Gigabyte Aivia Osmium Mechanical Gaming Keyboard - My Thoughts

[Jimbo]

After the fiasco with my blackwidow ultimate (where it started causing bizarre scrolling and mouse clicking randomly issues, then I discovered it was the source of my BSOD mania), I've been looking around for a replacement.

I was very interested in the Logitech G710+ as that's the company I come closest to fanboyism about, mainly due to my love of G9/X mice. However, the 'net is covered in stories of dead backlights and I'm sick of having macro keys on the left side that mess with my perception of where the escape key is (I never got used to it, maybe I'm just stuck at primate keyboard level).

So, after much research I decided to give the Osmium a try, here's my quick thoughts. (LINK TO KEYBOARD: GIGABYTE - PC Peripherals - Keyboard - Aivia - Aivia Osmium)


1. I LOVE not having macro keys down the left hand side, now everything is where I expect and there's still macro keys available if desired.

2. The volume and brightness wheels are awesome, beautiful action, click to mute/turn off, lovely rubberised finish - perfect.

3. The wrist rest is a bit weird, it should come full distance down the whole length of the keyboard. It also has a flat surface, which means it's really close to the desk at the leading edge, about 50% of the rest is only ~2cm high or less.

4. The replacement gaming keys are absurd, just a random collection of symbols.

5. The Aivia logo at the top right is also a profile switching button (cool) but it seems like you can't stop it doing a "breathing" effect without installing the Gigabyte Ghost software (uncool).

6. The only version available in Australia that I could find has cherry MX reds and blue backlighting, not the MX brown/white lighting the (newer?) other version has, I decided to give them a go and see what I thought, which unfortunately leads me to my final point...

7. I despise these switches. Why I've ever seen them recommended is beyond me, my experience is they feel like a rubber dome keyboard that has harsh bottom out. I've tried them for almost a week now and I simply can't stand them.

So... It looks as if I'll be taking the G710+ backlighting challenge, hope my number doesn't come up.

Anyone who wants to buy a gigabyte aivia osmium would do well to try red switches before committing, then if they decide for whatever reason to go ahead, they should PM me. :lol:

 

[That Norwegian Guy]

Why are there no keyboard manufacturers who can get colours right? I want BROWN switches with RED LEDs damnit!

 

Thanks for the review, and I agree with your distaste for Cherry MX reds, but they exist for a reason - no snag while strafing/spamming. Like if you want to stop strafing the key can sometimes snag on it's way up on blue or black switches leading you to continue stafing instead and fall off a cliff or other derpness. But Browns are equally good for that, but at least you can feel them.

[Jimbo]

Ahhh, that makes some sense at least, thanks for the explanation. :)

 

Forgot to mention, one of the great things on it is that ALL the keyboard symbols are backlit, whereas on the blackwidow anything with dual printing on a key only had one of them backlit. This is a major improvement.