Azolt Gaming Keyboard and Mouse Review

“…comes with a mixture of positives and negatives…”

The Azolt Gaming Keyboard and Mouse set sells itself as a high-quality, premium and professional gaming keyboard and mouse solution designed to give you that extra edge you have been looking for in your games. On the market at a low price of £36.25 (and lower on Amazon at the time of writing), these claims make this a very tempting and very realistic option to a number of gamers who are looking for top quality results without having to pay the high-end costs to get them. Claiming a wealth of both very cool and genuinely useful features, the gear looks to be a very strong and coherent choice for PC gamers in writing. I was recently offered a set to try out for myself, and given the apparent credibility of its description given its 4.5 star review rating on Amazon, I naturally accepted.

So first off I have to mention the packaging that my new keyboard and mouse arrived in. I was (and honestly still am) a little confused, as the box is branded Bluefinger, and the product is named Super XBlaster V-100. I asked myself whether I had been sent the correct product, but everything inside matched the images on Amazon, and while the named product on the box was also on Amazon and looked remarkably similar, I went ahead and decided to consider the product as the one I had been asked to take a look at. Beyond this confusion however, the packaging is very good quality, and feels as though it would protect the product, without being excessive. The outer packaging clearly shows the product, although it shows the gold version rather than the black one which I ordered. It also has some basic description of the product which is good too.

Upon opening the box then I found that I had indeed been sent the black version of the keyboard and mouse which I ordered, a realisation after which I breathed a sigh of relief as personally I feel the gold version is much less attractive. Again, there was little messing around inside the box. The product was secure but I didn’t have to go through a pass the parcel like process to remove it from the packaging. There is a single sheet of instruction in the box which basically just tells you how to change the keyboard colour, and otherwise it is left up to you to plug in the kit and get going. Fortunately it is a plug and play USB product, and the lack of instructions therefore did not turn out to be any real issue.

It was easy to plug in both the mouse and the keyboard, both of which have a reasonable cable length for you to do so and use the equipment comfortably. Both products lit up straight off the mark, and changing the colour on the keyboard was indeed as simple a process as described (pushing the FN and SL keys together). The keyboard comes with three colour settings; red, purple/pink and blue. All of these however had a common problem. Unless I was sat right above the keyboard looking down, and in particular during the daylight hours, the direction of the LEDs inside the keyboard did not properly illuminate the keys, which made it very difficult to see what was what at times. For a gamer, who needs to be able to find keys quickly if they need them whilst playing, this is a big problem, and especially for one who had just received a new keyboard and needs to get used to the layout. There is also another problem, and that is that this keyboard is not a standard English one. Some of the keys, such as the ampersat (or @ key if you like), are not in their usual places, which confused the hell out of me. There is no warning of this on the Amazon sale page, and gamers should be aware of it before making a purchase.

The keyboard also feels very bulky and clunky, and not necessarily like a high quality product. A common feature of both the keyboard and mouse is that the plastic used feels quite cheap too, giving a very “you get what you pay for” feel about the set. The Amazon page tries to sell the FN key as an extra positive of the keyboard, but this is quite a common feature nowadays anyway. Maybe the most useful part of it is that it has multimedia keys at the top, so you can change the volume, open your emails and so on directly from the keyboard in one touch. This I like, but I also feel that there are other or rather alternative keys that could have been more useful here. My previous keyboard for example has a Sleep key, which I found particularly helpful, whereas and email key seems a little outdated and not particularly gamer-centric. Perhaps the best feature of the keyboard is that it looks nice at night, but then so do Christmas lights, and they have little other meaningful functions either…

Aside from its cheap feel, the mouse in this kit comes with a far more positive response following my experiences. There are probably only two real issues with it. One is that the colour always fluctuates and you cannot stop this. For one, that means it doesn’t match the keyboard, which then looks peculiar. The constant colour changing can also be a bit distracting if you are like me and things in the corner of your eye can divert your attention. My other issue with the mouse is that it is quite wide, and the shape of it did not compliment the way I hold my hand when I am gaming. This will not apply to everyone of course, and the mouse is contoured in such a way where many people will find it very comfortable to use. Even I, after some time playing, noticed the problem a little less.

But let’s get down to the positives of the mouse! Firstly, its buttons are all very easy to use and well placed. The ability to change the speed of the mouse quickly and easily is a big bonus, as it allows you to adapt to the type of game you are playing, as well as allowing you to slow it down if you are, for example, just browsing Facebook. The mouse is not too loud when you are using it, and is very responsive as well, which for gamers are two very big plusses. The keyboard, I should mention, did not share these characteristics, with somewhat heavy pushes needed to work the buttons and quite a clacky noise when in use too. The mouse becomes very comfortable to use, even if it is not a perfect fit to your hand immediately, and as a whole it is a pretty pleasant piece of equipment to use for the price tag.

 

To summarise then, the Azolt Gaming Keyboard and Mouse set comes with a mixture of positives and negatives from me. The price tag is clearly very attractive, and the packaging (though confusing) is pretty much spot on. The keyboard comes with numerous issues from my point of view, and for me it is not the ideal solution for my gaming needs, so I would not necessarily recommend it. The mouse on the other hand, whilst not being top of my list and being a fair way from perfect, is a good piece of gaming kit, and for the price at which it is valued I would recommend it as a decent option within that sort of range. Sadly, you cannot have one without the other, and as a whole then I am not sure that this is the first keyboard and mouse set which I would recommend to gamers. Still, with some positive elements and several positive reviews on Amazon, perhaps some of you may find it is better suited to you than it was to me.

The Good:

• Very well priced compared to other gaming keyboard and mouse sets.
• Protective but not excessive packaging.
• Media keys on the keyboard can provide useful shortcuts.
• Mouse is well designed, functions very well and despite its shape can become naturally comfortable for different types of user after extended use.
• Keyboard backlighting looks nice at night, as does the mouse’s lighting.

The Bad:

• The keyboard is not a standard English layout.
• Backlighting of keys are dim in daylight and poor at the wrong angles.
• Keys are quite clacky and not entirely comfortable and easy to use.
• Both keyboard and mouse plastics do not feel particularly good quality.
• Mouse’s fluctuating colours cannot be stopped; can become distracting.
• The mouse is a little wider than some might find comfortable for hand shape.

 

NOTE – I did not test the spill resistance feature of the product.

Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.