Introduction
Contents
Mobility is one of the current buzzwords. If a gamer wants to be part of a championship or an LAN party, the worst peripheral to transport is the keyboard, especially the mechanical ones, which are heavier. With this player in mind, CM Storm releases the Quick Fire TK, a compact version of the Quick Fire Pro that fits in a backpack. The model is also indicated for those who don’t have a lot of desktop space. Although it is small, the product features a complete numpad, multimedia and illumination controls. The only things it doesn’t do are macro recording and key configuring. Let’s describe the Quick Fire TK and then evaluate it.
Figure 1: Quick Fire TK keyboard
Just like the Quick Fire Pro, its kid brother also catches the eye with its sturdiness. The keyboard is like a black brick with Cherry MX mechanical switches. There are three types of switch options: Cherry MX Red, Brown or Blue. The packaging indicates which type of key is inside. Each has its own characteristics, as we’ll see later in this test. The illumination follows the key color: red LEDs for the Cherry MX Red, blue ones for the Cherry MX Blue, and white light for the Cherry MX Brown (brown light just wouldn’t work). The illumination is controlled by the F1-F4 function keys.
For the body to be compact, the numpad absorbed the arrow keys plus the Insert, Home, Page Up, Page Down, Delete, End, Print Screen, Scroll Lock and Pause keys. They are incorporated into the numbers and can be engaged by pressing the Numlk key that switches the numpad from the regular numbers to these commands. That’s an ingenious solution. The multimedia controls also share space with the F5-F11 function keys, and the F12 blocks both Windows keys on each side of the space bar. Those extra commands are engaged when pressing the Function key next to the right Ctrl.
Figure 2: Numeric keypad
Figure 3: Function keys