INTRODUCTION

   As far back as i can remember I’ve always used regular sized 101-109 key keyboards not because that was my preference but because there wasn't anything else in the market to choose from. As a matter of fact it's only been a while since we've seen quite a few manufacturers offer keyboards that either lack the numeric keypad, are modular and thus can be arranged according to what the user thinks is best for him or have the keys placed differently. A few weeks ago with us we had the latest mechanical keyboard from Deck Keyboards called the 87 Francium Pro which is basically a somewhat compact keyboard due to the fact that it lacks the numeric keyboard entirely and thus only offers 87 keys. Deck however didn't forget all of you who are used to using regular sized keyboards and so they also released the brand new 1080 Hassium Pro a full-size mechanical gaming keyboard with a total of 108 keys.

   TG3 Electronics, Inc. is a leading supplier of engineered input solutions. These solutions include; standard and custom keyboards, bump bars, and control panels. TG3 was incorporated in 1986 by its founder, Tom Giles. With an international sales force and the best engineers in the industry, TG3 has grown steadily over the past 23 years. Headquarters is located in a 45,000 square foot, state of the art facility in Kenosha, WI. TG3 also has a major manufacturing interest in Zhuhai China and Hong Kong. TG3 sells into a very diverse marketplace that includes but is not limited to; medical, industrial, point of sale, military, mobile data, telecommunications, white goods, and gaming. Whether your input requirements are large or small, complex or simple, TG3 can handle your application from concept to completion.

   Just by taking a quick look at both the 87 Francium Pro and the 108 Hassium Pro it's very easy to see that to save as much space as possible Deck has tried to keep things very simple so the first thing you will probably notice is the lack of the typical lock LEDs placed at the top right corner of virtually every keyboard in the market. That however is not the only similarity these two keyboards have and so they also share the same Cherry MX mechanical keys (Full N-Key Rollover), programmable LED illumination effects (thanks to the NUC123 32-bit Cortex™-M0 microcontroller that runs at 72MHz and features 10-bit ADC with 20KB SRAM), direct macros and of course the same high build quality. Now as you all know the 87 Francium Pro lacks the numeric keypad found in the 108 Hassium Pro but on the other hand for reasons unknown to us Deck seems to have left out the media control key markings with the 108 Hassium Pro (F1 through F6) and although i can't say i care much for that feature still some people might not feel the same. So the time has come to move forward with this review and take a closer look at the 108 Hassium Pro.