Reflections on the growing hands of mechanical keyboard developers. Review and analysis Cougar 700K

Everything written relates exclusively to my experience, preferences and methods of working with the keyboard. Partially found humor and delirium, do not take it to heart. Photos are taken on the phone, some things have to be imagined or google.

I thought about buying a mechanical keyboard - it seems to be no longer a novelty, and I want to change the keyboard for the sake of diversity and gaining new experience. And for the anniversary to please yourself.

Keyboard requirements: interesting hi-tech style (but strict), typing (programming-forums, chats), and to feel how it behaves in games. To do this, the Cherry MX Brown or Blue switches are best suited (Brown - games + text, Blue - text). I know about the existence of Chinese switch clones, but I’m not ready to trust them yet (keyboards cost about the same price - is it worth taking Chinese?). A traditional layout was required, without a bunch of additional keys and unnecessary functions (if possible).

Among the diversity and enormity of all models, he stopped at the Corsair K70 and Cougar 700K.

Unfortunately, the Corsair K70 is not available in the required configuration: with the Russian layout it is only sold on Cherry MX Red buttons (good for games, for text it is not suitable, there are no options with Brown in Russia), and the Russian layout itself was successfully used with a short left cipher and an extra key to the left of Z (for some reason, NA, DE and other options come with a normal layout).

The last option left is the Cougar 700K. I accidentally found it on a store shelf (all of a sudden - on Cherry MX Blue), and the price tag was 1000r lower than I later found on the website of this network. I bought it.

Features and what I really liked

1. Strict design (awards and all that) - I was looking for just in black / silver design.
2. The Russian layout is a long shift, single-row Enter, the Russian font is also highlighted (two-component black and transparent key).
3. Adjustable backlight on all keys (the brightness level is only general, the color is one - orange, which is even cool).
4. Cherry MX Blue. It’s not suitable for games, for text it’s normal if there is an opportunity to “make noise”.
5. NKRO / 6KRO (switchable). NKRO really works - tests successfully show a bunch of simultaneous responses.
6. USB pass-through.
7. Switchable layout profiles.
8. Palm rest
9. Volume Control ± / Mute.
10. ARM Cortex M0: the ability to set your own macro on any main key, update the keyboard firmware and set the desired configuration from software.
11. Poll 1000Hz.

Minor, useless, and just wrecking things

1. Additional keys G1-G5.
2. Separated space.
3. Through extension cord for headset microphone.
4. Playback control (Play / Stop / Next / Pause).
5. In place of the left Win - useless Fn-button.

It should be noted that in recent years 3-4 used A4Tech KV-300H keyboards - low-profile “scissor” membrane buttons. It is quite convenient for the text (a small move and effort), the set is more like “stroking” the keys. Therefore, you have to get used to the
long-stroke conventional keys. The first day, working on a mechanical keyboard caused unreasonable suffering and a bunch of annoying "got in the wrong place."

Despite the abundance of all sorts of useful things, almost all of them are made crookedly

We now consider everything in detail.

1. The design is good, but there is a general technical flaw. Already at home I found that the Num / Caps / ScrLck indicator fibers failed inside the case and 3 neat holes in the plastic shine in their place. The light guide is a translucent plate, which is clamped at one end between a plastic frame and an aluminum base. The second end, according to the intentions of the developers, is put on the pins of the frame, and is sealed. In my case, both fibers were not sealed - if desired, they fall inward when shaking, or with a slight pressure on the plastic.
   
   I had to disassemble in the dead of night, and climb inside, in search of justice and full functionality.
   
   10 black screws from the bottom (2 of them are under self-adhesive rubber legs, 1 - under the sticker Do Not Remove - which does not even break when peeled off).
   16 silver screws on top, which can only be reached by removing the keys.
   1 large screw on the right. Apparently, the designer bevel does not rattle and there are no gaps (however, the bevel is quite successful, the mouse is on the right: you won’t hit hard and you feel the keyboard-mouse border).
   
   If the aluminum base does not easily get out of the plastic tray - it means that you missed a screw.
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Russian layout - I'm used to it.
   Over 20 years, a lot of texts were typed on a regular layout, millions of lines of code - no, I want PgUp / PgDown and other buttons in their usual places (I get there without looking).
   
   Of course, there are worse options - with a curved surface, divided in half, trapezoidal keys, modified Ins / Del blocks (Hi Logitech, I’m unlikely to buy your full keyboard with a distorted key layout, although I looked at the pretty
   wireless ones once) . Without a numeric keypad, I don’t want to. Yes, Neo is pretty, but it’s more convenient to drive a bunch of numbers on a separate block, I don’t want to keep a separate one.
   
   Unusual layout - this is one of the reasons why the keyboard is not waiting for massive success - the kettle will buy a maximum, seduced by a bunch of buttons or a funny design. Or a very limited contingent, which is either already used to it, or really needs some
   additional keys / functionality from Claudia. But it’s not to be popular and massive - I’m wanging.
   
   
3. Adjustable backlighting is implemented using the Holtec HT1632C LED driver.
   It knows how to flash “hardware”, and the matrix memory is enough to individually turn on all the individual LEDs under each key (and still remains). But RGB does not know how, and the brightness of the backlight with native software is set only with fairly rigid intervals of 100% -66% -33% (well
   , all sorts of useless modes, such as "breathing" and running lights).
   
   On this Cougar, Russian characters are traditionally highlighted disgusting (this is almost all IMHO).
   
   By the way, the Num / Caps / ScrLck indicators are placed in an inconspicuous place (if you fall apart in a chair). Why don't the developers highlight the corresponding keys optionally directly on the keys? I give an idea. The same NumLock is constantly on for me, it would be possible to set the “inversion" separately - if the mode is on, it does not light up. And if it is lit, then a reminder of the disabled mode is “pay attention”. And to make another mode - blink, and not just glow.
   
   I am curious. My main keyboard profile is without backlighting, the wrong mode would be immediately noticeable.
   
   
   
   
4. Cherry MX Blue Switches. It’s not good for games, for text it’s great if there is an opportunity to “make noise”. It would be interesting to see Brown as well - there must be a compromise between games and the set.
   
   Hence the strange feeling - the gaming keyboard (positioning), additional keys, profiles, and, suddenly, switches, sharpened for typing. Dissonance.
   
   
5. NKRO / 6KRO (switchable). NKRO really works - tests successfully show a bunch of simultaneous responses.
   
   Without any particular nit-picking - it works. Either 6 buttons work out simultaneously (modifiers are not on top in the appendage - strictly only 6, at least with modifiers, at least without), or complete mess and all buttons at once.
   
   In games, of course, it will be more noticeable, but damn nice that all the keys pressed will output (especially with fluent typing and crooked hands).
   
   It is strange that this mode is not displayed in any way, and even in the native software it is not displayed at all.
   
   
6. USB pass-through.
   
   Cool. Too bad it's not USB3.0. Together with audio cables, the main and the braid in total reaches a diameter of 6.5mm. Anaconda is such, through the rubble on the table. The second output (via the hub) would probably adversely affect the throughput of the keyboard itself. Although there is a place under the second leg.
   
   
7. Switchable layout profiles.
   
   OK. There is. And it’s imprisoned for changing profiles immediately and on a mouse like Cougar 700M - a single ecosystem, I understand. For me it’s practically useless, unless in some games a hard-coded layout can be brought to a convenient look (and then quickly return to normal).
   
   That's just the Cougar UIX System (native software) is very wretched: it allows you to hang on the button only some kind of "hardware" macro - pressing-releasing a particular key with delays (and mouse clicks, its coordinates - are also quite binded).
   
   But hanging a thread tag or a piece of code will not work - there will be problems with the Russian layout if the current mode and the required one do not match. Ytsuken instead of Qwerty, yes.
   
   Less benefit for programmers / copy-paste lovers. English-speaking, I think, do not care.
   
   
8. Palm rest
   A useful thing - the height of the keyboard makes it uncomfortable to work without a stand. Stone towards Neo and similar classic.
   
   The kit has a removable rubberized pad under the wrist for playing on WASD. I believe that it’s also a useful thing - I’ve got a lot of pressure on regular keyboards, but the Logitech G13 doesn’t have such an effect - you can stitch it for hours on end. Yes, the cover is now removed, and a la magnet for the refrigerator is hanging. When typing - it interferes.
   
   
9. Volume Control ± / Mute.
   Just comfortable. You can turn off the sound if necessary, without leaving the game, and the keys themselves do not interfere at hand. This is if laziness stretches for the remote control for the receiver, or with some other hardware volume controls.
   
   In Winamp, for some reason, the built-in volume control is also simultaneously regulated. It will be necessary to think.
   
   
10. ARM Cortex M0: the ability to set your own macro on any main key, update the keyboard firmware and set the desired configuration from software.
    
    The microcontroller LPC11U14F (on the marking, however, like LPC1U14F / 20) with the Cortex M0 core is used. Hence all the features - the controller is fast, it can eat everything. Well, in general, the trend is that many keyboards and mice have already been released on this controller, I won’t be surprised if the firmware sources (or even the developers themselves) have the same roots.
    
    Since quartz is installed at 12 MHz nearby, it can be assumed that the controller operates at a frequency of 48 MHz using an internal PLL (in some similar devices, the frequency is stated above). I could be wrong.
    
    Klava is not cheap, with tons of features. The ability to upgrade firmware for a complex and potentially raw product is priceless.
    
    Unfortunately, updating the firmware itself is a crude process. There is a warning on the site that you need to update the firmware BEFORE installing the drivers (and starting UIX).
    
    Fresh firmware comes complete with drivers, packaged in the installer.
    
    OK. Download the latest driver update, run. Old drivers are removed, fresh drivers are installed, UIX service utilities are launched - and yeah, the firmware update starts !
    
    This is where the problems begin - the update goes in a circle, restarting the keyboard by 81%, and so many, many times. It is impossible to disconnect at updating, there can be problems. The completion of all UIX related processes helped. The keyboard has been updated and restarted. Hooray, everything works! And yes, all the early settings have been successfully lost, there are no macros.
    
    Yes, disabling during the update can cause big problems if the bootloader first puts the update in an external eeprom and then updates its flash (including the bootloader). Smaller ones - if the keyboard has a working non-upgradeable bootloader and a firmware program
    that can reach the live bootloader (after a “fallen-hung” main firmware).
    
    On the site (and everywhere in the descriptions) boldly declared about 512KB of internal memory. At first, we are confused by the fact that only 10 keys can be programmed ("uh, we have dofig memory, why is it so small?"). The LPC eeprom microcontroller itself does not have on board; it is not possible to store such configs on flash - Moveton. Having disassembled the keyboard, we find a lone module of its serial industry ACE24C128B, rated at 128Kbps (16Kb). This is a marketing twist!
    
    In general: 3 profiles, 10 buttons (like plus 6 separate buttons) - this is the maximum that can be crammed into 16KB. And yes, macros will not be very long. After all, there can be sequences like “pressed-released-delay-simulation of mouse actions” (if there is a hardware output of such keyboard / mouse codes). Even if the memory is dynamically allocated for macros, it’s still not so much - you need to store backlight configs, and the like ...
    
    
11. Poll 1000Hz.
    
    Nice, nice. On gaming mice already 1000Hz - the usual mode. Well, in general, a work or a game consists of just such trifles - a quick response of a keyboard mouse, low ping, a lot of fps - and there is already an advantage with equal capabilities.
    
    

Now about things that are useless, harmful, and generally handshakes (from my point of view)

1. Additional keys G1-G5.
   Honestly - I would have done well without them. It is much prettier if the keyboard and the left edge have the same symmetrical bevel.
   
   On the first day of operation, the extra keys on the left were just messing up for me. When lazy browsing the Internet, documents, the left hand gently gains the left edge of the keyboard, gently touching the fingers in the left half of the keyboard, somewhere above Tab / ~ / Caps and to R / Space. I press Ctlr with the edge of my palm, bending the palm forward.
   
   The keyboard idea is gaming. Well, and which gaming keyboard - without additional keys? This promise was for designers and keyboard developers in general. Although in shooters - this is somehow not in demand, but for MMORPG, there is very little thread which is very small.
   
   “Okay,” the designer said. “Top is already commonplace, and figuring in 2 rows on the left is, well, uncomfortable.”
   
   It turned out a compromise solution - 1 row on the left. In my experience with Logitech G13, the buttons to the left of the little finger are already inconvenient to press - in G1 / G2 / G8 / G9 I am just confused. Still, the right-handed little finger on his left hand is not the most accurate and fast finger.
   
   Now they are getting in the way less, but if they get it completely, I will tear them apart.
   
   
2. Separated space (space and G6, which is immediately programmable to space, yes).
   
   I suppose that the developers were guided by the thought that the short key has less inertia, and the normal location of the thumb when playing is right below the “V” button, i.e. just on the left half of the “space” - if the “Big space” has one central switch, it will be skewed, the synchronization mechanism will increase weight, jamming and other considerations are possible.
   
   The most interesting thing is that when typing (and in the presence of experience-habits), the average user presses a space just in the middle of the key. So that it does not distort, etc.
   
   Therefore, moving from a regular to a separate space, I get exactly between the keys.
   
   This is the least evil from the review - fingers are already getting used to using their spaces separately.
   
   
3. Through extension cord for headset microphone.
   
   An excess increase in the cable thickness is likely to result in interference from a nearby cable from 2 USB (on the ground or power, for example), and in general, who needs it - it has long had a headset extension cord (or an initially long cable).
   
   I have a headphone output and the microphone input is a meter away from the keyboard.
   
   I will not say that it’s a completely useless thing, but for the most part - probably.
   
   
4. Playback control (Play / Stop / Next / Pause).
   
   It fully manages both Winamp and MPC.
   
   There is - ok, no - it didn’t hurt. Unfortunately, not programmable, although there is a backlight.
   
   
5. In place of the left Win - useless Fn-button.
   
   And unreasonably large sizes. And there is a separate “Win” button lock button (which delivers). Accidentally pressing Fn does not cause any special consequences (except for the hypothetical and unlikely change of the * KRO mode and the repeat speed).
   
   It feels like there was a fight between marketers / designer / developer.
   - Others already have a Win lock! - shout marketers.
   - I can’t make a space of the usual width, the halves will be asymmetric! I need a wide button in place of Win! - the designer shouts.
   - I want to coolly switch the 1x / 2x / 4x / 8x repeat speed mode! Just want! - shouts the developer.
   
   In fact, I would like to have a regular Win-key in this place (and Ctlr + Alt could be made a little wider). I used to start the Start-up not with a mouse, but with a slight movement of my left hand. Not right. Rather, it was possible to get rid of the right Win - well, you can also block accounting by the yoga method.
   
   I want to see in UIX an option where you can swap the assignments of Fn and Win. Alas, the programmers-developers of firmware-UIX-keyboard hide this opportunity exclusively for themselves (sad sarcasm of the volus).
   
   It would be funny if the firmware is made open-source. It would be possible to configure at your pleasure, without artificial imposition.
   
   

The overall result

The same thing happens with keyboards from other manufacturers. It’s hard to find an ideal: either
usability is “lower than the baseboard”, and you know for sure that it will be inconvenient - but it looks chic,
or an excellent layout, nothing more - but there is no stand and looks like a cheap trash.
I will make a separate category of keyboards suitable for adjusting all the parameters of a spaceship,
with a bunch of buttons, levers, screen keys.

As a result of all this garbage and the struggle for common sense, taste, convenience and free space on the
computer desktop, there is a single demand for keyboards with good mechanical buttons.

Review Summary Cougar 700K Cherry MX Blue

The keyboard is stylish and beautiful, assembled from good materials, excellent switches, works great. Her main problem is that the programmers are Hindus (FW: Buddhist and SW: Hindu), the designer is French, the developer is Chinese, and the Russians were engaged in marketing in Germany. They have a web designer from some America (sometimes there is a typo on Cougar website on keyboard pictures, instead of 700K it says 700M).

The result was a vinaigrette of good and not so good - you eat and listen, isn’t something wrong?

The designer thing is good, but show me the one who wears clothes “from fashion house shows”.