Madcatz S.T.R.I.K.E. 5 Modular Gaming Keyboard Unboxing & First Look Linus Tech Tips
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2013-05-07
·
1,755 words · ~8 min read
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Welcome to my unboxing and first look at what MadCats claims is the most
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adjustable gaming keyboard ever created.
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Ever. This is the US Querty layout one, which makes sense cuz I'm in North
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America. Oh. Oh, it has a built-in OLED
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screen and the backlight can be changed
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to pretty much any color you can imagine. So, there's RGB LED lighting
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behind it, giving you 60 million possible backlight colors, which is very
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cool. Something we really haven't seen that much. We've seen some keyboards where you can change from between
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backlight colors, but they'll usually just have a few options. Now, we finally
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have a fully back lit gaming keyboard that can be whatever color you want. So,
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it's customizable. It is has color OLED.
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Okay, so that's for the screen right there that kind of shows cool stuff about what you're adjusting or whatever
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else. Command module setup reduces the
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footprint and provides 21 programmable buttons, three profile modes, media
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keys, and a Windows key lock. So you can actually put the thing together for to
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build what is say basically your own kind of Belulcon Nostromo type thing if
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you guys remember that thing. Okay.
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Okay. Just another picture of it. Ah, yes. So here's a little bit more
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information about what can be displayed on the screen. So, the multiple eye
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gaming apps, the woo gaming apps,
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something. Okay. Yeah, it's a different language. That's cool. So, basically, it just shows you what's going on at any
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given time. So, your program launcher right there. See? Battlefield. This
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little launching indicator, mic volume, countdown timer, stopwatch, clock
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brightness, and volume can all show up on there. Very cool stuff. So, let's go
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ahead and open it up, and we'll be back in a moment. Sorry, guys. We were trying
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to open it, and we realized there's more information on the back. So, the modular components adapt to your game space and
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playing style just like their RAT series mice. Okay, the it has a full RGB
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backlight. Okay, we've talked about that. 21 programmable macro keys and three modes. Okay, we talked about that.
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Height adjustable active palm rest features. Additional thumb wheel and
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button for even more controls at your fingertips. So, that is right there.
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We'll find that after. Eye panel, innovative fullcolor OLED screen, which
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is there. And pass through headset or pass through for headset and microphone
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port. So, that's uh very handy as well. So, we'll have a look at that once we get this baby opened up.
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So, the whole thing comes out of the box in like kind of a tower like this. The
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first layer contains the main part of the keyboard where you actually do your
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typing, you know, cuz you're writing letters to grandma or whatever else. So,
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this is just your letters and your shifts and your backspaces and your Oh,
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that's not bad. They're using a very unique key technology with this keyboard
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that actually is supposed to feel more like mechanical even though it is using
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membrane key switches. And I'd say it is better there. There is more tactile
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feedback, but it's still very quiet with the only
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notable exception being the space bar. The next piece contains
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your number pad as well as your delete and insert keys, page up, page down,
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your arrow keys, and all that stuff that you may or may not have any need for.
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And you can decide whether you even want to attach it to the main keyboard
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itself, and we'll cover that later because that's clearly not how to do it.
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Next, you've got the module that goes up at the top that has the OLED display as
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well as your media keys and a bunch of programmable macro keys that you can
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switch which mode you're using by using
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the buttons that are probably located on something we haven't seen yet.
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Cables, which yeah, again, we'll figure out how
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all that works in a moment. More cables, which we'll figure out how all that
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works in a moment. And finally, your wrist rest.
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Pull that off. Aha.
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This piece that allows you to switch between the various modes. So you can uh
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go from uh pick from one of three profiles for your macro keys, your
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manual,
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a lot Oh, an Allen key to put the whole thing together as well as the screws you
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need. And finally, two more pieces of
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what will be the wrist rest for the main part of the keyboard.
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Now, you have the option of putting it together with screws, but if you change
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it around all the time, I guess you don't even have to because everything clips into place. So, I'm going to show
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you guys this configuration before I show you the more standard
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configuration. So, we've got it in two pieces. So, you got your keyboard here,
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which just has all your standard functionality on it. So there's nothing
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that exceptional about it except that you can completely adjust the wrist rest
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for the length of your hands. So you can see I'd be quite uncomfortable like
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this. However, I can move it in one step or I can move
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it in one more additional step in order to get closer, which is probably where I
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would end up. Then you've got these aha.
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See these interchangeable uh things right here that you can use to plug it
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in however you need to. So I've used the cables that I need. However, you can see
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I have an extra left over. This would be for if I assemble it the other way. You
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can adjust the height of it just by pulling these down. And it has lots of
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rubber grippy feet on the bottom, making it so it's not going to slip anywhere
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pretty much no matter what you do to it.
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Now, this piece, so I've assembled this using the OLED display. So, the way you
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use this is you can select the functionality using the up and down. You
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can use the right arrow to activate things. You can use left arrow to go
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back, I believe. I'm not okay. I can't remember what the
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left arrow does, but basically these four buttons are for functioning the
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display. And the dial around the top allows you to change whatever's on the
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display. So, if you're using the application launcher, you can change which application you're going to
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launch. If you're using the volume control, then you can adjust in increments of five. And then, if you
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want more fine adjustment, then you can use the buttons on the side. Your media
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controls are here, your play, your stop, your mute, your left, your left, your
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right, your uh your back, your forward. And then these up here are all
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programmable keys. Now, I was wrong before. I said that these were for the
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different profiles. They are not. The profiles are selected up here. 1, two,
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and three. Here's a Windows on and off key, as well as control for the
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backlight on the keyboard. These guys right here are additional programmable
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buttons. You can see that they have normal functionality. Control, shift,
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enter, and backspace. But you don't have
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to use them that way. This is a rolling
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wheel, so you can use that with your thumb. This is an additional
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programmable button. And then all these M button or C buttons rather around here
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are also programmable. So this is how you can create yourself a little sort of
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gaming pad and you can adjust however you want to use it. It's totally totally
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up to you. More adjustments here. So you can change the length. Oh, and you can
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also increase the height of it if you want. So very cool stuff. There's that
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pass through for the headphone and microphone ports on the back here. And
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you can see again how I've assembled it using little wires and cables and
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whatnot going where it needs to go. So there you go. You can move as far away
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as you want. So you can use the arrow keys like this or if you have smaller hands then you can move it up closer.
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Whatever you want to do is totally up to you. So we're going to put it together
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the other way and show you how that works.
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Heat. Heat.
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And we are assembled now. So, I hope you guys enjoyed the assembly process.
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Actually, doesn't take that long. Uh, this was my first time doing it, so you
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guys could see I got a little bit confused there for a while. So, now this
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is in position to use your more typical WD gaming configuration. This has been
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moved over so that the uh the Strike 5 wrist rest is here. Everything is still
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very adjustable, so you can change everything to your heart's content and
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your layout is more like when you what you'd see on a normal keyboard. So,
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there you have it. I hope you guys have enjoyed my unboxing and first look at
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the Strike 5 from Mad Cats. Don't forget to subscribe to Lest Tech Tips for more
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unboxings, reviews, and other computer videos. And before we wrap this up, I
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should say, guys, um I'm actually pretty
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impressed by what they've done with the membrane keys here. Are they mechanical
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keys? No. But are they your typical membrane keys? No. There is a lot of
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difference between one membrane key and another. For example, the first generation Logitech G15 had
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significantly better membrane keys than any further Gen 2, G, whatever, anything
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that's followed it. So, there is a huge difference from one membrane key cap to
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another one. And this one definitely achieves that. I'd love for you guys to
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post a comment under the video and let me know what do you think of this whole modular peripheral concept. We've seen
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it with the Rat series, now we see it with the Strike series. What do you guys
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think?