane keyboard, actually has the touch and feel of using a mechanical keyboard, and to be exact, it feels and types like a keyboard with Cherry MX Red switches. The K10 features a switch they dubbed as the "POM key switches" which I had been googling for a good while now but can't turn up with any good resources so we would have to take it word for word from the company. With Cherry's patent being expired for a good while now. A lot of companies have taken the liberty of trying to develop their own key switch like ThermalTake (Tt eSports) with their recent revelation at CES 2014.

     From what I have been told, the POM key switch is i-Rocks take on developing their own switch without straying too far away from the normal membrane keyboard. From the few days of using this keyboard, I can tell you that they are doing a good job in giving the tactile feel that not too long ago, only mechanical keyboards could achieve.

why you heff to do this to me

     So now you know how much I love the tactile feel of this keyboard, but it is not like I don't have any gripes with it; One of it being the keyboard layout. Based on personal preference, you might be well acquainted with a short backspace key, but for myself, I have been typing as long as I could remember on keyboards with the more common long backspace key. It's something one would have to get used to, but mistakes would occur much more frequently using this layout in my honest opinion.

the backlit i-Rocks logo on the space bar and no, the red accent is not backlit

     Another thing I wished the K10 have had, media control keys. Personally, I just need volume control and that's it because my speakers don't have the nifty knob to turn volume up and down. But I guess that has to do with the plug n' play functionality and its limitations.

dat cable management

     It's not all bad for the K10, this keyboard features something I miss a lot while using the Razer Deathstalker, cable management lanes under the keyboard. One might question why you need cable management lanes under a keyboard, and I would tell you that it will make your desk less cluttered if you were to utilize it properly.

     The keyboard doesn't feature any software functionality like other name brand peripherals but it still has the essentials that a gamer might need. For an example, the K10 still has the Windows key lock a.k.a gaming mode. But the activation method is kind of unique compared to other keyboards. You just have to hold both left and right Windows keys down and 'tada' your Windows keys are now disabled, making it impossible to accidentally tab out of the game due to the mispress of the Windows key.

     Due to the plug n' play that i-Rocks is so keen to focus on, the K10 features a gold-plated USB. If you haven't heard yet, gold-plated USB headers don't give you the auto-winning edge, instead, it gives you the liberty to plug in and out much more times compared to normal USB headers reason being gold corrodes at a much more slower rate.

     Seeing the K10 is a gaming keyboard, i-Rocks is not forgetting about the essence of what defines a gaming keyboard, not shiny LEDs (which the K10 does not have), instead, its all about the n-key rollover (anti-ghosting) for 30 simultaneous key presses and 1000hz refresh rate. Let's go through the latter first. A keyboard having 1000 hertz refresh rate means that it only takes 1 millisecond for it to register your keystroke, which is important for that split second decision making while gaming.

dividing text with pictures proven to make posts look shorter

     Now you might be asking about what this n-key rollover or better known as anti-ghosting means. Ghosting basically means when you press multiple keys together, some keystrokes are not registered to the system. So the K10s' 30-key anti-ghosting lets you be able to press 30 keys together without losing any keystrokes in the process, and I am confident that you would never press 30 keys simultaneously in any serious situation.

everyone loves velcro... right?

     Something fresh that I really like about the K10 is the included Velcro strap. This Velcro strap is something I have yet to see implemented to a lot of peripherals with long cables, which to be honest, is really handy to have if you were to bring the K10 around with you, to save you from the living hell that is dangling cables all around your bag.

     But talking about lodging it around with you, the K10 weighs in at an astonishing 1.2kg. When I unboxed this keyboard, I was truly shocked by how hefty the keyboard felt. This would make bringing it around kinda hard to cope with if you are on the go constantly, but this certainly guarantees that the K10 is made of solid material and perhaps even made with a aluminium backplate as I can't seem to even make the keyboard flex, not even a little bit.

CONCLUSION

     After some sloppy structuring of this review, we have come to the part where I conclude stuff (some of you might even just read this part :( ). The i-Rocks Rock Series K10 comes in at only RM169, making it a very value oriented keyboard. I would wholeheartedly recommend the K10 to anyone looking to try out what a mechanical keyboard feels like in daily use but doesn't want to spend too much yet. I'm addicted to the tactile feel of this keyboard to the point that I don't have the motivation to type on my notebook's chiclet keyboard. While the K10 is not as full featured as other name brand keyboards with software support, the price and the tactile feel really makes it too good of a deal to let go. Therefore, the i-Rocks K10 is awarded the Editor's Choice award.

     Last review of the month guys! It's been a good start to a year and I hope that it progresses like this throughout the year. Happy Chinese New Year too to those who are celebrating!