Cougar 700K Overview
The first thing you notice when you pick up the 700K gaming keyboard is its weight. It weighs in at about 2.64 lbs. All of this weight is because the structure of the keyboard is made of aluminum. This means that this keyboard is going to last a very long time.
With the wrist rest attached this keyboard is quite large. Cougar lists its official dimensions as 230(L) X 487(W) X 40(H) mm. This is a full keyboard so you have all of your typical keys as well as a full number pad.
The keyboard features Cherry MX mechanical key switches. The version we are reviewing today features Cherry MX Red’s, but you can also get this keyboard with blue, black or brown switches. Each key is individually backlit as well. We will go over illumination a little later in the review.
On the far left side of the keyboard you have 5 silver programmable G-keys, which can be programed via Cougar’s UIX software.
On thing that is really different about this keyboard compared to others is the spacebar key is cut in half! So you have your typical spacebar key on the left and a 6th programmable key on the right. Depending on where your thumb actually kits your keyboard now this might take a little bit of time to get used to.
At the top left of the keyboard you have your MR button that will allow you to record macros on the fly. The M1-M3 buttons are to select between three different profiles. You can also see indication LEDs that say 1x, 2x, 4x, and 8x. These are for your repeat rate. You can select your repeat rate by hitting the function key and one of the F1-F4 keys. This way you can issue commands faster, this is great for games that require you to hit the same key more than once.
Moving over to the right side of the keyboard you have dedicated buttons for illumination, Windows key lock, play/pause, stop, back, forward, mute, volume down and volume up.
The wrist rest has an elevated section that Cougar calls their FPS palm rest. It is rubberized and gives more support for your wrist when playing FPS games. It can be removed if you don’t wish to use it.
On the rear of the keyboard you will find an extra USB port and audio connections. This enables you to connect your mouse and headset to the keyboard itself so you don’t have to go around to the back of your tower and do it.
Flipping the keyboard over there are rubber feet on both the keyboard itself and the wrist rest.
The keyboard does offer some height adjustment via two pop-out feet. In the pictures below you can see the difference between using the pop-out feet and not using them.
The 700K has a very heavy braided cable. It splits off at the end to give you microphone and headset connections and two USB connections. All of the connectors are gold-plated.