The ROG Falchion wireless keyboard we got this time is an extremely simplified style product, with a compact style of 68 keys, light and easy to carry, 65% key arrangement compared to 60% arrangement style to increase the most important directional keys and Page up/down and other practical keys, the full keyboard is made of PBT material, support translucent RGB AURA SYNC, keycaps are PBT The keyboard supports N-key rollover and the biggest highlight is the touch volume bar on the left side, which can be edited separately for other functions to aid gaming.

So, let’s dig into the detail!

Package Appearance

Package Front

Package Back

Internal Package

The accessories are included a package content card, manual, sticker, a Type-C-A adapter and a Type-A-C cable

Product Analysis

Keyboard Main body looking. Also comes with a polycarbonate protection case

The polycarbonate cover front and back looking
An adhesive pad with the ROG logo on the inside

Staggered brushed design on the bottom with ROG eye logo

When the case pad is underneath, there are openings on the side at the volume slider

The bottom support foot is a single segment design

On the top side are the on/off switch, Type-C connector and 2.4G wireless receiver storage slot, the slot has the Magnetically-attached design to avoid the loss

The wireless receiver

Quad-sides view of the keyboard

Take off a keycap, we can find the actual Cherry MX RGB Red switch

The net weight of the keyboard is 525g

The full weight of the keyboard and back cover is 677g

The keyboard is connected by both wired (Type-c) and 2.4G wireless but unfortunately does not support Bluetooth for easy multi-platform adaptation. The volume slider on the left side is responsive and can also be set to match different sliders for different applications.

RGB Backlight effects

Software Usability

ASUS peripherals are integrated into the Armoury Crate, allowing you to change AURA SYNC, lighting effects, and keyboard-related settings via Armoury Crate

The Keys settings in Armoury Crate

The Touch panel settings, this slider bar supports four different actions, swipe up, swipe down, top tap and bottom tap, which can be tied to each of the four functions

The Power settings allow the user to adjust the on/off and sleep time of the light effects, as well as an instant battery level display

The usage experience

Let’s start with the key experience, Cherry’s MX Red has been around for a long time, and as a gaming keyboard, the lack of a paragraph feel to the strikes does feel like something is missing, but the silence does solve a pain point for many users, and the quick rebound, as well as the easy trigger, is really an easy way to increase hand speed. Secondly, from a gamer’s point of view, the 68-key configuration does meet most of the usage scenarios, but unfortunately, it is extremely unfriendly to users who use function keys in the office area, and symbols and functions that require 2-3 layers of key combinations to press out must take a long time to get used to, which is why keyboards like the HHKB are simply not suitable for the average user. Plus, Falchion’s keycaps are slightly higher than Cherry’s, making the overall keyboard taller, it is best used with a handrest, whereas the Asus does not come with it and users need to purchase one separately. Once again, as a portable gaming keyboard, it’s a real shame that there’s no Bluetooth, although the 2.4G wireless is effective in reducing latency, the good thing is that the hibernation wake up time is very quick. As for battery life, ASUS officially says it can last up to 450 hours with the lights off, but unfortunately, the 4000mAh battery really won’t last that long, after close to 2 months or so of testing we found that the real usage time is around 320 hours without RGB, turned RGB on and adjusted to a moderate brightness (50%), it will support about 1 week around of moderate use. When testing the key conflict, we found that the Falchion did not achieve N-key rollover, and under the game ‘DJMAX Respect V’, any combination of 7 keys could not be pressed at the same time, this means that the keyboard is very unfriendly to multi-key music games

Disassembling analysis

This time, we disassembled the Falchion keyboard. Compared to other brands, the Falchion does not have many locking screws, which makes it relatively easy to teardown, and we also found very interesting things, which will be explained below.

All parts after disassembly

The main control board front and back

The Touch panel part is a touch-sensitive strip that often used on monitors for menu adjustment

The STM32L412 from STMicroelectronics is used as the main control chip

The wireless chip is one of the interesting things we found, the CC2640R2F from Texas Instruments. This chip is actually a Bluetooth wireless MCU and supports Low Energy BT version 5.1. But for some reason, Asus has not enabled all the features of this chip

Very sexy white PCB

The second very interesting point is the lithium-ion battery used in this keyboard, model C11P1707, 4000mAh, which is actually used for Asus  ZenFone Max M1, and this battery has not been modified at all for any connection, directly using the original BTB interface, we tested replacing a battery of the same model, the keyboard can light up and successfully identify the power in Armoury Crate. In other words, if the battery decays after more than 1 year of use, it is possible to solve the problem of lack of battery life by replacing it with customers themself. In theory, a C11P1706 battery with the same interface but a higher capacity of 5000mAh may also be directly replaced, but unfortunately, we did not have this battery and were unable to test

SUMMARY

Overall, this keyboard stands out in its category and is very well positioned in the market. In this current climate, more users prefer a lightweight and portable keyboard design language, and ASUS’ move into the 65% size at this time is indeed a major trend, after all, the bar for custom keyboards is now getting lower and lower, and pricing at around AU$239 is not stable in the Australian market, but this wireless keyboard competing with the Razer BlackWidow V3 Mini does have some price advantages. In terms of portability, the use of a 4000mAh battery and the support of fast charging does greatly extend the usage time, which really dispels the blind distrust of many users towards wireless keyboards and breaks the spell of “not only office peripherals deserve to have long battery life”.

EPIC PC RATE SCORE : 96/100

EPIC REWARD: EPIC RECOMMENDED, DESIGN AWARD

ASUS ROG FALCHION OFFICIAL WEBSITE: HERE

Seeing this reminds us of the world’s first keyboard with a linear optical axis – the BENQ Zowie CELERITAS II, using a switch from Flaretech™, a switch we covered in our previous Huntsman review, which allows the full range of 0° to 90°, depending on how deep you press the switch. It’s the same as the trigger button on a gamepad.

And this new ‘analog optical’ technology from Razer features a light intensity design with adjustable trigger depth: 1.5mm to 3.6mm any way you like.

This switch also allows you to employ WASD to simulate the joystick on the handle, truly ‘press as deep as you can and go as far as you can’

The ‘DUAL-STEP ACTUATION’ allows you to instantly multi-task each button, e.g. tap and press to the bottom for different actions, allowing for more consistent moves in FPS or MOBA games and eliminating the need for complex operations with multiple buttons, which can be very effective in improving a player’s EAPM (Effective Actions Per Minute).

The Synapse software allows you to customise the trigger feel to best suit your needs. Different profiles can be activated to enable different trigger depths to be used in different games.

So, let’s dig into the detail!

Package Appearance

Package Front

Package Back

Package Side

Upon opening the package, we find the manuals, stickers and keyboard main body

Product Analysis

Keyboard Main body looking. Topcase is made of aluminium

The Razer magnetic plush leatherette wrist rest – RGB included

6 non-slip foot pads under the hand rest

The new hand rest is more flexible and made of smoother material than the Razer Blackwidow Elite hand rest

The dual USB connectors are coloured green

The type-c header comes with a Type C-A adapter

Take off a keycap, we can find the actual Razer Analog optical switch

This keyboard has three different height adjustment levels:

Level 1 – Normal height

Level 2 – Higher height

Level 3 – Highest height

There is a USB Type-A port on the left side of the keyboard, making it easy for players to access their devices and use a USB stick or joystick is still relatively convenient. Unfortunately, this generation is not equipped with a cable management slot, the cable outlet is fixed on the upper left side because there are two cables so there is no way to manage the cable freely, both cables are made of braided material, resistant to pulling and soft enough, the length is around two meters, which is perfectly sufficient for players to use for cabling.

Keyboard status indicators

The media control keys and the volume knob

This time Razer has used double-shot PBT keycaps to prevent oiling, adding a thicker surface and a frosted feel to the keys to give them more texture and reduce wear and tear, but also increases the thickness of the keycaps, which slightly affects light transmission

The satellite keycap uses the contact clip type inside the top case

Backlight effects

Software Usability

We can find the Huntsman v2 analog keyboard under Razer Synapse 3

The main keyboard controller interface
We can switch the mode between ‘Standard’ and ‘Hypershift’
‘Gaming mode’ can be turned on and off to enable the no-disturb mode

The ‘Quick remapping’ function is to simulate the controller joystick by using ‘WASD’ keys

We can change the Chroma effect for this keyboard and setup the per-key RGB

The customised profile can be saved as a different name and transferred to the keyboard

Macro setting

Usage Experience

The switch feels strange on this keyboard, the pressure count doesn’t give us the impression that it’s only 40g. although we can change the trigger distance in the software, the first part of the trigger stroke is still heavy, very much in the style of a Cherry white shaft, but after the trigger and all the way to the bottom of the press, the feel is even heavier. The good thing is that this very flexible linear switch allows for very good control of the downward pressure, which is good for controlling the paddle press in SIM type games. In <Forza: Horizon 4>, the throttle control was very smooth and could be controlled more precisely by lowering the trigger and increasing the length of the linear control; in <Lock On: Flaming Cliffs 2>, the mapping of the Throttle Lever and rudder paddle was done well and tested to be very useful. It doesn’t have the feel and force feedback of a physical controller, but it still controls the force perfectly. It has to be said that this keyboard is instead amazing in drop-based music games. In <DJMAX: Respect V>, where you couldn’t Full combo some ‘Maximum’ or ‘Super Core’ difficulty songs with the Razer yellow switch before, after switching to this keyboard, BOOM! ALL FULL COMBO! The accuracy has also improved.

4Key mode: THE ONE(SC)

6Key mode: ANIMA(Maximum)

6Key mode: BLACK MIND(Maximum)

6Key mode: AXION(SC)

6Key mode: AXION(Maximum)

Of course, the feel is a matter of opinion, because there is no such thing as “perfect compatibility” in the world. When it comes to the typing aspect, this keyboard is one of the two extremes. Some people who write very long texts daily prefer an extremely short trigger stroke and enjoy the feeling of their fingers “floating” across the keyboard, while some programmers who code 24 hours a day prefer a more flexible keyboard with a slightly longer stroke. The Razer Huntsman V2 Analog is closer to the latter, and the adjustable trigger length accommodates those who prefer shorter triggers, so it satisfies a lot of people’s pain points!

SUMMARY

In 2018, we did a review of Razer’s first Huntsman keyboard with an Optical switch, where we said ‘The Razer Opto-Mechanical™ switch did not meet our expectations’, and also did a comparison of several Optical switches, including of course the big name ‘Flaretech’. But today, we can say that Razer’s Analog switch has done a better job than the Flaretech switch, with a pleasing design of two-stage triggering and analogue joystick functionality that is refreshing to gamers, and many difficult gameplay techniques can be easily achieved with this keyboard. Overall, this sincere keyboard not only brings a lot of novelty to the user but also a hefty price tag? AU$380 is officially priced at a significant premium to even Corsair’s flagship keyboard, the K95 Platinum, but instead of dwelling on the price, the new features bring an experience that no other brand can bring anytime soon. At a time when money is hard to come by for a graphics card, how about a peripheral upgrade?

EPIC PC RATE SCORE : 95.5/100

EPIC REWARD: EPIC RECOMMENDED, DESIGN AWARD, EPIC EXTREME POWER

RAZER HUNTSMAN OFFICIAL WEBSITE: HERE

The full specification is shown as:

The package of the keyboard:

After open the front cover, the keyboard is directly shows at the front:

The out the keyboard main body, we can find the instruction menu and warranty paper under it, and the wrist support pad with plastic bag protected.

There are no attachment or gift contains in the package. USB cable is extremely thick, has been separated into two headers at the end side.

OK, Let’s go ahead to the main body of this keyboard.
Actually, this keyboard has the ‘frame-less’ design, it will be easier to keep the whole keyboard clean of dust.

The shortcut key for changing profile, RGB bright level changing key and windoes key lock. the profile change key will shows different colours when changing profiles.

The mute-sound key and the volume potentiometer are located on the top right corner

The CORSAIR LOGO indicator is actually RGB setup.

The old fasion designed tape deck buttons have been put between number pad and the volume potentiometer.

The space bar has the Anti Slippery design.

The space bar also has two satellite supporters.

OK, It’s the time to take all keycaps off and have a look for the switches.

the play buttons are designed by membrane technology

The ‘Zero’ key and other long keys are have the same support design.

This screw is hidden under this cap:

The bottom cover inside looking:

The bottom cover outside looking:

The circus board looking:

The main board controller chip for this keyboard is the entry level 32-bit 50MHz NXP LPC11U68JBD100 MCU based on ARM Cortex-M0+/M0 Cores

Now, let’s getting into the RGB area!

RGB per switch! Look closer!

The corsair logo close look

Function keys light

PER-KEY Lighting setup, customised for ‘EPIC PC’

All right! Let’s get something fun – changing a more sexy keycaps! Chrome Silver? Chrome Gold? or Chrome Red?

Chrome Silver has been selected. It’s AWESOME for the HDR looking!

We clicked-on the wrist pad, then take a look!

Single Lightup & RGB Lightup!

The USB 2.0 port at the top rear side.

Side view for the keyboard, we changed back the original white keycaps.

The Corsair iCUE software UI

Click on the keyboard icon and get into the main run-time view.

iCUE Device Setting menu: we can review the Polling rate, Light Brightness, Layout, Device memory usage and Firmware version number here.

iCUE Keyboard Profile page, we can find the default profile and the on-board other 3 profiles.

User is allowed to import and export their own customised profiles

iCUE Keyboard Macro setting page, it’s the design for a simplification perpose from the in-game complicated combinations input.

iCUE Lighting effect design page, we can setup the per-key and area colour, effect action, or even the combination of them.

Then, we decided to create a customised profile for a unique looking style!
After  research, we are finding out that the SOFTWARE PROFILE can be assigned to the specific program or game, which means when you start to run the specific program or game, the profile will automatically switch to the customised one that you set up before, but the HARDWARE PROFILE cannot be assigned because it controlled by the onboard key, which means you have to switch to the current profile that you set up and replaced before.

Both of Hardware profile and Software profile page can be customised the background picture and icon

You also can save the customised profile to the hardware profile (replace one of the three original profiles).

After the profile setup, let’s see the change! When we open the game called ‘The Matrix: Path of Neo’, keyboard light and customised key binding will show like this:

Is it Cool? Absolutely YES!

After using this keyboard a while for playing PUBG and CS-GO, this 45cN MX SPEED SWITCH is fantastic, to compare with the previous K70 RAPIDFIRE, the smooth touch feedback for new PBT keycaps has definitely better than the old designed ABS keycaps. The re-designed wrist pad has a split-area design and much softer touch feeling than the previous K70, it’s not sticky and easy to get cleaned (washable). To test the keyboard response and Key roll-over function, we played the game ‘DJMAX-Trilogy’. As Corsair mentioned ‘100% ANTI-GHOSTING WITH FULL-KEY ROLLOVER’, it’s no any conflict when playing music game and different combinations include function key are still working perfectly.

Overall, this keyboard we have to say, it has improved a lot from the previous version, but the price for this product is a bit over and similar to the K95 Platinum. So it’s not that friendly for the CP Value. Plus, there is no keycap remover inside the package, as a hi-end level mechanical gaming keyboard, no customised keycaps or other just-for-fun gifts inside the package is actually not so likable for some hardcore gamer, even a Corsair metal sticker is better than nothing, isn’t it?

Coming from my much loved Ducky Shine 4 I entered the peripherals market with the sole intention of buying the the updated Shine 5. I was however, presented with a number big brands such as ASUS, Corsair and Razer trying to vie for Ducky’s minimalistic, expensive and so far unique take on the keyboard design. Having never owned an ASUS peripheral before but having both an ASUS motherboard and an ASUS graphics card I decided that I would give the ASUS Claymore Core a go. It also came highly recommended from multiple other review sites and friends. Here is my take after a year of use.

Key Features

✯ N-Key Rollover (100% ghost free)
✯ Genuine Cherry MX Keys
✯ Two variants, 100% size and 80% size (without the keypad)
✯ 1000Hz Polling Rate (The keyboard will check for a keystroke every 1ms)
✯ Height adjustable feet that lock into place
✯ 16.8 million individually lit keys with both software and non-software adjustment
✯ Hotkeys that can adjust fan speeds and boot settings when linked with a ASUS motherboard
✯ Durable aluminium design
✯ Standard Micro USB Cable for easy replacement

Build Quality

Design & Layout

The ASUS claymore is available in two layouts, the 80% tournament sized keyboard without a keypad (claymore core) and the 100% sized board with a keypad. In Australia you are looking for a retail price of around $220 for the core variant and $280 for the full sized claymore. This definitely puts the keyboard into the high price tier.

The build quality on this keyboard definitely feels and looks expensive. The Republic of Gamers are well known for changing their brand from year to year with new releases. In 2015-16 it was the owl-inspired range with their graphics cards and peripherals adopting the round eyes of an owl and their mascot being a robotic owl. This year they have opted for what they describe as a  mayan-inspired design with sharp edges and etchings in-line with nvidia’s new 10 series GPUs. Personally, I prefer this design to the owl but it’s obviously up to personal preference. (Side Note: Some of the lower ASUS graphics cards maintain the owl design)

This brings me to my first standout feature: the detachable keypad. For those with minimal desk space such as myself this will come as a much needed feature. You can purchase the board with or without the keypad and can be attached or detached with ease. You also have the ability to purchase the keypad at a later date if you don’t want to fork out the extra cash straight away. Personally, I am use to the tournament sized board and am not missing my keypad but it’s nice to know that the upgrade is available if I so desire.

Here you can see the height difference with and without the feet. The feet add about 3-5cm of raise although it is not adjustable. You can also see the connector where you can slide the keypad in place (gold 6 pin connector).

I will try to be subjective here and just stick to the facts as I think that looks are a personal thing.  

The keyboard takes a minimalistic design approach. The top is adorned with a black set of keycaps that sit out of the boards housing. At the top the housing is covered in a full metal shroud with mayan-inspired etchings. This can attract a lot of dust but with the proper care I prefer the cold metal touch and durability this brings. The internals are secured at the bottom with a plastic housing that reminds me of a bat. It uses sharp edges to prop up the keyboard in an appropriate manner and has two plastic feet that flip out and secure with a tight click for angled keyboard use. There is a cut out for the cable to run through. A downside to this minimalistic design is the lack of a palm rest which is obviously a personal preference. I would love to see ASUS include an attachable one for those who prefer to use them (especially at this price). In total it weighs in at 770G with the cable so it carries quite a bit of weight.

On the left you can see the back of the keyboard which reminds me of a bat. On the right you can see the height difference compared to my old ducky shine 5. Both have the keycaps removed showing the Cherry MX (Red) switches.

RGB

The claymore is another example of 2016-17(s) LED push from the gaming community with ASUS introducing their AURA RGB technology. Their RGB lighting has 16.8 million different colour variations with 5 different dedicated profiles that you can change on the fly via your macros or software. Through the ASUS AURA suite users have the ability to sync these lighting effects with other AURA enabled graphics cards, motherboards and peripherals. We even found some cases such as the In Win 805 infinity that lets users sync the LEDs on the case to this keyboard. Here is an example of the AURA sync in action (unfortunately I couldn’t find a video with the keyboard syncing to other components);

The standout feature for me here is the ability to customise your lighting scheme on the fly through dedicated macros found on the keyboard. This differs from other companies who usually use software based product customisation. ASUS has in this case opted to put a large number of their functional keys on the actual layout which are controlled via the FN and macro switches as shown below;

I seemed to have some dull areas on my unit and not sure if this is a fault or a design flaw but I don’t have another unit to compare it to.

OVERALL

The ASUS ROG claymore is the company’s most ambitious attempt into the peripheral market yet. The keyboard boasts features that are quickly becoming the cornerstone of the Republic of Gaming (ROG) product line and a design that represents plenty of gaming flair while still being discreet enough to show your girlfriend. This is an in-depth look into the much anticipated claymore keyboard series.

Pro

✔RGB Lighting
✔Metal Construction
✔N-Key Rollover (100% anti-ghosting)
✔Lightning Fast Overclocking
✔Key Bot Features
✔Micro USB Detachable Cable
✔Detachable Keypad
✔Control Lighting via Function Key
✔Very Nice Packaging

Con

✖Price
✖Open Switch Design Attracts Dust
✖Consistency with AURA Products
✖Some Dull RGB Areas (unsure if specific to my unit)
✖No Optional Palm Rest
✖AURA and ROG armoury are not compatible

RATE : 4.5/5

Read more details about this review please click HERE