CONCLUSION

   Up until roughly two years ago i thought that Cherry was only responsible for their excellent MX mechanical switches and that they had no presence in the market (at least not the PC consumer one) but boy was i wrong. It didn't really come as a surprise since when you have the largest production of mechanical switches in the world (and even that's not enough to provide every keyboard manufacturer in the market with them - thus many use Kailh or even their very own ones) it makes sense for you to also manufacture your very own keyboards. Unfortunately because of its thin size and target audience the Strait was never going to get mechanical switches but even so with 10 million keystrokes lifetime for its membrane switches and a 3 year warranty i doubt many will really have a problem with that. Besides as mentioned numerous times in this review the target audience of the Strait prefers a less audible and a much smaller solution compared to mechanical and even regular membrane keyboards (not to mention a keyboard with which they can type faster). Finally at first i thought that I’d obviously like it a lot more had Cherry used a all-aluminum body for the Strait but it doesn't take long to realize that had they done so not only would its weight increase substantially but so would its end price.

   Unlike many other EU based manufacturers Cherry products are widely available all around the globe so currently you can find their Strait keyboard for USD95.09 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 52Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk). Overall i don't think that Cherry asks a lot for their Strait keyboard in the EU but the same doesn't apply for the USA since there things are the other way around. I can't comment on whether or not Cherry will take steps to change that (my guess is that they will eventually) so until that happens i really can't recommend the Strait keyboard for anyone living there. For EU based consumers however pricing is very good and since we feel that the Strait offers just what its target audience wants (low-profile silent keys) it gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- Overall Build Quality (10 Million Keystrokes Lifetime)
- Size / Weight
- Low Profile & Silent Keys
- Faster Typing
- Available In Several Versions (Black / White / Silver / Wood)
- Price (EU)

CONS

- Price (USA)
- Hard Plastic Housing (For Some)