Corsair K70 RGB TKL Champion Series review

Our Verdict

The Corsair K70 RGB TKL Champion Serial is a fantastic tenkeyless gaming keyboard, peculiarly if you play in the competitive scene.

For

Gorgeous design
Authentic Reddish MX key switches
Handy tournament features
Streamlined software

Against

Expensive
Media controls have a learning curve

Tom's Guide Verdict

The Corsair K70 RGB TKL Champion Series is a fantastic tenkeyless gaming keyboard, particularly if you play in the competitive scene.

Pros

+
Gorgeous design
+
Authentic Cherry-red MX cardinal switches
+
Handy tournament features
+
Streamlined software

Cons

-
Expensive
-
Media controls have a learning bend

EDITOR'S Note: The Corsair K70 RGB TKL Champion Series won a "highly recommended" honor for best gaming keyboard in the Tom's Guide Awards 2021 for gaming.

The Corsair K70 RGB TKL Champion Series reminds me of the Corsair K70 RGB Mk.2 in all of the best means. Like its best-in-class bigger brother, the K70 RGB TKL Champion Series features a sturdy chassis, fantabulous key switches, gorgeous aesthetics and robust software. Unlike the Mk.2, however, the K70 RGB TKL drops the numpad, and adds a scattering of tournament-specific features. What the K70 RGB TKL lacks in size, it makes up for in specialization.

There are a few tiny drawbacks that make the K70 RGB TKL experience just a niggling less perfect than its total-size counterpart. The $140 toll feels hard to justify, when the standard model costs only $xxx more. At that place aren't that many key switch types to cull from, and the split blueprint on the media keys takes some getting used to.

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Overall, though, the K70 RGB TKL is a worthy follow-up to the Mk.2, and well worth the asking price for anyone who wants the all-time gaming keyboard on the market, only without the space-consuming numpad.

Corsair K70 RGB TKL Champion Series review: Specs

Primal Type: Mechanical | Switch Type: Cherry MX Red or Speed | Illumination: Total RGB | Size: 14.two x 6.5 x 1.6 inches

corsair k70 rbt tkl champion series — (Image credit: Corsair)

Corsair K70 RGB TKL Champion Series review: Pattern

If y'all're familiar with the Corsair K70 RGB Mk.2, and so the Corsair RGB TKL Champion Series should wait pretty familiar to you. Like the full-size model, this keyboard features a black brushed metal-style chassis, elevated keycaps with brilliant per-fundamental RGB lighting, detached media controls and a distinctive ridge on meridian.

Unlike the Mk.2, even so, the K70 RGB TKL has 2 tournament-friendly features: a detachable, braided USB-C-to-USB-A cablevision, and a novel "Tournament Switch." The onetime is cocky-explanatory; the latter requires a little explanation.

On the dorsum of the K70 RGB TKL, there's a small switch that turns the keyboard from its default manner into a "tournament compliant" mode. This gives the keyboard a static colour pattern, disables macros and resets the keyboard to a default profile. The switch lights up a small LED, which theoretically lets tournament officials check for compliance at a glance.

The Tournament Switch is not a feature anybody will utilise, but it's a absurd idea. My only complaint here is that the switch really should activate the Windows Lock mode, which prevents y'all from accidentally tabbing out of your game, as well. As it stands, you'll notwithstanding need to hit the Windows Lock way separately later yous enter compliance mode.

Information technology's also worth discussing the discrete media controls here. On the upper-right-paw side of the keyboard, you lot'll find a mute button and a textured aluminum volume dial. So far, and so practiced. Only the stop, rewind, play/pause and fast-forward buttons are all on the upper-left. This divided media command setup is necessary, considering that the K70 RGB TKL has much less real estate for extra keys. But it still takes a lot of getting used to, particularly if you lot've spent the last few years with discrete media controls. I routinely muted my music when I meant to pause it instead.

Corsair K70 RGB TKL Champion Series review: Keys

One advantage Corsair has over most of its competitors is that it unremarkably insists on accurate Cherry MX key switches in its gaming keyboards. The Corsair K70 RGB TKL lets users choose betwixt Cherry MX Red and Blood-red MX Speed switches. This is both a strength and a weakness. On the one mitt, Cherry MX Reds and Speeds are excellent switches, albeit quite similar. They're both tranquility, linear models, the main departure beingness that Speeds accept faster actuation and shorter key travel than Reds.

The downside, of course, is that in that location'southward no choice for Ruddy MX Dark-brown or Blueish, as the Mk.two offers. Keyboard aficionados who want both a tactile experience and a smaller peripheral profile are out of luck, at least for at present.

Withal, Cherry MX Reds, which came with our review way, are comfortable, efficient switches for both gaming and typing. On a Typing.com examination, I scored 123 words per minute with 99% accuracy on the K70 RGB TKL, compared to 117 wpm with 97% accuracy on my usual Logitech G915. Y'all just can't vanquish a Cherry, information technology seems.

Corsair has also called attention to the Axon hyper-processing engineering science in the keys. Briefly, Axon decreases a keyboard'south latency to both detect keystrokes and transmit keystroke information (theoretically) much faster than competing models. According to Corsair, Axon applied science tin can observe keystrokes at a rate of iv,000 Hz and transmit and then at a rate of 8,000 Hz – a far cry from the traditional 1,000 Hz that most gaming keyboards offering.

As to whether this makes a difference, it doesn't seem to in everyday play. In tournament weather, where furiously mashing a key for the fastest possible response time might make a disquisitional difference, Axon does at least accept the potential to be faster. Either style, it'southward probably one of those features that requires more than real-globe data before we can say much about it definitively.

Corsair K70 RGB TKL Champion Series review: Features

The large features of the Corsair K70 RGB TKL Champion Series are the Tournament Switch and the Axon processing technology, both discussed above. Even so, it's also worth discussing the Corsair Utility Engine (iCUE) software, which has seen some serious upgrades recently.

iCUE lets you reprogram any cardinal, gear up upward complex lighting effects, create profiles for private games and apps, and even differentiate between software- and hardware-based profiles. So, if you'd like, y'all can get the full K70 RGB TKL experience on a computer without iCUE. Unlike before, nonetheless, the lighting furnishings are simpler to set up, particularly beyond multiple Corsair devices. A feature chosen "Scenes" lets you gear up a unified color lawmaking, whether it's an attractive rainbow wave or a crimson/yellow/green blueprint based on your CPU temperature.

Corsair K70 RGB TKL Champion Series review: Performance

In news that won't shock anyone who'due south used a Corsair peripheral before, the K70 RGB TKL'due south in-game performance is excellent. I tested the device with Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition, Doom Eternal, Octopath Traveler and Final Fantasy Fourteen. The keys felt precise and responsive, whether I was gearing up the Doom Slayer to eviscerate the legions of Hell, or giving my party of pixelated adventurers turn-based commands.

In Historic period of Empires and Doom – titles that belong to competitive genres – I tried to approximate whether the Axon applied science gave me a significant edge over any other high-end gaming keyboard, only didn't feel much. I executed commands merely as fast every bit I normally would. Whether this would be different in a loftier-stakes, high-stress tournament scenario, we'll have to await for the esports crowd to detect.

Corsair K70 RGB TKL Champion Series review: Verdict

Since the Corsair K70 RGB Mk.2 is however the finest gaming keyboard on the market place, it should come up as no surprise that the Corsair K70 RGB TKL Champion Serial is about as good as TKL gaming keyboards become. I miss the numpad, personally (and the wrist balance), and I tin't say whether the tournament-specific features volition make a practical divergence. But either way, the K70 RGB TKL is a gorgeous keyboard with wonderful switches, and that's often all you lot need.

The Razer BlackWidow Low-cal is a lot cheaper, if you can live without RGB lighting, and the Logitech G915 TKL'south wireless features are impressive, if you lot've got money to burn down. Otherwise, the Corsair K70 RGB TKL Champion Series is an easy recommendation for anyone who can alive without a numpad.

Marshall Honorof is a senior editor for Tom's Guide, overseeing the site's coverage of gaming hardware and software. He comes from a science writing groundwork, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of scientific discipline and technology. After hours, you tin can find him practicing taekwondo or doing deep dives on classic sci-fi.