Tesoro Excalibur V2 Keyboard Review

1. Introduction2. Unboxing and First Look3. Testing4. Closing Thoughts5. View All Pages

When it comes to keyboard testing, it is always best to start with the supporting software suite.

In this case, Tesoro have done a poor job. The software looks fairly clunky for one, and all you can use it for is to record macros for individual keys – which is useful for some, but I would have liked to see some extra functionality.

To be fair, you can select between 5 pre-configured keyboard profiles, but all these do is change the backlighting effect – one pulses, another only illuminates after you press a key, for example.

However, there is no way to actually change the lighting effect on each profile, so you are stuck with what Tesoro have given you. Ultimately, this is a limited and disappointing piece of software.

So we move on to the physical testing of the Excalibur. I used it as my desktop keyboard for over a week so was well-used to its typing experience.

I must say I greatly enjoyed using the Excalibur. For one, the Kailh blue switches are fantastic. Traditionally I prefer the red, linear switches but the Excalibur's clicky, tactile switches provide a great typing experience. I found the tactile feedback aided my responsiveness when typing and gaming, compared with my own Zalman keyboard with Kailh reds.

Since each key is individually lit, the blue backlighting looked great. There are 3 brightness levels you can adjust on-keyboard – simplicity itself. And of course, feel free to leave the backlight off if you do not like it.

The design also proved helpful when it came to using the keyboard, as the lack of dedicated macro keys and other function buttons mean the Excalibur is fairly compact. This meant I could jump straight in to using the Excalibur without having to adjust to the placement of extra keys on the board itself. Those of you looking to upgrade from a generic office keyboard will undoubtedly find this helpful. Also from a purely physical viewpoint, the Excalibur won't take up much space on your desk or workstation.

Using the Excalibur in games, too, was a good experience. Tesoro advertise a 6-key rollover, and I did not notice an occasion when any of my commands failed to register. As I said, coming from a red switch, the tactile switch used here was a welcome addition for gaming as everything feels that bit snappier. Admittedly, the lack of dedicated macros may mean the Excalibur is not suitable for everyone when it comes to gaming, but I don't tend to use macros anyway so no problems there.

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