Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: keyboard, backlight, backlit | Themes: Digital Entertainment, Audio/Video Players
3. Saitek Eclipse II Keyboard
The Saitek Eclipse II in red, with gobs of sidelight
I have been using the original Saitek Eclipse for almost two years. The Saitek Eclipse II, with a very similar tactile feel, has a dial to adjust brightness continuously. The original Eclipse only had two brightness levels and one color. The Eclipse II sports four wide-rubber feet at the extended corners of the weighted base and two collapsible height tabs at the top underside. The keys are in a standard 104-key configuration, but the function keys are half the standard height. I prefer the L shaped enter key, but this one is the standard elongated style. Unlike the original Eclipse, Eclipse II has bright sidelights that pour light around the sides of the keyboard in a darkened room. This may either be a bane or a curse, depending on what you are trying to do. There are four media rocker switch controls surrounding the brightness dial, and none of them are etched to allow backlighting. One of them also changes the backlight color. There is a somewhat flimsy plastic wrist rest that attaches to the bottom of the keyboard. Like most, I prefer to leave that off.
Unlike the original Eclipse, the keys are now black, but the trim accent on the keyboard surround is silver. The colors were reversed on the original Saitek Eclipse. I much prefer the higher contrast of the Eclipse II with the black against the backlit keys. On the original Eclipse, some of the keys weren’t very visible in a darkened room. The upper characters on the number and the greater than, less than, comma and period keys were particularly hard to discern. The lighting is still a little uneven, as it particularly shows up on the oddly fat space bar, but overall it is easier to read and more even with the Eclipse II. In the Eclipses, the keys are either spaced a very little further apart, or are just slightly smaller to allow backlighting to seep between the keys. It looks cool, but makes non-touch typing a little harder.
The Saitek Eclipse II in original blue, but brighter
In the Eclipse II, there are three backlit colors from which to choose: the original blue, a very deep red-orange, ruby like and a light, bright mid-purple. The color choice resets between computer reboots.
The Saitek Eclipse II in bright purple
The good keyboard action is excellent for general typing, and I wrote this entire review on the Eclipse II. My purpose for writing this review was not gaming, but to see if I could modify the keyboard to emit brighter and whiter light. The fact that this keyboard is a good general purpose keyboard and feels sturdy is a big plus. Except for the corner extensions, the keyboard is fairly compact. It may be good for astronomical observing, since non-backlit keyboard visibility in a dark sky is nil. I don’t know how much the sidelights would interfere, but these could easily be taped over.
The Eclipse II is sturdy; I accidentally dropped the keyboard on its edge from a height of about four and a half feet during testing. Only the space bar came off, and that was easy to snap back on, once I aligned a collapsible bar common to most keyboard large keys.
The keyboard was much easier to take apart, and especially, to put together compared to the Merc. Even better, Saitek appears to use more standard LEDs, though they are tightly soldered to the strip that runs around the outside. There are six of these spaced along the bottom of keyboard, which explains why the between key lighting of the function keys isn’t as strong. There must also be one I missed below the brightness dial on the top left. Like the Merc, the keyboard is built in layers. A clear plastic sheet with traces on it is what conducts the keyboard press. Above the clear layer is a silicone dome that creates the key resistance. Below the clear layer is a black mask. On the bottom is another plastic or silicone layer, presumably for the keys, or maybe also acting as a “light pipe.” In general, reassembly was easier than the Merc, partly because there were no partial or half-sized sheets. During reassembly, I found that I had snapped off one of the middle screw’s sockets.
The Ideazon Merc Stealth and Saitek Eclipse II size compared in daylight
- Eclipse II Keyboard
- Previous page Inside the Ideazon Merc Stealth Keyboard
- Next page The Microsoft Razer Reclusa Keyboard
You might want to add Logitech G15 to the list, which is not only a backlit keyboard, but comes also with superb 3x 18 programmable "G" keys and universal LCD display.
No Logitech G15? The best keyboard I have ever owned.
Any indication of durability of the keys wrt the coatings? These keys are usually made of a transparent plastic that is then coated in black - with the characters masked.
On my G15, I found that prolonged use has caused the black masking to come off, leaving large "blue" keys that have no recognisable markings left. I bought another since there was no alternative at the time, and had to resort to applying several layers of clear nail-polish before I started using the new keyboard. So far it's working, but I'd love to know how the newer models stand up to heavy use - specially for female users with long nails that will probably wear off the masking even faster
Backlit keyboards? Heresy of the first sort. Model M or death for me.
Backlit keyboards review and no G11/G15? Shame on Tom's again.
I Use the Eclipse II myself... I liked it so much I bought a 2nd one for my other computer. I had 2 reasons...
1st, I'm a corporate IT geek and if I get a page in the middle of the night, it's really nice to not need to turn on the lights. The red is the best, no eye strain as I'm half asleep. With a black desktop background and the red light I can fix what ever it is and get back to sleep.
2nd, Gaming. I love the feel of these keys. I actually looked for a keyboard w/o the L shaped key as it fit's my hand positioning better when gaming. Plus being the aforemention IT geek, I'm so used to having the pipe and backslash sitting above the enter key as I use them often while writing code. Using a keyboard is a lot like driving a car, you get used to where all the butons and switches are and you feel more comfortable. I can switch between my PC's at work and my home machine without mising a beat. I almost brought in a Saitek Eclipse II for work, but they backlite might have been frowned on.
My key paint came off on my G15, Logitech sent me a new one no charge! They had something wrong with the paint, it's fixed now. Mine WASD keys were blank, but the new ones show zero wear and I've had the replacement much longer than the original.
what about the Deck Legend keyboard?!
BOOOOO! Like most other posters, where is the G15? I owned a Saitek Gamer Keyboard w/commander pad for awhile, but then the veil was lifted when the G15 hit. I play Battlefield 2142 every night and with 18 programmable keys and M1,M2,M3 settings gives you 54 programmable keys. Then there is the mods for the LCD screen that gives you real-time data(i.e. Kills,deaths, ammo count,map, ping, number of players, etc....) Media Center controls, man I could go on and on!!!! I see why you DIDN'T add it, cuz then everyone would read it and be like,"Why did they mention the other 3?" The article would then read,"The uberest backlit keyboard EVEA!" Hell the only way they could improve it is add a can cooler and a toaster oven!! Mod that!!!
We miss the Logitech G11 and G15 and the Razer Lycosa
I agree I have the logitech G15 and I wouldnt trade it for anything in the world.
Logitech recently redesigned the G15 -- in a bad way, IMO. Gone are the three sets of 6 programmable G keys and in their place are a total of 6 (three pairs of 2 -- vertically stacked at that!!). The LCD is no longer flip-up, but integrated into the unit itself and appears smaller. Glad I got my old G15!!
Deck keyboards have great, high contrast backlighting with no seepage between keys. The keyboard construction is more industrial but is easy to type on. Deck also encourages keyboard modding.
I have a G15 and have had the same problem as concerned_user. While I think that omitting the Logitech backlit keyboards from the review is a rather large oversight, I do not think that the G15 is God's gift to the gamer.
The programmable keys are indeed excellent but the 'erosion' of the black masking is an unforgivable oversight on the part of Logitech. Had they spent any amount of time in R&D proving their product, they would have easily noticed such an obvious problem. I guess that's why they stand behind their G15 keyboards with an embarassing 1 year warranty while every other Logitech keyboard outside the G11 comes with a 3 year warranty. This difference speaks volumes about their own confidence in the 'G' series keyboards.
Why isn't the logitech G11 (wich I own) of G15 not in this review. Huge letdown from tom's hardware @ the start of 2008. Best keyboard ever and you guys missed it.
I am also working on modifying the backlit led's. I have a Logitech G15 k'board, it has only blue colour available. Human eyes don't seem to respond very well to blue light, the contrast level is much lower than white on black. This should be an easy mod to do for Logitech, access is relatively easy, and the LED's are not special.
Yes, the G15 really should have been featured here, it is built solidly, which is something that I cannot say about Saitek or Ideazon. Mine is the first generation one, so I cannot speak for Rev.2
I like the idea of the Microsoft/Razer unit, but there's nothing on it that would cause me to replace my G15. The Desktop 8k is just silly... neat, but pretty much pointless for my needs, especially at the price. (Besides, I use a Razer Copperhead, which I would put up against any mouse Microsoft has it's name on, making the 8k sorta redundant)
Shame on you for not including the G15
!
I'm very disappointed that no one has come out with a backlit version of a split keyboard such as the Microsoft Natural 4000. I would love to see a G15 in a split-board configuration!
Surely there are enough users of this type of keyboard for companies to take a serious look at offering a product like this for us. I will never go back to a standard keyboard again, no matter how many neat features it offers. I simply cannot hold my hands and wrists together so closely in the position required on a standard keyboard.
I was looking for keyboards for use by my blind friend, not necessarily for the purpose of gaming. Though the G15 has 3 brightness levels, it only has one color, if I am not mistaken. If I can't yet mod a board for a brighter color, I wanted something that would have very high (insanely) bright contrast. So though the G15 may be great for gamers, I wasn't looking at them in this article for that purpose. (I know, hard to understand).
I was only looking at two keyboards, and this wasn't intended as a comprehensive review. I added the MS keyboards as a lark at the very end.
AS far as durability, I have heard of reports of Saitek (I) not II - colors flaking off, but that apparently has been fixed. My Saitek I has been in nearly constant use for nearly two years, (I pound a lot as I don't touch type) and there are very few scratches on the silver. So far, no other keyboard has any paint coming off, but I have only used the Saitek II and Merc for 2 -3 months. I have only had the MS keyboards for a month or so - too new. I have had paint wear off other keyboards, however, so I guess the Saitek I, so far, is impressive. I hope the others are at least as good. And I probably won't use the Reclusa. I did think the action on the Saitek, and esp the Merc was very good.
Obviously the MS 8000 is not for gaming: the action on this slim keyboard is 1/2 the travel, and the styling is not gamer or heavy typing friendly. It is designed to control media appliances, and work portably. I take that to mean the couch or my lap. But the backlight was the best of the bunch, and has all sorts of portable controls that most other remote/portable keyboards miss. So MS is showing what can be done, if you put your mind and some dollars to it.
Valid questions about the G15, though. I will see if I can get one to review and hope my editor lets me post an addendum.
Hope this answers some of your concerns,
Doug