So Vortexgear as a company is now 10 years old, and that's neat. The Vortex 10 as a celebration of this occasion takes cues from multiple things the company has put out in the past, be it the adoption of their famous Poker keyboard and the packaging or accessory cues from other keyboards, including the CORE. The Vortex 10 is their best 60% form factor keyboard to date in my opinion, and one that was originally meant to be the Poker 4 before COVID-19 changed everything for everyone. As it turns out, the Poker 4 will have a new PCB and design whenever it launches, so the Vortex 10 is more like a Poker 3.5 in function, with a few extra bells and whistles.

Take that polycarbonate case and bottom/side lighting, for example. There are a few one-off cases using similar see-through designs, including the Kara from Rama Works, but those tend to be pretty expensive group-buy items and subjectively also more premium than the Vortex 10 in many ways. When compared directly to keyboards that come sold as-is from retailers, there is very little to directly compare the Vortex 10 to in design. There are, however, a massive number of 60%–65% form factor keyboards now, and Vortex has a lot more competition in this niche market compared to when they first launched and sold the original Poker keyboard. The 10th Anniversary Poker is a testament to not only the Vortex brand lasting this long, but also the ever-growing market of non-typical form factors for keyboards, including many that cost well above the usual $100 gaming RGB keyboard in 2020.

There are several things the Vortex 10 has going for it, be it the extensive onboard controls and improved pre-programmed functions, added dip switch and layer functions, or hot-swap switches via the new Gateron sockets. Providing these with Cherry switches by default is also going to help with those who have only heard of the Cherry brand thus far, and opens a venue for future customization without any user soldering/modding given the Vortex 10 is effectively a pre-assembled kit. It would have been nice to see a switch-free version, even as a limited edition, but then again, it would have also been nice to see it bundled with a more premium cable at this price.

The price is what it ultimately comes down to. At $160, the Vortex 10 is a tough sell however you bake this short cake. Consider the POK3R V2 that comes in at $99 and has most of the functions as a direct comparison. Is $60 more worth it for the full-size switches, hot-swap sockets, dip switches, and more premium design? What about the OEM profile front-placed doubleshot injected legends that are backlighting compatible compared to the VSA flat-profile dye sublimed legends that have no backlighting support? I would say yes, the keyboard is definitely a good deal better in use as a whole, and let's not forget that commemorative keyboards tend to be more expensive and can potentially be collector's items in the future. While I doubt the latter in this case, if Vortex had made the included accessories just as premium as the keyboard, this would be a much easier recommendation. Include the long-awaited Vortex MPC software support and it becomes pretty much guaranteed. As it stands now, the Vortex 10 still is the best 60% keyboard I have tested to date, so I will still recommend it. Just do your homework and compare it to other options in the market today to see if your wallet wants to compromise.