INTRODUCTION

   If you happen to be a gamer or if you're just keeping track of all the gaming peripherals to hit the market in the past year or so then you probably know that gamers are currently divided into two groups. So on one hand we have the ones who put quality and performance first (practical we like to call them) and on the other we have all those who put design (looks) and features above all else. Luckily we live in a time where there are so many gaming peripherals manufacturers in the market that both groups have a good level of available products at their disposal made just for them. Fnatic Gear may not be the oldest manufacturer out there but they take pride in catering to the needs of serious gamers looking to further improve their performance and today we'll be looking at their RUSH G1 Silent Backlit Mechanical Keyboard.

   After 11 years of blood, sweat, and broken gear… we know what makes great Esports hardware. No flashy green lights will get you a Pentakill. No fan on a mouse will help you hit a headshot. Esports gear is about simplicity, comfort, and reliability - it’s exactly what you need to perform and nothing else. That's why we launched Fnatic Gear, professional grade equipment designed by one of the world’s best esports teams. After acquiring the Swedish brand Func, we’ve been working closely with our acquired development team building and refining our initial products. We wanted to make sure we released with a range of products good enough for our players, and therefore good enough for you. Now, we’re ready to show off all four products, the all new Flick, the refined Rush keyboard and the range of mousepads.

   As clearly indicated from its name / description the RUSH G1 Silent Backlit Mechanical Keyboard uses the latest Cherry MX Red Silent switches (linear / 50 million keystrokes / IP40 protection / 45 ± 15cN actuation force) which are "noise-optimized" with the help of two integrated component tappets, and a “precision-engineered” glass-fiber reinforced base. Cherry co-developed the "silent" switches with Corsair a couple of years ago and so far they only manufacture the MX Red Silent and MX Black Silent variants with single and RGB backlit illumination. For the RUSH G1 Silent Fnatic Gear used red color LED backlit illumination (4 levels plus pulse effect) and paired it with full N-Key rollover (6 key rollover is also supported via the Fn + N key combination), 128Kb of onboard memory, 2 USB pass-through ports, soft-touch rubber coating for the entire keyboard and a detachable wrist rest.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The RUSH G1 gets shipped inside a white box that has a large product picture at the front along with the Cherry MX switches used and the company logo.

A small sticker at the base of the box has the product serial number and barcode on it.

Another product picture is placed at the rear of the box and printed next to it are the main product pictures.

The keyboard is not only placed inside a plastic bag and between two thick pieces of foam but it's also placed between two cardboard pieces.

Unfortunately bundle is quite limited so aside the keyboard and its detachable wrist rest with its two clips you will only get a quick start guide.

THE RUSH G1 SILENT

Measuring 448mm in length, 148mm in width and 33mm in height the 1275g heavy RUSH G1 is very similar to most "basic" mechanical keyboards.

The company logo is placed on the right upper corner and here you can also have a look at the soft-touch rubber coating Fnatic Gear has used (feels great but sweaty hands leave many marks on it).

As usual with the help of the Fn (function) key F1 through F6 also double as media keys (mute audio, volume up/down, play/pause, previous/next) while F7 through F11 double as profile keys (each can hold up to 10 macro keys) and the F12 key enables the Fnatic Gear Mode (disables Windows keys and allows use of macro keys).

You can control the 4 brightness levels via the FN and up and down keys on the numeric keypad.

Here we see the Cherry MX Red Silent backlit switches (also notice the red backplate which adds to the durability of the keyboard).

The two USB pass-through 2.0 ports are placed on the right front next to the Fnatic Gear logo.

On its base the RUSH G1 has 4 small rubber feet and two height adjusters.

These height adjusters raise the higher end of the keyboard roughly 11mm from the desk.

Attaching the detachable wrist rest is not hard, just mount the two clips on it and then onto the keyboard as seen above.

With the wrist rest attached the RUSH G1 Silent now measures roughly 210mm in width.

The keyboard actually has 3 brightness levels (plus all off) and above you can see the 1st and 3rd levels.

RUSH SETTINGS SOFTWARE

If you want more control over Macros you will need to download the Rush Settings software from the Fnatic Gear downloads page as seen above.

The software is extremely basic so you can assign up to 10 macro keys (from the far left end) to each one of the 5 available profiles.

Of course you can assign many functions on each of the keys and not just Macros (as seen above).

The macro recorder allows you to record up to 26 different commands / lines.

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

   The RUSH G1 Silent is a no-thrills mechanical gaming keyboard much like several others we’ve tested in the past (including the SteelSeries 6Gv2 and even the HyperX Alloy FPS models) so from the get go it’s clearly aimed towards a specific segment of the market. It features very good build quality (although do keep in mind that it’s very easy to leave marks on its soft-touch rubber coating) and that along with the Cherry MX Red Silent switches will almost certainly appeal to gamers and even casual users who care not about RGB illumination and dedicated macro and media keys. Worth pointing out is that the Cherry MX Red Silent keys don’t offer the same feedback as the regular ones so do also keep that in mind (they were mend to be less noisy and they excel at that). The only thing we don’t understand is why Fnatic Gear didn’t use more effects aside the Pulse one. Sure that may had changed the entire concept behind the RUSH G1 but it could attract more potential buyers (regardless due to high demand I’m quite positive Fnatic Gear will eventually release an RGB variant).

   While we’re wrapping up our review of the RUSH G1 Silent Backlit Mechanical Keyboard by Fnatic Gear it can be found for USD89.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 89.99Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk). You also have the choice of purchasing the keyboard directly from the official Fnatic Gear Shop here for the same price as above. Overall we feel that the price tag reflects exactly what you’re getting and that’s a quality keyboard with Cherry MX Red Silent switches, 2 USB 2.0 pass-through ports, 4 backlit levels and a detachable wrist rest and although the RUSH G1 may not be the best keyboard out there today it’s still worthy of our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality (Rubber Coating)
- Cherry MX Red Silent Switches (50 Million Actuations / Noise Optimized)
- N Key / 6 Key Rollover
- 4 Backlit Levels With Pulse Effect
- Detachable Wrist Rest
- Two USB 2.0 Pass Through Ports
- 5 Onboard Profiles (10 Macro Keys Each)
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- Single Color LEDs
- Very Basic Control Software
- Rubber Coating (Easily Marked)