Roccat Vulcan II keyboard review: A disco ball you can type on

Best Prices Today: Roccat Vulcan II Keyboard

The Roccat Vulcan line of keyboards is all about one thing: being really, really, really, ridiculously beautiful. I called a Vulcan II Mini “the world’s lightest little keyboard,” but Roccat seems to have outdone itself with a new all-in-one model. The Vulcan II, especially in the white-on-aluminum version seen here, is so beautiful it would make the Macbook Air jealous.

Fortunately, the beauty of the keyboard does not end with its appearance. Some reasonable changes and additions, including a competitive price, mean that its appeal is much more than skin deep. The Vulcan II is not the best keyboard on the market…

Also read: Check out our collection of the best gaming keyboards learning about competing products.

Roccat Vulcan II: RGB beauty

Vulcan II is so big, so bright, and so beautiful it’s confusing. As a compact model, it uses “floating” keys with minimal walls that allow the brightest RGB colors to appear. Combine that with white tips, transparent switches, a sleek aluminum surface, and some of the best lighting animations on the market, and this is the keyboard to buy if you have a problem with laser light projection in your home. planet.

(If you don’t know what a laser light show is, ask your parents, then get off the lawn.)

Everything about the board is set to show lighting, and it doesn’t disappoint. I’m not talking about pure lumens, either. Roccat boards also have some of the lightest and best looking animations I’ve ever seen. By default Vulcan II will slowly transition between shadows (the look of the lava lamp), and it also does the same with the press. Normally I would block this sort of thing, but the animations on the board are so fluid and dynamic that I left them. They are so beautiful. Even the status symbols, illuminated under the group of arrows, look beautiful.

What are the specifications of the Roccat Vulcan II?

So what else does the keyboard have? Well, it’s full-featured, 108 keys, so num pad fans will be happy. It includes a radial dial with dedicated keys on top, in a very natural position. Said dial is a “click,” like an old RCA TV selector (dude, I’m showing my age with this comment), and it can be pressed to turn it on and off.

The keyboard includes a wrist rest in the box, a rare feature on full-size keyboards. It clicks into a large group of whiteboards but has a tendency to get stuck in the middle of a lot of typing. Underneath the funky look (you, back, stop laughing) are the one-piece plastic feet, but they’re pretty standard. And the braided USB cable is, sadly, fixed—an odd choice when the Vulcan II Mini’s cheaper version is removed.

Michael Crider / Foundry

In terms of gaming experience, the Vulcan II offers full N-keys, 1,000Hz voting (not great for the competition, but admit it, you don’t have millisecond reflexes), and up to four internal storage. history. Unfortunately you can’t configure it without Roccat’s Swarm software, which is Windows only.

What is it like to stand and play on the Roccat Vulcan II?

Roccat’s floating keycaps take some getting used to. It’s ABS instead of the extra PBT, which it is becoming standard even on midrange boards. But I’ll give the developers the benefit of the doubt and think that the choice of materials is another consideration to make the Vulcan II as shiny as possible.

That said, the keycaps have a flat profile which, combined with the finish, caused my fingers to slip a bit for the first few days. I was able to adjust, but this keyboard takes a while to get used to, and I can’t help but feel like the keycaps are detracting from gaming a bit. Of course, there’s nothing stopping you from changing the keys and setting defaults…except for the tears of the engineers who spent so much time making this keyboard a disco ball you can type on.

Michael Crider / Foundry

Surprisingly, the Vulcan II does no find the stylish switches on the Vulcan II Mini, the new II Mini Air, and in another way brighter. Vulcan II Max. Instead it should be compatible with slightly smaller switches, which connect to the old power supply. It’s an oddity that makes this keyboard the least expensive of the entire Roccat line…

A line change in my analysis section is possible, if nothing special. With the contacts on the console they are more “complicated” than the Vulcan II Mini optical switches, but they are still very successful with muted sound and printing. The strength of the hall (walls on the side of the stem) also helps a little with the stability that the floating keys take away from other Vulcan boards. Roccat says these “Titan II Red” switches come pre-lubricated, and they’re certainly smooth, but not as good as Kailh’s top-of-the-line switches in Keydous NJ80-AP.

Michael Crider / Foundry

Although it’s a normal machine, the keyboard settings are not interchangeable, so you can’t change them. But then again, if you’re buying this board for light exposure, it’s probably not that confusing. All things considered, I’d have to call the keyboard to go with the convertible instead of the fancy clockwork, since it’s labeled as a gaming keyboard.

Roccat Vulcan II software

The Roccat Swarm is middle-of-the-road as far as gaming software goes. On the one hand, it is using a very dark color that everyone seems to like which makes everything twice as difficult to find as it should be. On the other hand, it is don’t try to get me to use coupons.

Michael Crider / Foundry

Swarm has the most annoying feature I’ve ever seen in one of these: the ability to add a program statement to any machine. If you work in an office and hate your co-workers, buy a Roccat keyboard and put it to play. Star Wars Pew-pew laser sounds through your PC speakers every time you hit a key. If you can type a hundred words a minute, someone is going to try to kill you with lunch, for sure. But this “thing” is a random stop, so any damage is on you.

The program does well in managing bindings and macros, although once again, you can’t bind the f’n Fn key (or the left Windows key, strangely enough). By default, Caps Lock activates “Easy Shift,” which is actually a second function. Roccat makes a lot of money for this, but since VIA and QMK have been doing this for years, you can decorate me without being impressed. Yes, you can reset it to Caps Lock if you want, but not much else.

Michael Crider / Foundry

The lighting section offers a selection of presets, all of which are more beautiful and more fluid than the regular price. But some, frankly, are heavy. I encourage you to set the keyboard to “Ripple,” watch the full screen display and press any key, and you can work. But it’s easy to use and customize, and you can make your own if that’s what you want. All in all, not bad, especially considering how many buyers will focus.

Should you buy the Roccat Vulcan II?

At $150 the Vulcan II is a bargain, especially for a board that foresaw some expensive features like high-end switches, hot swapping, or internal audio output. There are also some corners cut in terms of equipment, such as a fixed USB cable and a plastic strap, which cannot be defeated by the good inclusion of a hand rest.

Michael Crider / Foundry

But even at this high price, it’s not the world’s most expensive wired-only board – the The Razer BlackWidow V4 is another $80 without any technical skills other than quick voting, for example. Corsair is asking $200 for the K95 RGB Platinum SE, and the bonus is five extra keys. Both keyboards offer a good fit and finish, but not by such a margin that they can justify the higher price on that alone.

If you’re interested in the Vulcan II, you want it to show off the insanely bright light it has to offer. I think that’s the idea.