If you suppose Turtle Beach is simply identified for its audio gear, suppose once more. It’s most just lately put out the Stealth 500, Stealth 600, and Atlas Air headsets, but it surely additionally has a lineup of different gaming peripherals such because the Vulcan II TKL Pro keyboard. On the outset seems like a flowery plank that may overwhelm you with RGB lighting, however beneath that flashy veneer are some notable options that make it a keyboard price contemplating like Hall Effect magnetic switches and adjustable actuation factors. However, its essential design flaw is in its super-small keycaps that make gaming on it more durable than it must be. It might not stand among the many finest gaming keyboards due to that, however there’s nonetheless rather a lot to love about it.
Turtle Beach Vulcan II TKL Pro – Board Design
The TKL in its identify after all signifies the tenkeyless design, so slashing the quantity pad makes the Vulcan II TKL Pro a compact keyboard that received’t take up a lot house. The board itself is constructed with an aluminum prime that provides it a glossy look, particularly with the uncovered keycaps and the flood of per-key RGB lighting bouncing off of it. Its skinny profile additionally retains it compact and its pretty gentle weight lets it really feel prefer it’s not some hulking factor sitting in your desk (not that you just’ll be choosing up a keyboard fairly often, although).
Because of the tenkeyless design, most of its capabilities are relegated to an FN key plus different keys, which could be a bit unwieldy however that comes with the territory; at the very least you will have a technique to cycle by modes and swap RGB lighting profiles on the fly. The quantity wheel on the top-right is a very nice contact due to the way it protrudes out, making it simple to achieve – it additionally works as a handy push-to-mute button. Underneath the board are two kickstands to prop it up at an angle for higher ergonomics, and it may be set to 2 completely different angles.
You’ll discover massive gaps between every keycap, and admittedly the small keycaps led to some efficiency points (which I’m going into element later on this evaluation). If you are not feeling those that come inventory with the Vulcan II TKL Pro, they’re replaceable for the reason that board makes use of the identical cross-pattern backing for its keycaps, though that might be a separate buy. Additionally, you get delicate foam wrist relaxation that feels somewhat low cost but it surely does enhance ergonomics and luxury – it doesn’t connect to the keyboard itself but it surely sits flush with the board.
The magnetic Hall Effect switches make each keystroke buttery clean; it might not have the “thock” that many keyboard fans search for, however its frictionless linear design continues to be satisfying. While the actuation drive isn’t listed wherever, it feels roughly the identical as a keyboard rated at 45g. One of the very best issues concerning the Vulcan II TKL Pro is that it has adjustable actuation factors from as quick as 0.1mm to as deep as 4.0mm, and may even be set on a per-key foundation if you want. Out of the field, it is set actually quick that even my resting hand would register inputs, so it’s extremely advisable that you just obtain the Swarm II software program to make changes that finest fit your wants.
Turtle Beach Vulcan II TKL Pro – Software and Features
The Swarm II software program is kind of easy with out a lot bloat. It’ll acknowledge the Vulcan II TKL Pro and from right here, you possibly can customise the RGB lighting, actuation factors for every key, set macros, amongst different issues.
Under the Primary/FN profile, you possibly can solely modify the common actuation factors, however you are able to do this on a per-key foundation whenever you click on on Game Mode or Easy Shift profiles – it even helps you to set a special launch level as nicely. There’s a granular stage of customization with actuation and launch factors that is not often seen in keyboards. I personally don’t discover the nice tuning significantly helpful as I choose to maintain issues common, however with the ability to discover my candy spot at 2.0mm gave me an optimum expertise. Those who’re critical about getting their keystrokes registered as quick as doable are those who will profit most from this function.
There are some built-in RGB lighting profiles with particular results like ripples, waves, and another sorts of fancy results. Personally, I discover most of them distracting primarily as a result of the uncovered keycap design makes the illumination so distinguished, however I acknowledge that may be an upside for some. Of course, you possibly can modify the brightness and colorways of the RGB lighting to mitigate it from being distracting.
Other options obtainable within the Swarm II software program embody with the ability to set button macros and assign them on a per-game foundation. You can set the Rapid Trigger setting to regulate repeated keystrokes and that may come in useful for some.
Turtle Beach Vulcan II TKL Pro – Performance
As per traditional with my PC {hardware} critiques, I examined the Vulcan II TKL Pro taking part in Counter-Strike 2 and Final Fantasy XIV, each of which I play at a reasonably excessive stage. And these two video games actually inform the story of how this keyboard performs in numerous settings.
It was fairly good to set the actuation to 0.5mm on the WASD keys for Counter-Strike 2 to make my actions register quicker. The concept is that having an nearly non-existent actuation level will allow you to get inputs despatched to your PC a lot faster, limiting the journey distance on a keystroke earlier than its registered. And particularly for this recreation, issues like quick-strafing and peaking corners for photographs felt nice to execute on a dime. However, the tiny keycaps aren’t very comfy and detracted from my confidence when reaching for keys outdoors of WASD and repositioning fingers, which primarily got here up when switching weapons and kit in fight encounters.
The benefit of adjusting actuation and launch factors aren’t fairly as necessary in a recreation like FFXIV, however that is the place the keycap design reared its ugly head. Almost each fight motion is about to the keyboard and it was very simple to inadvertently hit the fallacious key or be not sure of what key my finger was on after I felt the massive hole between the keycaps. In a state of affairs reminiscent of high-level raiding, it’s essential to have faith in urgent the proper key since crucial actions (like cooldown talents and last-second strikes) should be executed at particular moments and accidents can have huge penalties. This occurred a number of instances whereas taking part in FFXIV the place I stumbled in my assault rotation because of hesitation or urgent the fallacious key – and it is a problem I not often, if ever, have on my important keyboard.
I additionally used the Vulcan II TKL Pro extensively for typing at work and the keycap design wasn’t as a lot of an issue since regular typing does not demand the identical sorts of motions as gaming. Using this keyboard within the office did spotlight the satisfaction of clean, linear, magnetic switches, making it a pleasure to make use of.
