The good folks at Saitek sent this to me when I was doing a story on gaming peripherals for the Roanoke Times. Unlike some other gaming keyboards, this isn’t chock full of all sorts of odd gaming doo-dads. And that doesn’t matter; it’s nearly perfect as-is.
The beauty of the Eclipse II is that Saitek emphasized the important stuff. The keys feel great; they have the right amount of travel and require the right amount of force to tap. (There are a lot of mushy “quiet” keyboards out there that are lousy for typing.)
It’s also sturdy. My second-favorite keyboard, the Keytronic EO3600Q, also has great feel, but it went on the fritz after about 18 months, and Keytronic told me it was out of warranty. My 10-year-old Gateway 2000 keyboard, which came free with an old PC, is still working fine, so thumbs down to Keytronic.
Saitek has also put some thought into some smaller things. The Eclipse II is heavy, and this is a good thing; it doesn’t move on the desktop. It also has non-slip feet for the same reason.
Like most keyboards, you can flip out a couple of clips to raise it to a slight angle, but the Eclipse II has two of these so you can use it flat, at a traditional slope, or in between.
Oh, and it’s also backlit — a nice feature if you like to work or play in the dark. Choose from red, purple, or blue, and you can adjust the brightness. (For me that’s mostly a gimmick, but a lot of gamers like it.)
Finally, it has basic multimedia controls in the upper-right corner where they’re unobtrusive. A lot of keyboards have a huge line of these across the top, which seems a waste of space. Oh, and it uses standard Philips screws to open it, if you need to clean it out.
If you’re a typist or a gamer, simply put this is the keyboard for you. Period.
Minor nits: The backlighting isn’t quite even or bright enough for my tastes. The NumLock, CapsLock, and ScrollLock indicator lights are in an odd place, so it takes an extra moment to see if they’re lit.
Saitek Eclipse II keyboard: About $50 street
Bruce Kunz says:
I too love the Saitek keyboard. I had a six year old H/P and the keyboard that came with it was starting to look rather ‘grungy’. I was thinking of replacing it when, last year for Christmas, my son bought the Saitek Eclipse II for me. He described it for me before he gave it to me and frankly, I was skeptical. I sold stereo gear for twenty years and was known in my circles as a ‘whistles and bells’ kind of guy. Some of our serious audiophiles criticized me because I was drawn toward the flashier models with all the dials, lights and meters, with somewhat of a share of abandon for tech specs. When Jeff told me about the new keyboard, I was expecting something of sub standard quality and feel. I was pleasantly surprised to find the overall quality, and touch of the keyboard was everything my H/P was and more… AND it has the really cool backlit keys. I didn’t realize until I plugged it in that the key designations were also back lit. I thought it was just a ‘glow’ around the keys. That was a pleasant surprise and bonus, as I often work in a darkened room.
I’ve been very happy with it. My only wish is that it was wireless.