Review submitted by Richard Grainger, ClanCarnage

Today, I'll be looking at the Zowie Celeritas, which is a mechanical gaming keyboard that uses 18K gold-plated Cherry MX brown switches and nylon key caps, which can give you an amazing 0.2 second response time.

Gamers are pretty specific when it comes to choosing peripherals that they are using, especially when it comes to high level competition. Response times and the ability to react before your opponents are highly important as well as being able to use comfortable equipment that doesn’t cause aches and pains after long training sessions.

Regular typists will also appreciate the mechanical nature of the Zowie Celeritas, as the responsiveness of the switches is quite unlike that of the cheaper membrane-dome-type keyboards - they are much springier, and have an audible feedback that the cheaper 'boards just don't match.

Features:

• 6 keys Anti-Ghosting when connected via USB, and all keys Anti-Ghosting when connected via PS/2

• ZOWIE RTR™ technology provides 4 levels of key-repeat-response (normal, 2x, 4x, 8x) - PS/2

• 18K Gold Plated Cherry mechanical switches and USB connectors used throughout

• Ability to change the "Windows"-key to "Ctrl"

• Multimedia controls

• Highly durable metal inner chassis for stability

• Ergonomic design saves space and offer full comfort during use

• Connector: USB, and PS2 via a converter

What’s in the box:

• Zowie Celeritas Keyboard w/cable tie (attached)

• Stiff plastic dust cover you can put over the keyboard when not in use

• USB to PS/2 adapter, and a Zowie sticker

Here's an unboxing video from Youtube:

The Zowie Celeritas comes in a sharp looking grey box with a window that gives you a sneak preview of the keys through a little window. The keyboard itself is surrounded in white foam which ensures that it gets to you in one piece and without any damage if you purchase it online. Tucked into the right foam piece is the USB to PS/2 adapter which is required if you were going to be using the RTR functionality as well as benefit from full anti-ghosting.

Included is a plastic dust cover which fits snugly over the keyboard. This is fantastic to use for protecting the keyboard when it isn’t in use to prevent any dust, hair, or soup from getting in between the keys. (Ed: the key caps are removeable, and you can buy pullers and replacment keycaps from Filco and DasKeyboard)

Build Quality:

As you can see from the pictures the Zowie Celeritas is free from other fancy bells and whistles you find amongst other gaming boards. They haven’t included any macro keys, LCD screens or fans to keep your hands dry but have instead focussed on delivering an ergonomic board aimed at competitive gaming. They also they haven’t skipped out on the basics, such as letting you disable the Windows key, and have included basic multimedia shortcut keys.

The key that is used for all the extras is located next to the right ALT key and allows you to modify the RTR speed, disable/enable the Windows key, access the multimedia controls as well as disable the LED lights on the keyboard if you find them distracting.

The back of the keyboard has 4 rubber mats that are used to prevent the keyboard from moving whilst under stress, and they do a fine job of it. I found it difficult to push the keyboard, so there is no chance of your keyboard being moved without you intending to do so.

The overall build quality of the Zowie Celeritas is great, it doesn’t feel cheap and flimsy and is actually surprisingly heavy for its size. By choosing Cherry MX Brown switches, you get fantastic response and feedback when typing as well as during gaming sessions. The expected lifetime of mechanical keyboards often outlives that of traditional keyboards. (Ed: the Cherry Brown switches are middle-of-the-road in keyswitch noise-levels - the Blue ones are the most noisy, and the Black ones are the quietest)

RTR Keys:

Despite the Zowie Celeritas not having any macro switches, which you may find useful for MMORPGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) or RTS’ (Real Time Strategy) games, it does include something rather unique and not often seen on other gaming boards – a RTR (response and repeat times) switch, which allows you to push buttons 8x faster than humanely possible. I haven’t encountered too many uses for this just yet in the games I play (mostly FPS – First Person Shooters), but I can definitely see the use for it in certain action/FPS gaming situations.

To use the RTR keys you must have the Zowie Celeritas plugged in via PS/2, as this also allows you to take advantage of full anti-ghosting. Ghosting is where there is a maximum amount of simultaneous key presses that the computer will recognise; via USB this is limited to six.

Once again, in FPS games, ghosting isn’t a huge issue as you will rarely be pushing more than a few buttons at a time, but for RTS games it can be extremely useful. For an example have a look at this video by a professional Starcraft player.

Conclusion:

I’ve had the chance to use the Zowie Celeritas for approximately 2 weeks now, and I must say I’m highly impressed with it. It did take a few hours to get used to as it is a completely different shape and keystroke feel compared to my previous keyboard, but now it feels comfortable and responsive. It's priced towards the lower end of the range of mechanical keyboards @ $165 delivered, and given it's life expectancy, looks like reasonable value.

Having all the control functions built into the keyboard, instead of requiring drivers, means that if you are a regular LAN attendee or find yourself moving your keyboard between computers often, it's a case of simply plug the keyboard in and you’re set.

Whilst it doesn’t tote the full LED backlit keys, or the LCD screen of competing products that RRP at a similar price, you are getting a great quality build of a keyboard that offers fantastic response times for gaming as well as great key press feedback you would expect from a top tier mechanical keyboard. I won’t be switching back to my old keyboard after using this.