The Vulcan Pro keyboard is another gorgeous feat by Roccat. I’ve said it before with Roccat products, and I’ll say it again – you won’t find a prettier keyboard on the market. Roccat has its competition beat, and the Pro is no exception.
In my testing of the new Vulcan Pro Optical keyboard, I noticed the keys are a bit quieter compared to the Vulcan 121 (an amazing keyboard). The Pro model ups the game with new optical keys. Why is this important, you ask? Well, previous models of the Vulcan keyboards used TItan tactile switches, which were incredibly fast. Still, the Pro model’s Titan optical switches not only double the lifetime of the keyboard, but they are up to 40x faster as well. That’s a lot of speed, and when you are gaming, every millisecond counts.
The keyboard is offered in both full-size and TKL (tenkeyless) models. I only tested the full-size version, but I could never see myself using a TKL model. The ten key portion of a keyboard is just too critical for my needs, as I choose to use my mechanical keyboards for business as well. However, I could see the usefulness of a smaller keyboard if space did not allow for a full-size.
If you haven’t tried a mechanical keyboard for work, I will be the first to recommend it. You will notice the difference and functionality improvements almost immediately. I’ve converted several family members to mechanical, and I just can’t say how much better they feel.
I tested several games with Roccat’s Vulcan Pro model, and again, I would argue it is one of the best out there. Whether slicing my way through the evil in Doom Eternal, running and gunning in Apex or simply dungeon crawling through old Torchlight games, the Vulcan Pro Optical model responds with precision and is a joy to experience. I particularly enjoy the ambient effects the Swarm software enables at the same time. My keyboard and mouse combo pulse red when I’m low on health or green when poisoned etc.
Swarm allows for a variety of customization with Roccat products. If your Roccat device is AIMO enabled (which the keyboard is), you can choose from a multitude of different lighting and customization options. I find myself simply enabling the AIMO intelligent lighting system and watching the beautiful color combos fly across my keyboard.
Otherwise, you can assign macros or edit each key to your heart’s content. Since I initially tested Swarm with previous Roccat products, there have been a lot of updates. I now find it very intuitive and simple to use, and it is clear Roccat is working to be the best in the business.
The Vulcan Pro Optical-Tactile keyboard has become my new main. I’ve tried keyboards from Microsoft, Dell, PC Gaming Race, and Roccat alike, and hands down, Roccat wins with this model. I look forward to testing additional keyboards from Razer, HyperX, and Logitech in the future, but this keyboard will be hard to beat. I don’t see keyboards getting much prettier, but even Roccat is releasing some additional models this year that look like sure challengers. Happy gaming!
