Performance

Before I talk about how the green switches felt, I wanted to touch on the Triggers other features. Its most notable feature is the red backlighting and the controls that allow you to flip through a few different options. Using the F1-F4 keys along with the function button you can turn the back lighting on or off, adjust the brightness, or flip through three different lighting modes. The modes are full backlighting, WASD, and full backlighting with a pulsing lighting. Along with those function keys, you also have media controls from F5-F11, personally I would prefer at least play/pause and volume buttons to be dedicated keys for quicker access. I generally end up not even using media keys that require the use of the function button, but it is still better than not having them at all.

The detachable cord on the top right of the Trigger is very useful, especially if you are someone like me who ends up packing up and going to LANs. I’m able to leave the cord at my desk and take the keyboard with me if I have another cord. Along with the USB connection we also have two USB ports on top of the Trigger. Along with the USB ports you have a 5 volt power connection as well, but the Trigger does not come with a power adapter. Normally, I will use the USB connection on my keyboard for my mouse to keep my desk free of extra cable clutter. In the case of the Trigger, I wasn’t able to do this. With the keyboard only using one USB connection you wouldn’t want the keyboard and your mouse competing with polling the USB bus, but on top of that there isn’t enough power. The Trigger uses its own MCU and controller along with its full LED lighting, all of those pull power, making the Trigger the most power hungry keyboard on the market (over USB at least). All is not lost; you can pick up a power adapter for more power to the two USB ports on the trigger if you need it. In my case, because I want to use a mouse, I will just have to deal with another cable across my desk.  

I spoke before about how when the feet are flipped up on the bottom of the Trigger there are rubber tips on the feet. How did they perform? Well when pushing the Trigger did lose a small amount of grip over the three large feet, but in actual use I never had an issue with the trigger moving on me at all. If anything I noticed that if I pushed my keyboard forward the feet would grab and grip so well that they would flip over, not a bad problem to have if you ask me.

So how are the Chery MX Green keyswitches? To understand them you need to understand where they fit in with other Cherry keyswitches on the market. For those of you who aren’t formiliar with mechanical keyboards. There are four keyswitches that are most used, all are from the manufacture Cherry. The four switches are all MX type and the color’s help set them apart. You have Blue, Red, Black, and brown normally. Green is fairly rare other than use just on spacebars and there are other models as well that are even less well known. Here is a breakdown of the switch actuation force as well as the key “feel”.

Being able to see how the switches break down helps understand the differences between the different switches. The Green switches stand above the rest with a much higher actuation force needed. Otherwise they are just like the Blue’s that most people really enjoy. Personally I prefer Browns due to their low actuation force, tactile feel, and low noise level. So what’s it like using the green’s day to day? Well I adjusted quickly to them once I was able to get over the noise that they do create. They do require more force to use but remind me of my old Intel Model F days (late Model F’s required 80cN of force as well). I don’t think that the green keyswitches are for everyone, but if you are a big fan of Blue’s you should try out a keyboard with green switches if possible, you might be surprised!