Lately, Logitech is spitting out new mice and keyboards models pretty often and consistently, the latest example of that was the G Pro TKL model which I had a chance to check out right upon its release and which video you can watch at the card link in the right top corner. To keep up with that tempo I will be taking a closer look at just freshly announced Logitech G413 model of their mechanical gaming keyboard.
This model won’t be their standard run of the mill example or a typical design derivative based on some of the former or ongoing ones, but rather a completely new product which above all puts an emphasis on its build quality alongside its features which make it a more gaming oriented keyboard. In the box, you’ll get user manual, the keyboard itself of course, and the addition of bonus G810 like key-caps and key-cap removal tool.
Logitech G413 brings in a new design philosophy
Right upon laying my hands and eyes onto it I could feel that something is different about this model. Logitech finally used metal or to be precise, as they say, an aircraft grade 5052 aluminum alloy for the outer top shell of the keyboard, which might I add has a great final finish and polish to it. I would love to see something like this on their other products, for example on their wireless mechanical representative – Logitech G613, which is completely plastic looking. This bumped up the already great overall build quality and sturdiness of the keyboard, being it just aesthetics wise or when it comes to the actual construction, while before all it really looks stealthy and classy, especially with this cool chromed out Logitech’s logo detail.
Next, to it, you can see two small LED indicator for the scroll lock and “G” game Win key lock mode. You won’t find any dedicated buttons on the G413, but with a combination of Fn key on the bottom right, and some of the function keys at the top row, you can control stuff like volume, play, pause, brightness and so on. Modest, but sufficient. Speaking of brightness, this model comes in with RED LED backlighting only, which is a bit odd and rebel like from Logitech, since everything is RGB nowadays. Everything.
There’s a total of four levels of brightness or five if you count in the off state. You can also choose to get the G413 Silver model which has white LED back-lighting and silver top aluminum plate, but that one as it seems will somewhat be limited when it comes to where you can actually purchase it. The backlight is of the keys is decently strong, just the right amount, but since the keys themselves do not partially sink into the keyboard’s chassis on the bottom part, just like Corsair’s K70 series also does, for example, there is some obvious back-light bleeding around them. Some will love, although I must admit that this way it’s much easier to clean the keyboard if nothing else.
Romer-G switches for the G413
On the bottom back of the G413, you can see this cool cross pattern together with will five reasonable big rubber padding, standoff feet for achieving an angle and few cable canal guides. Backside reveals one USB pass-through port, which is why you’ll get two separate USB connectors on its thick sleeved cable, on for the data throughput and the other one for the connection of the keyboard. I’m glad to see that, especially in a gaming keyboard so to speak, although I would mind seeing at least two USB ports or even an audio pass-through.
As you saw on the box, as you would expect for this price point, Logitech for this model used theirs together with Omron in-house built mechanical switches called Romer-G. As a frequent typist, I’m a not that big fan of them as they have very low actuation point and need a really small amount of force in order to get activated. They will also give you that dampened like feedback feel and sound, while at first, you would probably mistake for a bit more firmer membrane keyboard rather than being a regular mechanical keyboard. You can probably hear a little bit of the key switch recoil resonance, which I’ve already mentioned in my other reviews of Logitech’s keyboard with Romer-G switches.
I did again enjoy my time using it, with some initial adjusting period, not so much in terms of gaming, for that’s perfect, very sharp and instant, but rather when it comes to typing, for that a longer travel key and higher actuation force would be more suitable, something along the line of Cherry MX Brown. The keyboard’s height profile is pretty short, so in theory, the wrist angle shouldn’t be big, but since the key are not sunken into the chassis, the angle seems to be pretty common, definitely needs a wrist rest for more enjoyable longer use sessions.
Is Logitech G413 more of a value product?
Of course, as expected, Logitech G413 wasn’t left out of Logitech Gaming Software support, update for it came right away upon its release, and as always, up here you can set up your profiles, reprogram the Function keys to willing, just like they were your standard dedicated Logitech G keys, decide which keys are going to be disabled in gaming, mode, and last but not the least, change the brightness level and enable breathing mode for the back-lighting, which is actually the only effect for it.
Overall, I’m definitely liking this new direction at which is Logitech going for, hopefully, we will see more models with this kind of metal fit and finish, there’s for sure more room for them in their current portfolio of gaming peripherals. The cost of this model is actually on a more reasonable side, I was expecting over 100$ price tag, but since it’s listed at 90$ on the Logitech website, I expected it to go anywhere from 70-80$ at retailers, and that’s pretty much the price it’s going for, something even lower than that, so it will definitely represent a good value considering its segment. I hope my Logitech G413 review helped you out at least a bit, so you it makes your purchasing decision just that much easier. If you have any question about the product, feel free to leave a comment in my YouTube video listed above or you can hit me on social media!
