It’s been a while since I’ve tried Logitech’s first wireless mechanical gaming keyboard, their G613, I remember that thing was really bulky and didn’t have any back-lighting for the keys, and this new G915 is about to change that completely.
The G915 actually came just a bit before the new G Pro X model, which I reviewed just as it came out, feel free to check it out in right top corner, and it’s also being described as a mechanical gaming keyboard, but with a few twists around it, one in particular, that it’s a completely wireless.
I really like how this model looks and feels, it’s well built although it has a really thin profile and feels a bit fragile at first, it’s not, it’s really sturdy thanks to this top aluminum cover which slopes to the right and left side of the keyboard, and gives it that more premium and elegant look. Too bad they didn’t do the same for the front backside, but you instead have this pretty sharp edges, and I could see a scenario where I scrape myself on it. Overall, the design is kept simple and clean, typical for Logitech, with few cool details like this volume wheel which is sort of like a half baked into this top-right edge of the keyboard, and which has that ultra silky smooth feeling when you start to roll it. Although there were some reports of it having a noticeable delay when using it, I didn’t have any problems with that, it’s possible that they did a firmware update that addresses this particular issue.
Extra thin – the name of the game for Logitech G915
As I said, the profile of the keyboard is really thin, basically half of the height of my Das Keyboard 4 Professional model, which is kinda impressive considering it’s a fully mechanical keyboard in question. Because of that low profile nature, you basically don’t need any wrist rest, and if you really need something soft below them, you could go for a big mouse pad, because otherwise with anything else you would probably raise your wrists too high in relation to the keyboard itself, which will fatigue your hands. That’s the exact setup I have here, and I found it to be true, plus I didn’t use the angle adjustment option cause I really didn’t need it, although you can if you wish to, because you’ll find two dedicated standoff feet on each corner of the keyboards back portion, with two levels of adjustment.
Getting back to the top side of the keyboard, I’m also liking the fact that they’ve put rubberized caps for these dedicated multimedia and other function keys, it feels a bit more premium in a way, instead of just regular plastic caps which you usually find in those places, but I do wonder how long will they last, until the rubber starts to slowly strip off, although I think it won’t happen in a short time span since these are not used that often.
Speaking of the keys, the layout is pretty simple, we have the basic portion with your standard keys layout and Numpad, and the additional portion with those rubber set of keys for controlling the media, changing the type of connection, I’ll talk about that a little bit later on, as well as for changing to different user profiles or recording a macro on the fly, game mode and brightness key, while on the side we have five dedicated and fully programmable G-Keys, and honestly, I’m glad to see them here as I haven’t seen those in a while!
G915 with GL Clicky switch – maybe a tad too much?
What’s also new about Logitech G915 is that it carries Logitech first-ever low profile mechanical GL switches, these ones, in particular, being the GL Clicky. Of course, besides them, you have a choice to get the GL Linear or the GL Tactile types of switches, which obviously have different specs and feel to it compared to these ones I have here. They are all actually made in partnership with Kailh, which basically made this segment popular over the last few years, which is why we now get to see them working together in one of the most ambitious crossover events in history, after of course, the Infinity Wars.
As you can see, they don’t sink in below the top plate, but they rather stick out, basically their basis is in-line with the top plate itself, similarly to their G512 model, which gives it this open style industrial feel to it. They also probably did this so they can have a more low profile housing for it, although I do wonder what it would look like if they buried them in few millimeters below that top plate, I assume it would be pretty challenging to pull it out engineering-wise, so everything fits in without changing the volume of the keyboards housing. You would think that this type of placement would raise up the overall height of the keys, which would render the low profile switches somewhat useless in relation to the keyboard’s overall height, but Logitech made sure they’ve also put a really low profile keycaps on them.
The keycaps are easily removable, they have these two hook pins that latch onto the plastic part of the switch which moves up and down. They do look a bit fragile if you ask me, I never had good lasting experience with these kinds of plastic parts which are sticking under a right angle while also being thin, so be careful when pulling them out or plugin them in. What’s also a bit concerning is that they didn’t use PBT for their build, which is a bit surprising considering the high price point of this keyboard, but on the other hand, Logitech says they’ve put some kind coating on the keycaps so they don’t wear out over time and so they don’t have that oil look and feel to them.
Back to the switches. Honestly, although they do sound really cool at first, they are a bit too clicky for my taste, which can get a bit wearisome on the long run. Here’s how they sound compared to their similar brothers, the GX Blue Clicky switches on the G Pro X model.
On the other hand, as I mentioned, they do offer other flavors of switches for this model, the GL Tactile and GL Linear, and I assume that the GL Tactile is something along the line of Cherry MX Brown switch when comparing their specifications, on which I’m typing for close to four years now, and I feel it hits the spot of being a good all-rounder for majority of users and for me personally, when it comes to how they feel and handle, so I assume that the GL Tactile is pretty similar to it. In terms of the performance, I had no complaints whatsoever, I didn’t feel any delay on a count of it being wireless, thanks to the Logitech’s low-latency Lightspeed technology, or otherwise.
Logitech G915 has a wired brother
As you’ve probably noticed, and as I already talked about it, the G915 supports different types of wireless connections, one being the aforementioned low-latency Lightspeed 2,4 GHz technology using a standard USB dongle, while the other one is Bluetooth. You can easily jump between them using that dedicated switch, but what I’ve noticed, the Bluetooth connection doesn’t support jumping in between few paired Bluetooth devices, as seen on some of their other products, like their new MX Master 3 mouse. Still, It’s an awesome feature to have, comes in handy if you have to type something longer your smartphone.
Being a wireless gaming keyboard with RGB backlighting, it’s not hard to guess that you’ll have to scramble for battery life. It would be awesome if they could make a large-sized wireless charging mat, which could both cover charging of your wireless mouse and keyboard, and I’m hoping that we will get that soon enough since they already have their PowerPlay technology of wireless charging mats for their mice. But, it’s not all bad news, because you can drastically increase the battery life just by lowering the brightness intensity by one scale you can get around 60 hours of autonomy, instead of 34, 137 hours on the lowest brightness settings, while turning it completely off you will get roughly 1100 hours between charges.
The charging is done over a micro USB port, yeah, again with the MicroUSB port, although some of their other products already have USB type-C ports, but OK, it’s only for occasional charging. Logitech made the charging a bit easier with bundling this MicroUSB to USB Type-A dongle in which you can just put the receiver, and tuck it away together with cable somewhere on the side, and once you need the cable for charging you can just pull it out and connect it to the keyboard.
The back-light for the keys is really excellent, everything is evenly light and very true to color, the keys, or the lettering to be precise, looks crisp and bold, BTW. the secondary symbols are not lit as you’ve probably noticed, and there’s basically no light bleed around the keycaps, although they’re completely open from the bottom. They only thing I do resent them a bit is the fact that those dedicated switches for the profiles and other functions don’t change the color together with the standard keys, so it does trigger my OCD a bit in that regards, although I do see logic in doing what they did, it’s a bit easier to pick them out among others.
Controling the G915
Since we’re already here, looking at Logitech’s G Hub utility software, as with any of their other G products, here you can customize your Lightsync RGB back-lighting, being it using traditional presets or by creating your animations or freestyle effects, set up your G keys using actions, macros or other commands, for all of your available three different profiles, and customize your game mode.
With the G915 model, Logitech is slowly but surely moving to my dream keyboard setup, so I’m hoping they will release a tenkeyless version of this model soon, together with some other minor improvements and polishing out the mentioned quirks, and that would probably be it for me. I can completely understand why they didn’t go this route right away as TKL models are generally selling slower. But, the thing is that a TKL version of this model would go perfectly hand in hand with this thin profile, because otherwise this keyboard is still a massive one a count of its surface area, so it being thin doesn’t help that much in that regard.
On the other hand, the biggest hurdle you’ll have to cross over with this particular model, even if you really want it, is the fact that it has a price tag of 250$.
Yeah… That’s really up there, like really really up there.
But, I was expecting something like this since its wired brother, the G815, which is basically the same model, but with an added USB pass-through connection, has an also pretty spicy price tag of 200$. Is that a lot? Yes, it is. Will it sell? Yes, it most certainly will, I have no doubts about it.
That’s it for this time, I hope this Logitech G915 review will let you decide what to buy a bit easier, 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!
