Tesoro's Tizona Mechanical Keyboard Comes in Two Pieces

Tesoro has announced a new keyboard, though to get the full keyboard you need to buy two separate SKUs – the Tizona keyboard and the Tizona numpad.

Both devices are made with mechanical switches which follow either the Blue, Black, Brown, or Red typing characteristics. The switches are marketed as "Gaming-Grade mechanical switches," so it's safe to assume that they are not made by Cherry. That's not necessarily a bad thing though, and Tesoro is certainly not the first manufacturer to make a mechanical keyboard without using Cherry MX switches. Tesoro's switches are rated to have a lifetime of 50 million clicks.

Both the keyboard and the numpad also come with a braided detachable cable, though the keyboard features a cable with gold-plated connectors. The cables are both 1.8 meters long. Both units also have a 1000 Hz USB polling rate for ultra-fast response times, and come with N-Key rollover support, though they can be switched to have a 6 KRO. They also both have magnets so that they can be nicely attached to each other.

Pricing for the keyboard is set at $89 in the U.S., with the numpad element set to cost $35. The units should be available on shelves, depending on your location.

Niels Broekhuijsen

Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.

  • Spanky Deluxe
    I don't get why there is still a market for mechanical keyboards aside from for nostalgia. They are slower to type on and far more likely to induce RSI due to the greater travel and exertion required by fingers.
    Reply
  • Arkane-BLUE
    I don't get why there is still a market for mechanical keyboards aside from for nostalgia. They are slower to type on and far more likely to induce RSI due to the greater travel and exertion required by fingers.

    Obviously you've never used one, they're wonderful to use.
    Since getting one, I haven't had any finger fatigue, probably due to the spring-loaded keys, oppose to mushing rubberdomes. If anything, my accuracy has improved. I'm not crazy about the design of this one, though. Then again, I never cared about the tenkeyless options, I still prefer a 104/108 keyed board. l'll stick with my Ducky Shine.
    Reply
  • user 18
    I don't get why there is still a market for mechanical keyboards aside from for nostalgia. They are slower to type on and far more likely to induce RSI due to the greater travel and exertion required by fingers.

    Mechanical keyboards are generally faster to type on, and a large number of switch designs actually require less travel distance and less force to actuate than a standard rubber dome keyboard.

    Beyond that, I personally find my mechanical boards (yes, plural) much more enjoyable to type on, to say nothing of increased speed and accuracy.
    Reply
  • RCguitarist
    I use an old dell mechanical keyboard that i have had for ages. Mechanical keyboards really do last forever.
    Reply
  • amk-aka-Phantom
    Mechanical keyboards are generally faster to type on, and a large number of switch designs actually require less travel distance and less force to actuate than a standard rubber dome keyboard.

    I don't agree at all. I'm lightning fast on my simple rubber-dome Logitech K200 or chiclet keyboard of my Asus N550JV. I'm a slug on any mechanical keyboard because it DOES require more effort. And I've tried nearly all Razer and Corsair KBs as well as some more exotic ones (Ducky etc.) It's a highly subjective experience.

    However - OMG! FINALLY someone realized that NumPad isn't needed at ALL by most people and made it into a separate piece. Hopefully more companies follow the trend.
    Reply
  • SirGCal
    Mechanical keyboards are generally faster to type on, and a large number of switch designs actually require less travel distance and less force to actuate than a standard rubber dome keyboard.

    I don't agree at all. I'm lightning fast on my simple rubber-dome Logitech K200 or chiclet keyboard of my Asus N550JV. I'm a slug on any mechanical keyboard because it DOES require more effort. And I've tried nearly all Razer and Corsair KBs as well as some more exotic ones (Ducky etc.) It's a highly subjective experience.

    However - OMG! FINALLY someone realized that NumPad isn't needed at ALL by most people and made it into a separate piece. Hopefully more companies follow the trend.


    I don't know what keyboards you've used... But they do not require more effort unless you're using junk or using it incorrectly. I used to be able to sustain 120 WPM with a QWERTY keyboard. The current sustained speed (almost an hour) record is 150 but using a DVORAK board. 170 for shorter periods and peaks of 212 in bursts.

    The right keys for typing make all the difference. Good blue/brown/green keys for typing are great for example. And FYI, you don't push them all the way to the bottom, that's the point of a good keyboard to a typist. That would cause the finger to impact the bottom (as they always do with membrane keyboards) and add to the fatigue factor. When I have had to go days working on emergency projects without a break, typing is obviously all I do as a software engineer. I couldn't have done that without pain on a junk keyboard. Keeping ergonomics perfect (or near as possible) is critical, but keys play so much of a factor in that also. I also have some black/red keys for gaming but I tend to push them down too far for fast work typing and get fatigued more easily.

    The right tool for the right job.
    Reply
  • falchard
    Once you start typing at a certain speed, you really need a mechanical or else you will start going through keyboards. At my current typing speed, rubber dome keyboards go out on me in about 1 and a half years where a key press begins to not be read. The Cherry Blacks and Reds have almost no traverse to them.
    Reply
  • Spanky Deluxe
    I don't use rubber dome keyboards, I use chiclet keyboards on all my computers. Once I got used to the less movement required, my typing speed shot up. Of course rubber domes are bad but chicklet are faster in my experience than mechanicals to type on, less likely to tire on and don't make that annoying noise.
    Reply
  • Zepid
    I don't get why there is still a market for mechanical keyboards aside from for nostalgia. They are slower to type on and far more likely to induce RSI due to the greater travel and exertion required by fingers.

    The popular mechanical keyboards use Cherry switches, which aren't buckling spring. They are tactile and spring loaded reset switches. You have shorter key travel because they give the user feedback and notify them once the point of actuation is reached, so you never have to bottom out the key to get it to register like rubber dome or scissor switches.

    They lower fatigue not increase it, and they are just as light for actuation if not sometimes lighter (I use a heavier actuation switch) than regular rubber dome. I see about a 20-30WPM increase in typing speed on mechanical vs rubber dome. I am never stopping to check to see if I didn't miss a key, the feedback the switches gives makes all the difference in the world to people who are touch typists and need to read backlogs while they type - not the words they are currently typing.

    30WPM isn't a huge leap considering how fast and accurately I type, but it is a nice edge that helps me get work done quicker and with less effort and frustration.
    Reply
  • Zepid
    Once you start typing at a certain speed, you really need a mechanical or else you will start going through keyboards. At my current typing speed, rubber dome keyboards go out on me in about 1 and a half years where a key press begins to not be read. The Cherry Blacks and Reds have almost no traverse to them.

    Blacks and Reds have no tactile or bump feedback, so you will frequently end up feeling the need to bottom out the key to ensure the input went through. They are terrible for every application other than perhaps a hyper eSport Korean who needs the most actions per minute in Starcraft and needs the ability to "double-tap" keys.

    If you don't want the noise Brown/Clear are the best for typing, as they actually provide feedback resulting in a shorter traveled key. I prefer Green/Blue myself, I enjoy the hypnotic clicking and the more obvious point of feedback.

    I don't use rubber dome keyboards, I use chiclet keyboards on all my computers. Once I got used to the less movement required, my typing speed shot up. Of course rubber domes are bad but chicklet are faster in my experience than mechanicals to type on, less likely to tire on and don't make that annoying noise.

    Only two of several switches click - Green and Blue. The rest are quiet, but Brown/Clear are tactile like Green/Blue without the noise. The are the best all around switch, good for almost all applications. They also result in shorter key travel than even scissor switches (chiclets as you say) because they provide the user's finger a tactile response notifying them of when in the key travel output key information is sent. At high typing speeds you need to rely on muscle memory and auditory/touch sensory feedback to keep from making errors and keep up your speed. The sensation of sound is the one humans can react quickest to - 2-3x faster than visual and I don't have data on the average touch reaction time of humans but it is certainly slower than auditory.
    Reply