Closer Examination

The keyboard comes in a plastic wrap as we saw on the previous page, but then there are more things to remove before we can actually get to it. Cougar adds a smoked, thick acrylic cover to the keyboard that comes taped on two sides to hold it in place during transit. This cover helps protect the keyboard against dust and from something dropping on the keyboard inadvertently. There is a large Cougar logo on the front and, turning it over, we see magnets embedded into the underside that help keep it place on the keyboard. If you fancy taking the keyboard along with you to multiple places, this cover does a nice job and means you do not need to worry much about protecting it.


We finally get to see the keyboard now and, honestly, there is not a whole lot to distinguish it from most other TKL keyboards at first sight. We have a black keyboard with a two-piece ABS plastic case and black keycaps with white legends on them. Bezels are average in size, and there are multiple metal screws along the edge to not only make it look slightly different than the horde, but also provide spots for the magnets in the cover to latch on to. The Cougar logo is present above the arrow key cluster, and that aside, this is pretty much a standard 87-key TKL form factor keyboard in the US ANSI layout.

Single-legend placement is biased towards the top-center on the keycaps, which I would rather have seen occupy a larger, more central location instead, but this does give us an idea of where the LEDs underneath are probably placed. Secondary legends are printed either underneath the primary ones or alongside, as seen above. If indeed the LEDs are located above the switches, as with basically every other single-color backlit mechanical keyboard today, the secondary (and also tertiary, in some cases) legends will not be as well backlit. Compromises were taken here, and overall, it results in some tiny legends and more empty space than I like to see. The typeface itself is clean and will work in any environment without coming off as aggressive or trying too hard.


Flipping the keyboard around, we see the usual certification sticker in the middle, as well as another version of the Cougar logo just above in case you forgot who made the keyboard. There are also four large rubber pads by the corners to ensure the keyboard does not slide around on your desk while preventing scratches to the underside, and two feet at the top, which have two steps each for three inclination options to choose from. Both steps have rubber pads on the bottom as well, which is a nice detail. Another thing of note on the back are the three cable-routing channels going towards the left, top, and right from the middle, with nibs to keep the cable in place for when you want to use this as a wired keyboard.


We see an inset female mini-USB port on the keyboard, and the provided cable fits in snugly without any issues. The cable itself is a standard 6 feet long and inserts into a USB Type-A port on your PC. USB 2.0 will suffice here given the single-color backlighting, so there should be no issues with powering and running this even off ancient office computers, if you plan to use it for work.


Cougar used the OEM profile here, with slanted rows sculpted to provide a sense of familiarity for those used to most other mechanical keyboards. The keyboard uses a two-piece plastic case with a non-floating set of keycaps. The provided keycap puller works fine for when you want to remove keycaps to examine, clean, or replace them, but note that they can scratch the sides even if you are being careful and go slow. The stock keycaps are made out of thin ABS plastic with an average wall thickness of 1.08 mm, compared to the thicker metal walls on the provided replacement keycaps that measure in at 1.34 mm on average. The legends are laser-etched on these black keycaps, so expect to see signs of wear and tear sooner rather than later. The laser etching does mean there is backlighting support, as expected and seen above.


The Cougar PURI TKL uses genuine Cherry MX switches, with this particular sample having MX Blue switches. Given the single-color-backlit nature of the keyboard, Cougar is using the original style switches with an opaque housing. We can also confirm here that the LEDs are located above the keycaps, one per switch, which is where the backlighting will be brightest and explains the location of the legends on the keycaps. The larger keycaps on the switches use Cherry stabilizers as well, which means they are easier to remove, but suffer from mushier feedback, especially with linear switches on the larger space bar.


Here is a look at the replacement keycaps in action. These add some color and flair to the keyboard, should you prefer it, and can also help quickly identify specific keys visually.