| Form Factor: TKL | Switch: Roccat Titan (Linear) | Connector: USB | Keyboard Software: Roccat Swarm or Roccat Swarm II |
| Dimensions (cm) (W x H x D): |
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| Weight (Kg): |
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| Price: | £119.99 (MSRP) |
| RGB Lighting: | Yes |
| Media Controls: | Yes |
| Macro Keys: | Yes (non-dedicated) |
| Removable Cable: | Yes |
| Windows Lock: | Yes |
| Keyboard Status: | Fully working |
| Other Features: |
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The Roccat Vulcan TKL is gaming keyboard from 2020. It doesn’t have any special features, but it at least doesn’t look gamery like many gaming keyboards before it.
TL;DR
It’s a great keyboard if you don’t need a numpad and if you can find it for its discounted price of £60. Otherwise, I would look into Keychron’s offerings. The Keychron V3 or K8 Max are very compelling choices.
Build Quality: 7/10
The base is made of durable enough plastic with the top being made of brushed aluminium.
Just like with the Roccat Vulcan 122 AIMO, the TKL variant also uses the same thin, laser ablated keycaps. While this is cheap way to make keycaps, they aren’t great for longevity.
Disappointingly, the cable for this model isn’t braided. This was quite a surprise given this is the TKL model – something that would more likely be carried around to competitions, LAN events etc. This is a downgrade compared to the Vulcan 122 from 2019.
Overall, apart from the keycaps and the non-braided cable, the keyboard is well built, but it doesn’t do anything outstanding.
Features: 7/10
One of selling features is the Easy Shift function which is essentially another layer. GAME MODE and FN macros functions are also new additional features.
This keyboard is also compatible with both Swarm I and Swarm II. Although, configuring it with Swarm II was a much better experience, but it still has major flaws.
Just like with Swarm I, Swarm II doesn’t let me save any customization I made to the keyboard. The keyboard will revert back to default as soon as I close the software – the software has to be running in the background for anything to work. Additionally, I again could not get any strings to output! Very disappointing.
Once again, only some keys are compatible with the Easy Shift feature. They made an already very limiting feature even more limited! It would be nice to see all the keys have an Easy Shift function.
Other features I haven’t mentioned:
RGB lights that would dim after a few minutes of inactivity – A great feature which improves LED light longevity. LEDs being burnt out was an issue in my Corsair K70 RGB keyboard which I reviewed over 5 years ago and was my daily driver for about 2 years.
Media keys from the F9 to F12, a mute button and a volume knob.
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Overall, it’s very similar to the Vulcan 122, but in TKL form. At least now you have a removable cable, per-key RGB lighting and a way to turn off or adjust the RGB brightness.
Daily Performance: 7/10
Despite this being the black model, the RGB still stands out as the keyboard features a ‘floaty’ keycap design. Although, the white model still looks better in my opinion.
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Additionally, they got rid of the ugly lock light implementation. Both the RGB LED for CAPS LOCK and SCROLL LOCK now turn white when enabled – it even works when the all the RGB LEDs are turned off.
However, they still have a few issues.
Firstly, the stabilizers are still loud and rattily making the keyboard sound really cheap. Roccat clearly did not improve upon these.
Secondly, even though this keyboard is compatible with Swarm II – the newer and latest keyboard software from Turtle Beach, it still doesn’t let me save my customizations on the keyboard.
Lastly, Swarm II still doesn’t sync up the colours being displayed on the keyboard in real-time. This could be the last modern keyboard software missing this (minor) feature.
Overall, Roccat made small quality of life improvements with this keyboard making it more suitable for the modern era, but the changes were relatively minor.
Reliability: 7/10
This keyboard will be decently reliable given it uses modified MX-based switches (Roccat Titan Linear). The cable is also removable and replaceable which further increases reliability for when the cable stops working.
My two biggest concerns are the RGB LEDs and the keycaps. These will need replacing at some point in the future, but replacing the keycaps is an easy task given the switches use the MX Mount and the keyboard uses a standard layout.
Overall, even though MX switches and MX-based switches have failed on me in the past, they’re still very reliable, but they aren’t as reliable as optical or hall-effect switches.
Value: 1/10
Keyboards like the Keychron V3 Max Wireless or K8 Max Wireless have the features this keyboard has and more – both these keyboards cost roughly $115 and typically go on sale for around $100. Plus, there is generally more competition in the TKL space compared to full-size keyboards, so I wouldn’t go for these unless it is significantly discounted.
Overall, have a look at what Keychron is offering if you want a good deal. Or, if you wish to go custom, the NovelKeys Classic TKL for $89 or the NCR 80 are reasonable choices too if you don’t mind a bit of tinkering.
Final Score = 29/50 (58%)
Places to purchase this keyboard:
eBay | Turtle Beach | Amazon