Fnatic Streak
Just as proud as it can be of its anatomy
GAMERS ARE VERY particular people. They want specific things, certain features, particularly when they’re told they want them. On the box, consummate gamer and Fnatic esportsist “JW” says his life literally depends on this keyboard, and we care deeply for his safety, so it had better be good.
It’s certainly considered. Fnatic has not been shy about ladling gimmick after gimmick on to this unashamedly esports-centric keyboard. If you want to be the best, by gosh you’re going to need a specific on-keyboard button to mute your mic (providing you’re also using Fnatic’s OP software, and a compatible headset). You’re going to wonder how you ever lived without the “competition mode,” which immediately dims the lights to a subtle orange and, again in conjunction with Fnatic OP, cuts down on potential on-PC distractions. And you’re going to want the power of portability, so you can have your comfort-blanket keyboard with you wherever you may be.
On that last count, we have to say that Fnatic has succeeded wildly. The Streak is not the lightest keyboard, which is probably for the best, as you wouldn’t want it sliding around your desk while you’re doing the business, but it’s certainly tight. There’s next to no chin, at least without the detachable wrist rest, and minimal material on the other sides of the base gives it as compact a profile as you’re likely to find in a full-size keyboard. The cable is almost industrial, encompassing both the main keyboard signal and its USB pass-through, hopefully ensuring that it won’t suffer any mishaps in your bag. The key caps are attached firmly enough that you can lift the whole keyboard holding an arrow key, which should mean they won’t go flying in transport, and there’s internal memory for your configurations. Plus it’s thin. Not uncomfortable scissor-switch thin, not in a way that makes any sacrifices, but thin.
WRIST WATCH
We should reel back a little to talk about the wrist rest, because it’s a highlight that deserves its own paragraph. We’ve seen some atrocious excuses for tendon furniture included with some otherwise excellent keyboards recently, but this is something else entirely. It’s padded, not over-soft, but definitely not rigid, and stippled with divots to collect that mid-game wrist sweat. So far so slightly gross. But there’s more: It’s in two parts. The metal base clips firmly on to the bottom of the keyboard with sprung clips, and the padded part nestles snugly on top in one of three grooved positions. This adjustability is something we’ve rarely seen, and it means large-handed gamers get their wrists looked after, rather than sliding their lower palms around on an ineffective hunk of plastic.
You have options in terms of the key switches, but this is one area where Fnatic hasn’t gone totally mad with design abandon. You can select either Cherry MX Red, Blue, Brown, or, in the case of our review model, Silent Red. We probably don’t need to explain how Cherry switches feel yet again, but we will: Silent Reds are (as you’d expect) very quiet, and set high enough that the key caps never bottom out, but they’re dull, squashy, indefinite. There’s no actuation bite; they trigger reasonably high, so they’ll rarely let you down, but we prefer the tactile feel of a Brown, and suggest you select those if you’re against the deafening clatter of Blues.
After the Fnatic Flick2 mouse, tepidly reviewed last issue, we were prepared for the Streak to be a streak of something quite unpleasant. But it’s not. It’s really rather good. The lighting’s on point, the software’s strong, and it’s a very well designed gaming board, with a host of features that really make sense. The problem is, we wouldn’t recommend it in the configuration we have under our fingers here—it’s just not pleasant to type on—and it’s certainly not at the cheap end of the market. Is it worth the extra bucks? Perhaps if your life depends on it.