Logitech G815 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard review: Low profile, high price

Say the words "gaming keyboard", and most folks will mentally picture a device with high raised keys, RGB lighting and a relatively brutal aesthetic. Gaming keyboards are one part precision, and one part sheer intimidation of your foes, after all.

For the Logitech G815 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard, Logitech has taken a slightly different tack. Sure, it's got more RGB than you can point a light meter at, but the design wouldn't look all that out of place on your everyday workday desk, thanks to some super-low key and switch designs.

Design

• Full keyboard design
• Quick macro keys on the left-hand side
• Squishy rubber lighting, media and game mode keys

• Read our full review of the Logitech G815 RGB's design

  The Logitech G815 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard has a very low profile, which makes it a decent prospect for travel, although because it's a full-sized keyboard, you'll need a fairly long backpack to sling it into for that purpose. Outside standard keys, number pad and function keys, there's also a set of five programmable keys to the left of the main body, and rubberised keys above the keyboard that handle lighting and game mode functions. Just above the number pad you'll find standard media controls, again with those same rubber buttons.

  It's a slightly unusual mix of key styles, because while the low-profile primary keys are fine, and possibly even excellent if you prefer a much lower travel distance for each key, the rubber keys feel really cheap.

  This isn't a cheap keyboard by any stretch of the imagination, and while the thinking is presumably that these are taps you'd rather be silent, I do have some concerns about the long-term durability of those rubber buttons.

  The Logitech G815 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard has a fixed USB cable. It's fabric wrapped and double-ended at the USB-A side, to allow both keyboard control and power and data throughput. That means you can pair it up with a cabled mouse, or use that pass-through feature to charge your smartphone, although you'll need an additional connection cable to do so.

Performance

• Choice of low profile GL switches
• RGB lighting choices are good, but it's basically mandatory to have it on

• Read our full review of the Logitech G815 RGB's performance

  The Logitech G815 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard's big position in the market is its low profile, and that's thanks to the use of LG's new low profile switches underneath each key cap.

  Logitech sells the Logitech G815 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard with your choice of three key styles: GL Linear, GL Tactile or GL Clicky, with each type doing almost exactly what you'd think their names would suggest. The model I've tested with is the GL Clicky variant.

  Now, you might think that a lower profile key would deliver a less satisfying "click", but having switched to this from the Logitech G Pro X (also with Clicky Switches), there's really not much difference if you're a big fan of that heavy machine-gun sound that good clicky switches give. It is marginally softer than a full depth clicky key might be, and that's something that your workmates might thank you for if you're also using it as your daily desktop driver. Still, it's eminently satisfying.

  Like the rest of Logitech's gaming range, configuration is handled via its G Hub software for PC or Mac, and that includes the RGB lighting choices. Like the Pro X, there's a huge range of customisation on tap for you here, so you really can pick a style that suits you. My one criticism – and it's true of the Pro X as well – is that Logitech's dark keycaps mean that you really can't make out key assignments unless you have at least some level of RGB lighting in play.

  That's fine for your home gaming rig, but if you did want to use the Logitech G815 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard in a professional setting, you'd need to find a simple colour scheme unless your muscle memory is particularly good.

  Your other option here is to tell the Logitech G815 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard to sample colours from your desktop display and dynamically change to match whatever the tones are of the game you're playing. It's a very cool, slightly pointless feature, but it's at least something new and fun in the RGB gaming space.

Features

• Key response is excellent
• G keys are a little too easy to hit accidentally

• Read our full review of the Logitech G815 RGB's features

  The real test of any gaming keyboard is of course to throw it at some games to see how it stacks up. Yeah, I know, it's a hard job, but somebody's got to do it.

  While there is something of a learning curve with the Logitech G815 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard if you're coming from a mechanical keyboard with greater depth of travel, I adjusted really quickly to the speed of response needed for each key. If you're not a huge fan of heavy travel distance but you feel comforted by that repetitive clacking noise – hey, I won't judge – then the clicky variant of the Logitech G815 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard could be a very good match indeed.

  I did have a few smaller quibbles when using it for more day-to-day tasks. There's a set of five additional function keys to the left of the primary keyboard keys, intended to be mapped to your most vital macros. You can switch them around for 3 sets of profiles, so 15 macros in all, which is nicely flexible.

  However, they're also rather close to the Tab key vertical row, and quite frequently when trying to alt-tab between applications, I'd find the keyboard did nothing. Why nothing? Because I'd hit G2 instead of Tab. A little wider spacing, or maybe even a wider Tab key would solve for this nicely. As I said though, that's a pretty minor quibble.

Verdict

• A decent low profile gaming keyboard

The Logitech G815 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard has some impressive engineering behind it, and if you're after a keyboard that can travel with you as well as (mostly) doing double duty as your desktop input device for those more tedious everyday tasks, it's a good option, albeit at a somewhat premium price.

Pricing and availability

The Logitech G815 RGB Mechanical Gaming sells in Australia for $299.95.

Logitech G815 LIGHTSYNC RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard

Logitech G815 LIGHTSYNC RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard

Treat your fingers to softer feel of the low-profile Logitech G815 mechanical gaming keyboard.

Buy at Amazon

Specs

Finder score: 3.5

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