Overall and FV
I was excited to get the Quickfire Rapid in, Cooler Master has impressed me over and over again as they have grown in the keyboard market. Having a chance to have a keyboard with backlighting in a similar form factor to the Quickfire Rapid that I love for LAN use was great. On top of that, they managed to find a creative way to keep the small size while also keeping the number pad that the Rapid lost. Because of that you have a fully functional keyboard in a small footprint that doesn’t compromise on typing space like a small laptop keyboard would for example.
I was also impressed with the backlighting on the Quickfire TK, with an LED for each key switch and a backplate in the same color, the keyboard really glows when you turn it up, so much so that most will take advantage of the adjustability here and run it on a lower setting. Even with the lighting off, during the day, the colored backplate gives the keyboard a little style. Really the only downsides to the Quickfire TK are the issue of the direction pad keys only having backlighting when you turn off the number pad, this leaves a few keys in the dark when you need your number pad. I also feel that the unique layout, although useful, will take most people a little time to get used to.
With the Quickfire TK coming in three different switch/backlighting options and at a price just under $100. I don’t think you are going to find a lot of keyboards with full backlighting to compete. I know I have said it before, but Cooler Master is here to stay in the keyboard market and they aren’t holding any punches when it comes to competing. I’m excited to see what they will do next.