A high-tech gaming keyboard at an affordable cost? | The ASUS ROG Strix Scope RX in a practical test

1 - Einführung und Spezifikationen 2 - Funktionalität und RX-Taster 3 - Software und Sound-Check 4 - Zusammenfassung und Fazit

Summary and conclusion

Okay, let’s summarize what ASUS has to offer us here. We get a full-size gaming keyboard with top-notch build quality. The standard 1000 Hz polling rate, which is easily enough in terms of latency when gaming. ASUS comes with mechanical-optical buttons that make cap wobble nearly impossible. The keyboard offers multimedia keys, macro functions and RGB tactile lighting! The RX buttons themselves take some getting used to, but provide some feedback thanks to the increase in force over the release distance, so it conveys to the user: you can let go! So you don’t have to push until the water runs out the bottom. However, that will be difficult, because ASUS has given the keyboard an IP57 water/dust resistance.

The fact that the keyboard has a USB 2.0 port is nice to have, but it doesn’t really help the cable flexibility. Thus, the cable is also not removable. Now, you can make that a negative point to the keyboard if that’s exactly what you don’t want. If you want something like that, it fits again! What I see as a point of criticism, especially measured against the price of currently about 124 €, are the built-in ABS plastic caps. Here the PBT doubleshot keycaps, also for the German layout, would be actually duty not only freestyle! ASUS’s own software is easy to use, you can save everything to the ROM memory of the keyboard in the form of profiles and do without the use of the software. Even the creation of macros or the adjustment of the RGB lighting is possible without software. I think that’s very good!

Source : https://rog.asus.com/keyboards/keyboards/aura-rgb/rog-strix-scope-rx-model/gallery

In conclusion, after several rounds of gaming and a few articles I’ve written on the keyboard now, I can say with a clear conscience that the ASUS ROG Strix Scope RX with the red buttons lives up to the price in every way. After I got used to the characteristic of the buttons, I could quickly feel the benefit when gaming. Everything goes faster, you feel the feedback from the increase in force and you can be sure that exactly what is supposed to happen happens. So you can already enter the next command.

The typing feel is also very good and above all really pleasantly quiet. You don’t hear any clicking and no funny spring bouncing noises when releasing the keys, as with some other keyboards. I couldn’t detect a debounce time here at all and that should be every gamers favorite! The whole advertising hoopla about the RX switches was in no way a pure marketing joke, but it really comes across to the customer. Praise and recognition!

I must nevertheless address one very personal matter at this point. Because I’m a real advocate of low-profile keyboards. Modeled after the Sharkoon PureWriter RGB. It would certainly please not only me, but also many others out there, if you could find such a very good keyboard also as a low-profile variant – optional in the offer! Although I don’t find the caps to be extremely high now. But here for comparison: Left the RX caps and right the low profile caps from Sharkoon.

That makes quite a difference, not only in terms of feeling. The overall height of the keyboard is also quite a bit higher compared to the Sharkoon. Now this isn’t a criticism of the ASUS ROG Strix Scope RX in particular, but more generally a thought-provoking post for manufacturers. You don’t have to cram every high-speed Gucci trinket into a keyboard. If you stick to the basics, you’re bound to end up with something really low-profile. And the ASUS RX buttons feel even more awesome! At the end of the day, this can, may and should still shine colorfully!

The ASUS ROG Strix Scope RX with the red buttons definitely gets a buy recommendation from me! The price is, measured against what you get for it, quite justified and compared to a graphics card downright ridiculous. Everyone can take a look at what other keyboards with a similar feature set cost! And, I’ll say it again: a keyboard doesn’t have switches – they’re buttons! It’s obvious why, isn’t it? Read you in the forum!

This test sample was provided to me by the manufacturer for testing. There was no influence on the tests and results.