INTRODUCTION

   How do you pick the "ideal" keyboard for you, what priorities do you have? Personally whenever someone asks that question of me at the top on my list i always have build quality since i can't afford to have keyboards failing on me while I’m testing other peripherals or typing reviews much like i do now. This is just me however so i know people who for example place RGB key illumination, extra macro keys and type of mechanical switches above all else and this is actually the good thing about keyboards since there are so many available currently in the market that can cover the needs of every consumer out there. Patriot entered the gaming peripherals market a couple of years ago and since their Viper V760 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard (check our review here) was quite a success it was just a matter of time really before they released its successor the Viper V770 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard which we've been using for almost a month now.

   Patriot is a leading manufacturer of high performance, enthusiast memory modules, SSDs, flash storage, gaming peripherals and mobile accessories. Founded in 1985 and headquartered in Fremont, CA, USA, Patriot is committed to technology innovation, customer satisfaction and providing the best price for performance on the market. Patriot products have become world renown for their extreme performance, reliability and innovation. Patriot sells its products through original equipment manufacturers, retailers, e-tailers and distributors throughout the world with operations in North America, South America, Asia and Europe.

   The first Viper V760 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard combined good build quality (aircraft grade aluminum chassis) with a number of features such as Kailh Brown mechanical switches, RGB key illumination (16.8 million colors with 10 different lighting effects), N-Key rollover, removable magnetic palm rest, USB passthrough port and shared media control keys. The new Viper V770 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard on the other hand comes with the same features including an aircraft grade aluminum chassis, RGB key illumination (10 different effects), N-Key Rollover, removable magnetic palm rest and a USB passthrough port and ontop of those it uses Kailh Red mechanical switches and also has 5 dedicated Macro keys, dedicated media keys, 3.5mm audio passthrough port, side RGB strips and even RGB illumination on the removable magnetic palm rest. So it really seems that Patriot has taken the V760 and improved it in many ways so let's see just what the V770 model is all about.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

At the front of the box we see a large product feature, the main product features and a small cutout from where you can actually touch the arrow keys.

We see the same things at the base of the box (minus the cutout).

Two product pictures are used at the rear of the box to showcase the main features of the product.

The keyboard is wrapped inside a plastic bag and placed between 3 black foam spacers.

Along with the Viper V770 (magnetic palm rest included) Patriot has also bundled a 3.5mm to dual 3.5mm adapter, keycap puller, two stickers with the Viper logo on them and a quick start guide.

THE VIPER V770

Even without the magnetic palm rest the Viper V770 is a medium sized keyboard measuring 495mm in length, 168mm in width and 39mm in height.

The V770 features a floating key design layout which allows for easier cleaning of the keys.

The Viper logo is placed on the upper right corner right beneath the volume control knob (increase/mute/decrease).

Five dedicated macro keys are placed on the far left side of the keyboard.

You can control the different lighting effects and the brightness levels from the 8 keys just over the F row. F1 through F5 and F12 on the other hand can be used to record custom lighting profiles.

Next to the volume control knob Patriot has also placed three dedicated multimedia paddle switches used to Play/Pause, Stop, Next/Previous Screen and Next/Previous Track.

Via the page up and page down keys you can control the speed of various effects while from the arrow keys you can control their motion.

Here we see the Kailh Red RGB mechanical switches.

An RGB LED strip and a USB passthrough port are placed on the left side of the keyboard while a 3.5mm audio passthrough port and an RGB LED strip are placed on the right side.

There are 6 rubber feet and two height adjusters at the base of the V770.

These height adjusters are somewhat short and thus they raise the top end of the keyboard roughly 9mm from your desk.

In order to give the magnetic palm rest RGB illumination Patriot has placed a 5 pin gold plated connector at the front of the keyboard.

With the palm rest attached the width of the V770 increases to 229mm.

The 1.9 meter long braided cable has two gold plated USB ports and two gold plated 3.5mm plugs on its end.

Here you can see the default RGB effect both from the top and the side.

USING THE VIPER V770

To get the control software for the V770 you will need to visit its product page as seen above.

The control software is very easy to use since it has just one page with all of the available settings. From here you can map the keys, select a color for the keys, set the light effects, brightness levels and speed for both the keyboard and its palm rest, adjust the response time and report rate, enable/disable Game mode, create macros and save your configurations on several profiles.

Here you can see some of the static colors and available effects of the V770.

If you're wondering about the minimum and maximum brightness levels we've got you covered too.

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

   When Patriot released the Viper V760 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard roughly 2 years ago we really didn’t know what to expect. Corsair had too entered the gaming peripherals market quite successfully as did GSkill and even Kingston but we also have numerous “bad” examples so that doesn’t mean anyone can do it. To our surprise Patriot did and so the Viper V760 was one of the best keyboards to reach our labs at the time not only because it had very good build quality but also because of its RGB illumination, general features and quite tempting price tag (always compared to similar models). Thanks to an array of extra features including dedicated macro and multimedia keys, RGB illumination even for the magnetic palm rest, side RGB strips, improved/expanded lighting controls, USB and 3.5mm Audio passthrough ports and the use of Kailh Red mechanical keys (more gamer “oriented”) the new Viper V770 is without doubt a worthy replacement to the award winning V760. My two “issues” with the V760 were the lack of dedicated keys and the short 1.5 meter braided cable and as you all know by now both have been resolved in the V770.

   Patriot did a very good job with the pricing of the Viper V760 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard and we’re glad to see that they did so as well with the V770 (at least in the US) since you can currently find it for just USD119.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 142Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk). Long story short the Viper V770 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard may not be the best one of its class currently but it does combine a large number of features with very good build quality and all that without asking for much in return which is why it gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- Very Good Build Quality
- Kailh Red Mechanical Switches (60 Million Actuations)
- Full RGB Key Illumination (10 Effects)
- 5 Available Profiles
- RGB illuminated Magnetic Palm Rest
- Braided Cable With Gold Plated USB & 3.5mm Plugs
- USB & 3.5mm Passthrough Ports
- Side RGB LED Strips
- Up To 540 Macro Keys (108 Per Profile)
- Current Price (USA)

CONS

- Current Availability