Mechanical Cherry Keys

Let's have a peek at the mechanical switches & keys. You'll receive a set from Corsair with this kit. That also means you can swap them out if needed/required/wished for. Our review sample is based on Cherry MX Red switches. 

• Cherry MX Black - Linear switch with Actuation Force: 60g (40g-80g overall)
• Cherry MX Brown Switches - Tactile Switch with Actuation Force: 45g (55g Peak Force)
• Cherry MX Blue Switches - Tactile & Clicky with Actuation Force: 50g (60g Peak Force)
• Cherry MX Red Switches  - Linear Switch with Actuation Force: 45g

Basically there are several types of Cherry MX switches available: red, black, blue and brown. Each color switch feels different and Corsair actually has this keyboard available in three color switches (for your personal preference). We have the red variety. BTW Cherry also released RGB and Silent Mech switches recently.

So yes, the Strafe is 100% mechanical now. New also is per-key adjustable back-lighting, using red LEDs, so that you can customise which keys are lit according to the game you’re playing. You can easily install the rugged keys by using the supplied key cap puller tool, just pull them up gently and they'll be lifted out of place. 

Our keyboard is equipped with Cherry MX Red switches as you can see, these are light and responsive. Cherry MX Red mechanical switches are intended for fast, efficient gaming action with 45g actuation force. The keys are curved a little and are rubberized which gives them a unique feel. I should call them 'contoured' WASD keys I guess.

Obviously you can choose yourself whether or not to use the WASD and QWERFD keys that are contoured and textured. For gaming these are recommended though. And if you don't like them, just replace them back with the standard ones. It's all about customization with mechanical keyboards. Heck, if you game intensely and the letters fade away, you want to be able to replace the keys, right?

There we go, that's like an injection of Bada-bing Bada-BLING my man. But since we see them activated here, let's talk about the LED back-lighting a little shall we?