Admittedly, this keyboard kind of surprised me - but in a good way!
I have several gaming keyboards (and mice and headsets - I game... lots!). I was quite happy with my prior keyboard (a Tesoro). Thing is, this new keyboard from TOMOKO replaced it for me in short order as my go-to now, for several reasons.
For one, I thought this would be a really wide keyboard. My Tesoro was a great fit for my lap when I am gaming from my recliner, but it leaves the number pad off on the right. This one includes the number pad, and all of the keys are still traditionally sized (I do so much typing on this, not just gaming, so being able to simply knuckle down and crank out hundreds of words in short order is a must for me and irregular key sizes can sometimes mess with me) and it still fit perfectly where I wanted it. It is not only comfortable from my lap, but also has a rubbery bottom that keeps the keyboard from sliding around on my desk when I am using it there. So right off of the bat, the TOMOKO Keyboard was off to a good start from a comfort standpoint.
The design is solid, yet lightweight with wrist rests molded into the frame. I personally like this, but since they are part of the keyboard, they cannot be removed. There is plenty of flash to be had here as well with the different colored keys that are backlit, the side lights and so on. The lights are bright and easy to see, perfect for those who like some flash with their keyboard. There is limited customization, one of the few things that might annoy some users.
What I mean by this is there are several pre-programmed lighting functions. You can toggle between ones that react to key depression, that have a futuristic lighting pattern that sweeps from one side to the other or swipes back and forth against and across one another, or them the lights off completely. There are some dimming options as well. However, you cannot do anything to change the color scheme - it always has a rainbow aesthetic. While that does not particularly bother me, I suspect some people who prefer uniform colors (for example Nick has his keyboard and mouse both synced up with the same breathe pattern to the same dark hue of red) might be slightly put off by this.
Visually, the keyboard remains sharp. The lighting options are a plus, as are the cleanly cut keyboard keys. I liked the wrist rests at the bottom as well. The keyboard itself has a sturdier, metal-like feel and finish to it that I appreciated. Speaking of design, the height of the keys, the slant of the board, the prop-up feet underneath as well as the rubber pads are all good design choices. One of the more interesting design choices that seems good in theory (but that admittedly I did not test, because while the picture showing water being poured on it is all well and good, that is a step or three further than I wanted to go) is that there are drain holes in the bottom of the keyboard so that if you spill water in, it can escape. Cool idea which I was not about to pour a cup of water onto and test, but I like where they went with it.
The keyboard itself is light, which is nice since I tend to keep it on my lap. The keys themselves perform wonderfully and there are some cool multimedia shortcuts built in as well. The volume up and down shortcuts were the ones I got the most mileage out of. However, it is worth noting that there are no programmable keys for macro-creation. A little disappointing and a feature found in other more expensive keyboards, but that is the catch here - the value versus the price you are paying. With may gaming keyboards ringing in at a range of $100-$200, this one's asking price is far less ranging closer to sixty at the time of my writing this.
As for the keys themselves, they got a several thousands works a day workout between school and home life since arrival, and all of them continue to work flawlessly. This keyboard features blue switches, so you get the nice clicking and tactile feedback from the key strikes that I personally have come to love over the years of using mechanical keyboards. A nice touch is the complimentary key puller that the keyboard comes with that allows you to remove a key and perform some cleanup duty down below if necessary. All in all, this TOMOKO keyboard looks nice, it is comfortable, it appears to be quite durable and it functions really well.
You can find this keyboard here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DBJTZZW/
Hardware Information
PC
Publisher(s):
TOMOKO
Victsing
Type:
Mechanical Keyboard (Blue Switch)
Source:
Provided by Publisher
Article by Chris H.
