Turtle Beach Impact 500 Mechanical Keyboard Review

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Conclusion

What many readers are no doubt pondering at this point is why one would purchase this particular keyboard over any other. The answer is a thin one, although it's what many company reps tell me is the reason they launched their peripherals line to begin with: brand loyalty/fandom. If you're a fan of Turtle Beach headsets, you might want to complete the set with a Turtle Beach mouse and keyboard.

However, if you're especially particular about your keyboard, the Impact 500 is an option with very clear and specific design sensibilities. It's compact, simple and austere, and the boxy black look grew on me over time. It has loud, clicky Cherry MX Blue switches for typers, with relatively clean typing sounds. The steel backplate and high-quality plastic (the soft-touch top and shiny undercarriage look nice, and both are durable) afford the Impact 500 solid build quality (Costar stabs notwithstanding.)

It does cost $130, though. That's a pretty penny for a keyboard with no frills, but it's not ludicrous considering some of the competition; the Das Keyboard 4C Pro, for example, costs $143. (On the other hand, the stripped-down Nixeus Moda v2 severely undercuts both at a mere $70.)

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Seth Colaner is the News Director for Tom's Hardware. Follow him on Twitter @SethColaner. Follow us on Facebook, Google+, RSS, Twitter and YouTube.

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Seth Colaner
12 Comments Comment from the forums
  • avatar_raq
    There are many better or comparable option cheaper. Pass.
    Reply
  • ZeusGamer
    This looks exactly like the Steelseries Quickfire TK that I bought maybe a year or two ago. It was much cheaper than this maybe like ~$70.
    Reply
  • Gam3r01
    Did anyone expect something better from TB?
    Reply
  • whimseh
    Yikes, $130 for no backlighting.. no number pad... This keyboard is basic AF.
    Reply
  • amk-aka-Phantom
    Yikes, $130 for no backlighting.. no number pad... This keyboard is basic AF.

    No backlight is indeed strange, but the absence of the number pad isn't a loss for many people - personally, I'm glad to see more and more TKL boards appearing on the market, there's a lot of people that want a quality mechanical keyboard but really have no use for NumPad, so it just forces them to keep the mouse further to the right. I wouldn't call a keyboard "basic" for not having one - it's like calling a car "primitive" because it doesn't come with a trailer.
    Reply
  • bradsctt
    I find the US pricing quite interesting, as i recently saw this KB for only $110 NZD (75 USD). That makes it much more compelling, when other options such as the Corsair K70 are approx $100 NZD more.
    Reply
  • therealduckofdeath
    The price isn't "a little" steep. It's twice the price it ought to be. 6KRO-only, no backlight, no nothing. This is a $70 keyboard.
    Reply
  • Nailli
    There are way better ten-keyless boards out there that are a hell of a lot better than this one. Such as the Filco Majestouch Minila Air for starters.

    I'd only pay $70 at the most for this garbage.
    Reply
  • synphul
    Personally I'd agree, it's as if they waited for years to jump the 'mechanical is the new black' bandwagon (for those who don't know mechanical keyboards used to be the standard before cheap rubber dome membrane switches and didn't cost a small mortgage). The price is a bit overrated for what it offers.

    Granted it's a basic design which can be harder to come by (surprisingly). The cherry mx switches and others like kailh are quite common in $60-80 keyboards many of which have 10key, with or without gaming macros and rgb led backlighting.
    Reply
  • IspotU
    I have always thought that TB was mostly console peripherals. I think I will stick with my black widow keyboard. Sorry can't recommend this product as a viable option to my gaming customers, and friends.
    Reply