Performance
Performance while gaming.
In order to keep cost down Cougar went with clone switches. The keyboard I was sent has clone switches of Cherry’s MX Red switches (But it also comes in clones of other switches). I also have a keyboard with genuine Cherry MX Red switches so a direct comparison is possible.
When comparing how this keyboard feels against real MX Red switches I’d say this keyboard feels slightly more springy and a bit louder than MX Reds but still, it provides a keyboard experience that feels about 80%-90% as good as true Cherry switches.
When tested in isolation without any direct comparisons this keyboard holds up quite well, providing a smooth and satisfying key press during gameplay. The key travel distance is fairly good too, I couldn’t find an exact travel distance in the vendor information but the keys travel seems to be very close but slightly longer than the MX Red switches. Key travel is far enough to help prevent accidental key presses without taking so long that quick key presses aren’t registered.
The only scenario I could see the key travel being a minor issue could be in competitive MOBAs since those games usually require tons of almost unnaturally fast key presses. I don’t play these genres enough to be a good authority though so take this with a grain of salt.
There is a bit of key wobble, possibly due to the exposed key design but it never caused any issue during gameplay and It’s pretty much the same amount of key wobble that other keyboards I’ve used have.
I rate the performance while gaming 5/5. Overall during gaming, this keyboard feels really good and it performs way better than I expected considering the price. As stated above it feels almost as good as Cherry switches while costing a fraction of most keyboards with Cherry switches cost. I didn’t have any real issues but there is a slight bit of key wobble and the key travel may be a bit far if you’re super competitive but it was never an issue for me.
Performance while typing.
After typing up a majority of this review on the Ultimus keyboard I really like it for typing. Typing was really smooth on this keyboard and whether you need this keyboard for gaming, school or work you’ll definitely be satisfied.
I was able to score 45WPM using an online test which is my average typing speed on pretty much every keyboard.
Overall I rate the performance while typing 5/5. I had no complaints here and once I spent some time getting used to typing on this keyboard it feels natural to use.
Noise.
Below is a comparison between MX Red switches and the Ultimus Red clone switches.
Cherry MX keyboard.
Cougar Keyboard.
As you can tell from the audio clips above the Cougar switches are slightly louder than the switches they’re cloning but It’s only slight and the keys are never loud enough to interfere with gaming.
MISC Features
This keyboard has an integrated flip-out kickstand. The kickstand doesn’t lift the keyboard up very much but it is still nice to have in case you like to use a slightly lifted keyboard. The stand is also rubberized to help prevent slipping which is a nice addition.
The Ultimus keyboard has N-KEY rollover which works extremely well, I was able to press a ton of keys at once and each keypress was registered so no complaints with this one.
MISC Complaints
Cougar has managed to make a keyboard with virtually nothing to complain about but I did find one fairly glaring issue worth talking about.
Due to the exposed keys and lighting that is almost too good, there’s a very noticeable reflection of my keyboard on-screen whenever any dark colors are being shown. While this may only be an issue if your keyboard is directly in front of your screen it’s distracting enough that I usually use this keyboard with the lighting off to prevent the reflections from distracting me. This is also an issue I’ve seen avoided on other exposed key keyboards by adding a ridge or a wall on the rear of the keyboard to prevent light from bleeding out the back.
This certainly isn’t a big enough issue to not recommend this keyboard but it is disappointing that this problem leads to me not being able to use one of the major features of this keyboard. Hopefully, Cougar can fix this issue by adding something to block light on the rear of this keyboard.
Now onto the final score and conclusion!
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