Cougar 700K Evo keyboard review - Introduction

Cougar 700 Evo keyboard review
700K(elvins) hot Evo(lution) of the Cougar?

It has been almost 6 years since Cougar released the 700K Aluminum Gaming keyboard. It received the iF Design Award in 2014. Now, it’s time for the new version with a suffix – Evo – clearly suggesting that it’s an evolution (the full name is Cougar 700K Evo). Again, it has Cherry MX mechanical switches, an aluminum frame, and G-keys (similar to Corsair’s K95 Platinum, which we reviewed recently). The Cougar 700K Evo is a flagship mechanical gaming keyboard aimed at (guess who) … gamers, and primarily MOBA/MMO fans. So what are the main differences compared with the predecessor? The RGB lighting and the wrist rest made of the leatherette material. It’s possible to control the lighting effects via the COUGAR UIX™ System. It lets you set the functions of all the keys, store macros, and create your own backlight effects. The 700K EVO´s internal memory allows to store up to three full configuration profiles. The ergonomic wrist rest is made of plush leatherette that really looks nice and provides comfort even during long gaming sessions.

Regarding what’s inside, and in fact the most important, you can select one of the following Cherry MX options:

• Red (the one used in the review)
• Blue 

Cherry MX Red are the ones that are soft and relatively silent. They deliver the precision of linear mechanical switches with no audible click. The actuation force is 45 cN, and pre-travel is 2.0 mm. The 700K EVO uses an aluminum front plate which reflects the RGB backlight creating a great visual effect. The polling rate is up to 1000 Hz, with 100% anti-ghosting, and full n-key rollover. You also get five programmable G keys allowing quick access to a variety of functions. The keyboard is priced at 119 USD, which looks like a very reasonable price (although the warranty period is only one year). But is it worth it? Let’s check the 700K EVO out in practice on the following pages.