The Wooting clones don't stop..
Summary
TLDRThe video reviews the Endgame Gear 65H, a hall effect magnetic gaming keyboard with rapid trigger technology allowing keys to instantly reset when released. It has impressive build quality with a CNC aluminum case, lubed Gateron switches, and thick silicone sound dampening. However, its rapid trigger implementation is flawed, with a moving actuation point that causes inconsistent and delayed inputs compared to the Wooting it copies. Despite opportunistic copying, it surprisingly provides excellent quality for the price, though serious competitive gamers may want lower latency keyboards like the Wooting 60.
Takeaways
- 😊 The Endgame Gear keyboard has excellent build quality with a CNC aluminum case, especially for the price
- 🔥 It uses factory lubed Gateron KS-3 switches which feel tighter than previous Gateron optical switches
- 🎶 The combination of materials makes this one of the best sounding pre-built keyboards
- ⚡️ It has a rapid trigger feature to instantly reset keys when lifting up, copying Wooting
- 😕 But rapid trigger doesn't work properly out of the box - needing tweaks to minimize issues
- 😟 The actuation point moves based on where the key was last reset, causing inconsistent feel
- 🤔 Adjustments help but latency is over 20ms slower than the Wooting keyboard
- 😠 The High Ground keyboard seems to use an almost identical PCB, implying a shared factory origin
- 💸 Barrier to entry for rapid trigger keyboards is now very low due to these factories
- 🤷♂️ Good build quality for the price, but performance lacks compared to original Wooting
Q & A
What keyboard brands are copying Wooting's rapid trigger technology?
-Razer, SteelSeries, High Ground, and Endgame Gear have all released keyboards trying to copy Wooting's rapid trigger technology.
How does rapid trigger work?
-Rapid trigger allows a keyboard switch to reset instantly the moment it starts lifting up rather than having to pass back through the mechanical actuation point.
What is the build quality of the Endgame Gear 65% like?
-The Endgame Gear 65% has an aluminum case with a nice sparkly metal finish, creating a premium build quality not typically seen at its price point.
How do the switches on the Endgame Gear compare to the Wooting keyboard?
-The Endgame Gear uses factory lubed Gateron KS-3 switches which have a tighter construction than the Gateron Red switches on the Wooting keyboard.
What customization options does the Endgame Gear software provide?
-The Endgame Gear software only allows adjusting the press and release thresholds from 0.1mm to 4mm, lacking extensive customization options.
How does the actuation point work on the Endgame Gear keyboard?
-The actuation point moves depending on where the key was last reset, which can cause delayed inputs compared to other rapid trigger keyboards.
What is the latency of the Endgame Gear keyboard compared to the Wooting?
-Testing showed the Endgame Gear had over 20ms higher latency compared to the Wooting keyboard.
Where are these new budget rapid trigger keyboards coming from?
-Many are being manufactured in factories in China and sold under new brands on sites like Alibaba at very low prices.
What is the conclusion on the Endgame Gear keyboard?
-Despite the higher latency, for only $140 it provides good build quality and a decent rapid trigger experience making it a viable option.
What keyboard has the best rapid trigger implementation?
-The Wooting 60 keyboard currently has the lowest latency and best performing rapid trigger implementation.
Outlines
😊 Keyboard Review Comparing Build Quality and Performance
The paragraph provides an overview and comparison of a new endgame gear analog keyboard to the Wooting keyboard. It highlights the exceptional build quality of the endgame keyboard including the CNC aluminum case and stabilized lubed switches. It also praises the endgame keyboard's sound dampening and notes it is the best sounding out of box keyboard. Regarding performance, it explains that the endgame keyboard lacks rapid trigger enabled by default unlike the Wooting. It also explains an issue with the endgame's inconsistent actuation point depending on key reset point unlike the Wooting.
😕 Measuring Latency Reveals Endgame Keyboard is Much Slower
The paragraph explains measuring the latency of the endgame keyboard using a solenoid device and high speed camera. It reveals the endgame keyboard has over 20ms higher latency than the Wooting keyboard which is a significant difference. This slower latency is noticeable in-game with some overlapping inputs. It also notes the endgame latency results are very similar to another keyboard called The High Ground, and explains these keyboards likely come from the same factory in China.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Rapid Trigger
💡Actuation Point
💡Switch Reset
💡Latency
💡Hall Effect Switches
💡Click Latency
💡Aluminum Case
💡Software Customization
💡Ghost Inputs
💡Dead Zone
Highlights
Build quality is excellent with CNC aluminum case, reminiscent of Tofu60 keyboards
Uses Gateron KS-3 switches which are tighter than previous Gaterons
Switches are factory lubricated, unlike Wooting keyboards
Thick silicone damping makes it the best sounding out-of-box keyboard
$35 cheaper than Wooting 60%
Rapid trigger has no deadzone unlike Razer Huntsman Mini
Software is clean and lightweight unlike SteelSeries Apex Pro Mini
Actuation point moves based on key reset, unlike Wooting
Has ~20ms higher latency than Wooting 60%
Latency results are very similar to High Ground keyboard
Endgame and High Ground use nearly identical PCBs
Barriers to entry for hall effect keyboards are now very low
Surprising build quality for $140 price point
Good value if build quality valued over latency
Disappointing opportunistic attempt at copying Wooting
Transcripts
razor steel series High ground and now
endgame gear another hall effect
magnetic keyboard which is copying
rootings rapid trigger feature the
ability to instantly reset your key
switches the moment you start lifting
off which has been a serious game Cher
but as usual it's the same name but
different performance and experience and
we'll get to all of that in just a
minute but first of all I just want to
talk about how good the build quality on
this keyboard is it actually comes with
a CNC aluminium case which reminds me of
lot of the tofu 60 which I've been using
for pretty much forever yeah it's plain
black has a nice sparkly metal finish
there is some subtle branding on the top
left and on the back as well but overall
it is a really clean build and yeah you
just don't see this type of build
quality in this price range of gaming
keyboards typically here you get a
plastic case some lowdensity foam
underneath the PCB and that's pretty
much it this is just stomping on
everything in this price range and the
real kicker this is actually $35 cheaper
than the wooding 60 that's even more
surprising when you hear what this board
sounds like it's pretty solid I mean
it's using the gadon ks 37 switches
which seem like they have a tighter
construction compared to the earlier
Gaton leer switches which you'll find on
the wooding those have a bit more stem
warble in my experience the switches
here on the end game are also lubed at
factory whereas the woodings are not for
sound depening there's a thick layer of
silicone between the aluminium plate and
the PCB and there's another thick layer
that sits at the bottom of the case
overall I think this is honestly the
best sounding Out of the box keyboard
that I've ever
tried but now let's get to my favorite
part which is the performance and look
we've seen some of these wooding
copycats before like razor steel series
and High Ground they're kind of the big
names to do it and they were the first
to do it and the specific thing that's
being copied here is called rapid
trigger it's a feature which you can
enable on these analog keyboards which
allows the switch to reset instantly the
moment it starts lifting up rather than
having to wait for it to pass back
through a mechanical actuation point
which is a lot slower to be honest the
first time I tried it I knew there was
no going back but the brands doing the
copying haven't hit the mark just yet on
the Razer Huntsman mini there is a half
mm dead zone at the bottom of the switch
the steel Series has impressively bad
software actually breaking my Apex Pro
Mini and The High Ground lacks any
software customization has the slowest
latency that I've tested and has these
weird ghost inputs when pausing the
movement of a switch and as for the 65 H
from endgame gear it's interesting their
software is actually very clean and
lightweight which I do like and
hopefully it stays this way as they
develop it further but you basically
only have two things that you can adjust
that is the Press threshold and the
release threshold with values between 1
and 40 which essentially mean 0.1 and 4
mm and by default it's set to 1 mm for
both which actually means it doesn't
have rapid trigger out of the box to do
that you need to set the release
threshold to the minimum value of 0.1 mm
that means the switch will reset 0.1 mm
after being released which is virtually
instantly and I've got to say the
sensitivity of the rapid trigger on this
board actually feels pretty solid like
if I completely bottom out the switch
and release it by just a hair the switch
resets just like the wooding 60 I tested
this at multiple points in the switch on
different switches and it all felt
really nice but this is when I noticed
something really weird about the end
game and that's the Press threshold
let's say you set the Press threshold to
one mm which means that initially that
is the actuation point it is 1 mm from
the top you need to press the switch 1
mm for an input to occur but let's say
you just lift it up a little bit 0.1 mm
let's say it resets thanks to Rapid
trigger you need to press the switch
another 1 mm now for another input to
occur that means that on this keyboard
the actuation point is always moving
depending on where the key was last
reset which I personally do not like at
all especially if you're doing like
really fast inputs like ad spamming and
strafing really quick for example you
just feel like some of your inputs are
delayed compared to something like a
wooing or another rapid trigger keyboard
where you can instantly actuate the
switch if you're past a certain point
the only way to overcome this is to set
the Press threshold also to 0.1 mm which
unfortunately does mean that you might
be fumbling or bumping some keys and
getting accidental inputs which I did
experience but it's the only way to get
the inputs here feeling anywhere close
to the wounding 60 I say close because
also have to talk about latency so I
have my solenoid here which mechanically
releases a switch to unscop a gun in
OverWatch 2 on my 540 HZ Monitor and I'm
recording all of this at 3,000 frames
per second on a super slow motion camera
as soon as we see the switch start
lifting rapid trigger should be doing
its thing we then just count the number
of frames until we see the UNS scope
animation on the monitor behind it and
then we can calculate the latency there
is of course PC and game latency within
this equation as well which does create
a bit of variance too but we run the
test enough times and we do get get a
pretty consistent average and the
endgame gear 65 H it doesn't look great
it's over 20 milliseconds slower than
the wooding 60 at that point it's not
variance or margin of error that is a
seriously significant difference now as
I've said in the past 20 milliseconds of
switch release latency that is a lot
harder to feel compared to say 20
milliseconds of Click latency on a mouse
with a key switch your fingers take
their own time to progressively lift off
the switch so it doesn't feel as jarring
I will say though I did feel like I had
a few more overlapping inputs while
playing on the end game just a few more
moments there where I thought my straths
weren't as Snappy as usual these aren't
things that will bother most people when
they're focusing on actually playing a
competitive game but it definitely
doesn't excuse a lazy unoptimized
keyboard which should be a lot faster
than this in fact this latency result is
eerily similar to what I saw on The High
Ground performance keyboard which is
this one right here this is just the PCB
and the plate and the switches yeah it's
another 65% whole effect magnetic
keyboard has the exact same Gabon
switches has the exact same aluminium
plate as well uh and then you flip them
over on the back they have almost The
Identical part number on the pcb2 on the
high ground it is kg 647 U and then on
the end game you have kg 657 U maybe
implying that it's a slightly more
updated model which it is but yeah it's
literally the same Factory spitting out
the almost identical board see I mean if
you're wondering why all of these random
keyboard brands are popping up out of
nowhere with somehow a hall effect rapid
trigger keyboard This is why I mean you
can log on to alibaba.com find a
supplier for exactly this a 65% rapid
trigger keyboard with an insanely low mq
like the barrier to entry now for this
type of product is insanely low but
build quality wise I do have to admit
really really surprising what endgame
have done here for 140 bucks and that
seems to be echoed throughout these
other small reviews that I've seen of
these other copy and paste hall effect
rapid trigger keyboards most of them are
coming with these l switches lubed
stabilizers and sometimes a metal case
as well it is really surprising to see
that kind of build quality at these
price points so if you value that more
than say having the lowest latency
highest performing keyboard on the
market I.E the woing 60 then I actually
don't mind recommending this so yeah I
mean I am a little bit disappointed at
you know the opportunistic money grab
attempt at a rapid trigger keyboard but
for 140 bucks I mean I got to be real
this is actually a pretty damn good
board
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