INTRODUCTION

   LAN events have never been extremely popular where i live but even so over the years I’ve managed to attend quite a few both here and abroad some of which i still remember due to the fun i had there. Unfortunately although eSports in general are gaining ground not many manufacturers cater to the needs of people who attend such LAN events. Sure there are countless gaming peripherals in the market today by a large number of companies ranging from gaming keyboards and headsets to mouse, mats and even carrying bags but most are not really targeted towards use in LAN events but rather by gamers in general. Tt eSPORTS is amongst a handful of manufacturers currently that actually market gaming peripherals primarily for use in LAN events and one such product is the Challenger Go Gaming Keyboard which we've been using for almost a month now.

   “Challenge is the game” highlights the philosophy to bring out gamers’ addiction in gaming and the ambition of reaching to the extreme. Tt eSPORTS, a gaming obsessed division from Thermaltake, is uniting gamers from all over the world in a unique & fascinating eSPORTS culture, inherited the spirits of Thermaltake, is an energetic, powerful, bold and intelligent challenger who never says “no” to the extreme competition. We do not only provide gamers the ultimate gaming gears but also fulfills the passion to achieve the ultimate success. Thermaltake has been a well-known brand in the gaming & DIY market for PC Chassis, Coolers and Power Supplies PSU for many years. The brand personality of unique, aggressive, vivid and stylish makes Thermaltake an expert in creating exciting things and fascinating environment for gamers and enthusiasts. Tt eSPORTS inherited the brand personality with unique and creative design by observing users’ behaviors and requirements. The fan cooling design on Tt eSPORTS Challenger keyboard demonstrate the brand spirit. It is the worldwide first keyboard with fan cooling function that could dry your hand sweats and blow tension away during cut-throat competition.

   The first thing one expects when getting a brand new gaming keyboard model is for it to feature mechanical switches but unfortunately that's not the case with the new Challenger Go. This may sound a bit strange at first but if you look at the nature of this product it actually isn't. We are after all talking about a keyboard which needs to be light (I’m pretty certain that no one wants to carry heavy peripherals in their backpack) and since it will be used in LAN events chances are that it will probably not be the primary one (thus it shouldn't cost as much as the one you use all the time at home or at work). That of course doesn't mean that Tt eSPORTS hasn't given the Challenger Go plenty of features so here we see a removable cable design (easier to pack), fast response (short activation distance) membrane keys (MTBF of 10 million keystrokes), 10 programmable macro keys (4 modes each resulting in 40 macros) and blue back-lit illumination (5 levels plus a pulse lighting mode) for both the keys and sides of the keyboard.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The Challenger Go ships inside a long box with a large product picture at the front right next to the company logo and the three main product features.

A second picture placed at the rear of the box is used to showcase all of its features.

The keyboard is wrapped inside a plastic bag and then placed in a piece of cardboard.

Along with the Challenger Go keyboard you are also getting the removable miniUSB to USB cable, cable carrying/storage pouch, quick installation guide and the warranty policy paper.

THE CHALLENGER GO

Although designed for LAN events the Challenger Go is by no means a small keyboard (measures 497mm in length, 202mm in width and 24mm in height).

To showcase its size we placed it right next to the Lobera Supreme a large keyboard which we were all surprised to see that it's a tad smaller compared to the Challenger Go.

Tt eSPORTS has placed their dragon logo at the lower mid center of the keyboard.

10 fully programmable macro keys are placed on the two ends of the keyboard (via the keyboards 4 different modes these keys can be used with up to 40 macro commands).

F1 through F7 also double as multimedia keys when used with the Fn key (previous, play/pause, next, stop, mute, volume down/up).

F11 can also be used to switch between all available illumination levels while F12 can change profiles on the fly.

At the front of the keyboard we find the miniUSB port for the cable and two full size USB ports which can be used with devices that require up to 100mA (since the Challenger Go only has a single USB connector and no DC in this was expected).

Four rubber feet (two of them rather large), a small canal from where you can route the cable so it doesn't interfere with the USB connectors and two height adjusters are placed at the base of the keyboard.

These height adjusters keep the top end of the keyboard roughly 15mm from the desk.

Both the miniUSB and the USB connector are gold plated while the 2m long cable is braided.

Here we have placed pictures of the highest and lowest illumination settings with and without the Tt eSPORTS logo.

CONTROL SOFTWARE

You can download the control software from the official Tt eSPORTS support page and as you can see it's very simple.

Through here you can change between all 4 available profiles, setup the macro keys, adjust the illumination with 20% increments (and the pulse option), enable/disable the logo illumination, use the timer, load/save settings from/to the computer and finally you can save the settings onto the on-board flash rom of the keyboard.

AUDIBLE FEEDBACK

Many people ask my opinion on what keyboard they should get for their needs. Some want a “silent” model for use in their living room or even in their bedroom while others ask for a model with good audible feedback for use in the office or for gaming. Because of this I decided to test keyboards by placing our ExTech HD600 vertically over each keyboard (5cm distance) and typing NikKTech a total of 6 times with each (after that the max recorded number - max hold - is placed in the graph). I have to admit that this may not be 100% accurate but it does give a good idea on what you can expect from each model since aside the type of switches used keycaps and keyboard material also matter.

CONCLUSION

   Tt eSPORTS had two things they needed to pay extra attention while designing the Challenger Go, its size and weight and the number of features which should obviously be good enough in order to appeal to serious gamers. Unfortunately features and size are two things that rarely ever go hand to hand and so since Tt eSPORTS decided to place 10 dedicated macro keys on the Challenger Go that was more than enough to make it quite large and in the end even larger compared to several other keyboards we have here. The good news is that the Challenger Go although large is actually quite light and weighs less than 1Kg. Build quality is also quite good (less than great however), the low-profile keys are really fast when pressed (although too soft for my taste), the two front USB ports work as they should with USB flash drives (2.5" drives not so much) and the illumination modes are actually very good (if you don't care about RGB that is). However we do need to point out that at first it was really hard for us to read the keys (at least in our sample) since the numbers and letters seemed to have faded out. This gets resolved when you turn on the back lit feature but still we found that very strange and certainly worth pointing out.

   We already mentioned that Tt eSPORTS also had to pay extra attention to the price of the Challenger Go and they did since it retails for just USD59.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for around 60Euros inside the EU. Now there's quite a bit of competition in that price range between several membrane based models and you can always opt for an entry-level mechanical gaming keyboard by going a bit higher but based on its quality, size and features we think that Tt eSPORTS priced it well. So if you're out in the market looking for a cost-effective keyboard (primary or secondary) which you can take with you in LAN events the Challenger Go might just be the right one for the job which is why we definitely recommend taking a closer look..

PROS

- Design
- Weight (For Its Size)
- 5 Level Backlight Illumination
- Low-Profile Fast Keys
- 10 Macro Keys (40 Macros In Total)
- Two USB Ports
- Removable Cable
- Braided Cable / Gold Plated Plugs
- Control Software

CONS

- Membrane Switches (For Some)
- Size (For Some)
- Faded Keys (?)