CM Storm Quickfire Rapid-i Mechanical Keyboard Review

3:05 PM cm storm , gaming , keyboard , review 1 Comments

     Back in September, I purchased a CM Storm Quickfire Rapid-i for personal use. Being one of the more reasonably priced mechanical keyboard with backlighting, I was interested in how it will stand against other mechanical keyboards available in the market and unfortunately, I have to say I got kind of a lemon unit here and it will definitely affect my final verdict, so do keep all that in mind.



WHAT'S IN THE BOX

TECH SPECS


REVIEW

     The Rapid-i comes with some fairly simple packaging, a straight-forward box and some soft-foam wrapped around the keyboard, which I would say is enough protection for a keyboard. While there isn't the sort of 'unboxing experience' you will get from other brands, I guess simplicity is another form of beauty in itself.



     Speaking about simplicity, taking a quick look over the keyboard, I would say that the keyboard's design is fairly simple itself. A black smooth rubber finish on top, which I find pleasing to the eye as well as to the touch; and a solid black plastic base on the bottom. There isn't any sort of obnoxious logo stamped on visible parts of the keyboard (looking at you Corsair); in fact, the CM Storm logo is at the topside of the keyboard, which in normal usage conditions, is out of sight of the user, which would score extra points from the minimalist in me.


     Talking about the topside, we find a MicroUSB port beside the aforementioned logo. A detachable USB cable is probably the staple of a tenkeyless (TKL) keyboard, making it much easier to bring a long for notebook users or even just for the frequent LAN participant. The cable provided by Cooler Master is a right angled cable, which some may or may not like. Personally, I am okay with the setup, but I would have prefer that the MicroUSB port to be in the center and made a little more hidden from sight. Both ends of the USB cable are gold plated to combat corrosion from frequent plug n' play.


     Turning the keyboard around, we find two rubber feet on the bottom. The keyboard kickstands are also rubberized so generally speaking the keyboard won't budge in normal usage conditions due to its small size and pretty heavy base. Note that due to it being a TKL keyboard, there's literally no space for the hand to push the keyboard away.


     Looks wise, I would say that the Rapid-i is quite the looker. Other than having white individually backlit keys, the plate is also coloured white, which makes for a pretty cool looking effect when it is lit up. Besides that, the CM Storm Rapid-i also features multiple lighting modes that does not require any driver installation to utilize. The most notable among the bunch would be the ActivLite reactive typing mode. You can see the lighting effects from the video demonstration below.




     Keycaps wise, the keyboard comes with grip-coated ABS keycaps. From my experience, I would say that the keycaps probably won't fade that easily from natural oils. I also am very fond of the typeface used on the keycaps as it's very similar to the typeface I use when I photoshop stuff. Of course, all this is up to personal taste so judge for yourself. Also, like any other CherryMX keyboard, one can switch out their keycaps with other compatible keycaps.

     Functionality wise, the Rapid-i has your run-of-the-mill media function keys, ability to switch between 4 different user-defined lighting profiles as well as the lighting controls shown in the video above. In addition to that, users can also adjust their character repeat rate on-the-fly between 1X, 2X, 4X and 8X. The keyboard also has a windows key lock function if anyone is looking for that as well. With all that said, the added functions does not impact the keyboard layout which is a big plus in my book.


     Now, considering all the points above, one would argue that the keyboard is worthy of being purchased, that was my thought as well, until mine started to break down, in stages, in fact. After only a week of owning the keyboard, mine had a weird little quirk, where one column of lights wouldn't turn off if I left it on ActivLite mode for too long. Fortunate for me, I found a workaround where by turning on scroll lock will mitigate the situation which you might see is why I had it on in photos. Fast forward 2 months later, I was surprised to find 3 dead LEDs. These issues are likely to be related to the PCB being defective. From my googling skills, I only found 2 reports of defective units, so I advise you to take what I say with a grain of salt.

CONCLUSION

     To wrap it up, the CM Storm Quickfire Rapid-i presented itself as a very compelling option for a TKL mechanical keyboard, with all its additional functions and lighting effects which does not tamper with the keyboard's core functionality; that is, without considering my experience. It will be impossible for me to say that I recommend this keyboard "whole-heartedly" with how it inadvertently broke down on me. However, it does come with a 2-year warranty and I am in the middle of arranging a RMA process (that is if I ever get the time). Just a reminder, LEDs on mechanical keyboards have a higher failure rate (especially those which are individually backlit) due to its inherent PCB design, but I heard that the new Corsair keyboard with RGB switches have improved upon the design and have cut LED failure rate by a big chunk. The CM Storm Rapid-i comes in flavours of MX Brown or Blue and retails at MYR 399.00.