If you, like
me, fall into that group of gamers who have yet to master touch typing,
you know that it can be a major irritation to have to try to make out
keys by the light of the monitor late at night. But fear not, because
EluminX is here with an entire line of backlit keyboards for the
consumer market.According to the
EluminX website,
the technology behind the keys (literally behind, since the keys are
transparent pieces of plastic that let light from beneath through) was
first licensed to Itronix. Itronix used said technology in a variety of
"ruggedized" laptops. "Itronix laptops have been field tested and
approved for use by military services, as well as government agencies
including the FBI and CIA. The International Olympic Committee is also
using this patented technology for their operations", according to
EluminX.
The back of the box that the keyboard comes in has two pictures of
the keyboard in operation. The first was shot in a well illuminated
area, and the second in a dark area, the point being to show that under
normal lighting conditions, you wont even notice that the keyboard
lights up. This is not completely true, at least under the lights in my
apartment: I am always conscious that my keyboard is glowing, but its
dim enough that it doesnt create a distraction.
The concept works very well when typing in low light conditions. Even
in total darkness, the glow from the keys does not radiate too far
beyond the edge of the keyboard. Likewise, the glow is dim enough to not
bother pupils that have constricted to pinpricks after a four hour
midnight Quake session, but bright enough to make typing much easier.
The light is, of course, the most important aspect of this keyboard, and
EluminX nailed it.
As for the keyboard itself, I have mixed feelings for the reasons
that follow. The keyboard is extremely responsive, and easy to type or
game on for extended periods. According to the
product
specifications, youre only required to depress a key four
millimeters with a tactile force of thirty grams to get a response.
However, as I mentioned earlier, this technology was initially used in
laptops, and the keyboard has a cramped, compact feel that I associate
with typing on a laptop. Measuring in at 42 centimeters long and 15.6
centimeters wide, the EluminX S-202 is substantially smaller than a
standard 104 key keyboard. This isnt entirely a bad thing; it leaves me
more free space on my desktop. However, the spacebar is quite small, the
function keys are just over half their normal size, and the positioning
of the delete, home, PgUp, PgDn and end keys is too close to the enter
and right shift keys. This sometimes results in unintentional cursor
movement, especially in text-editing applications. The actual
alphanumeric keys, as well as the shifts, the enter key, and the pipe
key are all full sized, but the rest of the keys vary from half to three
quarters size. The number pad is also full sized, but positioned only a
scant half centimeter away from the rest of the keys. A good feel for
exactly how constricted the keyboard feels can be obtained by looking at
the image above. Additionally, and this is a rather nitpicky complaint,
but nevertheless, the pictures on the webpage clearly show the caps
lock, numlock and scroll lock LEDs glowing the same blue as the rest of
the keyboard, while the LEDs on mine are the standard green. For me, the
size of the keyboard has just been a minor annoyance that I became
accustomed to after using it for several hours, but I also have rather
long and slender fingers. If I had larger or beefier hands, I dont know
if I would have been able to adapt nearly as well.
The EluminX keyboards arent exactly cheap, either. The webpage lists
a price of $99.95, plus shipping. With a little shopping around the
internet, I was able to find a price of $84, but thats still more than
eight times what I usually pay for the generic beige keyboards I use,
and four times more than the cheapest wireless keyboard I was able to
find.
Ultimately, I believe that there are two groups of people for whom an
EluminX keyboard makes sense. The first is other people like me who are
not completely comfortable touch typing and spend a fair amount of time
on a computer in low-light conditions. The second group is full of
people who have already invested a huge amount of money in their
computers and cases, and want a glowing blue keyboard to match the blue
glow coming from the neon in their cases. The average gamer needs to
decide of the "coolness factor" of these keyboards outweigh their minor
shortcomings and price.