INTRODUCTION

   Time after time we've pointed out that currently the gaming peripherals market is so vast that it can cover pretty much every single consumer out there whether it's about keyboards, mice, headsets, gaming chairs and even monitors. Gaming keyboards in particular are not only available with membrane and mechanical switches but they are also designed after both people looking for a basic model and people who would like more bells and whistles like extra macro keys, RGB key illumination, dedicated media controls, removable wrist rests and more. Tt eSPORTS has released a great deal of keyboards since their introduction in the market a few years back (many of which have been awarded by numerous media) and today we're testing their latest mechanical offering called the MEKA Pro.

   A division of Thermaltake Gaming, Tt eSPORTS is committed to bringing the most personalized and the highest quality gear for the most competitive cyber battles, and advances the idea of products designed by gamers for gamers. Tt eSPORTS has continually been a major driving force in inspiring, challenging, and taking to new heights eSports in the professional gaming industry; and currently sponsors a multitude of gaming teams and streamers from around the world by equipping them with the necessary gaming gears - keyboards, headsets, mice and accessories - to compete and succeed at the highest level at major eSport events such as: DreamHack, Insomnia, epic.LAN and the Intel Extreme Masters. Tt eSPORTS continually strives to promote eSports as a global phenomenon and to put it onto the world stage.

   The MEKA Pro is the latest addition in the MEKA line of keyboards by Tt eSPORTS and unlike some of their Poseidon models which used Kailh mechanical switches it uses "genuine" Cherry MX ones (50 million clicks). With us today we have the Cherry MX Blue variant but if you want something more "silent" the MEKA Pro is also available with Cherry MX Brown and Red switches. In terms of features the MEKA Pro offers red illumination for its keys with 6 effects and 4 lighting zones (for FPS/MMO/MOBA/RTS games), anti-ghosting with N-key rollover (NKRO), soft rubberized coating for the entire top and the key caps, 1000Hz polling rate, 256 bit onboard memory and on the fly macro recording. Thermaltake also bundles 9 additional red keycaps with the MEKA Pro for people who want their keyboard to stand out.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

As usual the front of the box is taken by a large product picture, the company logo and the main product features.

At the bottom there's a short product description in 16 languages right next to several certification logos.

Moving at the rear we see Tt eSPORTS describing how you can use all features of the keyboard without the need of software.

The keyboard is wrapped inside a piece of fabric and placed inside an extension of the exterior box.

Along with the MEKA Pro Mechanical Gaming Keyboard you will also get the 9 red keycaps, keycap puller, quick start guide and a warranty policy paper.

THE MEKA PRO

The 1.2Kg heavy MEKA Pro is a medium sized keyboard that measures 439.8mm in length, 132.6mm in width and 36mm in height.

The company logo is placed on the upper right corner (aside on the keyboard) right next to the on-the-fly macro recording key.

With the help of the FN (function) key F1 through F8 also double as media navigation keys (previous, play/pause, next, stop, mute sound, volume decrease/increase and media player launch).

F9 through F12 on the other hand can be used to launch your email client, get back to your homepage on your internet browser, launch the calculator and open my computer.

From the print screen, scroll lock and pause keys you can change the light effects, lock windows keys and change the light modes.

You can also change the speed of the effects from the home and end keys (the page down key can be used to toggle between 6 key rollover and N-Key rollover).

The orientation and intensity of the lighting effects can be adjusted from the arrow keys.

1 through 6 in the numpad area also double as macro keys (to record macros press the red macro key on the far right corner and then the FN key with one of these macro keys. You can store up to 31 key presses with each macro).

Here we see the backlit Cherry MX blue switches.

On the base of the MEKA Pro we find 5 rubber feet and two height adjusters.

These height adjusters lift the top end of the keyboard roughly 10mm from the desk.

The 1.8 meter long rubber cable has a gold plated USB plug on its end.

Since Tt eSPORTS bundles 9 red keycaps with the MEKA Pro we decided to install them but unfortunately they are not as "stable" as the default ones (after using them for a while they worked ok).

Here we see the lowest and highest brightness settings of the MEKA Pro Mechanical Gaming Keyboard.

Some of the effects and zones are showcased in the above pictures.

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 Tt eSPORTS MEKA Pro is yet another no-thrills mechanical keyboard aimed towards consumers who are looking for a durable model with a good set of features accessible without the need of control software. Build quality is equal to what we’ve seen in the past by the Poseidon series of mechanical gaming keyboards so the MEKA Pro is quite durable (the rubber coating however is very easy to smudge). Unfortunately the keys don’t feature RGB illumination so that may disappoint some potential buyers but personally I also like red so at least for me that’s not really a drawback. Also adjusting the various features of the keyboard such as the lighting effects and modes may be somewhat confusing for some people at first but it’s never a bad thing to not need software to do so (having both however would be better).

   With a current price tag set at USD89.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and 108.85Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) the MEKA Pro Mechanical Gaming Keyboard by Tt eSPORTS sits at the center of similar models by a large number of competing manufacturers (its price is set just a tad high in the EU). Fortunately Tt eSPORTS focuses quite a bit in quality and that’s perhaps the main pitching feature of the MEKA Pro. Not saying of course that being able to access all of its features via the function and macro keys is a small deal but durability is one thing many other similar products can’t seem to keep up with. With that out of the way we don’t feel like the MEKA Pro sits at the top of mechanical keyboards today but it represents a very good choice for people looking for a keyboard without many bells and whistles and for that it comes highly recommended by us.

PROS

- Sturdy Construction
- Cherry MX Switches (Red / Blue / Brown with 50 Million Actuations)
- N Key / 6 Key Rollover
- 6 Illumination Effects with 4 Zones
- Gold Plated USB Plug
- On the Fly Macro Recording
- 9 Extra Red Keycaps
- Price (USA)

CONS

- No Dedicated Macro Keys
- Single Color LEDs
- Rubber Coating (Easily Marked)
- Price (EU)