Stuff I've won lately. plus a review of sorts
Or as of late.- Engrish is a hard language to master.
I like competitions, freebies and giveaways and I respect the companies that take the time to organize them, We should all base our purchasing decisions on how well they treat us the customer not fancy advertising campaigns. So the least I can do is givev them some exposure,however small,by reviewing them
, the first does not apply to Americans . since I couldn't find a relevant reference for the USA
They are excelent products with no weird smell easy to clean long working time. The pressurised pack is especially handy since ,if set to max,can shoot like peter north after a zinc cure, so it help me fix a drawer board that cracked because some people living in my house are barely trained apes. It will also glue lightweight panels and almost any surface. One downside is the fact that,despite advertised,it will not pressure bond after 10 seconds on surfaces that are at tension so keep some elastic handy
RIght, now to the main course
Since horrible people get what they deserve I won 200+ dollars worth of keyboard and mouse, namely the stellar corsair k90 http://amzn.to/O9V589 mechanical* keyboard(more on that in a minute) and the excentric corsair m90 mouse http://amzn.to/OWEKTv
First the keyboard makes a great first impression topped with a thick slab of aluminium that makes for a great resonance when you bottom out the mech keys, the underside is made of plastic as is the part that supports the g keys,a missed opportunity in both cases,moreover the plastic raisers should be made out of metal and attached to the top slab for a much improved durability,a couple of cents of metal would have for a much more solid feel.
The cables are thick with fantastic braids . |Thankfully Corsair has resisted the temptation to flood the board with buttons and gizmos,and the end result is a board with a clean look,despite the slew of function buttons on the side. You have the usual QWERTY configuration (my particular example differs from the pic since the Lshift is much shorter and next to it is the |\ key)ââh,,, quite annoying for a lefty. The keys are raised higher than you would expect but this gives them a great feel and makes it easier to clean
The far left has 18 "g-keys" that are lower in height(great) but do not have the mech switches even though the supplier does have the ml line of low height mechanical switches, upper left corner you have the record button and on the fly layer select for the gkeys. In the upper right side there are the useful media buttons and the volume wheel which is made out of solid metal and has a great feel to it ,sadly the keys are made of painted plastic which is odd since they are so handy that the finish will rub off in months
So why is this cute big keyboard so expensive?
Well a couple of things,
first each laser etched key is illuminated with individual leds . It makes the keys so much easier to spot and I use them in the day as well at the highest brightness ...
but the main reason is this
Cherry mx red individual switches.
They give a great tactile feel every time you press it and you don't have to depress them all the way to register a keystroke so you can use the old glide technique
Honestly,in the couple of days that I've been using them I've grown to love them even though they're actually intimidating at first. This is by far the best feature on this board,
If you are a writer editor reviewer a mechanical keyboard will make your desk life ten times easier,just the reduced hand fatigue is worth the price of admission, In adition to that they are customizable with companies making individual keys and dampening kits .
Sadly not all keys use the mech switches the f keys esc the middle block and the g keys have the traditional membrane dome with no way to upgrade if needed. While the low profile gkeys have an even rubbery press to them the non-mech keys on the main board have an akward feel to them and sometimes will not register hits. I attribute this to athe fact that they dome is waaay deep inside the board at pcb level and such you have to undergo a much longer path.
The gkeys can be programmed to perform a number of functions with up to 50 profiles stored in the software,although you can record an action using the mr button a the top as well.
This is a gaming board,for mmo users so the software is geared for them as well but I did manage to program cut/copy/paste and a number of crlt+shift+ etc shortcuts which means that you can use this for creating individual programs for photoshop,excel ,video editing programs to perform actions that range from simple tool selection to complex scripts including the loading of programs and apps
. My only gripe with them so far is that I can not program diacritics like â by any means,even when using the character code (â is alt+0226 for example) The good news is that the softare is expansive in functionality with the latest version adding keystroke
although it does NOT register mouse slicks(and it does have a passthrough) so it could repeat clicks. Now that would be a feature.
highly reccomended for games writers and power users
the m90 mouse
first the good
Corsair did not skip on materials and build quality this thing is literally a metal brick, you could bludgeon your opponent to death at a LAN party if the spell did not work
The soft touch surface feels great with only one small imperfection near the top left button,and the rough grip patch on the right side is actually the only thing that make the left side buttons usable(to be discussed bellow)
Despite appearances the mouse is not big,I have small hands and it fits me great,size wise,although ergonomics are lacking
The middle wheel is made from solid metal and has a ratcheting system,which could be more pronounced but does improve the overall use. The middle click needs a bit of a push to actuate.
I found the software to be good with precise dpi adjustments response rate lift rate(great for fps players) surface test,button assigments with individual playback settings and more profiles than you can ever name.
Now for the bad stuff
first and foremost the right click..unless you have a fulll palm grip it is so finicky that you find yourself hating it..the click switch is set further back than the left button(which is a delight to use and one of the reason that you should consider trhe m60 mouse) aand Coirsair seems to think that the middle finger is the shorter one so it hangs off of the right mouse button but when you press the button it does not register. That's right, you can't press the button with the upper part of your finger.you have to use the whole finger in the palm grip mode and even then it's hard and makes a dull sound that emanated from the middle of the mouse where the swtich is located. Honestly it so ruins the mouse that at first i thought i was holding it wrong or that my present was defective but no,apparently it's designed that way,as Ive found from the forums,and by the way most reviewers do not mention this but just take a look at the reviews on amazon...enough said but it really is a horrid implementation on the most simple of functions
Plus it is rather heavy, and does not have removable weights unlike the m60
Ergonomics wise,I have small hangs and it suits me well but the pinkie hangs off
the programable buttons are unusually hard to actuate and they don't need to be,since the profiles can be selected on the fly so when not in gaming mode they can simply be deactivated
All in all I cannot reccomend this mouse unless you have a chance to play with it and the palm grip style suits you. I realise that mice are a very personal issue but the overall feeling is that of a very solid build with a rushed design
I like competitions, freebies and giveaways and I respect the companies that take the time to organize them, We should all base our purchasing decisions on how well they treat us the customer not fancy advertising campaigns. So the least I can do is givev them some exposure,however small,by reviewing them
, the first does not apply to Americans . since I couldn't find a relevant reference for the USA
They are excelent products with no weird smell easy to clean long working time. The pressurised pack is especially handy since ,if set to max,can shoot like peter north after a zinc cure, so it help me fix a drawer board that cracked because some people living in my house are barely trained apes. It will also glue lightweight panels and almost any surface. One downside is the fact that,despite advertised,it will not pressure bond after 10 seconds on surfaces that are at tension so keep some elastic handy
RIght, now to the main course
Since horrible people get what they deserve I won 200+ dollars worth of keyboard and mouse, namely the stellar corsair k90 http://amzn.to/O9V589 mechanical* keyboard(more on that in a minute) and the excentric corsair m90 mouse http://amzn.to/OWEKTv
First the keyboard makes a great first impression topped with a thick slab of aluminium that makes for a great resonance when you bottom out the mech keys, the underside is made of plastic as is the part that supports the g keys,a missed opportunity in both cases,moreover the plastic raisers should be made out of metal and attached to the top slab for a much improved durability,a couple of cents of metal would have for a much more solid feel.
The cables are thick with fantastic braids . |Thankfully Corsair has resisted the temptation to flood the board with buttons and gizmos,and the end result is a board with a clean look,despite the slew of function buttons on the side. You have the usual QWERTY configuration (my particular example differs from the pic since the Lshift is much shorter and next to it is the |\ key)ââh,,, quite annoying for a lefty. The keys are raised higher than you would expect but this gives them a great feel and makes it easier to clean
The far left has 18 "g-keys" that are lower in height(great) but do not have the mech switches even though the supplier does have the ml line of low height mechanical switches, upper left corner you have the record button and on the fly layer select for the gkeys. In the upper right side there are the useful media buttons and the volume wheel which is made out of solid metal and has a great feel to it ,sadly the keys are made of painted plastic which is odd since they are so handy that the finish will rub off in months
So why is this cute big keyboard so expensive?
Well a couple of things,
first each laser etched key is illuminated with individual leds . It makes the keys so much easier to spot and I use them in the day as well at the highest brightness ...
but the main reason is this
Cherry mx red individual switches.
They give a great tactile feel every time you press it and you don't have to depress them all the way to register a keystroke so you can use the old glide technique
Honestly,in the couple of days that I've been using them I've grown to love them even though they're actually intimidating at first. This is by far the best feature on this board,
If you are a writer editor reviewer a mechanical keyboard will make your desk life ten times easier,just the reduced hand fatigue is worth the price of admission, In adition to that they are customizable with companies making individual keys and dampening kits .
Sadly not all keys use the mech switches the f keys esc the middle block and the g keys have the traditional membrane dome with no way to upgrade if needed. While the low profile gkeys have an even rubbery press to them the non-mech keys on the main board have an akward feel to them and sometimes will not register hits. I attribute this to athe fact that they dome is waaay deep inside the board at pcb level and such you have to undergo a much longer path.
The gkeys can be programmed to perform a number of functions with up to 50 profiles stored in the software,although you can record an action using the mr button a the top as well.
This is a gaming board,for mmo users so the software is geared for them as well but I did manage to program cut/copy/paste and a number of crlt+shift+ etc shortcuts which means that you can use this for creating individual programs for photoshop,excel ,video editing programs to perform actions that range from simple tool selection to complex scripts including the loading of programs and apps
. My only gripe with them so far is that I can not program diacritics like â by any means,even when using the character code (â is alt+0226 for example) The good news is that the softare is expansive in functionality with the latest version adding keystroke
although it does NOT register mouse slicks(and it does have a passthrough) so it could repeat clicks. Now that would be a feature.
highly reccomended for games writers and power users
the m90 mouse
first the good
Corsair did not skip on materials and build quality this thing is literally a metal brick, you could bludgeon your opponent to death at a LAN party if the spell did not work
The soft touch surface feels great with only one small imperfection near the top left button,and the rough grip patch on the right side is actually the only thing that make the left side buttons usable(to be discussed bellow)
Despite appearances the mouse is not big,I have small hands and it fits me great,size wise,although ergonomics are lacking
The middle wheel is made from solid metal and has a ratcheting system,which could be more pronounced but does improve the overall use. The middle click needs a bit of a push to actuate.
I found the software to be good with precise dpi adjustments response rate lift rate(great for fps players) surface test,button assigments with individual playback settings and more profiles than you can ever name.
Now for the bad stuff
first and foremost the right click..unless you have a fulll palm grip it is so finicky that you find yourself hating it..the click switch is set further back than the left button(which is a delight to use and one of the reason that you should consider trhe m60 mouse) aand Coirsair seems to think that the middle finger is the shorter one so it hangs off of the right mouse button but when you press the button it does not register. That's right, you can't press the button with the upper part of your finger.you have to use the whole finger in the palm grip mode and even then it's hard and makes a dull sound that emanated from the middle of the mouse where the swtich is located. Honestly it so ruins the mouse that at first i thought i was holding it wrong or that my present was defective but no,apparently it's designed that way,as Ive found from the forums,and by the way most reviewers do not mention this but just take a look at the reviews on amazon...enough said but it really is a horrid implementation on the most simple of functions
Plus it is rather heavy, and does not have removable weights unlike the m60
Ergonomics wise,I have small hangs and it suits me well but the pinkie hangs off
the programable buttons are unusually hard to actuate and they don't need to be,since the profiles can be selected on the fly so when not in gaming mode they can simply be deactivated
All in all I cannot reccomend this mouse unless you have a chance to play with it and the palm grip style suits you. I realise that mice are a very personal issue but the overall feeling is that of a very solid build with a rushed design