Your question might be answered by sellers, manufacturers, or customers who bought this product.
Please make sure that you are posting in the form of a question.
Please enter a question.
Product description
The ZOWIE CELERITAS features the newly developed ZOWIE RTR technology which allows the user to define the repeat-response of their presses to be 1x, 2x, 4x or 8x of the normal repeat-response for a keyboard. Gamers are able to gain a higher responsiveness from their keys with ZOWIE RTR , which means they can increase their APM in RTS-games, or increase the pace of movement in some FPS- and racing-games. The ZOWIE CELERITAS has just 0.2 second response-time, which is the fastest for any mechanical keyboard on the market. It supports all keys anti-ghosting through PS/2 and 6 keys through USB. To avoid accidently hitting the Windows key, we developed a function to define the Windows key as Ctrl, allowing RTS-gamers to increase their reach and APM. To ensure the best performance from ZOWIE CELERITAS in a variety of games, it was developed in cooperation with professional gamers Abdisamad 'Spawn' Mohamed, Young Ho 'Flash' Lee and Ho Jun 'Ho-Jun' Moon.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzes reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
I was expecting this keyboard to be good, yet it still game better than i expected. The keyboard looks awesome and feels awesome. Not sure why people are complaining about the spacebar, it feels completely normal for me. In my opinion, this is the best keyboard on the market. I highly recommend this keyboard to anybody searching for a gaming keyboard, or just searching for a typing keyboard. Its a little pricy, but you get what you pay for, a very high quality keyboard.
The only few things i can understand why people don't like:
1) the "\|" key was moved from above the enter bar to near the right shift bar. This is NOT big deal, i adjusted in less than a day.
2) The key caps look and feel great, but they do get dimmed pretty quickly (like 1 day). HOWEVER, this is not do to it being low quality, the keycaps are still laser etched. The reason they get dark is because of the nylon kecaps that i guess is suppose to attract more dirt and grease from your fingers. The key cap printing is permanent and will never fade completely (its also washable).
Both of these things have not bothered me at all. This is a great keyboard used by some of the greatest gamers. If you buy another keyboard over this, you will make a big mistake. (Some people may not like it though because it doesn't have "awesome sick lights.")
Make no mistake, this keyboard is awesome. The real question, I suppose, is if it's worth the price.
As far as mechanical keyboards go, I have some limited experience. I do remember learning how to touch type in high school on those old IBM "clicky" keyboards, and have since tried out every mechanical keyboard I can get my grubby fingers on while wandering the aisles of my local electronics stores. Still, I can't say I've had a chance to try out more than 3 or 4 mechanical keyboards in my lifetime, and I'm a computer nerd.
If you're wondering what the difference is between the standard keyboard that you're typing on now and one of these fancy mechanical deals, you're pretty much out of luck. That's because all the technical specifications in the world aren't going to explain to your fingers how it feels to type on one. Nevertheless, I'll give it the old college try.
When typing on a standard rubber dome keyboard, you'll notice that you have to push on a key to overcome an initial resistance. Once that initial resistance is overcome, the key basically "pops" down. The keypress is not recognized until the key "bottoms out" and completes the circuit. This is how almost everybody on earth types nowadays, and it's not necessarily a bad thing.
A mechanical keyboard, on the other hand, is MUCH smoother. The resistance your fingers feel is far more consistent throughout the keypress. With these brown switches, you'll feel a very slight increase in resistance about a third of the way down which, when overcome, will register the keypress. Though this "tactile bump" is almost impossible to feel when typing or gaming at full speed, the end result is a more responsive and pleasurable typing experience that just begs you to go faster.
The downside to any mechanical keyboard is, of course, the noise. This is certainly the quietest mechanical keyboard I've ever used, but it's still a little bit louder than my other cheap keyboards. With practice, however, it is possible to type relatively quietly on one of these things once you learn not to "bottom out" the keys. Still, if you plan on late nights of gaming or chatting next to a sleeping roommate or loved one, you may want to think twice before you invest in one of these.
The other downside this keyboard has is the spacebar. It bothers me enough to deduct a star from an otherwise flawless product. The keycaps on this sucker are heavy duty nylon, which makes them heavy. This isn't an issue until one considers the spacebar. Being the largest and heaviest key, there was an issue where the spacebar would get stuck in the down position. To remedy this, Zowie replaced the brown switch on the spacebar with a stiffer black switch. This, in my opinion, was a mistake. They could have redesigned the spacebar to cut out some weight, added some light springs to the sides, or maybe even add a second brown switch that doesn't connect to anything just to keep the feel right. I don't care how much that would've cost, I doubt it would've seriously cut into the profit margins on a hundred-dollar keyboard. Zowie appears to have taken the easiest and cheapest route, which also turned out to be the most problematic. The spacebar just feels wrong. Sure, you get used to it after a while, but it is definitely worth deducting a star over.
Lastly, I'd like to comment on the "gaming" aspect of this keyboard. It has two main features for gamers. The first is the ability to reassign the windows key to a ctrl key, which prevents you from accidentally pressing it during gameplay and tabbing out. This is a must-have for gamers and it works perfectly. The other feature is the adjustable repeat rate, which is only available when you connect the keyboard via ps/2 (which you should do anyway). I have yet to find any real use for this feature. That's not to say that it's useless, but that I just haven't found any way to take advantage of it yet. Tetris, maybe?
In conclusion, this keyboard is unlikely to up your game by a whole lot unless you're competing at a very high level. It will, however, allow you to type faster. It will also make computing a more pleasurable and less tedious experience overall. I can't tell you how many times I've considered bringing this thing to work with me because it feels so nice to type on. If you're seriously considering going mechanical, you could certainly do a lot worse than the Celeritas.
I decided on the Zowie keyboard for a few reason. Mainly because I didn't want to wait for a Steelseries or Filco as they are so hard to find. I am absolutely excited about my decision though, because after reading about the different switch types - I think Brown serves greatly as a typing/gaming keyboard. It has a solid build, looks good, types amazingly. Some people have said the Space bar sticks. It definatly is softer than the rest of the keys, but i honestly dont even notice it. Typing is extremely fast, I still keep having typos because I am not use to the mechanical keyboard.
If you dont feel like waiting around for another kind of keyboard to come in stock and are hesitant because Zowie is the new brand on the market, I would recommend the Celeritas w/ brown cherry switches as a great buy.
Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2012
Verified Purchase
pros: Great keyboard! Very sturdy and works well and is very quiet. (i had cherry mx blue switches but the sound was driving me nuts) This keyboard with cherry mx browns are so much better. Little less tactile than the blues but still feels great typing and playing games. The surface is not glossy like some other keyboards so you dont get fingerprints and smears on it so easily.
cons: the spacebar is a little bit stiffer than the rest of the keys. (i read that the spacebar for this keyboard uses a cherry mx black switch). However its not that big of a deal for me. The zowie sign on the top right of the keyboard lights up in red (can change to blue when locking the windows key). Not a big fan of the red/blue light. Nevertheless this is a great keyboard.
Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2012
Verified Purchase
This is my first cherry brown switch keyboard, and I have to say I'm impressed. You get the full tactile feedback of blues without the annoying clicky sound. A great layout, sturdy construction, and the ps/2 adapter is very handy. The only drawback is the price, but it is not much more expensive than comparable keyboards.
this is a very nice keyboard, many people have complaints about the space bar, but i do no see it as an issue at all. The only thing that may irk some people is that the enter key is larger, much like the old programming keyboards so it will take sometime to get used some of the keys being moved to compensate for this.