Ozone Strike Pro Keyboard Review: Clarity of Purpose
There is perhaps no greater feeling in the world than telling somebody to shut-up and proving they are wrong. One persistent narrative in particular that never fails to grind my gears is the so-called impending death of PC Gaming. You can trace back articles from the late 90’s claiming the impending doom, but one only needs to check the latest Steam survey or watch current eSports coverage to see that PC gaming is not only alive and well, but thriving beyond anyone’s wildest expectations. Recently, Steam hit a record number of over 11 million users online while PC gaming now is worth twice the console market at over $21.5 billion USD. PC gamers worldwide have proven the critics wrong by voting with their wallet.
The rise in PC gaming also gave rise to an increased number of PC gaming peripherals in the market. A market that once was dominated by Logitech and larger brands but competitive pressure from several vendors providing diverse peripheral product portfolios have made high-quality gaming hardware much more affordable and readily accessible. Europe based Ozone Gaming found success in this gaming market by offering what larger companies cannot: intimate knowledge of gamer needs. Founded by a group of gamers, Ozone is active in the e-Sports community and sponsor several e-Sports teams worldwide, tailoring their devices to professional player requirements. One of Ozone’s latest products is a mechanical keyboard designed with gamers in mind but also provides a comfortable typing experience should you wish to write an article about the non-death of PC gaming: the Ozone Strike Pro
[sc:sponsor sponsor=”Ozone” product_link=”http://www.ozonegaming.com/product/strike-pro/” product_name=”Strike Pro” product_price_link=”http://amzn.to/1GRPcak” product_price=”$109.99″ ]The Ozone Strike Pro is a backlit-LED mechanical keyboard utilizing Cherry MX switches. Available in brown, blue, black or red switch variants, the Ozone Strike Pro offers gamers macro capability and on-the-fly response time adjustment on a standard full-size 104-key layout (North American version). Built-into the Ozone Strike Pro is a wrist-rest for comfortable hand placement as well as audio and USB pass-through for convenient peripheral use. In addition to additional features via secondary function keys, the Ozone Strike Pro also comes with a custom software that allows users to take full advantage of the keyboard’s featureset including macro recording/editing and per-key remapping.
Ozone keeps the packaging of all their products fairly uniform with a red and black theme using a blood splatter design. The layout type is printed on the front left corner indicating that this sample in particular has the US English layout. This box flips open from the bottom and inside, the Ozone Strike Pro comes wrapped in a foam sheet with no other protection other than the box itself.
Accessories include a user manual, four replacement rubber strips for the feet, a Ozone gaming gear sticker and a mini-disc containing the software.
Specifications:
| Key switch | Cherry MX (Blue, Brown, Black and Red option) |
| Full key backlight | Yes |
| Memory | 64KB |
| Profiles | 5 |
| Macro keys | Yes |
| NKRO via USB |
Yes |
| Weight |
1300 grams |
| Multimedia Keys |
Yes |
| Pass-through Ports |
1x USB 2.0, 3.5mm microphone and 3.5mm headphone |
| Windows key disable option | Yes |
| Cable length | 1.55m Braided |
| Dimension | 34.30±1mm x L: 441.25±1 mm x W: 135.70±1mm |
| Lighting Modes |
White LED with Gaming Keys in Red LED / 6 backlit options (OFF/ 100% breathing/ 30%/ 70%/ 100% still / Gaming Key [ESC, QWEASD & 4 Direction Keys] light up only) |
