Roccat Valo Keyboard Review

Using the Valo

Since work has to come before fun, we first tested the Valo as a regular keyboard – to type articles, instant messaging, etc. In this function, the Valo performed very, very poorly. The keys are small (so the keyboard can house the extra 55 keys) and more pressure resistant (to manage the intensity of gameplay). We ended up mistyping constantly, skipping letters and hitting the Caps Lock unintentionally several times. The typing experience was bad, and we feel that the Valo should not be used for work. During game matches, when we needed to type small messages for our gaming buddies, the text came out truncated due to the difficult typing.

Although typing was bad, at least while playing, the keys responded very well in spite of our hitting some wrong keys due to the buttons being somewhat small. At some point, we launched a grenade when we tried to knife a virtual enemy. In terms of customization, the Valo is awesome. It’s such a world of possibilities that the inclusion of color keys makes sense. However, we feel that the light blue hue is very similar to the darker one. Perhaps an option in orange or yellow would be more appropriate than two shades of blue. Another idea is to follow the exam
ple of other gaming-grade models and offer an extra WASD cluster since they are the keys that see more action during play.

We’re still trying to understand why Roccard decided to include a USB 1.1 port. We’re not asking for a 3.0, but, as it is, the Valo didn’t recognize a simple external HD, and the port was left solely to plug in the mouse. At least the audio connections are useful to people like we, who are constantly switching headsets, but the included microphone is a gimmick since any gamer worth his or her salt relies on a good headset (which comes with an integrated microphone, after all).

The Valo was tested while we played Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. With a virtually infinite capacity to record macros, the keyboard is more geared towards MMORPG and RTS titles than FPS games, where the more common controls usually are assigned to mouse buttons. We only regret the difficulty in typing messages to our gaming buddies because of the small keys, but in customization and macro recording, the Valo is really the ideal model for those who appreciate this kind of feature.