Microsoft Reclusa Gaming keyboard with lighted keys.

Author: Antti Hakala Published: 29.08.2007 Manufacturer: Microsoft Product Group: Keyboard In English Suomeksi

Functionality

Blue backlight of the keys sure looks cool at lanparties, but I wonder why it cannot be turned off? A bit of turn off is the leakage of light between the keys. It would look better if only the letters were illuminated. Personally I like more laptop styled keyboards, but typing with Reclusa is still a pleasure. It's not too loud or clicky though for example Logitech Ultra-x is even more silent.

Reclusa is advertised to have an 'instant response key action' but when compared to any other wired keyboard I wasn't able to tell the difference. So the main advantage for gamers is the possibility to make key macros. And strangely, this gaming keyboard only regognizes 4-6 simultaneous keypresses depending on the keys pressed. So 'games' aren't worth playing split-screen games sharing one keyboard any more?

Right side of the keyboard has 5 special buttons and a knob. Left side has same amount of specialities mirrored. Knobs are used for scrolling and adjusting volume as default. These functions can be customized by using the software. Right side is multimedia weighted due to the volume knob and media controls: play, pause, next, previous, shuffle and eject. Left side houses keys defaulted for the browser, email and mediaplayer functions. Also copy and paste can be found here. Knobs must have felt like a good idea on the paper, but their real-life build quality is poor and flimsy.

Software

Older Microsoft keyboards had a nice, simple looking software. Reclusa's command panel is a bit more 'wild'. After a while the software part of this product starts to feel okay aswell. It's pretty straightforward to make key macros and there's always the compact help file to show how to customize the keys.

Basically, user chooses which macro key to customize and then presses the keys one wants to have in the macro. One macro can have only eight key presses which seems a bit low number for a keyboard selling with macro abilities. As an extra, delay between keypresses can be added to the macros if wanted. Reclusa has a total of 14 customizable keys if the knobs are counted too. Software has five slots for different profiles. Screenshots also show basic and additional commands where to choose from. While to software is rather simple and easy to use, I wonder why it has to look so complicated.

Compared to...

Size comparison with Ultra-x. Reclusa is rather big keyboard, though gamers can appreciate this. A bit more room between keys.

Conclusion PROS  Good 'touch' when typing Silent Placement of the shortcut keys CONS  Shortcomings with macro abilities Backlight bleeds Flimsy knobs Overall cheap looks & feel   Reclusa feels like a 'just another keyboard'. It has a good 'feel' for long typing sessions. It's silent and it has enough shortcut keys which are quite nicely located around the keyboard. It doesn't have any big flaws either but all the small mistakes put together make the whole product look bad. If Reclusa were marketed as a normal keyboard with some extra features and had a bit lower pricetag, it would have been a good product. Now the price doesn't seem justified. Reclusa doesn't really shine on any area so it's rather hard to recommend this keyboard to anyone. This time the marriage of Microsoft and Razer didn't work out quite as well as it did with the Habu gaming mouse.

Questions or comments? Visit MetkuMods forum.

Additional Information

Past related articles in MetkuMods Razer Tarantula Microsoft Wireless Laser Desktop 6000 v2.0 Logitech G15

Pages:  1 2