Mad Catz has always been a recognized peripheral brand throughout the world. Once financial problems were left behind, the company has managed to return to the place where it belonged, being able to offer high-level peripherals for the most enthusiastic players or those who simply play to pass a while, as we tell you in our comparison of Mad Catz mid-range mice.
Today, we bring you a new article from the company, in which we will talk about one of its keyboards. Specifically, we will tell you what our impressions of one of the company’s new keyboards have been in our review of the Mad Catz STRIKE 13.
Design
The Mad Catz STRIKE 13 design It is, without a doubt, one of the most notable aspects of the possible reasons for purchasing it. Built in an aluminum body, the Mad Catz keyboard offers us a complete experience in a small size, something difficult to find in the market.
Many keyboards, such as the Vulca TKL Pro, choose to eliminate the numeric keypad to achieve a much more restrained size. However, the folks at Mad Catz have opted for a different solution, where they have managed to reduce the size of the ST.RIKE 13 dramatically without having to sacrifice the numeric keypad.
The resource used by the people of Mad Catz has been to dispense with the column in which the movement keys are located, merging them with the numeric keyboard (as well as the functions of ImPan, Scroll Lock, Del, etc.) adding a macro key located in the upper right corner, with which we can change the function of the different keys located on the numeric keyboard.
Although at first it is something that is difficult to adapt to, especially if you are used to having a traditional keyboard, with the passage of time it becomes an especially comfortable option, especially for being able to offer us a keyboard with a reduced size without the need to sacrifice certain functions.
With regard to the rest of the aesthetic section, the STRIKE 13 has fully configurable RGB lighting using Mad Catz’s own software, offering the possibility of modifying the behavior and color of the keyboard lighting in various ways.
Finally, on the back, the keyboard has four rubber bands to achieve greater adherence to our desk, as well as two plastic pins to adapt the height of the keyboard to the one that is most comfortable for us. But, in addition, Mad Catz also includes a replacement key with the company logo, as well as a tool that will allow us to extract the keys, although its use is not highly recommended.
Functioning
The Mad Catz STRIKE 13 has been especially comfortable in daily use. Despite having some red cherrys, which are designed for the gaming sector, day-to-day use has been very satisfactory, not posing any problem in long sessions of writing texts. Furthermore, as if that weren’t enough, the compactness of the STRIKE 13 makes it an especially comfortable keyboard in all aspects of its use.
Speaking of the Cherry on the keyboard, the STRIKE 13 features MX Reds, which promise a lifespan of up to 100 million keystrokes, offering a 2.0mm actuation experience with 45 cN and 4.00mm of total travel, which has you turned to one of the most popular mechanical switches in the gaming industry today. This means that the keyboard offers a great response time when playing games, being a highly recommended option for those looking for a gaming keyboard.
But this is not the only thing, since thanks to the dedicated Mad Catz software, we will have the possibility of configuring up to three different profiles for the STRIKE 13, which allows us the option of having different lighting and USB rate settings. But this is not the only thing, since this software will even allow us to modify the behavior of the Macro that we have on the keyboard, which offers us great customization.
However, not everything is perfect for the operation of this STRIKE 13. The main point against that we have found with the keyboard is that, at least for the moment, the layout of it is not in Spanish, so we will not have the Ñ key in it. However, and taking into account that this is dispensable, since its operation is simply replaced, it is important to bear in mind that we lose the classic operation of some keys such as <>.
Conclusions
The Mad Catz STRIKE 13 is a fantastic keyboard, both for its operation and its size, which offers us the advantages of having a smaller keyboard without having to do without the numeric keypad, which makes it not only a great option for the gaming sector, but also for tasks from day to day.
The only downside we found is that it currently does not have the Spanish layout, which will imply a dance of functionalities in some keys, but if that is not a problem for you, the STRIKE 13 is a highly recommended keyboard.