VIPER V730 GAMING KEYBOARD REVIEW
Review by: Jennifer Griffiths
Video & Testing by: Philip Griffiths
Click Video Below to Play
Introduction :
The day in the life of a gamer…you work all day, come home to your take out and as soon as the last bite is swallowed, you are on your way to your comfy chair to sit down to your way to escape your troubles, your computer. It’s how game night around the globe starts out. In front of you, your keyboard, mouse, monitor and on your head goes the headset. You have now entered the 6th dimension. That which lies between man and imagination, the righter of wrongs, the difference between fairy-tale and nightmares, you have entered The Gaming Zone. That being said, you want a keyboard that can handle anything you need and make it snappy. You want it now! Every cast, every hit depends on the keyboard in front of you because you bound those keys to respond to your needs. They are macro infused powerhouses. That’s what you expect, am I right? That’s what every gamer expects. So today with all of this in mind, I will review the Viper V730 Gaming Keyboard and see how it holds up in a day in the life of this gamer. I’m going to take it to The Gaming Zone and we are off to play a few MMO games. Will it deliver, or will it be take away? Find out this and more in this edition of Tech For Techs.
Manufacturer statement:
The Patriot Viper V730 mechanical gaming keyboard is the perfect fit for the casual and entry level gamer. Mechanical Kailh Brown Switches provide the smooth, fast, linear response, giving you the tactical edge. With 5 lighting profiles, on-board multimedia controls, and 6 LED lighting effects, the V730 allows is a great plug and play option for any gamer.
With 104 key rollover and anti-ghosting capabilities, no keystroke will be missed while editing your latest YouTube video or dominating friends on the latest PC game.
The V730 is built with an aluminum chassis and integrated palm rest with durability and comfort in mind for hours of game play. Backed by Patriot's award winning customer service and a two year warranty, the V730 is compatible with nearly every Windows ® operating system, Including Windows®10, MAC® OS X, or higher.
Features:
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100% mechanical Kailh Brown Switches
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LED backlit keys
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104 key rollover anti ghosting
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5 lighting profiles
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Aircraft grade aluminum chassis
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8 multimedia control keys
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6 LED light effect modes
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6 LED backlit dimming
About :
Viper Gaming is a brand of Patriot Memory LLC, a global leader in performance memory, SSD's and flash storage solutions. Viper Gaming was established in 2007 with the unveiling of the well-known, top-tier line of computer memory. Since then, the Viper Gaming brand has become synonymous with elite performance and reliability among gamers worldwide.
In 2015, Viper Gaming decided to expand its product categories to include gaming keyboards, headsets and mice. Offering entry, mid-level and high-end solutions with rich feature sets that won't break the bank, Viper Gaming's award-winning peripherals provide gamers everywhere the best price-for-performance and reliability that enables every Viper Gamer to dominate in their sport.
Packaging:
First of all, I want to start out with a shout out to the graphics team at Viper for a job well done in presenting the keyboard clearly and attractively. The box has that shelf appeal for the retailer and that “pick me up” look that customers like. Once you have a look, you see that the V730 has included something that a few of our main stream gaming companies have stayed away from, the palm rest. I like a palm rest for the simple reason after hours of gaming you fail to remember how to hold your hands and you get cramps. Comfort is key. While the palm rest is not detachable, very few that buy a keyboard with palm rest ever detach it, so, I can forgive this. Most things you need to know are clearly written on the box. But can I have my macros set up? I’ll have to peep inside for more.
Unboxing:
When you open the box, you see a very attractive keyboard that is well packed in thick black foam. This lets me know they cared enough about me to make sure my purchase was one that would free from injury in transit. I have that “rest assured” feeling. Compact that along side that this keyboard is made of aircraft grade aluminium with cherry brown switches, yeah this is sweet already. It also has braded cabling. Nice! I do not see any USB ports and that is a shame. There is no software inside but there is a red envelope with two logo stickers and a card for quick set up. On the card, I am told that there are 104 programable macro keys, 104 key rollover anti ghosting, full spectrum RGB 16.8 million colours for individually backlit keys, Ultra durable aluminium chassis. It also goes on to say 6 multi media keys, Light control keys, Removable palm rest and USB pass through port. I am officially befuddled. Try as I may I do not see a way to detach the palm rest without a drill, nor do I locate the USB passthrough port. Clearly, the box said it is red only, so it can not be RGB 16.8 million colours. So, unless they use this as a general guide to all keyboards, it is a bit misleading. Note, it does not say “some models may vary” it clearly says for this model on the card. So, until I install the software from the website, I’m no better off on knowing if I can program my macro keys or not going by the guide here. It says 104 programable macro keys but it promised me a USB passthrough port, detachable palm rest and RGB and we all know how that turned out. Time will tell.
Installation:
If you do not require anything special, you may just opt to plug and play. It plugs into the USB port and away you go. However, if you want to do crafty things, I suggest you download the software from the website.
Other Info:
Dimensions: 18.0" (D), 8.6" (W), 1.7" (H)
Weight: 2.42 lbs
Cable: 2m
Testing:
I decided to try this out playing ESO *Elder Scrolls Online*. This way I could get the feel of typing in chat as well as casting, fighting and movement. I did not have to install the special software for this. It was simply plug and play. The keyboard is very responsive. No matter if I was in a dungeon or traveling to my next quest, it did what I wanted without hesitation. My casts for heals went through quickly and with little effort. My fighting was good. All in all a good night of game play. I do have a little thing though that I will have to mention, the keyboard is smaller when I put it up beside my G.Skill keyboard. The keys are smaller, and if I am honest, my hands feel a bit cramped. I had a lot of typos. At first I thought I was not used to this keyboard. But, when I thought about it, I use different keyboards in my job every day and I still don't do that bad. It is all about how I hold my hands to type and the keys were too small to allow me to spread my fingers with ease. With a little more bulk and larger keys, I can see this being awesome. But, none the less I survived another night in the Game Zone with it.
My rig:
Cooler Master Storm Trooper case
AORUS Intel Z370 Gaming 3 Coffee Lake ATX Motherboard
Intel i5 8600K Coffee Lake CPU
16GB ADATA Z1 RAM
240 GB SSD OCZ
3 x 1 TB HDD (Various makes)
Cooler Master 750W PSU *modular*
Cooler Master Water Cooler
Gigabyte Aorus RGB 1060 6GB GPU
Pricing:
£69.99
Suppliers:
Target Components
Conclusion:
As for the build quality, they aced it. As for creature comforts, there is much to be desired. I have small hands and I was cramped. I can see a man or woman with larger hands than mine trying to play on it and getting rather frustrated. They could come out with a second revision of it to solve this dilemma. For some reason, a lot of keyboard manufacturers are trying to compress things and that's not what the average gamer wants. If they need to save space, they will find something to do it with, but not all of us live in mom's basement with a coffee table to play games on. Me recommending it would depend on the ability to open the box in store to see if you were OK with the keys, and if you were, I would recommend it. Honesty, it is a good keyboard but, what good is a good keyboard if you are uncomfortable?
Stand out point:
I have to say the V730 has two stand out points: the braided cable and the durability. Most keyboards feel plasticy but this one feels like you could drop it off of a building and it would still be ready for a night of gaming after you pop the keys back into place.
Pros:
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Cable Length
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Very responsive
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Hard wearing
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Lighting Choices
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Patterns of Keylighting
Cons:
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No USB Passthrough port
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Instructions /Overview card a bit misleading
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Found the keyboard a bit too cramped
Scores:
Looks: 4
Packaging: 5
Gamer Friendly and comfortable: 3
Durability: 5
They got a ........ Award Gold
