Level 20 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard

Packed with bells and whistles. Perhaps… too many…

PRICE $ 199 www.thermaltake.com.au

Thermaltake’s Level 20 brand has become somewhat diluted of late. It used to be about over-the-top tech indulgence, as typified by the original, BMW-designed Level 20 case. Following cases have been a little less insane with each new iteration, and you can now pick up budget-level gear that bears the Level 20 moniker. This epically-proportioned new keyboard is, however, truly deserving of the brand.

First up — it is big. Built around an elegantly curved and notched slab of aluminium, the Level 20 RGB takes some getting used to, especially if you’re used to using a trim ten-keyless design (which is my standard these days). But it’s very comfortable to type on, and its sturdy mass keeps it rigidly locked in place on your desktop, regardless of how many times you slam your mouse into the Level 20 while getting used to its girth.

The main driver behind the Level 20’s size is that it is decked out with an almost ridiculous level of RGB lighting. Since it’s a frameless design — which we really like, by the way — you can see the RGB-lit keycaps clearly, but there’s an RGB strip around the entire edge of the board, as well as a nifty little notch in between the Ctrl and cursor keys, and another very bright lighting strip above this. There are five levels of brightness and a mess of lighting effects, and you can cycle through a range of presets for lighting specific keys for FPS, MOBA, and RTS games. Some of the colour and pattern combinations are downright pretty, but the edge lighting is a little lost – it’s hard to notice in any kind of strong lighting as it’s inset to the chassis. The only people who’ll really see it would by anyone sitting next to you – or you, while sitting a distance away admiring your PC setup.

There’s lovely onboard macro recording, which is always handy, and the board we’ve reviewed features Cherry MX Silver switches, which we’ve not really spent a lot of time with in the past. The big sell of these switches is — unsurprisingly — that they are fast, and we can concur. The super shallow 1.2mm actuation point really makes this keyboard sing in everything from fast paced FPS games to typing. In fact, the latter is lovely, and the Level 20 isn’t too loud, either. With a USB and audio passthrough, media keys, and a wonderfully tactile volume roller, there’s not much at all missing.

There really is very little to fault this keyboard. The lighting might be a somewhat over the top, and with the extra width the edge lighting calls for — and given that it’s practically invisible in use — we could easily have done without that feature (and enjoyed the subsequently lower cost). But that’s not really what the Level 20 brand is all about. If you want a keyboard that lacks for nothing, look no further (and maybe wear some shades). DAVID HOLLINGWORTH

The main driver behind the Level 20’s size is that it is decked out with an almost ridiculous level of RGB lighting.