Patriot Viper V765 is a mechanical keyboard dedicated to gamers who spend many hours a day in front of the computer. How does it work in practice and is it worth buying? About it in today’s material.
The keyboard came to me in a solidly packed box. We can find information on it that it will work best in the hands of intermediate-advanced people. What caught my attention was the color of juicy green inside the box. Manufacturers have not paid any attention to the appearance of packaging lately, so vivid colors are an interesting way out of the standard.
The keyboard is made of brushed aluminum and black plastic. The keys are black but fully support RGB backlighting. Patriot used Kailh White mechanical switches here. The set also includes a special – magnetic wrist rest. Just bring it close to the bottom of the keyboard and it will attach automatically. In my opinion, it should be a bit longer, because writing this article, my wrists are mainly on its edge.
The keys are illuminated with multicolored RGB diodes. We can set them almost freely in dedicated software. There are several color options built into the keyboard itself and we can switch between, e.g. between point illumination (each key will be in a different color), zone (the keyboard is divided into zones and each of them has a different color), and single-zone (all keys have the same color).
In addition, there are animation options such as wave, motion activation, pulsing, etc. I personally left the wave because it looks the best and is the least distracting in normal use. Interestingly, the backlight of one button, more precisely the Print Screen, which constantly glows white, constantly jams. Looking through reviews about this keyboard, I noticed that this is a fairly common problem. However, re-updating the firmware set the unruly key in line. Volunteers can also create their own lighting and animation settings profiles.
Patriot Viper V765 in practice
The keyboard is quite high, but it does not bother me when using it. It is not flat – each row of keys is set slightly higher than the previous one, which makes it easier to feel the characters when typing. There are four multimedia buttons above the F1-F4 keys. Attention is also drawn to a large roller integrated into the housing just above the section of numeric keys. Used to decrease and increase media volume. In turn, pressing the roller immediately mutes all sounds.
Speaking of the sound, the one that accompanies typing on this keyboard is such pleasant clicks. I didn’t like mechanics until now because they were very loud and kind of like tapping on a typewriter. This is not the case here. The keys press firmly, the cushioning works perfectly. For almost a month of testing, I did not notice that any of the keys jammed or had a worse stroke.
The Viper V765 is quite heavy, which has its pros and cons. Nearly 1150 grams allows you to confidently move your hands on the keyboard without the risk of moving it around the desk. However, we feel this weight when we decide to change its position. It is also worth mentioning the dust and spill resistance. There is no fear that we will flood the keyboard with coffee or crumble it with chips. The high-mounted keys make it easy to clean – it is enough to even blow the slots with a hair dryer or compressed air without having to dismantle individual buttons.
As with the recently reviewed Patriot v551 mouse, here we also have dedicated manufacturer’s application for advanced configuration. It is a pity that Patriot did not decide to use one application to which we can add new devices. This way I already have 3 different Patriot devices and each has a separate application that is clogging up the memory on my computer.
What’s in the app? The ability to update the software, create macros, configure individual buttons, set the refresh sensitivity and response to pressing. In addition, of course, specific settings for the operation of LEDs, selection of colors, speed of effects, brightness or side illumination. The whole thing can be inserted from ready-made or your own profiles.
Patriot Viper V765 – cons
The wrist pad deserves a mention. With such large high buttons, the keyboard forces a greater angle of support on the wrists. Therefore, a slightly longer pad would be useful so that you can rest your hands more comfortably. I came up with a slightly different idea – I detached the pad and moved it closer to the body. Thanks to this, I was finally able to rest my wrists comfortably … 7 cm away from the dedicated place. However, what annoys me the most about this keyboard is the sound, specifically the squeak. When the computer is turned off, the keyboard sometimes beeps cyclically. It’s so annoying that I had to get up and unplug my computer’s USB while watching TV recently.
