SPEEDLINK ULTOR Mechanical Keyboard Review
Recently we were sent a SPEEDLINK ULTOR Mechanical Gaming Keyboard to review. Personally, although I would consider myself a ‘pc gamer’, I’ve never been overly bothered by getting fancy keyboards, however the Speedlink Ultor may have altered that opinion.
Speedlink are a German brand which has been around since 1998. They’ve been sponsors of a number of eSport teams, but are still probably less well know than companies like Corsair or SteelSeries.
The ULTOR is a compact gaming keyboard (i.e. no number pad), with a rimless aluminium base, and blue LED key illumination. It uses Red Kaihua Kailh switches, and comes with comprehensive software for programming.
The compact layout actually works rather well. It’s not like you actually use the keypad in 98% of gaming, and if you’re a serious gamer lugging kit out to LAN parties, having a smaller keyboard would probably be a blessing! The build feels extremely solid, and the keys very responsive, seeming to pick up every keystroke as expected. They also claim to have perfect anti-ghosting thanks to the N-key rollover technique, and a polling rate configurable up to 1000Hz (ultrapolling). This means that every keypress is correctly detected regardless of how many other keys are being pressed or held down at the time.
As you’d expect from a gaming keyboard, you can set up to 5 profiles, supported by 64kbit of internal memory, and configure up to 6 macro buttons. There’s also the option to turn off the Windows key, meaning you’ll no longer accidentally find yourself bounced out of a game by nudging the wrong key!
The choice of blue LEDs for the keyboard illumination is a little odd. Given the red case, you do wonder why they wouldn’t go with red LEDs. However, that is really all down to personal taste, and you can lower the intensity of the LEDs through the software, should you feel the need. Additionally, the highlighting of the WASD and arrow keys in white really helps pick them out in a darkened environment. Those 2 sets of keys are also interchangeable, which I imagine could be great for left-handed gamers.
At time of writing, the SPEEDLINK ULTOR Mechanical Keyboard is available on Amazon for £87.88, and is well worth a look if you’re in the market for a new gaming keyboard.
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