Corsair Strafe - worth 80$? [video review]

[Fluffybakon]

 

Hello and welcome to my first review on this forum, the Corsair Stafe.

 

Ill break the Review down into 3 sections, Build Quality, Lighting, and Software.

 

Build Quality

 

The Strafe is a very well built keyboard from the bottom to the top. It is made completely from a solid black plastic with a nice texture. The combination of this plastic and the metal plate inside the keyboard means that this keyboard has zero flex whatsoever, and you never feel like the keyboard is going to collapse while you're typing. There are 2 solid plastic feet at the back of the keyboard that can be raised to provide the keyboard with some extra hight, but i found that the keyboard was comfortable in the stock position, and left it there. Moving on to the keycaps, they are made of a clear plastic material that has then been coated with black coloring, which makes the light shine through the keys very nicely. A side note on they keys, the windows key has 1x spacing compared to the more standard 1.25x, which can make it somewhat more complicated finding alternate keycap sets for the Strafe. In the box come included 2 additional sets of keycaps, one is FPS gaming keys, featuring WAS and D keys, amd the other, for MOBA gamers, features QWERD and F keys. Both are contoured and textured, and I like that the Strafe comes with these included.

 

Lighting

 

The Strafe has 3 lighting 'zones', all of which are software controllable. The first 'zone' is the backlighting. There are plenty of presets to chose from, and the LED's are fantastic. They get bright, they're vibrant, and you can on the fly change their brightness aswell as lock the windows key. The second and third 'zones' are the 2 LED strips on either side of the keyboard. While useless to you, they do look very sleek from a distance, and i really like their inclusion.

 

Software

 

Finally, software. The Stafe can be controlled through Corsair Utility Engine, or CUE. CUE is decently intuative, but fairly useless for most. You'll probably end up setting the lighting effects to what you like and never going back, or maybe returning every so often to spark some new flair to your keyboard. What's nice is that you can edit the lighting effects and make your own, which is a benefit for some. On the RGB variant of this keyboard, you can change the color as you wish, but on the solely red version, you can only change the brightness

[minibois]

Keep in mind, this sub forum requires the video to be a compliment to your full written review:

Quote

2 - The video is only to complement your complete, written review on the site. You cannot simply post a video.

https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/505597-posting-guidelines-please-read-before-posting/

 

Cool video though. The Strafe is a nice mechanical board that wont break the bank, but still has some nice features.

The only things I would say I dislike, are the glossy sides (which is a really dumb thing to have, on an otherwise mat plastic keyboard) and some of the non standard sized keycaps (notice that the Windows key is 1x in width, as opposed 1.25x on normal keyboards). This makes shopping for replacement keycaps a bit harder.

 

[Ryujin2003]

Is therea particular reason you didn't get the RGB variant?

I've been looking at the Strafe as in currently rocking a K40. I'm a little nervous about the plastic because it I like a keyboard that has a solid feel to it. Most plastic boards are light and side around on me.

 

Also, how scratch resistant are there let's? Are they going to wear out and turn to clear plastic after several years of use?

 

I'm waiting for Black Friday sales to see if the Strafe or another K series board come on sale.

 

Lastly, how do the reds compare to the browns?

[Fluffybakon]

14 minutes ago, Minibois said:

Keep in mind, this sub forum requires the video to be a compliment to your full written review:

https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/505597-posting-guidelines-please-read-before-posting/

 

Cool video though. The Strafe is a nice mechanical board that wont break the bank, but still has some nice features.

The only things I would say I dislike, are the glossy sides (which is a really dumb thing to have, on an otherwise mat plastic keyboard) and some of the non standard sized keycaps (notice that the Windows key is 1x in width, as opposed 1.25x on normal keyboards). This makes shopping for replacement keycaps a bit harder.

 

Ah, im sorry, i didn't notice that rule  Do you want me to take the post down/add writing?

 

 

[Mackelt]

14 minutes ago, Ryujin2003 said:

Is therea particular reason you didn't get the RGB variant?

I've been looking at the Strafe as in currently rocking a K40. I'm a little nervous about the plastic because it I like a keyboard that has a solid feel to it. Most plastic boards are light and side around on me.

 

Also, how scratch resistant are there let's? Are they going to wear out and turn to clear plastic after several years of use?

 

I'm waiting for Black Friday sales to see if the Strafe or another K series board come on sale.

 

Lastly, how do the reds compare to the browns?

I have the strafe rgb mx silent and I have loved it. Corsair software is dogshit like expected but it still works out in the end

[minibois]

Just now, Fluffybakon said:

Ah, im sorry, i didn't notice that rule  Do you want me to take the post down/add writing?

I'm not a mod, so I cannot force you to do anything: as that would be backseat moderation.

 

Just notified you of that rule. If you add a written review here, it would likely be fine: otherwise a moderator would lock this thread and remove your video (because like this, this thread is seen as advertisement).

[Fluffybakon]

12 minutes ago, Ryujin2003 said:

Is therea particular reason you didn't get the RGB variant?

I've been looking at the Strafe as in currently rocking a K40. I'm a little nervous about the plastic because it I like a keyboard that has a solid feel to it. Most plastic boards are light and side around on me.

 

Also, how scratch resistant are there let's? Are they going to wear out and turn to clear plastic after several years of use?

 

I'm waiting for Black Friday sales to see if the Strafe or another K series board come on sale.

 

Lastly, how do the reds compare to the browns?

The Reason i didn't get the RGB variant is, as stated at the end of the video, it was the same price as the K70, which is the better keyboard, as it comes with dedicated media control keys and various bells and whistles that the Strafe doesn't come with. Also, by build is black and red, so i don't miss the RGB

 

The keyboard is very solid, it feels very premium and has zero flex, it's very well build and has a metal plate inside the keyboard to help with this.

 

So far i've been using the keyboard for about a month, and the keycaps are fine

 

 

 

[Fluffybakon]

2 minutes ago, Minibois said:

I'm not a mod, so I cannot force you to do anything: as that would be backseat moderation.

 

Just notified you of that rule. If you add a written review here, it would likely be fine: otherwise a moderator would lock this thread and remove your video (because like this, this thread is seen as advertisement).

Well, thanks for the information, i appreciate it

[Corsair Nick]

@Fluffybakon Thanks for taking the time to record your the very thorough review.  We're always listening, so when users give us constructive feedback (good and bad), it helps us know what you want for our next gen product launches.