Logitech G710+ Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Review

Developer: Logitech / Publisher: Logitech / Release Date: October 29, 2012 / Price: $149.99

Gamers are a picky lot; PC gamers even more so. If you want precision in your WASD movements, strafing, targeting, or covering the rule of thumb is that you splash out for a mechanical keyboard. You may (possibly) remember them as the standard way back in the day. How can you tell if you were punching keys on a mechanical rather than a membrane keyboard? Most likely, the sound.

Mechanical keyboards click. It’s in their build as individual keys press on individual sensors. The result is a perceptibly immediate response from your fingers. It’s also, usually, a loud response. Most regular keyboards use a membrane technology, where each key press pounds on a strip of softer material that mutes the impact. But if you’re old school, or so new-school you demand the most sensitive response to your inputs, mechanical is the way to go.

With the G710+ Logitech has crafted a keyboard designed for that consummate clicking power-user. Rubber taps on the bottom of keys certainly soften some of the expected noise from this keyboard, but it’s still almost certainly louder than anything you’d find in a cube farm at the local internet start-up. But that’s not where this keyboard is designed to flourish; its home is in the serious gamer strata… maybe not pro-level, but serious enough to need to know where those fingers are, and how hard they’re likely to press.

The keyboard itself is your usual 110 key setup, but adds a roller for volume control alongside dedicated media keys. It also includes six programmable G keys to let you add your chosen macros. Your value with them, however, is determined by how much you need to control those details through your keyboard, and how much a few software clicks can perform the job you need.Through deals with a variety of publishers, those keys will also be effective in the newest games, with updated software making new macros available over time.

Apparently, Logitech conducted a survey of serious gamers to ask what features they most wanted to see available for their games. Backlighting ranked right at the top, so this keyboard, like a few from Razer and other companies, lets you illuminate the keys. But the color is right (white, after several others were tried and found to be less effective), and apparently even the paint on the keys is layered on in a way to make sure it never fades (though you’d have to be one of the robots used for 172 days delivering 50 million keystrokes in intense testing to be certain of that particular claim.)

As in every keyboard situation, trying it before buying it is vital. In this case, for me, the key-press sound was perceptible despite the apparent rubber muffling, though it was more an issue for the person in the next room hearing the tippety-tap than it was for me directly. But I couldn’t fault the responsiveness, and after a very slight learning curve just getting a feel for the key depression, and their size and position using this keyboard is a very tactile experience–you get what you ask of it.

The multimedia controls I’ve never used on previous keyboards with these functions, but hey, they work. Though the keyboard requires two USB ports (due to the power required to light those LED keys), it does give one back with a connection on the back of the keyboard itself, which is an appreciated touch, particularly if your PC doesn’t have handy front-positioned USB ports itself.

So this 710+ is a smart system. It’s not so click-slick that it’s a no-brainer for a gamer looking for a new precise keyboard/control scheme. But it’s built to last, for sure, provides a slew of options for those wanting to eke every possible function from their keyboard, and is almost guaranteed to annoy roommates or significant others separated only by thin walls.