Logitech G Pro X TKL Rapid review: "one of the best value Hall effect gaming keyboards out there"

Logitech has brought its first ever Hall effect magnetic keyboard to the market, and the G Pro X TKL Rapid is actually relatively well-priced. The $169.99 / £169.99 model comes in cheaper than alternatives from SteelSeries, Glorious, and NZXT and still manages to offer all the features you’d expect from these newer switches. This is a classic customizable actuation package with a wired connection, support for rapid trigger and dual-step triggers, and super sensitive switch modes for a comprehensive feature set.

Combine that with the brand’s super vivid RGB lighting and a set of dedicated extra controls and you’re looking at one of the strongest TKL keyboards on the market, save for its high-resistance typing experience. If you don’t want to move past the $200 threshold to pick up one of the best gaming keyboards available, this is an excellent choice.

Design

The Logitech G Pro X TKL Rapid is available in black, white, or pink, with all three models benefiting from particularly vibrant Lightsync RGB. It’s those LEDs that steal the show in this design. While I was a little disappointed to see some uneven coloring around longer legends (the caps, tab, and enter keys all lose some of this spark), the main alphanumeric keys are beautifully lit with controlled, rich color. It’s rare that I speak so highly of an RGB system so early in a review, but with no light bleed it’s truly one of the first things to impress me about this deck.

The actual TKL form factor is taller than that of the SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Gen 3, with a larger top bezel providing extra space for a silver ‘G’ logo stamped into the left corner, as well as the media control buttons and volume dial on the right. It means these controls aren’t as hidden behind the keycaps as they are on SteelSeries’ model, though they’re still set fairly low and some peering and reaching is required to hit them. It’s easier to adjust the volume during more frantic moments, though, thanks to that extra headroom.

A metal top plate is recessed into a plastic chassis, making for a sturdy landing for each keypress that doesn’t break the bank with a full premium construction. SteelSeries adopts a similar design, with the same flex-free results. The plastic casing also means that the Logitech G Pro X TKL Rapid is light enough for easy transport, though still sturdy enough on the desk to stay in place when confronted with my occasional mouse-hand knocks.

Doubleshot PBT keycaps provide an overall good sense of grip, but I can’t help but feel that they’re slightly more slippery than the more textured caps of SteelSeries’ product and certainly less grippy than those of the NZXT Function Elite. While I never slid enough to actually lose precision, they don’t feel as satisfying under the fingertips as other options. With a more frantic playstyle, positioning could get sloppy.

The main deck, however, is incredibly well built. There isn’t a hint of a creak to the body itself, every join is seamless, and even larger keycaps resist wobbling under the hand. Two flip feet on the underside operate with a reassuring snap and never buckle when pushing the keyboard up and down a desk. I regularly shove my keyboard up the desk to take notes and hate hearing the clatter of a weaker hinge buckling from the momentum. There’s a little hint of luxury in this build quality as well, with a small strip of glossy metal outlining the main typing plate and catching the light beautifully.

It doesn’t feel like there’s too much additional dampening going on inside this chassis, so keypresses can sound a little more coarse compared to SteelSeries and NZXT. As with most magnetic switches, though, there’s no pinging from within the case during even heavier typing sessions.

I did, however, notice the space bar starting to soften during the course of my testing. The deeper thocc heard at the start of my process was accompanied by a lighter clack towards the end. The space bar has its own padding underneath, but it feels like a looser connection in the stabilizer itself - the switch still feels solid on closer inspection.

Features

Of course, it’s those switches that are going to be drawing many towards the Logitech G Pro X TKL Rapid over other decks. Logitech’s Magnetic Analog switches can be configured to actuate at between 0.1mm and 4mm of travel. That essentially means your keys can be as sensitive or as heavy as you wish, and individual keys can be set up in different ways - for example, upping the sensitivity of WASD while lowering it in surrounding keys to avoid mis-presses.

Being able to actuate at 0.1mm makes for a particularly speedy switch, and while SteelSeries matches this full range of customization choices, NZXT’s Hall effect keyboard taps out at 0.6mm, giving you less room to work with. I’m glad Logitech went for the full range here, especially considering it’s $20 cheaper than the Function Elite at MSRP.

Using a magnet rather than a traditional mechanical on / off switch means you can also map two separate functions to two different actuation points within the same keypress. I mostly use this feature for configuring ‘W’ to walk when at a half press, and adding a ‘Shift’ modifier for a run when pushed all the way down. It’s a neat feature that helps replicate more of a controller thumbstick feel, and considering I spend most of my time in Avowed sprinting (thank you no-stamina-sprints) I rarely felt myself hovering uncomfortably at a half press.

It’s worth noting that some keyboards allow for four inputs per keypress (one on the way down, one at a full bottom-out, one on the way up, and one at a full return). That’s particularly tricky to nail and rarely comes up in everyday gameplay, but it is a feature available on the Glorious GMMK 3 HE.

Of course, as the name suggests, that all-important Rapid Trigger mode is also available here. It’s essentially a repeat-press shortcut that allows for incredibly fast debounce responses. In Logitech’s deck, you set a preferred actuation point from which your press with de-register which means you don’t need to wait for a full reset before actuating again, as you would with a mechanical switch. Most of the best Hall effect keyboards use this feature.

SOCD controls are available as well, named ‘Key Priority’ in Logitech’s vocabulary. If you haven’t heard the controversy around this feature, it essentially allows your keyboard to override your previous keypress with a new one. If you’re holding ‘A’ to strafe left and immediately want to change direction with ‘D’, previous keyboards would have nullified this action for the amount of time both keys are being pressed.

In those milliseconds where you have both keys pressed, you’d be going nowhere. SOCD overrides your ‘A’ input with ‘D’ as soon as it’s actuated for an immediate change in direction. This feature is extremely useful in casual play, but it’s also banned in a number of competitive arenas, so use with caution.

All of this is configured in Logitech’s G Hub software, which does make light work of ensuring each customization process is smooth and intuitive. I use a lot of different programs by a lot of different brands, so finding out where each setting is on each one can become tiresome. Logitech combines its actuation point, rapid trigger, and SOCD controls in one menu, called ‘Analog Switches’. A simple sliding scale reminds me of the particularly streamlined NZXT CAM software that I loved during testing, but Logitech also benefits from showing your individual actuation points on a graphic of the keyboard itself as well. That’s particularly handy for finer tweaks.

Customizing those dual inputs is all done in the ‘Assignments’ tab, which makes sense now that I think back on it but threw me at the start of testing. It would make sense to have this ‘analog switch’ feature included in its respective menu, but I can see why it’s here. The fact that it’s one of the more simple multi-action remapping tools I’ve used makes up for that brief confusion - a simple building block interface and a testing section makes the process pain-free where other platforms can get confusing.

Like most Hall effect keyboards, this is a fully wired affair. The extra power draw of these switches mean few keyboards can comfortably run for long enough on battery power over a 2.4GHz or Bluetooth connection. If you do want to go wireless you’ll be paying for it - the Glorious GMMK 3 Pro HE is cable-free, but its price can skyrocket. A 1,000Hz polling rate keeps things reasonable, some keyboards can go higher to cover the odd millisecond of missed input as keyboard and PC converse. The vast majority of players don’t need an 8,000Hz polling keyboard, but competitive players might want to consider Glorious’s model for that extra safety blanket.

Performance

The Logitech G Pro X TKL Rapid looks great, feels alright, and is stacked with a good set of features for its price. The way it runs put me off a little at the start of testing.

The first thing I noticed about this keyboard is its particularly soft bottom-out. I’m a fan of a softer clack, I love my Asus ROG Azoth for this pillowy response. But there’s a woolly feeling to these switches that sometimes makes typing feel a little heavier than it should. Combined with a lack of energy from the top plate, it verges on feeling just a little mushy. I’m by no means likening this experience to that of a membrane gaming keyboard, there’s still a snap to these switches, but compared to the rest of my testing pool there’s a little too much tension somewhere in these switches.

Hall effect switches will also lose some of the snap of a mechanical deck, but the SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Gen 3 and NZXT Function Elite still manage to feel crisp and clean under the fingertips. There’s less resistance behind each keypress, particularly in NZXT’s switches while the level of force required to half-actuate Logitech’s keys can get fatiguing during longer typing sessions. This made less of a difference in-game, and - like in the case of the Apex Pro - the extra stiffness actually allowed me to discern where I was within the actuation range of each key a little better. SteelSeries nails this intuitive feel for actuation points while also providing a comfortable everyday typing experience, though.

It should be noted that that heaviness never got in the way of super light keypresses. With my actuation point set to the top 0.1mm, I was never pushing down enough on a key to feel this resistance fully. That made for particularly speedy movements across Apex Legends and CS2.

Should you buy the Logitech G Pro X Rapid?

The Logitech G Pro X Rapid does have a lot going for it, at a price point that appeases more wallets than SteelSeries and NZXT. If you’re after a Hall effect keyboard purely for gameplay use, it’s a fantastic alternative to more premium options (which feels weird to say about a Logitech deck). You’re getting the same range of actuation customizations as you would with both the SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Gen 3 ($219.99) and NZXT Function Elite ($199.99), with dedicated media controls, vibrant RGB lighting, a compact TKL form factor, and a slick design. I’d recommend getting your hands on these switches in-store first if you know you prefer a lighter feel (and you’ll be typing a lot every day), but overall it’s an easy recommendation for the price.

If you can go a little further up the budget scale, though, I’d still point you towards the SteelSeries Apex Pro first and foremost. It’s got better keycaps, a handy OLED display, and a less stuffy switch-feel in the hand. It also comes with a wrist rest and, while it’s a little harder to hit reliably, a volume dial for quick adjustments in-game.

Like most Hall effect keyboards, both Logitech and SteelSeries’ entries are wired-only. If you’re after a cable-free setup, the Glorious GMMK 3 Pro HE is the way to go. It’s a good deal more expensive, but provides a more luxurious dampening design, 2.4GHz and Bluetooth connections, and additional multi-trigger settings as well. The deck is also modular for further upgrades later on down the line, with a full customization experience available via the Glorious Boardsmith site.

How I tested the Logitech G Pro X TKL Rapid

The Logitech G Pro X TKL Rapid was my daily driver across work and play for two weeks, during which time I primarily played Avowed, Oxenfree 2, and Fallout 4. I stress tested the deck in competitive rounds of Apex Legends and CS2, using varied actuation points across different keys and making use of rapid trigger as well. I tested SOCD and dual actuation mostly in Avowed. For more information on how we test gaming keyboards, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

I’m also hunting down all the best wireless gaming keyboards, but if you’re after a look at the competition I’m also looking out for the best Razer keyboards on the market. For switch-swappers out there, I’ve also had my hands on all the best hot-swappable keyboards as well.