Let's talk about pricing first since this impacts the overall review quite a bit. At $140 for the Cherry MX Red RGB version and $150 for the Cherry MX Silent Red RGB version (with the latter not available from most resellers to begin with), the STRAFE RGB MK.2 from CORSAIR is not the best value for money by any means. There are many competing products from other manufacturers that offer most of what this one does at a substantially lower price point. Indeed, CORSAIR's own original STRAFE RGB can be had for $90 new with a full warranty from the retail channel today, the recently available K68 RGB with IP32 resistance is $120, and the equally new K70 RGB MK.2 comes in at $160 with an aluminium frame case if that is to your liking. This is made all the worse by seeing things that CORSAIR kept to save money and not improve over the predecessor STRAFE RGB, including the tiny rubber pads and lower-quality keyboard feet, while side lighting actually got nerfed this time, too. The K70 RGB MK.2 also has a special edition option to come with the much better stock keycaps out of the box, which this does not get. CORSAIR launched both MK.2 keyboards together, and it is clear that this one was held back to make the K70 RGB MK.2 look like it justifies that higher price point even though this by itself is expensive as well.

The price point is really my biggest issue with the keyboard as the rest of it is really good. The updated CORSAIR Utility Engine software driver, now called iCUE, contributes to most of the positives I have with the keyboard. At the time of review, I truly believe it to be the best overall software companion to any PC peripheral I have tried out (and I have tried a lot of them too). Hardware playback is always nice to see trickle down from their $200 flagship keyboard, and dedicated media buttons help out a lot too. If you wanted a lightshow, or go subtle with it, backlighting support here is fantastic as well. Unfortunately, I maintain that you can currently get a better deal elsewhere, even with the older STRAFE RGB MK.1 or equally new K70 RGB MK.2 SE. A discount around the holiday season will go a long way in making this a more attractive product.