Keyboard Testing

Before we get into my personal experience with this product, allow me to reveal my personal history with keyboards. For the past fifteen years I’ve handled various membrane and switch-style keyboards, primarily using rubber dome membrane and scissor switch types for everyday activity. It wasn’t until the past few years that started using switch-style keyboards for gaming purposes.

On my Max Keyboard demo board there eight of the most popular Cherry-branded switch styles, each arranged side-by-side for easy comparison. Personally, I prefer to use Cherry Red switches, which are silent with light linear resistance. Cherry Brown switches are also silent and offer the same light resistance, but feature mild feedback delivered mid-stroke. There are also Cherry Blue switches, which include an audible click similar to a ballpoint pen and mild tactile feedback felt mid-stroke. Blue switches require slightly more pressure than Red and Brown switches.

Since I tend to work long hours at the computer, the added resistance for Cherry Blue switches tends to fatigue my hands faster than Cherry Red or Brown switches. Although Cherry Red switches offer silent actuation, most key caps deliver a tapping sound when they reach the bottom of travel and make contact with the keyboard frame. Some premium keyboard manufacturers offer O-rings to dampen the noise when key caps bottom out, which brings operational noise levels closer to the near-silence achieved by rubber membrane keyboards.

Test Results

Keyboards require your interaction, and testing is very much a hands-on ordeal. After that, however, everything else about them becomes subjective. This is an account of my personal experience with the Zalman ZM-K700M, a mechanical gaming keyboard with authentic German-designed Cherry MX Red switches. Cherry MX switches are guaranteed for 50-million key strokes.

The first few days with this keyboard were spent understanding the function settings, and learning how to adjust the LED scheme. The user manual contains a scant three pages of information on creating macros and switching between N- and Z-key rollover options. Conversely, the Zalman ZM-K700M Product Page is loaded with information and videos, and unsurprisingly, the best place to learn about the product and how it can be used.

By default, the Zalman ZM-K700M utilizes a proprietary Z-Key mode that enhances the N-Key Rollover (NKRO) technology that registers all simultaneous keystrokes regardless of their number. This Z-Key mode enables four speeds for repeat functions: the standard Windows speed, 50, 75, and 100 Character Per Second (CPS). This comes in very handy for repetitive key press functions or when building programmable macro functions.

If I were traveling to LAN parties or gaming among friends, some of the more visually impressive LED schemes would be used to impress or distract others. Since I’m a desk jockey on most days, the always-on lighting schemes appeal to me. This is partially because I don’t play music or games as much as I’d like, relegating LED Equalizer Mode to a one-time show that impressed me and entertained my wife. The other reason for a bright always-on LED scheme is because the key caps go dark without the lighting and it’s annoying to hunt down that rarely used bracket or forward slash when you can’t see the symbols. For those who demand LED backlighting, they’ll be pleased by the even distribution of light behind the keys regardless of angle and viewpoint.

After the keyboard was configured, I did have two more small adjustments to make. The first was the column of macro keys along the left side, an area I typically expect to find tab and shift keys. They’re positioned a bit lower than all the other keys and have a unique key cap shape to them, so this was an easy adjustment. The other was a helpful adjustment: learning and memorizing the multi-function keys. Again, I’d like to emphasize, the Num Lock calculator key is awesome. I really wish Zalman had used the double-tap options for some others, as well.

Typing (or keyboarding, if you’re a purist who was thinking of commenting below just to correct me) with ZM-K700M was easy on the hands, and didn’t fatigue my fingers the way that some rubber membrane and Cherry MX Blue keyboards do after a few hours. Gaming offered a similar benefit, as I use WASD movement and maintain constant pressure on at least one of those keys while playing.

If you’ve ever enjoyed the silence of membrane keyboards, you might find the clacking sound of mechanical keyboards a bit disruptive. Cherry Blue keyboards annoy me with their constant clicking and clacking. Cherry Red keyboards are a delight to use and far more quiet than Blue switches, yet still produce more noise than rubber membrane keyboards. Clacking noise aside, the key caps feel natural and the traditional layout very familiar.