Although it’s been just a couple of hours since its release, I already had a chance to try out and review Logitech’s brand spanking new product from their Gaming portfolio, the G Pro tenkeyless gaming keyboard. Yes, of course, it has RGB LEDs too.
Just as with the also recently released G Pro mouse, the Logitech G Pro keyboard packaging is bringing in few subtle clues that this is one serious piece of gaming peripheral aimed at professional gamers and enthusiasts. You’ll find a couple of useful information, few of which are almost hidden from you on the count of this cool looking invisible print, while in terms of support, as of now it’s intended for Windows platform only. In the box itself, you’ll find your usual quick start guide together with the cable and course the keyboard itself.
Logitech G Pro is tenkeyless mechanical gamer
Taking a closer look at G Pro keyboard, right away you can probably notice that this model is based on another one from their gaming lineup, the G810 Orion Spectrum. It is basically that exact model, but of course without the right numpad portion of it as this is a tenkeyless version. it’s also pretty similar to its wireless brother, the Logitech G613. Because of it being a tenkeyless model you won’t get dedicated media control buttons, just ones for the brightness control and locking up the win key, together with scroll and caps lock LED. Despite that, you’ll still find some media keys at the top row on the right, which are based on your existing keys and used in combination with the Fn key.
Overall look and design of this model are as simple as it can be, very clean and straightforward, without any over-the-top details and the only thing that stands out is this glossy finish surrounding the edge of the keyboard. Other than that the build quality is pretty decent, which is reflected by its price, although it’s mostly made out of plastic, at least from the outside, keyboard’s construction seems to be sturdy and rigid, while its finish is very smooth on the surface. The only complain I have on it is that it seems to easily catch fingerprint stains.
The bottom side has this cool looking pattern and five big rubber feet which are planting the keyboard pretty firmly on the table, while you can choose between two angles for the standoff feet. One thing that brings in something new compared to the G810 model is the connecting cable. Here we have a one which is detectable, which is also nicely sleeved in this cloth-like material, while this connection end for the keyboard uses micro-USB port and this design with latch hooks, which seems to be transferred over from their G900 mouse.
The G Pro keyboard carries Logitech’s famous switches, no surprises here
Moving back to the top part, it’s time to check out how this keyboard performs. Being a mechanical keyboard, you’ll, of course, find a mechanical switch underneath the key cap, this particular one being their famous and in-house build switch together in collaboration with Omron, the Romer-G. Although they feel a bit firmer on first, overall they are pretty light. Their actuation force is sitting at low 45 g, together with an actuation point of just 1,5 mm.
Overall I do like them, but sometimes it’s hard to distinguish the actuation point. Beside that their main design advantage lies in the hollow center in which you’ll find housed RGB LED’s, so the back-lighting is evenly dispersed, focused and more vibrant, although I would love to see it a bit brighter and with more levels of brightness available, being it through software or its hardware control over the button, as with this you only have on and off option on the keyboard itself. The sound which they make is a bit quieter than your regular Cherry MX switch, while the coil tends to resonate, which I can personally pick up and which can be annoying sometimes.
Other than that I had no complaints in terms of your everyday use as their key layout is nothing out of the ordinary. Although in question is a faster switch so to speak, it’s much suitable for typing than the Cherry MX Red switch for example, while in terms of the gaming it hits the right spots and bottom line it’s not that different from its brother, the G810, if at all. Of course don’t forget that Logitech G Pro keyboard is a tenkeyless model without the numpad portion, which design personally doesn’t suit me that well since I do a lot of typing and number inputting. If you’re planning to type a lot I would get a palm to wrest for it so you can make your experience that more comfortable.
Of course, the crucial part of every Logitech’s gaming product is their software support for it, that again being the Logitech gaming software utility or LGS in short. As always we have this very clean looking application which lets you configure pretty much every aspect of the keyboard, starting from your usual setup of profiles depending on the game and purpose, while Function key is completely programmable for that matter, you can use them as a dedicated trigger button. In terms of the back-lighting, there’s a lot to choose from, from your standard lighting mode, lighting by zones where you can really dig in on that customization, common lighting effects like breathing, color wave, and key press, while you can also create your own effects and let it just run wild. On top of that, you can even sync the lighting effects on your keyboard to your other existing Logitech devices, like mouse or headset, which also support this feature. All in all, I could probably do a separate video based on the backlighting and what could you do with it. Lastly, you can choose what keys do you want to disable once you press that gaming mode button, while you can also record your keypress heat map to see where are your fingers most active.
Is the G Pro keyboard worth your gaming fingers?
Having less real-estate and components on it so to speak, Logitech G Pro keyboard is around 20% cheaper than the G810, which makes it a bit more interesting, although that’s overall quite a steep price, to begin with. It won’t be justifiable for the majority of users because of that and also because this particular model falls under a pretty niche market as it’s a tenkeyless design, but I’m sure that it will find its way to its customers.
Bottom line, Logitech will find it’s user base for sure with this model, there’s is a market for them after all, but I think that this one will be a go-to model among that community. I hope my Logitech G Pro keyboard review helped you at in making your final purchasing decision, if you have any question feel free to hit me in the comments section of my YouTube video listed above, you can contact me via my social media channels!
