INTRODUCTION

   There are currently two "factions" in the PC gaming community, the ones who love RGB peripherals and consider them to be a must and the ones who think that they are nothing really special and thus stick to single color models. Now we really do enjoy working with and using RGB "capable" peripherals and PC cases but the truth of the matter is that leaving out that specific feature there are many single color peripherals in the market right now which are just as good or in many cases even better. Still our job is to find the most "interesting" gaming peripherals currently available in the market and since there's really no doubt that RGB LED illumination is very popular as we speak todays review is about the Strike Pro Spectra Mechanical Gaming Keyboard by our friends over at Ozone Gaming.

   Ozone Gaming was founded in Spain in 2009, our mission was to create a company where we could all enjoy and relish our work. Our own space, a gaming environment from where we could show our particular point of view to the rest of the world. We love videogames, we love to experience other lives, conquer other planets and fight against hard opponents. We wanted to live like this for all the days to come. We made it, our company shares passion and love for what we do. We have fulfilled our most desirable dream. Oh, in case that you didn't notice, we craft gaming products to share our passion with you. And here we are, soldiers of the game. Get to know us.

   The Strike Pro Spectra Gaming Keyboard is currently available both in 104 and 105 key versions with Cherry MX red, black, blue and brown mechanical switches that feature gold plated contacts and are rated for well over 50 million operations. As its name clearly states the Strike Pro Spectra has RGB (16.8 million) lighting for its keys with 7 different effects, 4 brightness levels and individual key illumination (custom color maps) but that's not all since it also features NKRO (N-Key rollover / full anti-ghosting), USB 2.0 passthrough with audio inputs (headphones and microphone 3.5mm ports), 64kb of onboard memory for storing up to 5 profiles, up to 30 macro commands/keys (6 per profile - infinite number via software), metal plate for increased durability, soft rubber coating and a intergrated/fixed wrist rest. The Strike Pro Spectra sure does sound interesting so let's check it out.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

A large product picture takes most of the front and is placed right next to the main product features.

The mechanical switch selection is placed on the left side of the box.

Three product pictures placed at the rear of the box are used to showcase the features of the Strike Pro Spectra.

As expected the keyboard is wrapped inside a cloth cover and placed inside a formed piece of cardboard.

In terms of bundle along with the Strike Pro Spectra you will also get four rubber feet (replacements), sticker with the company logo on it and the user manual.

THE STRIKE PRO SPECTRA

Just like the original Strike Pro the Strike Pro Spectra weighs 1300g and measures 441mm in length, 135.70mm in width and 34.30mm in height.

The company logo is placed on the upper right corner as seen above.

Intergrated wrist rests are not always a good thing but thanks to the soft rubber coating the one featured here is quite comfortable.

F1 through F6 also double as macro keys (the original Strike Pro had the insert, home, delete, page up/down and end keys as Macro keys) while F7 through F12 can be used to rotate through the 7 available lighting effects (along with the Ozone / FN key).

You can enable Game Mode (windows keys disabled) from the print screen key, adjust brightness levels from the scroll key and reset the keyboard to its factory settings from the pause break key.

The insert, home, page up, delete, end, page down keys also double as the media navigation keys (previous, play/pause, next, volume down, mute, volume up).

Via the arrow keys you can store up to 4 custom color mapping profiles.

Here we see the Cherry MX Red RGB mechanical switches.

At the base of the Strike Pro Spectra we see two height adjusters, 4 rubber feet and three grooves.

With the height adjusters extended the top end of the keyboard is raised 13mm from the desktop.

A USB 2.0 passthrough and two 3.5mm audio inputs are placed on the right front of the keyboard.

Ozone has also placed their name on the other end.

The 1.5 meter long (i would had preferred it a bit longer) braided cable has two gold plated USB plugs and two gold plated 3.5mm plugs on its end.

USING THE STRIKE PRO SPECTRA

You can download the driver / control software from the official product page as seen above.

Before you can use the software you will need to perform a firmware update as showcased above.

The software is quite easy to navigate (although i would like brighter colors) so from here you can program each of the keys, change the lighting color, effect and brightness levels and you can of course also create key press and/or text macros.

From the above pictures you can see the min and max brightness levels of the Strike Pro Spectra.

We're also showcasing some of the available effects and colors you can use with the Strike Pro Spectra.

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 original Strike Pro became quite popular among gamers but with the arrival of RGB mechanical switches it became clear that Ozone would either need to upgrade it or release a new model altogether. Now some people obviously believe that just upgrading an older product is like reheating the same food but we've seen it happen numerous times in the past by many manufacturers. We actually don't really see it as a bad thing since if a product offers whatever it is consumers want then why not just add all the new goodies on it and re-launch it? So the Strike Pro Spectra is basically an updated version of the Strike Pro with added RGB key lighting and although the original never made it here (thus we can’t compare it to this) we think Ozone did the right thing. Unfortunately although the Strike Pro Spectra has a very good RGB lighting system and the soft rubber coating makes it stand out from most similar models it proved just too loud for my taste, however if you’d like a keyboard that comes really close to a typewriter this could be for you.

   The one single drawback of the Strike Pro Spectra Mechanical Gaming Keyboard is its price tag which is currently set at 149.89Euros directly from the Ozone Gaming online shop. Overall this price tag wouldn’t be considered as high since there are many similar models that cost just as much and even more but when the regular Strike Pro costs 50Euros less a 50% increase in price seems way too much just to get RGB illumination. That being said the Strike Pro Spectra is a great gaming keyboard aimed especially towards gamers and enthusiasts who want plenty of audible feedback and it’s certainly worth our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- RGB Key Illumination With 7 Effects
- Custom Color Maps (Per Key Illumination)
- Cherry MX Red Mechanical Switches (50 Million Actuations / Gold Plated Contacts)
- Full Anti Ghosting
- USB 2.0 Passthrough With Audio Ports
- Gold Plated USB And 3.5mm Plugs
- 5 Onboard Profiles (6 Macro Keys Each / Unlimited Macros Via Software)
- Wrist Rest

CONS

- Fixed Wrist Rest (For Some)
- Rubber Coating (Easily Marked)
- No Dedicated Macro Keys
- Price (Compared To The Regular Strike Pro)