Mice & Keyboards by stefan @ 2013-11-04
Gaming on a budget but still willing to purchase one well-built gaming keyboard from a respected manufacturer? Then the S.T.R.I.K.E. 3 may be for you since it retains some of the important features of the more expensive variants and can be bought in 3 color variants: black, white and red, in order to match the other peripherals.
At first we would like to thank Mad Catz for offering me a sample of their S.T.R.I.K.E. 3 Gaming Keyboard for testing and reviewing.
"Mad Catz is a leading global provider of innovative products for the interactive entertainment industry. Mad Catz develops and markets accessories for videogame systems and PCs under its Mad Catz (casual gaming), Saitek (simulation), Eclipse (home and office) and TRITTON (gaming audio) brands. Mad Catz also operates e-commerce and content websites for videogame and PC products under its GameShark brand, develops, manufactures and markets proprietary earphones under its AirDrives brand and publishes and distributes video/PC games. Mad Catz distributes its products through most of the leading retailers offering interactive entertainment products and has offices in North America, Europe and Asia."
The PC Gamer's Ally
Mad Catz' S.T.R.I.K.E. 3 Gaming Keyboard is an ideal entry into the world of competitive gaming. Whether your game of choice is an FPS, RPG, MMO, RTS, MOBA or any other genre, precise key response, customizable backlighting, and programmable macro keys all help give you an advantage over the competition. When used in conjunction with a member of Mad Catz' lineup of award-winning R.A.T. gaming mice, you'll have all the inputs you need to play at your very best.
Key Membrane Optimized for Responsiveness
When a fraction of a second is all that divides victory from defeat, you must have absolute confidence in your gaming keyboard. The custom-crafted P.U.L.S.E. key bed employs a specially engineered membrane tuned to provide precise tactile feedback and five times the durability of traditional keyboards.
Speedy, double-tap friendly keys respond to an optimized 60g of actuation force and reset at the perfect level, all of which helps reduce muscle fatigue during sessions of prolonged gaming. And, S.T.R.I.K.E. 3 has anti-ghosting capabilities for up to seven simultaneous keystrokes.
Fully Customizable RGB Backlighting
Not all backlighting is equal. RBG backlighting with 16 million color variants – both through and around the keys – matches the keyboard to your gaming rig and the keys' laser-etched, lacquered light guides are ideal for gaming in dim environments. Custom, extra-bright backlighting colors also provide convenient 'at-a-glance' status indication for each of the keyboard's three modes.
12 Programmable Macro Buttons
The S.T.R.I.K.E. 3 Gaming Keyboard incorporates a dozen programmable macro buttons over three modes to create 36 user-definable commands. Each of the three modes can store your programmed macros, tripling mid-game access to available commands. Once programmed, custom profiles can be published to share with your community and saved for later recall, allowing for a seamless transition to another gaming PC.
Uncomplicated Macro Programming
An intuitive graphical interface vastly simplifies the formerly tedious task of macro programming. Assign single or multiple keystrokes – complete with custom timings – to macro keys and then easily fine-tune your settings. This ability is essential for fast-paced games which require clear but complex multi-key actions.
Conveniently Placed Shortcut Keys
Integrated shortcut keys provide the means to adjust media and backlighting without the need to open apps or programs. Quickly and easily pause or skip music tracks, tweak the volume, and alter backlighting brightness – all from buttons F5 though F12.
Speedy, double-tap friendly keys respond to an optimized 60g of actuation force and reset at the perfect level, all of which helps reduce muscle fatigue during sessions of prolonged gaming. And, the membrane has anti-ghosting capabilities for up to seven simultaneous keystrokes.
Windows Key Lock
Accidentally pressing the Windows key during an intense game can result in losing rather than winning. You have the power to completely disable the Windows key by merely sliding a switch.
Mad Catz has recently launched the latest variant from the S.T.R.I.K.E. series, named S.T.R.I.K.E. 3; it is followed by the more advanced V5 and V7 versions. The enclosure comes with a lot of information on the outside; the front has a photo of the main product design (with a small catch) and a description of the membrane technology used:
The catch we have previously mentioned is the fact that despite the large photo describes a black keyboard, the box can come with a different color version if we look carefully on the hint placed on the left:
On one of the box sides, if we have missed the initial hint, we are shown again the color version we should expect inside (this time we have received a red version sample):
The other product highlights are described on the back side of the box:
After removing the outside packaging, we will spot the quite large instruction manual:
The keyboard, along with its bundle is further placed in a plain cardboard box:
Besides one removable wrist rest, we will also get a warranty information leaflet along with a nice set of stickers:
The wrist rest has two areas made from shiny black plastic, which are covered with transparent plastic films to avoid scratches:
On its back we will spot some circular black rubber feet:
The keyboard itself is also fully covered with plastic, since most of its surface (except the keycaps) is made from shiny plastic:
S.T.R.I.K.E. 3 is quite gorgeous, especially in the red and white versions because of the nice contrast with the black key caps; one downside of having a shiny plastic surface is the fact that we are dealing with a fingerprint magnet and if we do not wipe it clean with a soft cloth, it may scratch easily:
On the top left side we have the first set of 7 macro keys, along with the Windows key lock, in the shape of a switch. Here we also have a button for switching between 3 modes, which multiplies the number of macro key functionalities which we can map:
The Space key is stylish, with a futuristic shape and the white line is semi-transparent so LED light will pass through it:
On its left we have one Fn key for activating some extra functions:
Near the last set of F-keys (F9-F10-F11-F12), we will find the LEDs for NumLock, ScrollLock and CapsLock:
In the vicinity we will also see a handle for transport:
An extra set of macro keys is placed between the directional arrows and the Delete, End and Page Down keys:
In order to distinguish properly the directional arrows even without looking at the keyboard, the macro keys are placed lower:
Remember the Fn key we were talking about earlier? Well, by pressing along with one of the F5 to F12 keys we will be able to access the multimedia buttons along with the LED intensity functions:
Let’s take a look at the bottom side of the keyboard too; despite the fact that we had an initial impression the keyboard could split in two separate components, we will see here that this is not possible:
On the upper corners we have two feet, which also have rubber endings:
Besides those, the keyboard is also equipped with multiple linear rubber feet:
In the middle the usual sticker can be found, along with the power rating and serial number:
The wrist rest is really easy to attach:
The unusual shape of the chassis can be also seen when looking at the back side of the keyboard:
S.T.R.I.K.E. 3 comes with a durable braided cable and the USB golden connector is branded:
When turned on, the keyboard looks even better thanks to the LED light effects:
Let’s turn off the lights! The key caps can be seen clearly with the multicolored LEDs. Here are some random examples we could obtain by working with the software GUI:
The top left macro keys light up independently and do not change their color along with the others. When browsing through the different modes, the “MODE” button will change its color too:
On the Mad Catz support section we have two areas available, one for choosing the driver and one for the actual software:
The GUI has a lot in common with the R.A.T. M. we have tested previously and includes a drag-and-drop interface for both Windows and Mac OS. For each programmable button we can use one of the preset functions or define some ourselves:
The interface can be further expanded in order to create new profiles:
The macros can be custom defined by accessing the last GUI tab from the left:
For each defined function we can also assign a graphical icon:
The Settings area will allow us to set the LED color for each mode:
The color can be customized in two modes:
The last menu is the Support one from where we can download the latest drivers and software, extra pre-programmed profiles which must be placed in Documents\Mad Catz\S.T.R.I.K.E3 folder, extra documentation or we can also submit a support ticket or contact the team directly:
With the S.T.R.I.K.E. keyboard series, and implicitly the S.T.R.I.K.E. 3 too, Mad Catz introduces the optimized key membrane technology with a custom crafted key bed for providing precise tactile feedback and more durability. We have felt that the new technology really helps since the keys do not feel as spongy as with the offerings from other manufacturers; Mad Catz also informs us that the keys respond to 60g of actuation force and S.T.R.I.K.E. 3 also comes with anti-ghosting capabilities so up to seven keys can be pressed at once.
The macro keys are placed in two separate areas and the ones found in the top left corner are smaller than the regular keycaps; we think that it is better to allocate functions which are not accessed very often to the top keys and the middle combo keys for frequent presses. The Windows Key lock function was built by Mad Catz as a switch and not as a simple button, so it would be harder to toggle accidentally.
Despite the fact that the keyboard is not divided in sectors like the Apex from SteelSeries, S.T.R.I.K.E. 3 also supports 16 million color variants and for each mode we can set a completely different setup.
Other elements which are preserved from the high-end variants are the braided cable and the golden USB connector for optimal contact. The wrist rest is easy to attach and remove and provides additional comfort during long gaming sessions.
The S.T.R.I.K.E. 3 keyboard was thought for more budget-oriented customers who would still like to buy a good quality keyboard without breaking a bank. It can be found in online stores for about 79 euros without the transport costs.
We would like to thank again to Mad Catz for making this review possible!