Corsair may have diversified into the peripherals market a couple of years ago but they currently are one of the most active gaming peripheral developers. The company does well enough in that segment of the market that they recently founded their own gaming brand, Corsair Gaming. Although the company owes much of their success on the first Vengeance keyboards and mice, it is their recent RGB-series that has given them a significant advantage as a talking point among gamers and keyboard enthusiasts. As a precursor to this piece, we had a thorough review of the Corsair Gaming K70 RGB Mechanical Keyboard when it first came out nearly a year ago, as well as a quick look on all of their RGB keyboards and two of their newest gaming mice some months ago.

The Corsair STRAFE

Although the K65/K70/K95 RGB keyboards are outstanding products, they all share a common flaw - their retail price. Having a fully mechanical keyboard with exclusive Cherry MX RGB switches is an expensive endeavor and, even though their capabilities and performance are excelling, these models are just too expensive for many users and they ultimately paid an early adopter premium as a result. This is especially true for users that do not need or care for programmable RGB per-key backlighting. As a result Corsair is today throwing another card on the table by releasing the STRAFE, a mechanical gaming keyboard that may be limited to red backlighting but supposedly lacks no practical features over the RGB models. The truly interesting part however is that the STRAFE has an MSRP of just $110, nearly half the MSRP of the K70 RGB ($200).

Corsair STRAFE Mechanical Gaming Keyboard - Key features and specifications

  • Cherry MX switches (Red or Brown)
  • Per Key Backlight (Red)
  • Fully Programmable (Corsair Utility Engine compatible)
  • USB Port
  • Textured and contoured keycaps
  • Gaming Circuitry (Anti-Ghosting)
  • Easy Access Media

Packaging & Bundle

Corsair supplies the STRAFE in a well-designed, thick cardboard box. The artwork is based on a picture of the keyboard itself and has a black/yellow color theme, which is the "signature" livery of the Corsair Gaming brand. Alongside with the keyboard, Corsair supplies a very basic manual, a keycap removal tool and two sets of gaming keycaps. The first set is supposed to be for FPS gamers and the second for MOBA gamers. Both sets are contoured and textured. Two keycaps, the W and the D, exist in both sets but have different contours as a result.

 

The Corsair STRAFE Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
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  • Flunk - Thursday, July 16, 2015 - link

    Absolutely correct, this is why second-language speakers of English often find this rule very difficult.
  • Gunbuster - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link

    Bonus points for walking back from that terrible "gaming" tattoo logo
  • BrokenCrayons - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link

    It's nice to see the old Corsair logo is back and this is about the right price + feature set on a mechanical keyboard to tempt me into buying one. The more understated look is a good thing too. I'm sort of disappointed that the days of getting a metal-backed IBM PS2 keyboard with mechanical switches from a computer show for like $10 are long gone though since mechanical switches are now a gamer/premium product thing.
  • GTRagnarok - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link

    It's not the "old" logo. This is the redesigned logo they announced last month and are going to use going forward. I'm sure if the new sails are better than the old one.
  • GTRagnarok - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link

    I'm *not* sure if the new sails are better than the old one. Still, either one is much better than that...other one...Does anyone know if the K series will get the new logo?
  • BrokenCrayons - Thursday, July 16, 2015 - link

    Yes, you're right isn't quite the same. It's still an improvement over the logo they were previously using.
  • WorldWithoutMadness - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link

    It would be great if you guys can review on its inner built quality as well (PCB and soldering joints, etc)
  • BigTinz - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link

    K70s have USB pass through. You might want to make note of that in the article.

    This is a pretty good looking board. Damn shame they stuck with the non-standard bottom row.
  • E.Fyll - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link

    The standard K70 does have one but I do not consider it a "top tier" product, as it lacks programmability. The K70 RGB falls into the "top tier" classification and it does not have any USB ports.
  • YoloPascual - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link

    #DUCKYMASTERRACE

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