Introduction
Thermaltake as a company has a good reputation for bringing out some stunning products. I mean who can forget the Level 10 GT which was pathbreaking at that time. The product we have today is one from Thermaltake’s portfolio which is also a part of the 20-year anniversary of Thermaltake.
Presenting the Level 20 Titanium RGB Keyboard. A full-blown RGB Keyboard with Cherry MX Blue RGB keys with additional Thermaltake goodies.
Specification
| Thermaltake Level 20 Titanium Edition Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Color | Titanium |
| NO. OF MACRO KEYS | NO |
| NO. OF GAME PROFILES | SIX |
| GRAPHICAL UI | YES |
| Weight | 1500 GRAMS |
| GOLD-PLATED USB | YES |
| Dimension | 482 x 185.96 x 43.93 mm |
| Interface | USB |
| ANTI-GHOSTING KEYS | YES / N KEY Rollover (USB) |
| ON-BOARD MEMORY SIZE | 4M bit |
| POLLING RATE | 1000 HZ |
| BACK-LIGHT | 16.8 Million RGB Colors |
| WRIST REST | NO |
| AUDIO AND USB PASS-THROUGH | YES |
| MULTIMEDIA KEYS | 5 + Volume Wheel |
| BRAIDED CABLE | YES |
| Cable Length | 1.8 M |
| SWITCH TYPE | Mechanical |
| SWITCH NAME | CHERRY MX RGB BLUE MECHANICAL |
| ACTUATION POINT | RGB BLUE : 2.2 ± 0.6 MM |
| KEY STROKE | RGB BLUE : 4 – 0.5 MM |
| ACTUATION FORCE | 50g(BLUE) with Optimized Tactile Feel |
| KEY LIFESPAN | 50 Million Clicks Lifetime |
Close Look
With the specifications out of the way, let us take a look at the keyboard itself.
The boxes are nothing much to write home about, standard black cardboard with lots of details printed across it.
Inside the outer shell, we have another box that houses the actual keyboard with foam padding and a pouch. The box contents are pretty much standard: a set of red keycaps, a key puller and a manual.
Coming to the keyboard itself, Thermaltake has gone with the open aluminium plate design. The light bar in the middle adds a bit of uniqueness to the looks along with extra light effects. There are dedicated media keys with a plastic volume scroll wheel which is a nice addition.
Thermaltake has decided to use the industry-proven Cherry Blue MX keys for the Level 20 Titanium. With 60 cN operating force and 4mm total travel, the Blue is known for Tactile and audible switching. In other words, it is for those people who like to hear the click-clack of the keyboards!
The RGB version of the keys used in this keyboard has the led infused inside the key casing giving it a diffused look. We have provided a few pictures of the naked keys below to let you know how it looks.
Software
On the software side of things, Thermaltake uses the iTake software suite. The software is pretty intuitive, however I think it needs a redesign and some polish. Coming in both desktop and mobile version, we used the desktop version more.
With the iTake up and running, we are presented with various options. we have six different profiles to choose from and work with and different subsets under that.
The customize option lets us remap any keys to our liking. The lighting tab is where the software really shines so to speak. The keyboard light is divided into two zones. Keyboard and an led strip of sorts around the keyboard. Each zone can have its own lighting effects which makes customization very flexible.
The Macro tab deals with the creation of macros, and assignment of them to different keys. You can also edit them and adjust the time delay between each key.
The mobile version of the software is very well built and optimized as per our sources, however, it didn’t run well on a Zenfone Max Pro M1 owned by this humble reviewer. We are giving the benefit of the doubt in favour of the software and blaming it on our custom ROM. We would just include the few screenshots for your viewing pleasure.
You can connect to the keyboard over WiFi and control quite a few aspects of the keyboard. There are control options for lighting, macros, a virtual controller, a virtual keyboard, and voice control.
Experience and Conclusion
Keyboard generally goes through a very rigorous testing regime here Techarx. I use the keyboard as my daily driver for a fortnight. The typical usage scenario consists of long periods of writing (around 100+ pages), a moderate amount of gaming, and casual internet usage. This one, however, saw a little less action including decent hours of typing various articles and a generous amount of overwatch and destiny on it. While I am not the greatest supporter for MX Blues, this keyboard made me a fan within a short time.
The Keyboard looks great, has decent software support barring a few niggles here and there. The Cherry MX Blue keys while not the best out there (that place is solely for the MX Black or Brown) is very suitable for gaming since you need to be sure of the feedbacks. Looks-wise, this is one of the best-looking keyboard out there. The Lightbar along the middle and around the keyboard really makes it stand out in the crowd of high-end RGB keyboards. While I couldn’t find the Blue version anywhere in India, the costlier Cherry MX Speed is available at around INR 13,000 mark. My company source says the blue version will be around 11/11.5K mark which makes it an absolute steal with the feature set it provides.
Gold for the Thermaltake Level 20 Titanium keyboard from us.
