Packaging and Accessories

May I say here how much of a fan I am of Vortex's packaging? This is the third keyboard of theirs I have examined on TechPowerUp, and the style of their packaging has been different every time. The first used a magnetic gift box, the second a box with a slide-out drawer, and this one goes with a cylindrical tube, and I can definitely say that this is the first time I have seen a keyboard come in one. The tube is made out of thin sheet metal with a wrap on the curved side that is black in color, with brown writing for the company and product name as well as what appears to be a printed on PCB design. At the bottom are the keyboard's salient marketing features, and one end has a cap that can be pulled out to reveal the contents inside. A foam piece holds the keyboard on one side, and there are gaps above and below to allow you to pull it out of the tube, which also reveals the accessories that are placed over the keyboard itself.


Two sets of accessories come with the Vortex ViBE, and they both come in sealed plastic pouches. The first is a set of replacement keycaps, and here, we also see add-on feet for the keyboard, and the second pouch contains the detachable keyboard cable. We get two each of the Esc, Enter, space bar, Num, and Num Pad Enter keycaps, with the space bars in colors different from the others in red or blue. These are to essentially add some flair to the keyboard, which otherwise does not support backlighting (on the base version anyway, and there are no plans yet for an RGB backlit version to be released). These replacement keycaps are made out of thick PBT plastic with an average wall thickness of 1.29 mm and have dye-sublimated legends, which will have these last for quite some time. The feet are to be screwed in place and come with two rubber pieces that are to be glued on top to provide some friction and minimize scratching.


Removing the keyboard entirely, we see another thick foam piece on the other end, and this one fills up the entire diameter of the tube, allowing no wiggle room for the keyboard inside to potentially hit the walls of the tube. The lid also makes contact with the other foam piece to finish this unique, but practical packaging design.