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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  • Conficio - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link

    I want an ergo keyboard mechanical for an affordable price. I use Microsoft OEM Natural Ergonomic Keyboard's (the old one) now. Can drop the backlighting and much more. USB passthrough is a good idea, ideally two.
  • MooseMuffin - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link

    What separates this from the standard (non-RGB) K70? Seems like the aluminium body alone provides more value than anything here.
  • E.Fyll - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link

    The STRAFE is fully programmable. The standard K70 is not.
  • Drumsticks - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link

    What is the difference between blacks and reds? I have a brown CM Storm (my first keyboard) and a blues ducky shine 3. I've never liked blacks, but I've never tried reds. Both being linear switches, are they very similar in feel? Blacks feel very mushy to me, especially up against the awesome feeling of blues.
  • Taverius - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link

    Reds are also linear, but much lighter than blacks. Blacks are ~60g, Reds are 45g.

    If blacks are mushy to you, Browns should be more your speed, as they have a bump like Blues, though they are slightly lighter at 45-55 compared to the Blues 50-60.
  • PPalmgren - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link

    What gets me about the gaming mech keyboards is I can't figure out what I am paying for over the G710+? Essentially, they're all the same, except some style points. I've read that red keylighting can for some reason be extremely distracting as well, so I'm a bit leery on that point.
  • Dorek - Wednesday, July 29, 2015 - link

    I have red lighting on my K70 and it's not distracting at all (though I can turn it off if I want, which I do when I'm playing games with a controller instead of the keyboard, or when I'm watching a video in the dark).
  • ericloewe - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link

    I feel the need to point out that centinewton should be spelled with lowercase and that the proper abbreviation is "cN".
  • Xpl1c1t - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link

    Anandtech, can you honestly expect someone to be productive with this typeset? This has 12 year old gamer crack written all over it.
  • arcr2014 - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link

    ugly. dont like it.

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