Roccat's Vulcan II Mini is a colorful but compact gaming keyboard. Now Roccat has gone over the top with the $229.99 Vulcan II Max, a full-sized keyboard with an emphasis on aesthetics. The Vulcan II Max combines stunning RGB lighting, a translucent wrist rest, and 24 dual-LED smart keys with programmable secondary functions. It's a power user's—or at least a desktop showoff's—dream. Sure, it's pricey, but thanks to that healthy dose of RGB, it's sure to look great in front of any gaming PC.
The Eye of the Beholder
The original Vulcan was a solid keyboard in its own right, but it can't hold a candle to the Vulcan II Max's design. The board's available with matte black or white keycaps (our review unit had the latter) atop Roccat's clear Titan II optical switches, and supports third-party keycaps if basic black or white isn't your style.
The key switches are offered in two flavors, tactile Brown or linear Red. The difference is minor, at least on paper. The Brown switches have a slightly higher actuation point (1.8mm versus 1.4mm) and promise a lighter sound. Our keyboard's Red switches provide quicker key presses but don't have the most satisfying click.
The durable aluminum frame measures 9.25 by 18.2 by 1.3 inches (HWD), a bit taller than recent full-sized mechanical keyboards like the MSI GK71 Sonic or the Asus ROG Claymore II. At 2.2 pounds, it's fairly light for a full-sized board. Turning it over, you'll find two position-adjustable feet against a ridged surface with four rubber strips to keep the keyboard from sliding. A handsome chrome border wraps around the edges.
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At the top of the board, you'll find a cord with two USB-A ports that power the keyboard (there's no wireless version). There are small vent-like openings along the bottom. Slip the transparent wrist rest into the openings and voila—you've got an RGB light show that extends all the way down. This RGB lighting (with, Roccat says, double the refresh rate of most backlit keyboards) is some of the finest around, blending with the clear switches, clear keycap lettering, and wrist rest to put on a serious light show.
In use, the wrist rest is somewhat stiff, feeling like hard plastic. Comfort is sacrificed for beauty, I suppose. The keyboard has dedicated media buttons as well as a volume roller, which every keyboard should have! You get even more shortcuts and alternate functions with Easy-Shift+, which we'll get into in the next section.
A Swarm of Functionality
Easy-Shift+ is Roccat's button duplicator technology, one we've seen employed in some of the company's other peripherals such as the Roccat Kone XP and Kone XP Air. When the Fn key is pressed, programmed keys shift to alternate functions. And that's not even counting the 24 additional smart keys that add other secondary functions. You can store up to five profiles loaded as well.
You use the downloadable Roccat Swarm software to set everything up. Swarm isn't the most intuitive app out there, but once you get a handle on it, you can add tons of additional functionality to the keyboard. Swarm also offers RGB controls including AIMO, a lighting system that adapts the lighting organically with no need for manual configuration. You can specify single-key illumination and even edit the light reflected into the wrist rest.
While expensive, the Vulcan II Max is competitive with premium offerings from Razer, SteelSeries, and Corsair, and backs its fancy lighting with the 24 smart keys and Easy-Shift+. RGB buffs will enjoy the glow (I'm a sucker for the Christmas tree aesthetic myself), and players of strategy and MMO games will appreciate the macro options. Whether I was raiding dungeons in Final Fantasy XIV or scaling walls in Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, I never dropped a keystroke.
Verdict: With This Keyboard, We All Shine On
Roccat's Vulcan II Max might put beauty first, but it's got a lot of brains behind it. With Easy-Shift+ and smart keys, you can squeeze an incredible amount of functionality from a few key clicks. Power users who want a button for everything will love the Max, even if its keycaps aren't as comfortable as you might like. Roccat continues its hot streak in gaming peripherals, striking a balance between visual appeal and function to deliver what's easily one of the best-looking mechanical keyboards to cross our desks.
It's expensive, that's for sure, and you'll find cheaper alternatives that also put on an impressive light show, like the Editors' Choice-winning Corsair K95 RGB Platinum XT. Still, if you're looking to maximize your gaming setup, you can't go wrong with Roccat's latest.
Roccat's pricey Vulcan II Max keyboard delivers an RGB light show like no other, but it's not just a pretty face, with functionality to please power users and hard-core gamers alike.
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