General Use
The key (excuse the pun) feature of the QPAD MK-80 is that it uses Cherry MX Blue switches. For a gaming keyboard this is an odd choice as they are tactile and also make quite a noise. However I can see some of the reasoning behind this in that for general use, I found the Cherry MX blue 'click' satisfying to use. The tactile bump and the 'clickity click' as you are typing works very well. So much so that I decided to write this review with the keyboard as perhaps there is no finer test that to type long prose.
Those who are used to standard rubber-domed' type keyboards will find that the QPAD is a noisy beast and because it is mechanical will feel very odd initially. Given time though and the keyboard feels both natural and comfortable to use. Sure, the keyboard clicks take a little getting used to but after a short time I found that I quite liked the sound. I wouldn't say it improved my typing too much as I have become familiar with the feel of mechanical switches however I would say there is a benefit to having Cherry MX Blue switches over MX Blacks thanks to the tactile feel. The key presses are more precise than blacks and thus are more suited to typists than the gaming Cherry MX Black switches.
Gaming
Touted as a 'Pro Gaming keyboard', the QPAD MX-80 had to perform in this are otherwise it would have received some very heavy criticism. I am happy to report it did indeed perform extremely well. The backlight was not intrusive (when toned down using the provided controls) and thanks to the bright orange gaming keys I could press the familiar movement controls without prudence because there is nothing to rub off the keys! The tactile feel of the Cherry MX Blue didn't feel as natural to use in a gaming environment when compared to the Black MX keys though. They felt good, but I found myself listening for the clicks more often than not which were a little distracting. Obviously this won’t be an issue while wearing a headset but nonetheless, I don't like to hear my keyboard while gaming. Because the release point (the point where the key press is no longer detected) is slightly above the actuation point, I occasionally found issues where strafing was a little 'jittery' and not as smooth. Perhaps that is great for those who don't want prediction in such movements but personally I found it a little odd yet not intrusively so.
Unfortunately, even though labelled as a wrist rest, I doubt an Oompa-Lumpa would make use of it due to its size. I would describe it more as a palm rest. The good news though is that the 'wrist-rest' is made of the same plush plastic as the rest of the keyboard and does feel good rather than cheap under the palm of the hand. If only it were a little bigger like the SteelSeries 7G or extendable like the Saitek Eclipse then people with larger appendages would be content!
Audio
As with most gaming peripherals, the audio signal was not great from using the keyboards audio port. When you add in connections performance will suffer ever so slightly and this is true of the QPAD MK-80. Gaming was barely noticeable but the degradation in music clarity was a little more pronounced. Audiophiles would certainly baulk at using such a crude device but then your everyday Joe might not notice.
Multimedia Keys
The multimedia keys worked as they should but I'm still not sold on using two keys to perform a single operation. While it is great that QPAD have integrated some form of media control, like the other mechanical keyboards we have tested, it appears to have been more of an afterthought than anything else.
Overall, the performance of the QPAD MK-80 is nothing short of great. Adding more features to a keyboard is always going to be tricky and certainly the use of Cherry MX Blue switches is a debatable one however it did feel like a more rounded product than others we have tested.
Let's wrap things up as I pass judgement in the conclusion...
The key (excuse the pun) feature of the QPAD MK-80 is that it uses Cherry MX Blue switches. For a gaming keyboard this is an odd choice as they are tactile and also make quite a noise. However I can see some of the reasoning behind this in that for general use, I found the Cherry MX blue 'click' satisfying to use. The tactile bump and the 'clickity click' as you are typing works very well. So much so that I decided to write this review with the keyboard as perhaps there is no finer test that to type long prose.
Those who are used to standard rubber-domed' type keyboards will find that the QPAD is a noisy beast and because it is mechanical will feel very odd initially. Given time though and the keyboard feels both natural and comfortable to use. Sure, the keyboard clicks take a little getting used to but after a short time I found that I quite liked the sound. I wouldn't say it improved my typing too much as I have become familiar with the feel of mechanical switches however I would say there is a benefit to having Cherry MX Blue switches over MX Blacks thanks to the tactile feel. The key presses are more precise than blacks and thus are more suited to typists than the gaming Cherry MX Black switches.
Gaming
Touted as a 'Pro Gaming keyboard', the QPAD MX-80 had to perform in this are otherwise it would have received some very heavy criticism. I am happy to report it did indeed perform extremely well. The backlight was not intrusive (when toned down using the provided controls) and thanks to the bright orange gaming keys I could press the familiar movement controls without prudence because there is nothing to rub off the keys! The tactile feel of the Cherry MX Blue didn't feel as natural to use in a gaming environment when compared to the Black MX keys though. They felt good, but I found myself listening for the clicks more often than not which were a little distracting. Obviously this won’t be an issue while wearing a headset but nonetheless, I don't like to hear my keyboard while gaming. Because the release point (the point where the key press is no longer detected) is slightly above the actuation point, I occasionally found issues where strafing was a little 'jittery' and not as smooth. Perhaps that is great for those who don't want prediction in such movements but personally I found it a little odd yet not intrusively so.
Unfortunately, even though labelled as a wrist rest, I doubt an Oompa-Lumpa would make use of it due to its size. I would describe it more as a palm rest. The good news though is that the 'wrist-rest' is made of the same plush plastic as the rest of the keyboard and does feel good rather than cheap under the palm of the hand. If only it were a little bigger like the SteelSeries 7G or extendable like the Saitek Eclipse then people with larger appendages would be content!
Audio
As with most gaming peripherals, the audio signal was not great from using the keyboards audio port. When you add in connections performance will suffer ever so slightly and this is true of the QPAD MK-80. Gaming was barely noticeable but the degradation in music clarity was a little more pronounced. Audiophiles would certainly baulk at using such a crude device but then your everyday Joe might not notice.
Multimedia Keys
The multimedia keys worked as they should but I'm still not sold on using two keys to perform a single operation. While it is great that QPAD have integrated some form of media control, like the other mechanical keyboards we have tested, it appears to have been more of an afterthought than anything else.
Overall, the performance of the QPAD MK-80 is nothing short of great. Adding more features to a keyboard is always going to be tricky and certainly the use of Cherry MX Blue switches is a debatable one however it did feel like a more rounded product than others we have tested.
Let's wrap things up as I pass judgement in the conclusion...
