Saitek Eclipse II Backlit Keyboard (PK02AU)
by Saitek
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List Price: Our Price: $43.08 You Save: $26.87 (38%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Saitek Eclipse II Backlit Keyboard (PK02AU)
Customer Review: opinions on Saitek Eclipse II keyboard
Summary: 4 Stars
I reviewed keyboards online before placing my order with Amazon for the Saitek Eclipse II keyboard. I did not want the ergonomic one with all the curves in it. I also didn't need all the special gaming controls. Although it is personal preference, I did want a keyboard design that had a large backspace key. And finally I didn't want a wireless keyboard (call me an old timer!)
I am happy with my purchase of the Saitek Eclipse II keyboard. First I love it for the illuminated keys. I have a little hard time seeing keys in my dark office yet I don't like all the lights on in the office since it is too bright. Now I can work in total darkness since the keys really show nicely. I also am happy that the keyboard isn't light or flimsy. It feels solid. The cord from the keyboard to the PC is long enough to reach and then some. And I didn't need to install anything since Windows XP Pro recognized the keyboard immediately. Finally I though the cost was reasonable for what I got.
Some opinions of items I would change are:
(1) I would make the tilt adjustment a little greater....right now the incline you can add to the keyboard isn't as great as I would like.
(2) I would add a softer foldout wrist rest pad to the unit. The one that comes with the keyboard is only molded plastic.
I do want to add a note that Amazon shipped this unit much faster than I had expected. Since this isnt' the only time I've ordered from Amazon and it isn't the only time an item has come so fast, I believe they should be noted for their speedy response.
hope this helps.
Customer Review: It is what you expect from a keyboard.
Summary: 4 Stars
This keyboard has nothing special to it, but it has nothing wrong either. The keys are responsive, accurate and comfortable to type with. For normal use, this keyboard is very good. It's a little big, but offsets that by being quite comfortable. The only thing that I don't particularly like is the media controls on the top right corner. They could have had a better design to support a more fluid management of volume and the like, though it's a minor flaw.
You can control the brightness of the keyboard's backlight. At maximum settings, you can browse through the keys easily at night, though it's not overly bright. It doesn't look excessive either, which is a good thing for me.
Now, for gaming, the quality of this keyboard is very relative. You don't get any special macro keys, LED displays, special key layouts, or anything else that would help you somehow on a game. This could be a huge impediment for a gamer, or it couldn't. It all depends on what the gamer expects from the keyboard. Personally, this keyboard does everything I need it to do during my gaming sessions. I mainly play MMORPG type of games, and I haven't found how this keyboard can incapacitate me in any way whatsoever while playing them. There's a fine line between useful and useless features.
So far it has given me no trouble of any form, and I would consider it a good buy, though not a product that changed my past experience dramatically. Like most electronic products, it's an evolution from normal keyboards, not a revolution.
Customer Review: If you are looking for a high quality keyboard, this isnt it!
Summary: 2 Stars
I am a software developer, I make my living with the keyboard and I use every key on it. I thought to get something of better quality than the standard cheapo keyboards that come with the PC. I sprang for $70 to buy the Eclipse II. (price seems to have come down a lot since then).
Good: I like the low profile and the wide rubber pad feet. The keyboard fit very comfortably under my hands and didnt slide around. The overall look is serious and professional. Black & grey with no frivolity. The layout is the standard basic desktop with no extra buttons.
Bad: The feel of the Eclipse is no better than the mushy tactile feel of the $15 cheapos. After less than a year of use, some of the keys have worn to the point where their action has a gritty feel and the paint has rubbed off the space bar and the most commonly used keys. In fact it has worn out faster than most of the cheap keyboards I have used. The LED backlighting is nice but doesnt really add much. Perhaps if you type in the dark and need to look at the keys to find them, this could be useful. Furthermore the backlight controls take up five keys or buttons that could have been used for something functional.
All in all, I feel I paid $70 for a $15 keyboard.
I recently replaced my Eclipse with a DAS keyboard. These run $130, which is pricey but the DAS is a very high quality keyboard. The key action and the tactile feed back are just wonderful.
Customer Review: Lights GOOD, keys BAD
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought this specifically so I could type in the dark while not disturbing my special lady friend sleeping in the bed. The lights are great and all the colors light up very vibrantly and the level of intensity is also cool but not really necessary. You pretty much want light or you dont.
When I opened it new from the box and plugged it in, I noticed two keys had a few spots where the black coating had worn a little. When lit up, you could see clearly that light was coming through on spots of these keys were the coating had worn, easy fix, took some black model paint i had laying around and problem solved. Bottom line, the black coating isn't the best quality and obviously has some problems with wearing or chipping.
As for the soft keys, I would say this keyboard is no more quiet than any normal keyboard you would get factory shipped with a new computer. Its not quiet but its not loud. The biggest complaint I have with this keyboard is some of the keys have preasure sensitivity problems. My 'n' and 'enter' key need to be nearly punched in order for it to register. Highly annoying when typing something like a paper or messages at a fast past and noticing that none of the n's you typed are in there.
Bottom line, lights are awesome but there are some apparent quality issues with this keyboard. A wireless would be sweet but then again I got this keyboard because my last one sucked up batteries like crazy.
Customer Review: Very nice for general use
Summary: 4 Stars
I have owned this keyboard for about 6 months and I still like it. I am a hardcore gamer, and was initially attracted to this keyboard because I frequently found myself typing in dim lighting while gaming. I also liked the fact that the red backlighting LEDs matched the LEDs on my tower. The three colors you can change to have varying degrees of intensity, beyond the dimmer switch. The purple is very bright, while the blue is a lot lower. Red is right in the middle, which I find perfect. It performs as well as any keyboard I have used in terms of feel and keyboard over all quality.
The one downside is that the silver frame of the keyboard started to 'wipe' off after about a month. Three of my fingers consistently rest on my "W A D" keys with my thumb near the spacebar, and I found that where my pinkie finger and thumb touched the outside silver frame, the color has kind of wiped away. This leaves 2 widening spots of gray plastic along the edge of my silver keyboard. I am suprised that the plastic isnt simply silver rather than painted silver in anticipation of this.
Ultimately I am looking for a new keyboard, though I have no serious issues with this one beyond aesthetics. I think that it is a very good product, but hardcore gamers should look elsewhere, for macro keys and all the other knick-knacks that 'gaming' keyboards offer. Too bad none of the curent good ones have red LED lighting to match my tower :p