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Corsair Introduces Strafe Mechanical Gaming Keyboard With Cherry MX Switches

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Corsair's new keyboard packs a complete feature set with red LED backlighting.

Computex may be starting tomorrow, but Corsair is already opening the curtains on its new "Strafe" mechanical gaming keyboard. This is a more budget-oriented approach to a mechanical gaming keyboard compared to what Corsair has been working on over the past year or so, but don't let that make you think that this is "cheap."

The keyboard follows the same design cues as Corsair's Vengeance series (which has become "Corsair Gaming") keyboards, but it takes a small step back to basics. It still comes with the great Cherry MX mechanical keys, along with the floating key design and aluminum body. A couple of changes have been made in that the Corsair logo has been moved, and the media keys are shaped a little differently than before.

The biggest step back that Corsair takes with this keyboard is the backlighting (pun intended). Rather than full-fledged RGB backlighting, the board only comes with Red LED-backlighting. Not all keys have to be lit, however, and various effects are available; Corsair will provide six standard effects, and users will be able to create and share more lighting effects through Corsair's CUE (Corsair Utility Engine) software.

In the CUE software, users will also be able to assign and adjust macros for all of the keys. Additionally, the keyboard also has a 100 percent anti-ghosting algorithm built in, with a 104-key rollover, allowing you to press every key on the board without causing ghosting issues.

Corsair also equipped the keyboard with a USB-passthrough port, and some of the keys are contoured with a special texture to enhance FPS and MOBA gaming.

Pricing for the keyboard sits at $109.99, which as we mentioned isn't exactly what we'd call cheap. Even so, considering that the only thing this keyboard is missing compared to its hardcore competition (RGB mechanical keyboards), the price point isn't far from what we'd expect.

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11 Comments Comment from the forums
  • house70 01 June 2015 13:26
    Cherry MX, but which ones?
    Reply
  • Jason Frazier 01 June 2015 18:48
    red and brown. it's on their website
    Reply
  • RedJaron 01 June 2015 18:57
    Can someone tell me the big deal with key specific backlighting? I mean, if you're changing key colors to highlight specific keys, isn't that only useful when you're constantly looking at your keyboard? Do you really hunt for the right key all that often? The only use for this that comes immediately to mind is for the video editing pro.
    Reply
  • BigTinz 01 June 2015 19:47
    You gotta wonder why they chose to integrate the media keys into the F row while leaving the area above the number pad blank...

    Also, what's the deal with sticking to that non standard bottom row?
    Reply
  • oxxfatelostxxo 01 June 2015 20:53
    Can someone tell me the big deal with key specific backlighting? I mean, if you're changing key colors to highlight specific keys, isn't that only useful when you're constantly looking at your keyboard? Do you really hunt for the right key all that often? The only use for this that comes immediately to mind is for the video editing pro.

    Its for the bling... its all just a cosmetic thing. I have the rgb veng board and it only works as a cool factor to go with any mood/theme you have.
    Reply
  • RedJaron 01 June 2015 21:58
    15970861 said:
    Its for the bling... its all just a cosmetic thing. I have the rgb veng board and it only works as a cool factor to go with any mood/theme you have.
    I get the idea of RGB lighting for the entire board. You get backlit keys for working in low light, but you can change it to match whatever color scheme you've got going on. I could even understand sections, so your WASD, number row, F-keys, tenkey, and such can each be different colors to have main and accent colors on the whole board. But per-key RGB? So the W is red, Y is yellow, Enter is purple, . . .
    Reply
  • f-14 02 June 2015 00:44
    Can someone tell me the big deal with key specific backlighting? I mean, if you're changing key colors to highlight specific keys, isn't that only useful when you're constantly looking at your keyboard? Do you really hunt for the right key all that often? The only use for this that comes immediately to mind is for the video editing pro.
    for flight sims it's great because you use a joystick and a throttle and any keyboard command you need you can keep the board in your peripheral and by the pattern know what keys are where when you can take your hand off the throttle to hit your key combo. any body whose ever fought SAMS & AA while ground pounding knows the value of this which becomes even more crucial when you get fighter interceptors involved also 6 SAM's SA-6 SA-3 SA-2 coming at you from all directions along with KS19's AAA and some silly Mig or Su dropping down on you from angels 15 or up is all it takes to see the benefit of a keyboard like this. especially when you have to make it all happen in 30 seconds.

    what would make every one really appreciate all this would be a modern X-Wing or Tie Fighter /X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter series.
    Reply
  • RedJaron 02 June 2015 07:02
    15972092 said:
    for flight sims it's great because you use a joystick and a throttle and any keyboard command you need you can keep the board in your peripheral and by the pattern know what keys are where when you can take your hand off the throttle to hit your key combo. any body whose ever fought SAMS & AA while ground pounding knows the value of this which becomes even more crucial when you get fighter interceptors involved also 6 SAM's SA-6 SA-3 SA-2 coming at you from all directions along with KS19's AAA and some silly Mig or Su dropping down on you from angels 15 or up is all it takes to see the benefit of a keyboard like this. especially when you have to make it all happen in 30 seconds.

    what would make every one really appreciate all this would be a modern X-Wing or Tie Fighter /X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter series.
    Fair point, games that have a huge number of keybinds. Similar to the video editor then.

    And I wouldn't mind an updated X-Wing vs TIE Fighter either.
    Reply
  • Eric Margadonna 02 June 2015 11:43
    Has nobody noticed? They left out the tramp stamp!!
    Reply
  • JingLuci 02 June 2015 12:15
    I have no idea why they would think of making the strafe keyboard. The K70 is good enough of a keyboard already. The strafe is just .... mehhh
    Reply