INTRODUCTION
What do you look for when out in the market searching for your next gaming keyboard? Durability both in terms of overall build quality and type of used switches? Features such as lighting systems, USB ports, macro keys, LCD/VFW screens and ergonomic designs? Well i guess for most gamers out there the obvious answer is all of the above or at least most so it definitely makes sense that lately most companies are focused in the design, development and manufacture of mechanical gaming keyboards with rich feature sets. However with the market currently overflowing with a very large number of both membrane and mechanical based keyboards it was really just a matter of time for some manufacturers to try and use the best of both worlds and Cougar is the very first at the finish line with their brand new 450k Hybrid Mechanical Gaming Keyboard.
COUGAR products are designed by COUGAR GERMANY, a professional R&D engineering team and COUGAR is part of the “HEC/COMPUCASE” Group. The unique combination of the world-famous German skills of designing the best products worldwide and HEC/s power and long-time experience to produce the best high quality products created innovative masterpieces in PSU history. The PC upgrading and DIY market is changing rapidly and is growing more and more. Professional user are asking for more than only stable and silent PSU/s, they want efficient and energy saving products without compromises in quality. COUGAR GERMANY created such products! COUGAR GERMANY combines the features of innovation and evolution to create efficient, powerful and unique products like “COUGAR POWER”. The purpose of COUGAR GERMANY is the satisfaction of the customer, reaching it by creating most valuable, advanced products. COUGAR – YOUR POWER!
To "create" the hybrid switches of the 450k hybrid mechanical keyboard COUGAR basically placed plastic yet quite durable mechanisms ontop of membranes in order to "mimic" the feeling you get with keyboards using Cherry MX (probably Black) mechanical switches. Another good thing with this design is that thanks to the materials used all switches are sealed thus effectively rendering the keyboard splash proof (don't submerge it into water however). And that's not all you're getting with the 450k since it also packs quite a few interesting features as well including programmable keys and macros, three onboard profiles indicated by three different backlight colors for the keys (red, green and yellow - there are also breathing and rotate effects available), 26 key anti-ghosting, 1000Hz polling rate (1ms response time) and multimedia keys (not dedicated ones). For an "entry-level" keyboard the 450k sure seems to offer much so let's see for ourselves just how good it is.
SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES
PACKAGING AND CONTENTS
The 450k is sold inside a long box with a large product picture at the front and its main features listed right beneath it.
You can find the specifications table at the base of the box.
At the rear COUGAR has placed the features list in 12 languages and a picture of the product used to showcase them on.
Inside the box the keyboard is wrapped inside a plastic bag and held secure in place via a formed piece of cardboard.
COUGAR only bundles the user manual with the 450k Hybrid Mechanical Gaming Keyboard.
THE 450K
The COUGAR 450k is made almost entirely out of hard plastic, weights roughly 1kg and measures 470mm in length, 170mm in width and 40mm in height.
COUGAR has placed their logo at the top center of the keyboard.
You can switch between profiles and adjust the brightness levels (and breathing effect) by using the Fn (function) key with the F1-F4 keys.
F5 through F8 can be used to set the desired polling rate (125/250/500/1000Hz).
Finally the F9-F12 and the screen lock, print screen and pause break keys also double as media playback keys.
The caps/scroll/Num lock LED indicators are typically located just over the numeric keypad.
Here we can see the hybrid mechanical switches which as mentioned earlier are basically plastic mechanisms placed above membranes.
The base of the keyboard is painted dark red and has 5 rubber feet.
As mentioned in the features list the height adjusters also feature rubber feet and keep the highest end of the keyboard roughly 10mm from the desk.
The 1.8 meter long cable has a plain USB connector with the company name on it at the end.
Here you can see the highest and lowest brightness levels of the 450k.
COUGAR UIX SYSTEM
As always you will have to visit the official support page to download the latest available drivers.
The software is very easy to use (we’ve seen it in the past) and from the very first page it allows you to change the polling rate (for some strange reason however half of this page was in German).
Via the second tab you can program different functions and macro commands to the keys.
The lighting controls tab gives you the ability to choose which brightness levels you want available on-the-fly and it also allows you to choose between the 3 available colors and a rotate effect.
If you want to manage the available profiles you can do so from the game profile management tab.
Here we’ve also placed the two other available key colors (green and yellow).
AUDIBLE FEEDBACK
Many people ask my opinion on what keyboard they should get for their needs. Some want a “silent” model for use in their living room or even in their bedroom while others ask for a model with good audible feedback for use in the office or for gaming. Because of this I decided to test keyboards by placing our ExTech HD600 vertically over each keyboard (5cm distance) and typing NikKTech a total of 6 times with each (after that the max recorded number - max hold - is placed in the graph). I have to admit that this may not be 100% accurate but it does give a good idea on what you can expect from each model since aside the type of switches used keycaps and keyboard material also matter.
CONCLUSION
COUGAR has come a long way from being a new player in the PSU industry to one of the leading gaming peripheral manufacturers in the market today and so it’s always nice to see what they have up their sleeve. Still when I heard they’d release a Hybrid Mechanical Keyboard I was really hoping to see their very own mechanical switches like Logitech, Razer and SteelSeries did before them. This is something that may come later on (hopefully) but for now as you all saw in this review the Hybrid Mechanical Switches are actually based on a plastic/membrane design which although nowhere close in terms of quality and durability still it does a good job in mimicking the popular Cherry MX switches (it lands somewhere between the black and red ones). Overall quality is quite good for a hard plastic keyboard and the splash proof “bonus” is certainly a feature we hope all keyboards had. As for the lighting system well with so many RGB keyboards in the market as we speak it seems a bit “old” but for an entry-level keyboard I think it’s more than what we could had asked.
So how much does the 450k Hybrid Mechanical Keyboard by COUGAR cost? Well the 450k currently retails at a very attractive price set at around USD65 inside the USA and 62.22Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de). Still although it doesn’t have much competition in that area you don’t have to spend much more to get a real mechanical keyboard so in the end it all comes down to your needs and available features since only stripped down mechanical models can come close in terms of price. Overall we all enjoyed using the 450k and even though it’s far from the best keyboard in the market it still packs enough features to get our Golden Award.
PROS
- Good Build Quality
- Hybrid Mechanical Keys (Mimic Cherry MX Characteristics)
- Splash Proof
- 26 Key Anti-Ghosting Technology
- Illumination System (3 Colors / 2 Effects / 3 Brightness Levels)
- 3 Available Profiles
- Built-In Memory
- Price (For Some)
CONS
- Durability? (Compared To Mechanical Switches)