Roccat Vulcan II Review: Premium Mechanical Gaming Keyboard

Value When Reviewed

$149.99

Finest Costs At present: Roccat Vulcan II keyboard

The Roccat Vulcan II is the successor to Roccat’s extremely praised Vulcan 120 collection, which was launched in 2018. So far as specs go, this newest mannequin is spectacular.

It’s a full-size keyboard with a USB-A connection and a completely connected 1.8m braided USB 2.0 cable. It operates with a 32-bit “ARM Cortex M0” processor and a polling price of normal 1,000 hertz. 4 profiles could be saved within the 4Mb onboard reminiscence.

The keyboard is out there in black or white and weighs 949g with out the detachable wrist relaxation and 1.14g with it. Its dimensions are 46.3 x 15.2 x 3.3 cm with out and 46.3 x 23.6 x 3.3 cm with.

However can the gaming keyboard additionally persuade in on a regular basis use? Right here’s our full assessment.

Design

The Roccat Vulcan II boasts a formidable design. Its flat keycaps, screwless aluminium prime plate and the diamond-milled edges look nice.

However none of this stuff are new, and except for a number of small particulars, there are hardly any variations in comparison with its predecessors. We’d have most popular Roccat to be a bit of extra daring right here – as a substitute, it depends on the tried and examined.

Consequently, there are nonetheless areas for enchancment. Although the flat keycaps exhibit the RGB lighting to its finest benefit, they’re solely fabricated from standard ABS plastic. This makes them really feel a bit uninteresting and uninspiring.

We’d have most popular richer acoustics and tactile really feel, as you’ll discover on some opponents within the type of insulated keyboard housings and PBT keycaps.

The wrist relaxation isn’t nice, both. Though fully detachable, it’s solely fabricated from a easy piece of plastic and has no padding. Different producers on this worth vary are likely to do higher.

Friedrich Stiemer

As with its predecessors, the Vulcan II additionally presents a devoted media management within the higher proper nook to conveniently set off fundamental multimedia capabilities. Quantity management is by way of a rotary knob, which we at all times discover notably intuitive.

The RGB lighting on the keyboard, utilizing Roccat’s ‘AIMO’ know-how, is a pleasant function and might look very engaging. However let’s face it, it’s extra of a gimmick than of any actual worth.

AIMO presents particular person illumination for every key with a claimed 16.8 million colors. It may be synchronised with different AIMO-compatible peripherals. You’ll be able to’t do with out RGB lately!

Friedrich Stiemer

Options

The Roccat Vulcan II is supplied with Roccat’s Straightforward-Shift know-how, which unlocks a second operate for many keys – offered you retain the (freely assignable) Straightforward-Shift button pressed. That sounds thrilling, however is it actually helpful?

Whereas it may be fairly complicated for PC players who already need to grasp a mess of key combos, Straightforward-Shift could be nice for on a regular basis productiveness. For instance, making modifying movies even faster.

Moreover, the Vulcan II presents N-key rollover and 100% anti-ghosting. Each are plus factors for PC players who depend on quick and exact inputs. In our opinion, these are crucial options for gaming keyboards.

Friedrich Stiemer

Elsewhere, the Vulcan II is the Roccat’s first keyboard to be outfitted with the newly designed Titan II mechanical switches.

These come pre-lubricated from the manufacturing unit and provide a clean typing really feel and an above-average service lifetime of 80 million presses. However producers reminiscent of Gateron and Cherry are already additional forward right here, promising 100 million keystrokes.

Friedrich Stiemer

The Titan II is out there in two color choices – we’ve examined the one with Crimson switches. Right here, every key has a linear switching journey with an actuation level at 1.4mm and whole journey of three.6mm. This makes it nice for quick, repeated keypresses.

Moreover, the Titan II has a generic cross mount throughout the plunger, which means it’s appropriate with a wide range of customized keycaps.

There’s additionally a brown model of the Titan II accessible, which triggers tactilely (i.e. with noticeable resistance) and solely presents 1.8mm of key journey.

Gaming efficiency

The Vulcan II reveals its strengths in gaming. The Titan II Crimson switches react rapidly and exactly, which might generally make the decisive distinction in heated battles. The linear switching attribute and the actuation level of just one.4mm guarantee a pleasing and responsive typing really feel.

The second operate stage due to Straightforward-Shift could be notably helpful when you must carry out many various actions rapidly in a sport.

A small drawback: you want some area in your desk to arrange the keyboard. You’ll must nonetheless have sufficient room for a mouse, too.

Friedrich Stiemer

Verdict

The Roccat Vulcan II is a constantly stable gaming keyboard.

Its strengths lie within the responsive Titan II switches and a number of capabilities for every key, options which signify actual benefits for critical players. Regardless of the acquainted design, it additionally nonetheless seems very elegant.

However we have been hoping for some actual innovation on a premium gaming keyboard in 2023. Many different producers provide the likes of built-in noise insulation, hot-swap switches, greater polling charges and generally even additional macro keys.

When it comes to haptics, the keys are additionally disappointing: though they set off reliably and rapidly, they really feel (and sound) low cost total.

So, if you are able to do with out the putting design, yow will discover cheaper options with an identical vary of options. With a launch worth of $149.99/£149.99, the Vulcan II definitely a premium product.

This text has been translated from an unique posted on PC-Welt.