• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Vortexgear Joins in With More Wireless Mechanical Keyboards

VSG

Editor, Reviews & News
Staff member
Joined
Jul 1, 2014
Messages
3,697 (0.96/day)
Vortexgear, which is more commonly referred to simply as Vortex, has a close collaboration with iKBC when it comes to their product line and this year at Computex was no different. Indeed, it was evident that Vortex were joining in the fray of making 2018 the year of wireless mechanical keyboards now that RGB is a done deal, with every single new product having that option.

We began our look at the Vortex section of the giant Mistel/iKBC/Vortex booth with the new members to their popular Poker series of keyboards- a 60% form factor keyboard that offered onboard layers and programmability at a time when this was just a dream for even keyboard enthusiasts. The Poker IV is scheduled to work with their new software driver, thus finally allowing end users the freedom to customize layers and keys to a larger and easier extent than before. The two-tone keycap color scheme we saw with their recent keyboards carries over here, as does a thick plastic case to hit a wallet-friendly price point. On the back is a toggle for the power alongside a battery tray for two AAA batteries. New this year to the Poker series is also the so-called Poker Vol. 2 that trades in for a thick metal case and a split space bar. Images for the new Poker keyboards are seen below, and there is more to go after the break.





Nearly an year ago, we took a detailed look at the Vortex Race 3, a 75% form factor keyboard that offered a lot of functionality in a small package. At Computex 2018, Vortex showed off the new Race Hybrid keyboard that takes the Race 3 as a foundation and adds Bluetooth support to it. A more subtle color scheme is seen here, with an all black case and keycap set and we also see the legends are printed on the front of the keycaps rather than the top for a cleaner look. As with their other new keyboards, the Race 3 has an ON/OFF toggle at the back next to a compartment tray for two AAA batteries that can be user replaced easily.



Rounding off the Vortex space at the booth was their largest keyboard to date- a ~95% form factor keyboard that squeezes in a 104-key unit into a single bank of keys as seen in the images below. The goal here is to allow discrete keys as best as possible while still keeping the keyboard to a small footprint for ergonomic purposes. A side benefit of this is Vortex gets to offer something different from the rest of the market in general, something true for all their products to date. To make the VT105 Hybrid more appealing to the masses, Vortex has added in RGB lighting which peeks out of the front printed legends on the PBT doubleshot keycaps. This makes for less of a light show, and looks great in person. Oh, and this gets the same Bluetooth treatment we saw before so all the keyboards shown here can be used wired or wirelessly as desired.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site
 

AsRock

TPU addict
Joined
Jun 23, 2007
Messages
19,113 (2.99/day)
Location
UK\USA
OOh one i actually like, i bet i don't like the price though.
 

Ruru

S.T.A.R.S.
Joined
Dec 16, 2012
Messages
13,044 (2.97/day)
Location
Jyväskylä, Finland
System Name 4K-gaming / console
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5800X / Intel Core i7-6700K
Motherboard Asus ROG Crosshair VII Hero / Asus Z170-K
Cooling Alphacool Eisbaer 360 / Alphacool Eisbaer 240
Memory 32GB DDR4-3466 / 16GB DDR4-3000
Video Card(s) Asus RTX 3080 TUF OC / Powercolor RX 6700 XT
Storage 3.3TB of SSDs / several small SSDs
Display(s) Acer 27" 4K120 IPS + Lenovo 32" 4K60 IPS
Case Corsair 4000D AF White / DeepCool CC560 WH
Audio Device(s) Sony WH-CN720N
Power Supply EVGA G2 750W / Fractal ION Gold 550W
Mouse Logitech MX518 / Logitech G400s
Keyboard Roccat Vulcan 121 AIMO / NOS C450 Mini Pro
VR HMD Oculus Rift CV1
Software Windows 11 Pro / Windows 11 Pro
Benchmark Scores They run Crysis
I think that I just found the new "ugliest keyboard ever" in my opinion.
 
Top