CONCLUSION

    The father company of be quiet! (Listan) acquired MOUNTAIN back in 2022 and so it was just a matter of time for them to either continue the MOUNTAIN brand or release peripherals under the be quiet! name and well, at least for now it’s the latter. It's the right move, the be quiet! name is far more recognizable than MOUNTAIN and well, that alone could drive sales. Now as for the Light & Dark Mount keyboards there’s not much I can say that hasn’t been covered in this review already. Build quality is very good, ARGB lighting is quite impressive for both models and as for features both keyboards offer quite a bit with the Dark Mount obviously offering more. I was happy to see that be quiet! made a more robust mounting mechanism for the numeric keypad of the Dark Mount model (the Everest models by MOUNTAIN had some issues in that regard) but if I was to nitpick, I’d probably point out that the LCD of the media dock is way too small (would had used a much larger one but I do realize cost is always an concern). As for the orange and black switches, be quiet! has used with their new keyboards well, you’ll need to spend quite a bit of time getting used to them that’s for sure. Honestly, I didn’t like them at first, the lack of feedback due to them being too soft was an issue for me and took me well over 3 days to get used to them (I’m more of a blue and red switches guy myself). This however also means that these switches are the most silent mechanical ones I’ve used to date (they actually compare to membrane ones) so that could be a strong selling point for some consumers. As for the IO center software I did mention that the OS compatibility printed at the rear of the boxes was important and well, it is. Used 3 different systems while trying to update the firmware of the keyboards and only the one running Windows 11 Pro (the other two run on Windows 10 Pro) was able to complete the update procedure (of course this could be some issue with my systems).

    Both the Light & Dark Mount Silent Gaming Keyboards by be quiet! were officially released today with an MSRP of USD169.90/254.90 inside the USA and 169.90/259.90Euros inside the EU. These prices are actually quite balanced what you’re getting, especially since it’s backed by the be quiet! name. Both the Light & Dark Mount models by be quiet! may not be perfect but they do come close and since they deliver where they should the Golden Award is in order.

 PROS

- Build Quality (Brushed Aluminum Plates)
- Hot Swap Silent Switches (Orange / Black)
- Front ARGB LED Bar (Light Mount)
- 3D Media Wheel & 5 Macro Keys (Light Mount)
- Detachable LCD Media Dock (Dark Mount)
- Detachable Numpad With 8 Display Keys
- Full RGB Per Key Illumination (6 Effects)
- NKey Rollover With 100% Anti Ghosting
- Magnetic Wrist Rests
- IO Center Software (Available Settings)

CONS

- Price (For Some)
- Limited Switch Feedback (Too Soft / For Some)