SteelSeries 6Gv2 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard

This keyboard is nearly perfect in almost every way. Next time I'm going to spring for one with internal lighting, but that is in no way a knock on the Steelseries 6Gv2 - you simply won't get a quality mechanical keyboard, which also has internal lighting, at this price point. The only deficiency I've identified so far: very strange placement of the backslash/pipe character key. Why on earth did Steelseries move it to the bottom row? This makes it completely different from every other keyboard I use daily (including but not limited to: Saitek Eclipse II, Samsung laptop, Lenovo D-91275 keyboard) and is annoying. I suppose if I typed on it more I would get used to it, but it's an unnecessary distraction. I didn't need a monstrously-huge "Enter" key - the traditional 2-key-width "Enter" is big enough. But this is a personal preference, and not really a shortcoming as such, so I'm deducting no stars. At least this...unique...design choice is readily visible, so you know what you're getting into. The build quality and responsiveness of this keyboard are excellent. After years of settling for lousy membrane/rubber dome keyboards, I just did not know what I was missing. From now on, I'm only buying mechanical keyboards. One of the benefits I hadn't realized beforehand: responsiveness. The keys on the Steelseries 6Gv2 are simply more sensitive than on typical, cheap-o keyboards. This can be helpful in playing games, as well as ordinary typing. What I mean by responsiveness is this: The amount of force required for a keystroke to register is less than for rubber dome keyboards, and keypresses are smooth from start to finish. Contrast with a rubber dome keyboard, which typically has a stiff start to the movement and a "bounce" at the bottom. For example, the Lenovo D-91275 I'm typing this review on. It isn't terrible, but it's no Steelseries 6Gv2. Noise: No, this keyboard isn't the quietest, but it's not the noisiest either. The switches are not at all clicky; the only noise will come from the keys themselves hitting the bottom of their travel. Weight: This is not a lightweight keyboard, and that's a good thing. The weight helps it stay in place as you type. I was pleasantly surprised at how much this helped. Feet: No, it doesn't have fold-out feet. Instead there are built-in ramps at the back. Again, I find this to be a superior arrangement. These ramps can't collapse or break off, and put the keyboard at a good angle. Size: This keyboard is exactly as big as it needs to be and no larger. This is a valuable trait where desk space is at a premium. Spacing between the key groups (numpad, arrow keys, etc.) is perfect. The "Special" key: I like the special key with the Steelseries logo, which replaces what would usually be a "Windows" key. It did take some getting used to, but now I love it. No more accidentally hitting the Windows key while in a game - and thus accidentally switching to the Start menu - and no need to do a registry hack to deactivate it to prevent same. "Function" keys: These are handy and work well. For example, the volume down/up keys, which are used in conjunction with the Steelseries logo key. This is absolutely the best keyboard I've ever owned. At this price point, you aren't going to do any better. Minor update: Mine does not have all the European-language symbols on it as in the photo, and the LEDs are *white*, not red, as in the photo.

Simple. Nostalgia on speed. No Ghosting. Feels great. Highly responsive. Media keys are easy to use and understand. Is wonderful for typing for prolonged periods of time. Although this review would not appear like I'm literate in the least, I am working on my second book currently and spend a lot of time typing - I love the ergonomics and once I got used to the feel of a mechanical keyboard I can't imagine using any other keyboard for typing or gaming. Before I became a writer, I played games professionally (CS, Tribes and a short stint of BF 1942 and 2). The number of times I was crouched, quick switching, priming nades, trying to move slightly, and view the score board at the same time during competitive or casual play has been numerous... in the past that was impossible, this keyboard doesn't ghost period...period. Use the PS2 port for this to achieve no ghosting, and high rate polling. I have used in the past a Logitech media keyboard, a Microsoft natural and curve, a razer tarantula and lycosa mirror (won that in a twitter contest, love you razer guys)...and I have to say I would never go back to any of them. (my wife got the tarantula dumped on her... poor lady) The key lay out is also nice, as the keys are not too close and not too far to where you have to reach. I have relatively small hands that are overly muscular, having played the drums, been a pro gamer, and now a writer - most keyboards wear my hands and wrists out quickly, this just feels right. The weight of this keyboard is also AMAZING, it is heavy and just doesn't move while typing...period. The small footprint is also a plus as it leaves me more room for keyboard adjustment depending on my position...leaving my desk more available for research material, or when I'm gaming ... just more mousing room and room for other accessories. Simply stated, an amazing product and incredible value. It may appear simple and just another overpriced mechanical keyboard... looks can be deceiving. Also, I have forgotten to mention I tried a few razer mechanicals at a demo booth at a LAN.... they just don't compare. That's coming from a guy who loves Razer, their staff, hardware and software and has since the beginning of their company. I hate to do it and admit it, but sorry Razer Steelseries just beat you again with something incredibly simple yet built with wonderful quality.

---Edit as of 051515: After five years of ownership, I am happy with the purchase given what was available at the time. I would not recommend this keyboard over other best-in-class options currently. Since I purchased this, the market has grown substantially, providing suitable alternatives. Final thoughts: - The switch under the "/' key on the numpad broke a couple of years into ownership without being abused, forcing me to use the / next to the >. - The portion of the keycaps that fastens itself to the switchs has broken for one of the keys. I easily replaced it with a keycap from a lesser used key. --- I want to make it clear that I narrowed virtually every "gaming" keyboard and most popular mechanical keyboards on the market down to this and the 7G. The reason I went with the 6Gv2 is because of the familiar key layout. As appealing as the 7G was, I had no interest in relearning how to type using its awkward key layout (small backspace key, small right shift, etc.). That being said, I am happy with this purchase for several reasons which I will list in pro/con format. Pro: - MX Cherry Blacks (widely considered the most appropriate switches for gaming, along with the lighter MX Reds). - Solid construction (fortunately, I did not have any problem with the keys being loose in any way. My keyboard is solid through and through perhaps due to successful shipping and handling). - Full NKRO - Relatively inexpensive for a mechanical keyboard - Familiar key layout and key size - It works flawlessly with Windows 7 64bit. You simply plug it in BEFORE turning on the PC, then turn on the PC to enjoy your new keyboard. Cons: - Very minor flaw, but the PS/2 converter isn't the most snug-fitting connector. However, it works and does enable full NKRO, so I'd highly recommend using it. - I can confirm what other users have written about dulling of printed letters on the keys. No exaggeration, after only a few DAYS of use, the WASD (my most used keys) keys have faded considerably. I should note that I'm impeccably hygienic and wash my hands thoroughly before each session at my PC. That being said, it's not dirt that's obscuring the letters; the letters themselves are literally rubbing off the keys. I don't see this as a glaring issue, but if you desire immaculate aesthetics, this could irritate you. - Angle of keyboard is non-adjustable. (Not an issue for me since, if anything, I prefer a flat keyboard) Other thoughts: I can attest that typing on MX Cherry blacks isn't as laborious or disastrous as some people make it out to be. They're certainly still considerably more suitable for typing than rubber dome membrane keyboards. At first you might make more typing-errors because the keys actuate about half-way through the stroke, meaning if you're not a confident typist some of your thoughtless keystrokes will register as well. Summary: if your main interest in keyboards is multimedia utility or having dozens of extra keys, then look elsewhere. This keyboard is minimalistic, highly durable and functional, and could easily be the last keyboard you ever purchase (I've read numerous claims of mechanical keyboards lasting 15-20 years with almost no loss of functionality). For the record, I tried many different products across multiple manufacturers and ended up coincidentally settling with almost all SteelSeries peripherals. I don't have much experience with this company, but from all my impression with their products, I am very satisfied and will continue to try their merchandise.

Full disclosure: I've not used this keyboard for very long, having just opened it and started to use it. The keys feel very nice, both in their construction and in their action - but that's why you're looking at a mechanical keyboard anyway, right? Anyway, I went for this model rather than their newer 7G keyboard because (a) with the 7G they made the poor decision to use the World's Smallest Backspace Key (patent pending), and (b) it's a lot more expensive. Unfortunately, in my fervor to obtain a sensible backspace key, I didn't notice that they enlarged the Enter key and moved the Slash/Vertical Bar key below Enter - moving and shrinking the Right Shift key in the process. Now, I don't know about anyone else, but I use my keyboard for typing as much as gaming; I sought out SteelSeries because their keyboards are simply Excellent Keyboards, without any nonsense. Also, I type "properly," as it were, and without looking at the keys; this seemingly innocuous difference has (a) forced me to stare at the keys as I type, as it is unlike any sensible keyboard layout, and (b) forces me to reach much further just to actuate the Shift key. The "pinky finger" is not a strong, flexible finger! Its repositioning is as painful as it is clumsy. I knowingly (if begrudgingly) accepted the removal of the right-side Windows key, as I'm aware that many gamers find it difficult to simply "not press" that key, and it can interrupt a game quite easily. However, I find no logic in their tweaking of the right-hand side of the keyboard, unless you spend much time hunting around the keyboard for the never-moving, *already oversized* Enter key. It seems that they have tried to solve some problem that doesn't exist, and in so doing have completely changed the ergonimics of their otherwise fantastic keyboard - for very much the worse. Again, the keyboard feels very nice, and any time I don't need to use the Right Shift key (as I do when I capitalize both "Right" and "Shift") I absolutely love the feeling of typing. I have no reason so suspect that long gaming sessions will be anything less than a complete joy. But any potential purchasers simply MUST know that there are some little things that might just kill your fun. [Edit:] After using this keyboard for several months, I can say that while the right-hand Shift key feels more natural, the forward/backslash key placement has remained a great annoyance. I do a fair bit with command-line interfaces, and having those keys right next to each other only compounds the confusion of trying to remember which does what in your current filesystem - and leads to hitting the wrong one 50% of the time. As I suspected, its physical action and digital responsiveness are an absolute joy, both for most typing applications and for long gaming sessions. As advertised, the keys activate with the gentlest touch, though they feel very solid if you take them their full travel distance. Honestly, I feel comfortable recommending the 6Gv2 to most people, my personal qualms aside. But as I said in my initial review, people who spend any time coding might want to look elsewhere.

I've been using this thing for a year and 2 months and it is amazing. I am extremely happy that I went with cherry black instead of cherry red mechanisms. I tried some cherry reds a week ago and the feel was awful compared to this keyboard. It is sturdy, well made, comes with a usb to ps/2 connector, makes my typing extremely fast, makes my reaction time in games much faster (recommend that if you have your keys bound to active when you let up on the key, instead make them activate when you press the key down, it will be much faster). I no longer have problems with being unable to press as many keys as I want. Moving the windows key to the right is super nice. My only problem, and this is super nitpicky. The backspace button is next to the forward space button next to the right shift key. I normally expect it to be above the Enter key. I got used to this fairly quickly though, and really, the backspace is an invention of microsoft that I rarely use anyway unless I'm typing in a command prompt in windows. Other than that, the layout is great, it is standard aside from the two keys I mentioned and the keyboard is super sturdy and have had no problems with it for this year and two months. I don't plan on buying a different keyboard to replace this for many years. One other thing, the keys you press the most (for me wasd) will slightly wear off over time. After this year and 2 months I can still see them but they are noticeably faded. I don't know if they'll fade completely, but it doesn't bother me at all. I kinda like it honestly, makes it feel like an old friend.

I ended up primarily using this keyboard for nine of the last ten years, and I've been happy with the quality of the keyboard. The inputs were smooth and concise, and I rarely had an issue with the keyboard.

I figured this would be my last keyboard, which wasn't the case. I ended up replacing it about a month later. I use it at home for mostly personal use but once in a while I have to use it for work. I hadn't really noticed other than the short right shift key being a little annoying. Even my wife didn't care for it and had mentioned it. The deal killer for me and why I ordered a new one was because the | (pipe) as someone that works in unix environments all day long and need to support many systems after hours. Quite often I need to use the pipe key and for me I couldn't get used to it. It was too risky for me. I would hit the really large "enter" key thinking I was hitting the pipe key and it was executing the command I was typing. I liked the feel of the keys, it felt durable I did miss the backlighting (again late night on call trying not to disturb the family) was small issue. Maybe if I wasn't so set in the location and size of keys it wouldn't be an issue. Playing games which I understand is what it was designed for, it does seem like a nice.keyboard and honestly I didn't notice the shift and pipe being an issue. Then again, how many games use those keys often. :)

The 6GV2 was great while it lasted. Very functional, black Cherry MX switches were very nice. Everything I could ask for an entry/lower mid venture in to mechanical keyboards. Nothing too special, just be aware of the larger Enter key and the remapped forward slash key next to the blackslash key. Function key instead of a Windows key on the left side provides nice countermeasures against accidentally pressing the Windows key while in a videogame. However, be aware, there's only a 1 year warranty for USA residents, and 2 years for E.U. Unfortunately, my space bar broke (one side of it was making it displaced and it would not press) and grudgingly after three exchanges between support, I managed to get an RMA for my keyboard since I had thought when I had bought this that there was a 2 year warranty. Fast forward a month, my keyboard is still held hostage by their RMA service, my Customer Service rep has stopped responding, and I have 0 progress or knowledge of when I am going to get back my keyboard. Terrible support. Worst RMA I've endured. Most likely I will never buy SteelSeries again due to this - I'm not going to play 'beg and please' with their support to squeeze an answer out of them for progress on an RMA that is their responsibility, after using my own money to send back to the keyboard (no advanced RMA either from SteelSeries). I will be most likely trying to find who I can hold accountable if I never get my keyboard back; They literally stole my keyboard, I have no way of contacting them now since no phone number nor the CS rep responding, so I believe either I will try Amazon to see if they can hassle SteelSeries for a refund of my money on my behalf, because I am done with this company. Buyer beware! Edit: Followup After this review, I finally got my keyboard back after another week. A senior CS rep apologized and offered me a free mousepad of my choosing. I took this lightly, as I knew they were trying to win me over again, even though it was clearly them in the wrong, with whatever issue had caused my case to fall in the cracks. So far, it's been 2 weeks since I received my keyboard, and I still haven't received any complementary/free/"for my duress of not having a keyboard for over a month" mouse pad that they promised would come. I expected nothing really, so my score of Steelseries hasn't changed. Avoid Steelseries. They've reduced their amount of products, their build quality, and customer support quality over the years. Stick with other gaming companies or independent companies from Asia/Europe that build their own mechanical keyboards (brands like "Ducky", "Filco", etc) with their own bulk bought mechanical switches.

Es un producto muy bien fabricado, no lo recomendaria ampliamente para gamers porque no trae muchos añadidos en cuanto a teclas atajo, aunque sirve mas que bien para ese proposito, lo que me gusto ya que lo uso y bastante ya que parte de mi trabajo implica teclear mucho es que la tecla enter es grande asi como el backspace, lo unico negativo que le veo es que la pintura de las letras se desvanece relativamente rapido, y hecho un poco de menos la distribucion del teclado en español pero no es un problema para mi, pero supongo que mucha gente lo encontrara molesto, es robusto, solido y se teclea muy comodamente, para mi es un producto de la que poca gente se arrepentiria de comprar ya que tiene un precio mas que recomendable.

I remember when all keyboards were this quality ( back in the first IBM PC days ), the feel, build quality and robust design of this keyboard are all excellent, the layout is just how a keyboard should be, simple and fit for purpose. It was bought mainly for gaming and with the USB to PS2 adaptor it's really fast and responsive with that nice enjoyable sound, but it's also excellent to use for all office tasks. Like one reviewer has pointed out some of the key lettering is wearing out, I tried cleaning to make sure it was not dirt build up but it does seem they wear quickly, with gaming some keys could be get pressed a 1000 times a game and it's these keys that are wearing, that said it will not be many keycaps to replace should I need to, so I would still recomend this keyboard for gaming or office use.

注意。SteelSeries 英語版 6Gv2(US) のレビューです。日本語配列の同シリーズには合致しない内容が含まれます。 自分が探していた条件に、ぴったり合っていたキーボードでした。 ・英語(US)配列 ・少し重めのキー入力圧 ・フルキー側 Enter キーが逆L字型（J型） ・Backspace が大きめ ・ちょっと荒めにタイプしてもズルズル動かない重量 ・USB と PS/2 どちらのインターフェースでも接続できること 自分が初めて使い始めた AT 互換機が英語配列のキーだったため、英語キーで慣れてしまいました。そんなわけで、自分は英語キーばかり使ってます。 キーを押した時に、スコッと入る感触とでも表現すれば良いのでしょうか。2万円ぐらいするような高品質キーボードのキーを押した時は、しっとり感がけっこうありますが、このキーボードはしっとり感よりすっと入る感が強いと表現できます。メンブレンキーでたまにある格安キーボードのようなぶにょぶにょ感とは全く違う良い押し心地です。 しかし、キーを押した時の感触の好みは、本当に十人十色でしょうから、こればかりは機会があれば、買う前にご自身で実際にそのキーボードを触ってみるのがいちばん良いと思います。 英語配列のキーボードは、たいてい Enter と Backspace の両方とも横長のキーですが、このキーボードは Enter キーが逆L字型です。自分はミスタイプが多いので、このキーボードのように Enter キーの面積が広く Backspace も大きいキーボードが好みです。 このキーボードを持ち上げてみるとよく分かるのですが、キーボードそのものの重量が、一般的なキーボードの倍を超えています。なるほどこれぐらいどっしりしていれば、バシバシキーを叩いてもズリ動いたりせずに安定して使えます。 キーボード右上の３つのステータスランプは、製造時期によって色が違うようです。自分が購入した時は白色でまぶしくないスモーク入りの LED でした。以前は白色で透明の LED だったそうで、けっこうまぶしいようでした。自分自身は見たことはありませんが、最近製造のものは赤色の LED のものがあるようです。英語配列でも UK 配列などのものは、元から赤色だと聞いたこともあります。

Diese Tasta ist die beste, die ich je hatte! Das Tippen auf den Tasten ist sehr angenehm, wenn man sich erst einmal daran gewoehnt hat. Zuvor nutzte ich eine G15, welche nur eine Gummimatte unter den Tasten hat. Dagegen fuehlen sich die mechanischen Switches sehr schoen an. Allerdings muss man sich ersteinmal daran gewoehnen. Der Druckpunkt ist schon hoch, wesswegen man verhaeltnissmaessig sehr viel Kraft aufbringen muss. Mir taten die erste Woche lang die Finger beim nutzen weh. Seit dem aber kann ich schnelller tippen als jeh zuvor und habe auch eine weitaus hoerere Ausdauer beim schreiben oder zocken. Die Tasta ist auch recht schwer und macht einen sehr robusten eindruck, welcher sich auch bestaetigt. Zwar fliegen die tasten schnell raus, diese kann man aber ohne probleme wieder festdruecken. Die Kunststoffhuelle bekommt allerdings keine Macken. Zu der Bedruckung der Tasten: Habe schon besseres gesehen. Man kann den Druck mit den fingerspitzen fuehlen, wenn man ueber die tasten streicht. Zumindest solange, bist die Farbe etwas abgenutzt und ausgegraut ist. Beim ausgrauen gibt es eine Stufe, bei der schluss ist. Dann haben die tasten "ihr Entstadium erreicht".

Just got this keyboard and I'm very impressed the build quality. It's the sturdiest (and heaviest) keyboard I've ever used. It just feels solid. I love the mechanical keys, feels very responsive and my typing is much smoother. I find I make less mistakes typing on it. It comes with a PS2 jack but I simply use the USB. You get more simultaneous key presses with the PS2, but 6 key presses at once should be enough for me on the USB. Driver detection was easy (literally plug and play). Function keys (volume, track changes) worked right away. The only issue is because it's so thick, it's very high off my desk. It has no wrist rest, so I'll need to get one to keep my wrists comfortable. Minor thing.