Hexgears Impulse keyboard review - Cheap doesn't have to mean bad!

[Nowak]

 

I'm sure all of you are familiar with the "big" keyboard brands. Corsair, Cooler Master, Logitech, HyperX and the like, but what about Hexgears? Who the heck are they? Well, they're a keyboard maker from, uh.... either Germany or China (I'm not sure which, admittedly) who makes more budget-priced keyboards for gamers and typists alike, with a lot of their boards selling for just under $100. You might think that means that they're cheap, right? I mean, you can buy the Impulse for just $89 - that's $40 less than a Corsair K70 Mk2! Cheap means bad, right? Well, no.

 

Full disclosure, my board was not supplied to me by Hexgears; I bought it with my own money. The model I am reviewing is the RGB version with Pudding keycaps and Kailh Box Brown switches; this is also available in a non-RGB version with Kailh Box White or Hako Clear switches.

 

The Impulse, from unboxing to plugging it in, is a pretty no-frills board. The design is rather simple, although thankfully it has a standard bottom row, and layout-wise it is a pretty standard 104 key, ANSI layout board. There's the typical alphanumeric block, F keys, a nav cluster and a numpad. There is a lengthy braided USB cable, although it is unfortunately non-removable, and cable routing options are rather limited.

The top of the board is free of branding. There's a Hexgears logo on the back of the board behind the typing area, but it's out of the way. The keyboard also uses a floating switch design, which looks nice until you realize it leaves the switches more vulnerable to impacts from the side. Probably to make up for that, though, it makes cleaning easier.

 

Also, there's no software needed to use this board! You just need to plug it in and it works right away. This unfortunately means that customization is limited to what's already on the board, but there are enough profiles to allow you to get a lighting setup that you like, with a per-key lighting mode where you can create your own by hitting Fn + backspace.

 

Regardless of what model you get, the keycaps come standard as doubleshot PBT. What this means is the legends are a separate piece of plastic, and so will never fade. Really nice for a sub-$100 keyboard, especially since more expensive boards ship with cheaply-made ABS keycaps. The RGB model comes with pudding keycaps, which really help accentuate the colors. The font is also clean and not very "gamer-y", which is a plus.

 

 

Now onto the meat and potatoes, what's it like to type on this keyboard? Well, if you've ever typed on Cherry MX Browns before, then you're already familiar with how these keys feel! Well, mostly. The tactile bump on the Box Browns is a bit higher up than Cherry's switches, right about when you actuate the key. Whether or not you prefer this is up to you, but aside from that the keypress feels way smoother. There is much less wobble than a traditional MX-style switch, which is probably afforded by the "box" shape around the stem.

It's like a smoother MX Brown with slightly more tactility and less wobble, but otherwise inherits the mediocrity of MX Browns. It's tolerable at best. One thing I found odd, though, was I could not order the RGB model with Kailh Box Whites, which are clicky. I would have liked to have some clicky switches with this keyboard, as the clickbar that Kailh uses in their clicky switches provides more tactility and also, in my opinion, sounds better than the typical click jacket found in clicky MX-style switches like MX Blues and Outemu Blues. The fact that I could only order the Impulse RGB with non-clicky Box Browns seems odd to me. The stabilizers, while rattly, aren't as terrible as the ones found on a Corsair keyboard, and do a decent job at stabilizing the stabilized keys, stable-y. The floating key design combined with the thin PBT keycaps means that this is a rather noisy board, however, even though it doesn't have clicky switches. A demo of what this keyboard sounds like can be found here.

 

There are no dedicated media control keys, although volume and media playback is controlled by pressing Fn + F3 (volume down), F4 (volume up), F5 (mute), F6 (previous), F7 (play/pause) and F8 (skip). I prefer it this way, as it means the keyboard takes up less room on my desk, although a typical full size board like this does take up quite a bit of room to begin with. There are also no macro buttons, but macros can be recorded by also using Fn key combos. Everything about this board can be controlled with Fn key combos; some may find this more cumbersome, but it also means you don't have to rely on bloated software like Corsair iCue or Razer Synapse to control your keyboard. There is a cheat sheet included with the keyboard, and if not it can also be found on Kono.

 

Unlike the last keyboard I reviewed on here, there are two stage flip up feet on the bottom, allowing two stages of angle adjustment.

 

 

This is good if you don't find one angle to be "comfortable" when you type. I personally found the second stage to be the most comfortable, as the first stage was still too flat, but whatever you prefer depends on what, well, you prefer. If you prefer something a bit flatter, then go right ahead.

 

The build is very solid. There's very minimal flex to the board, there's a lot of heft to it and the keyboard is designed to, in Hexgears' words, "resist your worst impulses", so if you accidentally get food crumbs or spill water on it, I wouldn't worry too much. I'm not saying you should pour water on your keyboard just to test it out, but the IP56 rating of the Kailh Box switches definitely does help out some.

 

I did try out a few games with this keyboard, Team Fortress 2, The Outer Worlds, Super Animal Royale and Rust, but "gaming performance" is a meaningless metric, so I won't go into it. All I'll say is it did fine at gaming. Almost any keyboard will excel at gaming, even a shitty $30 Bluetooth board you can buy at Wal-Mart. That's all you need to know. Gaming is not the primary use of a keyboard; the typing experience matters far more in determining if a keyboard is good or bad.

 

Now, what's the verdict for the Hexgears Impulse? Honestly, I'm pretty impressed. I do believe I can recommend this keyboard over similarly-configured but more expensive boards. This is my first Hexgears keyboard, and considering how it costs anywhere from $40 - $100 less than competing keyboards from bigger brands, I think it's easy to say that if you're in the market for a full size keyboard, but don't want to spend Corsair money or you want something simpler than even a Cooler Master keyboard, this is the one you should pick up. The price of $89 is tempting, and the fact that it doesn't require software to use the keyboard's full feature set is a huge bonus, if anything. Overall, I'd give it a solid recommendation, especially at this price point, as it shows that just because it costs under $100 doesn't mean it's bad.

[Jtalk4456]

it's somehow weird to know that you have the exact same keyboard as me even down to the box browns. I guess this feeling is how most people with decent peripherals have always felt XD

[Nowak]

This is an old thread, I know, but I want to say that since this review the Impulse has been updated with hotswap sockets on the RGB model, allowing you to use any MX-compatible keyswitch with it