Corsair Entering Gaming Peripherals Market: Headsets, Keyboards, Mice

Looks like Corsair is expanding their presence in the comupter peripherals market with a bunch of gaming-focused devices under the "Vengeance" brand. The best article / roundup I found about this was from Anandtech. Article here, from where I linked the images below.

What excites me about this stuff is that Corsair is actually putting quality components into these products (Cherry MX key switches, Avago S9500 mouse sensor, aluminum chassis); instead of using cheap components into these products, throwing in a bunch of flashy LEDs, and calling it a day.


Corsair Vengeance 1500 / 1300 / 1100 Headset
* Vengeance 1500 Headset ($99): Simulated surround headset (5.1/7.1), 50mm drivers, USB plug.
* Vengeance 1300 Headset ($79): Same as the Vengeance 1500, except uses 1/8" stereo plugs instead of USB.




* Vengeance 1100 Headset ($39): Behind-the-head design, 40mm drivers, USB support.




Corsair Vengeance K90 / K60 Keyboards

* Vengeance K90 Keyboard ($129): Indiviually-backlit keys, 20-key rollover, 18 programmable macros, Cherry MX red switches, aluminum chassis.



* Vengeance K60 Keyboard ($109): No backlighting, no macro keys. Cherry MX red switches, aluminum chassis, removeable left-wrist rest, textures WASD 123456 keys.




Corsair Vengeance M90 / M60 Mice

* Corsair M90 Mouse ($79): Aluminum chassis, Avago S9500 laser sensor (5700dpi), 9 customizable side-buttons.



* Corsair M60 Mouse ($69): Aluminum chassis, Avago S9500 laser sensor (5700dpi), side "sniper" toggle button for high/low DPI modes.

 

The only thing I don't like about them is the Corsair logo. I think it's a poor logo for a tech company and it looks bad silkscreened onto gaming mice and headsets.

I may end up buying that 1100 headset, but I really wish someone would make a decent surround headset that goes behind the head instead of over the top.

 

The M90 looks like those side buttons are positioned weirdly...hard to tell without actually using it, though.

 

LOL! As opposed to a certain other peripheral manufacturer?

Anyway, the Corsair stuff, at first blush, looks a little too gimmicky like they're trying too hard to sell their products based on image alone. However, I do like the implementation of aluminum into these products, something other manufacturers should take note of!

 

Well, I was thinking specifically of ThermalTake Challenger keyboards, which have macro keys, backlighting, and... a fan that blows over the keyboard (most useless "feature" ever). But it uses membrane keys, which means the actual performance of this product will be below what I am looking for.

Or the Logitech G-series keyboards... which have an LCD display and macro support, but use membrane keys. Again, lower performance than what I would like.

Or a Razer Mamba 4G, which promotes all of these awesome things about their mouse in their marketing material (dual-sensor; 6400dpi, adjustable LED colors), but actually uses a less-than-awesome laser imaging sensor (Philips Twin-Eye). Again, lower performance than what I would like.

Or MadCatz with their Cyborg RAT 7/9 mice, which promotes adjustable shape. But uses a crap laser imaging sensor (Philips Twin-Eye).


At first, I thought the same thing as you did with Corsair (Here we go again... another manufacturer trying to pawn off "gaming" peripherals by using a flashy appearance to sell products, without including the performance needed to back that up). But when you dive into it, Corsair is actually using decent components in these products (Cherry MX red key switches for keyboards, and Avago S9500 imaging sensors in their mice). So the actual performance of these products will be pretty darned good.

Now, people may or may not like the appearance of these Corsair products, and that is fine... that is a personal preference. But as far as performance goes, these products should be rock solid.

 

A linear key switch for an RTS/MMO oriented keyboard seem like strange choice.

 

Wow, I like the button positioning of the buttons for the m90 mouse. The empty space in the middle is great for resting your thumb so all the heat and sweat won't mess up the buttons (much like it did to my razer naga epic, the 4 and 5 buttons are basicly starting to lose their coloring after 4 months of use).

 

Why am I not suprised that this happened to a Razr product... In any event, the amount of buttons on the M90 seem overkill, as does their placement. I can't see bending my thumb near 90-degrees just to access the side buttons near my palm.

 

If Corsair would come out with a tenkeyless version of the K60, I would be all over it.