Product On Review: Knucker
Manufacturer and Sponsor: Tt eSPORTS
Street Price: £39.99 inc. VAT at time of review
It's been a significant quarter for peripheral manufacturer Tt eSPORTS, the gaming sub-division of Taiwanese components giant Thermaltake. The Level 10M was an instant taking point not just for its style but also its gaming chops, whilst the last month saw an almost top to bottom product refresh of their previous peripheral line-up with new colours, lighting and other improvements. New coloured mirror finish options to the Theron RTS mouse range and aesthetic updates to the Meka G-Unit keyboard range are particularly good examples. Furthermore, Tt eSPORTS are also pushing new audio products: the Isurus in-ear headset and Bahamut external USB sound card are both set to take the pro-gaming world by storm in the coming months. The months following CES and CeBIT are likely to be extremely important for the brand as a whole.
Still, they're not neglecting their core peripheral market, nor those with more modest sums to spend. To accommodate these value-focussed gamers Tt eSPORTS are continuing to release more suitable products, the latest of which is the Knucker keyboard.
But before we get to the keyboard, lets briefly talk about the name. We're not exactly sure of the source of the inspiration, but a Knucker is a little known part of English folklore - a long-lived dragon which dwells in rivers and is lives for 1200-years. Co-incidence perhaps, but you never know...
About The Knucker
KNUCKER pro-gaming keyboard is designed with Tt eSPORTS’ brilliant research in keycap switch development, successfully installing the plunger-switch into KNUCKER keyboard. Aiming for outstanding keystroke experience and amazing gentle feedback, KNUCKER is critically tested to make sure each key press meets the expectation.
KNUCKER pro-gaming keyboard is designed with Tt eSPORTS’ brilliant research in keycap switch development, successfully installing the plunger-switch into KNUCKER keyboard. Aiming for outstanding keystroke experience and amazing gentle feedback, KNUCKER is critically tested to make sure each key press meets the expectation.
We would typically expect to see a mid-range membrane gaming keyboard at this price point, yet the KNUCKER spurns mere membrane switches. Instead Tt eSPORTS are utilising what they call a Plunger design - a hybrid of traditional membrane and mechanical mechanisms intended to generate a much more consistent and tactile response than typical membrane keyboards. The design should also increase keyboard durability significantly - they are rating each plunger switch for a life expectancy of up to 15 million keystrokes, a vast improvement over standard membrane keyboards.
The e-sports specialists add adjustable repeat rate functionality to the mix, allowing pressing and holding to register as more individual presses per second, and the vastly more important functionality of up-to 16-key anti-ghosting. Throw in a little accent lighting in and theory you have a good value, durable gaming keyboard with just enough to mark you out from the crowd.
