Turtle Beach is known for its gaming headsets, which it makes for both consoles and PCs, but the company is pressing further into the PC gaming peripherals market with a new lineup of gear that includes three keyboards, two mice, and two mousepads.
The new keyboards are the Impact 700, Impact 500 and Impact 100. Both the Impact 700 and Impact 500 feature Cherry MX mechanical switches. The Impact 700 is a full-size 104-key board with full Anti-Ghosting and 6-key Rollover with Cherry MX Brown switches, which are mounted on a reinforced steel plate. The keyboard is backlit with red LED lighting and comes with an audio passthrough for headphones and a microphone, along with a two-port USB 2.0 hub. Included with the board are a handful of extra keycaps and a keycap puller.
The Impact 500 is a keyboard that is quite similar to its bigger brother, but it has an 84-key tenkeyless layout. It comes with a similar reinforced steel chassis but trades the MX Brown switches for Cherry MX Blues. It also lacks its bigger brother's backlighting, extra keycaps, keycap puller, USB hub and audio pass through, although it does have a detachable USB cable.
The Impact 100 is a more budget-conscious board that eschews mechanical switches for what Turtle Beach calls "Smart-Guide Keycap Sleeves," which are supposed to emulate the feeling of mechanical keys at a more affordable price point. It isn't clear which specific key type they emulate. The Impact 100 has PBT keycaps for durability and supports a 30-key rollover.
The two mice are the Grip 500 and the Grip 300. The Grip 500 is a premium gaming mouse that comes with seven buttons, Omron switches below the left and right buttons, and the renown Avago 9800 sensor. This sensor gives the mouse support for up to 8200 DPI, allowing gamers to adjust the sensitivity of the mouse according to their preferences. Users will be able to adjust the sensitivity of each axis individually. The scroll wheel supports RGB lighting with up to 16.8 million color options, and the onboard controller for the mouse allows you to create up to 50 macros, each consisting of up to 100 commands.
The Grip 300 is a more budget-friendly mouse. It packs the same Omron switches but "only" has an Avago 3050 sensor, which allows the user to adjust the sensitivity from 500 through 1750 DPI. Both the scroll wheel and Turtle Beach logo are illuminated.
Turtle Beach also introduced the Drift and Traction mousepads. The Traction has a textured weave for increased resistance, while the Drift has a smooth texture for higher "slippyness." Both models will come in four different sizes, all with Anti-Fray stitched edges and rubber bases to prevent the mousepads from sliding around on your desk.
As exciting as it may be to see Turtle Beach enter the PC gaming peripherals market, we're a bit less enthusiastic about the prices. The Impact 700 will cost $199.95, which is the kind of money that will buy you an RGB-lit mechanical board elsewhere, with arguably better looks. The Impact 500 can be yours for $129.95, and the Impact 100 will set you back $59.95. The Grip 500 will sell for $69.95, and the more affordable Grip 300 will cost $39.95. The mousepads will cost between $14.95 and $34.95, depending on the size chosen.
Fortunately, Turtle Beach isn't only venturing into new territory, but also in places where it knows the market. It is also introducing the Elite 800X, which is a wireless noise-cancelling headset with support for DTS Headphone:X 7.1, which will create a very immersive surround sound gaming experience. Because it works over Bluetooth, it is fully wireless (without needing a cable to your wireless controller) and should work as a media receiver on Android and iOS phones, too. Under normal operating conditions, the battery should last about 10 hours. The Elite 800X will sell for $299 when it is released at the end of May.
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