Deskspace comes at a premium today — not less than, that’s what you may assume with the way in which gaming firms are dropping mini keyboards left and proper. Players searching for the greatest gaming keyboard aren’t normally contemplating ultra-compact 60 or 65 p.c kind components, however perhaps they need to be as firms are packing these mini-boards with options.
Roccat’s new Vulcan II Mini is a 65 p.c wired keyboard with vibrant, eye-catching per-key RGB, which it exhibits off with distinctive Twin-LED sensible switches and Roccat’s engaging “natural” Aimo lighting expertise. The Vulcan II Mini options the corporate’s Titan II optical purple (linear) switches which have n-key rollover (NKRO) with 100% anti-ghosting, in addition to an anodized aluminum high plate. The keyboard is available in each black and white (we requested our evaluate mannequin in white — simply to combine it up), and is obtainable now for $150.
Design and Building of the Vulcan II Mini
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The Vulcan II Mini is a 65 p.c keyboard — it’s ultra-compact, however it’s not ultra-compact. Not like a keyboard with a 60 p.c structure, such because the SteelSeries Apex Professional Mini or the Corsair K70 Professional Mini Wi-fi, the Vulcan II Mini’s structure retains arrow keys and a handful of navigation keys (delete, residence, web page up, and web page down). This makes it barely longer than a 60 p.c board, however at 12.75 inches lengthy by 4.57 inches deep, the Vulcan II Mini continues to be fairly tiny. It’s additionally slimmer than each of the aforementioned 60 p.c boards (1.22 inches thick vs the Apex Professional Mini/K70 Professional Mini Wi-fi’ 1.59 inches) and lighter (1.1lbs vs the Apex Professional Mini’s 1.2lbs and the K70 Professional Mini Wi-fi’ 1.42lbs), so it feels fairly light-weight general.
The Vulcan II Mini is housed in a light-weight plastic chassis topped with an anodized aluminum backplate. The underside of the chassis options twin flip-out ft for angle adjustment, in addition to lengthy rubber strips for grip — permitting the keyboard to remain put (regardless of its comparatively gentle weight) via aggressive bouts of typing and gaming.
The Vulcan II Mini is available in each black and white colorways; I requested a evaluate mannequin in white as a result of all the black mini keyboards are beginning to mix collectively at this level. Nonetheless, I don’t assume even the black model of the Vulcan II Mini would appear like latest competitor drops, as Roccat’s slim keycaps and uncovered switches undoubtedly make this keyboard stand out visually.
The keyboard options white ABS keycaps with translucent legends — together with translucent secondary legends for the board’s 30 multi-function keys with preset secondary capabilities. Secondary capabilities are a should on an ultra-compact keyboard, however a few this keyboard’s secondary capabilities used symbols that weren’t instantly intuitive
In keeping with Roccat, this keyboard options the world’s first Twin-LED sensible switches, which is…mainly what it seems like: Two LEDs in a single change. Is it revolutionary? Probably not. Does it work? Sure — every Twin-LED sensible change can show two completely different LED colours (north and south). This causes the first legend (north) and secondary legend (south) to gentle up in several colours (or at completely different brightness ranges), so you’ll be able to shortly see which secondary capabilities are lively.
It’s not completely seamless, nevertheless: As a result of the Vulcan II Mini’s switches are uncovered, the south-facing LEDs are very seen to the consumer. This isn’t a difficulty if these LEDs are turned off/down, however it does make for a considerably jarring aesthetic in the event that they’re set to a unique shade. This can be a fairly minor general concern, however it was jarring sufficient that I initially thought a number of the keys have been experiencing a {hardware} malfunction.
The keyboard’s per-key RGB is in any other case very engaging, assuming you’re an RGB fanatic. The RGB is vibrant and vibrant, and the keyboard’s uncovered switches allow you to mainly bathe in it. It ships with Roccat’s Aimo lighting profile, which is a “state-of-the-art clever lighting system” that allegedly reacts “organically” to your habits in addition to the apps and gadgets you employ. I didn’t essentially see it reacting to my habits past animations that adopted my keystrokes (which doesn’t appear notably clever), however the colourful, non-uniform patterns have been fairly regardless.
The Vulcan II Mini is a wired keyboard and has a USB-C port at its top-center. It comes with a six-foot braided USB-C to USB-A cable which has a few good touches — an hooked up velcro cable tie, and its USB-A connector is labeled with a keyboard icon for simple cable identification.
Specification
| Switches | Roccat Titan II Optical Purple Linear Switches |
| Lighting | Per-key RGB |
| Onboard Storage | Sure, 5 profiles |
| Media Keys | No |
| Recreation Mode | Sure |
| Connectivity | Wired (USB-C, removable) |
| Extra Ports | None |
| Keycaps | ABS |
| Building | Plastic, Aluminum high plate |
| Software program | Roccat Swarm |
| Dimensions (LxWxH) | 12.75 x 4.57 x 1.22 inches / 324 x 116 x 31mm |
| Weight | 1.1lbs / 500g (with out cable) |
Typing Expertise and Gaming Expertise on the Vulcan II Mini
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The Vulcan II Mini sports activities Roccat’s Titan II Optical Purple linear switches; optical means they’re actuated by gentle (not power), whereas linear means there’s no click on or tactile bump — only a easy, uniform keypress. The switches are rated for 100 million keystrokes, and have an actuation level of 1.4mm and a journey distance of three.6mm.
Typing on the Vulcan II Mini was a bit higher than anticipated, however this isn’t a keyboard I’d advocate for general typing expertise. The keyboard’s skinny ABS keycaps are a bit too light-weight and fluttery for the kind of loud, decisive typing I’m liable to, and because of this my velocity took successful (104 wpm, down from 120 wpm — much like my typing velocity on the SteelSeries Apex Professional Mini). My accuracy remained fairly excessive, nevertheless (97.1%, which is typical for me), and I feel it’s as a result of the house between the keys — which is barely bigger than common — managed to stop my fingers from hitting adjoining keys whilst they slipped.
The Vulcan II Mini’s Titan II Optical Purple linear switches are a lot better-suited to gaming. The linear lack of resistance and snappy optical responsiveness — even the speedy bounceback of the light-weight keycaps — means that you can make lightning-quick keypresses and fly across the keyboard with out lacking a stroke. Velocity and (relative) accuracy are particularly essential on keyboards just like the Vulcan II Mini when you play any video games that require greater than what the ultra-compact structure permits for — you want to have the ability to zip out and in of the primary and second (and third) layers of performance.
The one small criticism I had concerning gaming on the Vulcan II Mini is with its keycap materials. The keycaps themselves are very frivolously dished — sufficient to maintain your fingers comfy whereas typing — however caps’ ABS floor is fairly slick to start with and solely will get slicker as gaming ramps up. I really sweat little or no (in gaming, and likewise typically), and the Vulcan II Mini’s keycaps have been frustratingly slippery throughout fast-paced motion. When you sweat in any respect, this will not be the keyboard (or, effectively, these will not be the keycaps) for you.
Options and Software program of the Vulcan II Mini
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The Vulcan II Mini ships with quite a lot of preset secondary capabilities (as indicated by the secondary legends) and Roccat’s Aimo RGB lighting profile. However as a result of a number of the secondary legends aren’t inherently intuitive, most individuals will in all probability wish to dig a bit deeper and obtain Roccat’s companion app, Swarm. Swarm is Roccat’s common peripherals app for remapping keys, organising onboard profiles, checking for firmware and driver updates, and customizing your gadget’s RGB lighting.
Like most peripheral apps, Swarm shouldn’t be essentially the most easy or intuitive piece of software program you’ll ever use. The Vulcan II Mini does have onboard storage (5 profiles), nevertheless, so that you don’t want to make use of Swarm for something previous preliminary configuration. Swarm has some basic options you in all probability gained’t use, equivalent to sound suggestions — together with typing sounds (sure, via your PC) that you could activate when you…actually wish to.
However for essentially the most half, you’ll wish to flip to Swarm to program (and decipher) the Vulcan II Mini’s many secondary capabilities. I say “many,” as a result of there are…many — too many. The Vulcan II Mini has three varieties of secondary keybinds — Fn keys, Recreation Mode, and Simple-Shift — and sure, they overlap and but are all nonetheless someway…secondary.
For the keyboard’s default secondary capabilities (those labeled on the keys), you’ll use the Fn key. These keys’ secondary capabilities could be remapped, although the legends will clearly stay the identical. There are 30 Fn keys, all of which have Twin-LED lighting and secondary legends. Solely 27 can have their secondary capabilities remapped (the the three that can’t be modified are the Home windows key, which toggle Recreation Mode; the tab key, which switches onboard profiles; and the best Ctrl key, which turns off the keyboard’s RGB lighting.
Urgent the Fn key plus the Home windows key toggles Recreation Mode. Recreation Mode is one thing you’ll discover on a variety of gaming keyboards. There’s no common normal, however Recreation Mode normally disables keys that, if unintentionally pressed, would disrupt your gaming expertise. This virtually at all times consists of the Home windows key, and may embody mixtures equivalent to Alt + F4 or Alt + Tab. Roccat’s Recreation Mode disables the Home windows key however is in any other case customizable — you’ll be able to program virtually all the Vulcan II Mini’s keys in Recreation Mode, although there are some limitations — non-Fn keys can solely be remapped with single keys. Your Recreation Mode keybindings shall be main whereas Recreation Mode is toggled on.
Whereas Recreation Mode is toggled on, you’ll be able to entry Roccat’s Simple-Shift, which is a second…secondary layer of performance. You should utilize Simple-Shift so as to add a secondary keybind to any non-Fn key, and you’ll entry that secondary keybind utilizing the Simple-Shift key, which is the Caps Lock key by default (you’ll be able to disable this however you’ll be able to’t change it, besides to swap Simple-Shift for an Simple-Shift toggle). Once more, this solely works for non-Fn keys — you’ll be able to nonetheless entry secondary Fn performance, you’ll simply want to make use of the Fn key.
Does this sound extremely complicated? Sure, it’s extremely complicated and fully unintuitive, all to finish up with primarily the identical options and programmability rivals supply. SteelSeries’ Apex Professional Mini, for instance, helps you to remap virtually all main and secondary keybinds (all secondary keybinds are accessed with only one “SS” (Fn) key). The Vulcan II Mini helps you to remap virtually all main keybinds — however solely in Recreation Mode, and with limitations on non-Fn keys — and virtually all secondary keybinds — however splits it into roughly half with the Fn key, and half with the Simple-Shift key, which is simply accessible in Recreation Mode.
The Backside Line
Software program-based frustrations apart, the Roccat Vulcan II Mini is unexpectedly interesting. It doesn’t look fairly as, I don’t know, business-chic because the all-black minimalist bricks we’ve been seeing from different firms, however I type of just like the Vulcan II Mini’s slim, light-weight design, uncovered switches, and fairly however admittedly ostentatious RGB lighting. I perceive there’s not a variety of room for design creativity in an ultra-compact 60 or 65 p.c structure, however you’ll be able to’t inform me the Apex Professional Mini (and the recently-launched Apex 9 Mini), K70 Professional Wi-fi, HyperX Alloy Origins 65, and Asus ROG Falchion NX (to call a number of) are simply distinguishable.
Along with being barely different-looking and really well-lit, the Vulcan II Mini is comfy for typing, speedy and responsive for gaming, and whereas its keycaps is likely to be a bit too slick, they’ll at all times be swapped out. Additionally, whereas I discovered Roccat Swarm to be clunky and convoluted, I can’t say I’m an enormous fan of another firm’s peripheral software program. When you’re searching for an ultra-compact keyboard, the Vulcan II Mini is fairly and a strong performer — for one thing extra unique-looking, you’ll in all probability want to maneuver onto a customized equipment such because the IRISLabs Jris65.
