Most of the products I review on this blog are products that I personally like and bought with the purpose of actually using it like my go to backup hard drive transcend 25H3 and the surprisingly effective laptop vacuum cooler that I use on a daily basis. And most often than not, the products I choose works as it should be. But sometimes, it’s inevitable to come across some products that you thought would work out just fine but does the opposite. Today, we are going to talk about the Zeus MK-220 Basic Keyboard, a device that’s unable to do its sole purpose. Let’s find out why.
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Just a quick disclaimer though before we start, you’re mileage may vary when it comes to your own experience just in case you decide to buy or already bought this keyboard. I’m just going to provide you with my most honest feedback with regards to this product. With that out of the way, let’s proceed with the review.
MY EARLY BREAKDOWN
Pros: Affordable, Nice design
Cons: Mushy keys, Malfunctioning keys and multimedia shortcuts
Note: read the full article below for the things that weren’t mentioned in the video.
FULL REVIEW
Design and construction:
In terms of design, it’s actually pretty nice. Although it says on the box that it’s a basic keyboard, it actually does resemble a little bit of a gaming keyboard look to it with the different colored WASD and Arrow keys. It also has 5 productivity shortcuts on the left side with the sleep, my computer, web browser, email, and refresh buttons. On the other side, we have the 5 multimedia shortcuts forward, play/pause, back, volume up and volume down.
The construction is, although made of plastic, is pretty robust and sturdy with only a little bit of flex.
At the back, it has a keyboard stand/riser and 2 rubber feet to prevent it from going anywhere while you type on it.
Productivity and Multimedia Shortcuts:
Let’s take a closer look at the shortcuts, on the productivity side we have the sleep button which for me is actually more annoying than useful as you can easily hit it turning your computer to sleep. I can’t really find a reason why you need a shortcut for it as it’s something you probably don’t use that often. My computer, web browser and refresh shortcuts works but the email shortcut do not work as it should be, instead of opening your default email client, it opens up the browser instead, so basically you got two shortcuts with the same function.
On the other side is where the things start to get frustrating at least for the unit we’ve got. The multimedia shortcuts are plain trash, the keys register input more than once so if you press forward it actually forwards up to 3 tracks which is pretty much useless.
Also, as you can see, the keys sometimes get stuck making the experience even worse.
Now, get ready as this part is not very flattering for this device. This is where the nail in the coffin has been hammered. Full disclosure again before we proceed, this is based on our personal experience for the particular unit that we’ve got as well as the experience of some users who also bought this keyboard. Your experience may vary just in case you still proceed to get this.
First, this keyboard is a membrane keyboard which is not surprising at all at this price point.
What’s surprising is how mushy it feels when you type on this. It feels like you’re typing on a jellyfish, which is very unpleasant. I’ve used membrane keyboards before but it’s not as terrible as this one.
Second, the keys do not provide enough tactile feedback when you type on it making it difficult to know and feel if your keystrokes actually registered.
And lastly, which is the ultimate deal breaker, the keys are malfunctioning intermittently. Some keys work from time to time and some keys simply don’t work like the keys 1 to 4 and keys B and N on our unit. Some users report the same issue but with different keys.
This is actually the first time I’m not going to recommend a product that I’ve reviewed. And I guess that’s inevitable when it comes to product reviews as not all products are perfect. This is also one of the reasons why I created this blog, to provide you guys with an honest feedback and save you from the hassle of getting a product that doesn’t work as it should be. To be honest, I’ve already checked the user feedback before actually buying this and I’ve read those negative comments. But I still proceed with getting this just to try it out myself and provide you guys with my actual experience. Although your experience may vary if you get this, I still highly suggest you think otherwise and look for a better keyboard.
