CM Storm Quick Fire TK Gaming Keyboard Review

Main Characteristics

The main characteristic of the Quick Fire TK is that it is a mechanical keyboard that is both illuminated and compact. Here we’ll review some notions about the Cherry MX technology. The different key colors mean the type of feedback (force or linear), the actuation force (from 45 g to 60 g) and if the keys are silent or clicky. Force feedback means your finger actually feels a small resistance when pressing the key; a linear feedback offers a smoother typing experience. We got the Cherry MX Blue for this test, which has an actuation force of 50 g and it’s the noisier type that is very clicky.

Figure 7: Cherry MX Blue key with LED

Despite being a gaming-grade keyboard, the Quick Fire TK doesn’t feature programmable functions or macro keys. So it’s more oriented towards FPS titles like Battlefield, Call of Duty, etc. For those into macro recording, it’s better to have a good programmable mouse.

Another characteristic is that the user can change the key roll-over value, that is, the maximum number of keys that can be pressed at once and still be recognized by the keyboard. It goes from 6KRO (six simultaneous keys) to NKRO (any number of keys). That can be controlled by pressing the number 6 with the Esc key at the same time. MMO players will enjoy this feature if they choose the Quick Fire TK, but they should know that the absence of macro keys is an issue.

The user can choose from three illumination modes (with five levels of intensity): full illumination, a breathing mode and the WASD cluster (the most used on FPS matches).

Figure 8: Full illumination

Figure 9: Illuminated WASD cluster