RGB is not integral to any gaming setup. Ever. Colourful disco lights won’t make you play better or be more comfortable while you (by you, I mean me) lock in for a long session of WoW.

So why exactly does the new ASUS ROG Courser gaming chair boast six areas of RGB lighting? Is it necessary? Absolutely not. But if we reduced every gaming chair down to the barest of essentials, we’d probably all be sitting in stark grey office chairs. The Courser is a gaming chair with unabashed flair. Sporting four lighting strips that extend down the sides of its backrest, with six colour modes glowing next to its all-black EPU leatherette finish.

The cutout area and rear-side ROG logo also light up, and at this point, you might be asking: if the lights aren't visible when you're using the chair, what's the benefit of having them? For those flashy design flourishes and a pretty reasonable set of conventional chair features, the ROG Courser will set you back $750 / £699. That’s definitely on the more premium end of the gaming chair pricing scale, so is the extra lighting really going to be worth it in a stacked market?

Design & Features

Well, for starters, the in-chair lights create an eye-catching look that’s ideal for streamers and content creators. The RGB looks super sleek contrasted against the dark chair. But for those who prefer to game in private, the Rainbow colour mode on the top level of brightness will add a gorgeous, subtle multicolour hue to your gaming room. This is a chair that will add heaps of atmosphere to your setup.

It includes eight different colour settings, five levels of brightness, and several lighting modes, including wave, static, breathing, and colour cycle. But alas, this isn’t Soft-Furnishings-Radar, and we are not just reviewing an ambient light fixture here.

So while the selling point of the ASUS ROG Courser is how it looks, its strongest quality is actually how it feels.

While the Courser shares much of its overall shape with the brand’s Chariot models, its broader frame makes it noticeably wider. It has a roomy seat base of 55cm, offering plenty of space for a broad range of body types.

The EPU leatherette material is smooth and breathable, perfect for keeping cool during gaming sessions on hot, sticky summer nights. It’s also notable that you get 4D armrests on the ROG Courser, which is standard for a gaming chair of this price. There are separate buttons for elevation and the twist functions, then a pull clicker for distance out from the chair.

These 4D armrests can now swivel the entire 360 degrees, too. All these comfort factors combine to form a chair so accommodating you’ll genuinely forget you’re sitting in it until it’s time to chill and kick back. This is when you will become highly aware that you are sitting in something pretty luxurious.

Assembly

Admittedly, I felt a mild wave of panic when the ASUS ROG Courser arrived on my doorstep. My previous gaming chair was constructed for me by an ex-boyfriend, and the thought of piecing together something so complex alone was daunting. I have lost patience and bawled tears of frustration over many IKEA flat-packed furniture items in the past - was my new gaming chair going to prove similarly difficult to build?

Not at all. The Courser was a breeze to assemble, even for a clumsy person with zero experience at putting a gaming chair together. All the parts slotted neatly into place, making the build experience feel simple and stress-free. It took 30 minutes for me to assemble the chair by myself, following the clear instructions card inside the box

Performance

I thought lower back ache was normal, all part of the fun of hunching in a shrimp shape over my PC while I devote another evening to Azeroth. Turns out: it’s not. I’ve been sitting in the ASUS ROG Courser for 4 weeks now, and my spine feels noticeably more limber.

The in-built lumbar support backrest appears to be the key factor here, with its fully adjustable system that can be tweaked according to depth and height - ensuring my posture stays good while I game. The Courser doesn’t have a lumbar pillow, but it doesn’t need one thanks to its dynamic lumbar support system that works very similarly to the Corsair TC500 Luxe and the Secretlab Titan Evo NanoGen.

Unlike most gaming chairs, which shift your body slightly forward or slide you down the backrest when reclined, the Courser has a Dynamic Synchronised Recline System that keeps your posture more consistent with the backrest while reclining up to 155 degrees. This is something we’re seeing more often in the gaming chair market, especially with the LiberNovo Omni, but more recently with the Secretlab Atlas.

It’s a unique, thoughtful detail that makes finding a comfortable position as you lean back much easier, as you won’t need to make adjustments every time you recline. For PC gamers especially, this is a feature to look out for because when you’ve spent ages finding the exact right height and angle of your armrests to match up with the level of your desk so you can aim precisely with a mouse, the last thing you want to do is mess that up by reclining them out of position.

Should you buy the Asus ROG Courser?

The RGB of the ROG Courser might be alluring to a lot of gamers looking for those perfect unicorn vomit vibes in their chill-out spaces, but the price tag of $750 / £699 could be equally off-putting. For context, Asus has charged similar amounts for its ROG Destrier Ergo chair line, so it’s no stranger to outlandish designs and high price tags. But for the same money, or less, you could get yourself a Secretlab Titan Evo (without RGB lighting) and a colorway that represents your favorite gaming franchise. For less money, you could get the still-expensive Razer Iskur V2 NewGen, which gets you a floating backrest, or you could get an AutoFull G7 with seemingly endless adjustable parts.

Compared to those options, Asus obviously offers RGB lighting which we don’t see elsewhere, but having sat in it for around a month, I think the lights are actually the least valuable thing here. The adjustable lumbar support, spacious seat and dynamic recline system make this chair a pleasure to sit in for hours.

If you’re looking for the best value gaming chair, there are great alternatives from Secretlab and Razer, but if you’re after a premium chair that doesn’t look like anything else on the market and backs up its flashy design with comfort, then the ASUS ROG Courser earns its place.

How I tested the Asus ROG Courser

I tested the ASUS ROG Courser for a month before this review was written. I assembled it myself in 40 minutes using the instructions card that came with the chair. It was very easy to build and to lift by myself. I sat in the chair for around 9 hours per day, either working from home or gaming.

For more on how we test gaming chairs, dive deeper into the GamesRadar+ hardware policy.

Looking for more gaming furniture? Check out the best console gaming chairs, the best gaming desks, and the best standing desk.

I'm not shy about the fact that I have maybe some of the most bizarre gaming mice preferences you'll come across. Where a lot of FPS gamers will opt for a very slimline, lightweight mouse that's obsessed with gliding across their desk like it were ice skating, I'm not a fan. Instead of the claw grip most people are using, I've always preferred a palm grip, so I ever so slightly detest mice that don't have a dedicated groove for my pinky and ring finger.

To make matters more complicated, I've also been obsessed with an MMO mouse for the last year and a half now. With 12 programmable keys on its thumb side, I have ultimate utility for mapping in-game actions to the buttons I feel are appropriate, and I'm not sure I could go without them now.

All of these things mean that as a gamer and a consumer, I do not feel even close to catered to in the current market. This is because, as my colleague and GR+'s resident mouse expert pointed out recently, the best gaming mice have an Esports problem. As Esports has become more prevalent, the preferences of the extreme 1% of gamers have become almost the entire market.

8,000Hz polling rates, a narrow, lightweight design, and essentially no extra functionality have become the norm for flagship, increasingly expensive mice. As weird and fringe as my own mouse preferences are, I'm not a fan of the fact that brands making them have decided that because it's what suits competitive, twitchy, performance-obsessed sweats on the biggest competition stages, we all need to conform.

Outside of the Corsair Scimitar RGB Elite, I don't see any gaming mice launching these days that stray from that convention. As much as I love the Redragon Impact M908 I use currently, I would love some more FPS features since these are the games I play most often. A slightly lighter weight or a better set of skates, or, if I can dream, a faster polling rate than 1,000Hz so I can keep up with the best players I'm up against. This kind of option just doesn't exist on the shelves, which is why a chance encounter at Computex a month ago drove all this home for me.

While I was in Hall 2, where most of the booths and exhibits are geared at B2B visitors and not the consumer-facing gamer stuff I was there to see, I stumbled upon Meetion's booth. My eye was immediately caught because, minus RGB, my Redragon Impact M908's design is very distinct. You seldom see 12 MMO keys and a pinky grove on a mouse, so I was instantly attracted to something sitting on display.

The Meetion Mega V1 isn't available yet through Meetion's website, nor its UK or US Amazon stores, but when it is, I'll be waiting. See, it has the design I love, but it's got the 8K polling rate and the lighter-weight feel of those Esports mice. It's the weirdo FPS mouse I've been longing for - it's even wireless and feels like it's gliding around the display surface much better than the one on my desk would.

But not only that, there's real innovation hiding in the Mega V1. It's got a modular element to it because you can swap around its side panels to have more or less functionality. Don't fancy those 12 extra MMO keys? Want a different shape on the other side? This mouse caters to you. Where is this level of ingenuity in the current mouse market? I'd be a lot more up for using a lightweight Esports mouse if it had the option for me to attach a side panel with a few extra keys on it.

What impressed me even further was that, in addition to this coming from a relatively unknown brand was that the side keys were tiny microswitches. They clicked in with a premium feel of the best PC controllers; they felt easy to actuate and distinguish from one another. The M908 Impact's side keys are useful, but they're plain plastic buttons that can be tough to actuate quickly - yet another issue that Meetion has found a cure for.

You probably don't have the weirdo, sicko mouse preferences I do, but even so, brands like Meetion are the solution if you don't feel like the biggest names are offering you some versatility these days. Esports rodents just aren't going to be for everyone, and if the bigger brands don't realise that soon, they might be losing some lunch to the smaller brands that are willing to take risks to cater to different desires.

If you want to delve deeper, check out the best wireless gaming mouse, the best Razer mouse, and the best Logitech mouse.

Back in March of 2024, I received a press release from Secretlab. The brand, having just reached its 3 millionth customer, issued a statement from one of its CEOs. "We don’t make 'gaming chairs'", it read. "Our design mentality is that we design chairs suited for long hours of gaming and other activities. Hence, our design philosophy is starkly different from most 'gaming chairs' on the market", said Ian Ang.

I must admit, when I read that, I scoffed. Secretlab is maybe the brand most synonymous on planet earth for making gaming chairs, so to claim that's never been the focus felt a tad silly. It's a company with inextricable links to gaming, from licensed gaming designs of its products to its co-founders forming a friendship through a love of games. I've now been fortunate enough to meet Ian and his fellow CEO, Alaric, and what's become clear to me is that the statements made in that press release match up far more with where the company was headed, not where it's been. Secretlab isn't satisfied with just the gaming market, and looking back now, that 3 million customer statement was really just a long-term teaser for what was to come.

The Atlas isn't designed for gaming. It's a productivity chair aimed purely at focused, ergonomic desk work. There are no licensed colorways of your favorite games; there's no library of ergonomic add-ons and improvements. This is a classy, modernized, almost Scandinavian-esque desk chair that's taking a very different approach from the Titan Evo. And I couldn't be happier about that. I've sat in the Atlas for just under a month now, and ironically, I think despite its attempts to steer clear of gamers, it's a better gaming chair than its flagship sibling. What's more, I'm no longer scoffing at Ian's 2024 comments because whether you're gaming, working, or something else, the Atlas is a great place to sit.

Design & Features

I'm sure your eyebrows are probably pushing their way down your forehead right now. How can a chair that has no design and feature set geared toward gaming be a better gaming seat than one of the most popular thrones for gamers on the market? Well, I actually think Secretlab was onto something with that statement back in 2024.

Ever since, the boundaries between gaming chairs and office chairs have been blurring, especially when it comes to "ergonomic" ones. Gaming chairs and their increased adjustability have bled into the office chair market, and vice versa. Most of the Atlas's rivals in the gaming space will sport mesh backing, for example, which is a direct pull from office chairs.

Secretlab has steered away from that convention with the design of the Atlas, because there's no mesh involved here. Having spoken at length with Secretlab's executive head of product development & industrial design and its CEOs, I find myself on the same page as them. Mesh chairs always feel like less of a product that you pay more money for, and I'm so glad they didn't opt for it here.

Instead, what we have is a leaner chair than the Titan Evo, but one that still uses the brand's signature upholstery and proprietary foam cushioning to support your posture into healthier positions. It reminds me of the fabric versions of the Fractal Refine. There's a less-is-more approach to backrest cushioning that you don't quite sink into, but it's enough for you to know it's there. It's supportive, comfortable, but not indulgent - kind of ideal for a chair that wants to improve your posture and wellbeing.

The Atlas is available in two main models, each with the brand's leatherette and Softweave materials in various colors. The base version will set you back $499 / £399, but the NanoGen premium versions will cost you $699 / £599. There are no officially licensed colorways of the Atlas, nor any Skins for it, like there are for the Titan Evo. It's unclear from talking to the folks at Secretlab if this is something they have planned in the future, or whether they'd prefer to let the Atlas stand alone as a less-nerdy and more classy aesthetic offering.

Similarly, there's no compatibility here with Secretlab's chair add-ons. The design here is fundamentally different from the Titan Evo, so it's understandable that making those add-ons compatible would have been a step too far, binding Secretlab to a similar design to its flagship. Given how the company has built on the Titan Evo with an entire ecosystem of add-ons, it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if we saw separate add-ons for the Atlas in the future. Only time will tell, but during assembly, I did spy some unused screwholes in the seat base, and these may just be futureproofing for Vincent Sin, the aforementioned head of product development, to create some new add-ons with.

The Atlas strips back on some adjustability and features compared to the Titan Evo. 4D armrests take a drop down to 3D, losing out on their ability to slide to a narrower or wider setting. Fully adjustable lumbar scrollwheels are replaced by a Re-curve backrest designed to fit a median of body shapes. Full recline is substituted for a synchronous tilt mechanism that shifts the armrests back one degree for every two degrees the backrest tilts back.

Elsewhere, you have a clever recline tension mechanism which almost in itself gives you four recline settings, but a locking catch means you can set the backrest in any position that works for you. You also get seat depth adjustment, which may help you to sink into a chair that really encourages you to stay upright.

One thing I'd really like to applaud is the design work that went into the controls for the Atlas. There are really excellent, small bits of visual feedback to communicate to the user what tilt tension they're at or if their recline is locked or unlocked. From a tour of Secretlab's office, I've seen first-hand the buckets full of 3D-printed prototypes to get this exactly right. It's something chairs constantly neglect, but having it makes a massive difference because it's easier to distinguish what the various levers do and how you should use them. Having spoken to people who aren't as clued up about what gaming chair controls do, I know that if people don't understand them, they don't use them, so Secretlab's tireless effort in this respect could help ensure you get the most out of the Atlas.

The entire design ethos of the chair is visually distinct, but the top of the backrest in particular has a really alluring angle to it. Its inward curve and head panel aren't as pronounced as they look at first glance, but the way the shoulders only gently wrap around you means you aren't inspired to slouch inward. Overall, the Atlas has a taller, distinct look that's really grown on me. The Dune and Dune+ colorways, in particular, are absolutely beautiful and look right at home in a WFH or classy gaming space.

Assembly

In true Secretlab fashion, assembly of the Atlas was pretty painless. The brand is always good at providing videos and a big placard in the box telling you the steps to follow. It also provides the tools you need in a handy little box. The first thing I noticed when unpacking all of the separated elements of the Atlas was how light they all were. I always assemble the chairs I test solo, and having built a couple of Titan Evos, I can tell you they're easy to assemble, but their parts are on the heavier side.

With the Atlas, the seatbase, the backrest, and all of the separate parts are much easier to grab out of the box if you're a building party of one. It makes for an easy assembly because there aren't hefty bits you need to wrestle into position at awkward angles.

I'd say the Atlas takes a tad longer to put together than the Titan Evo, but I'm not sure that's a fair comparison, seeing as the Evo has been around for so long now and Secretlab has had a lot of time to work out the quickest and easiest ways to get that thing assembled.

The only thing I'd really swap from the assembly process is the casters. The other elements that make up the Atlas feel quite distinct from the Titan Evo, but these wheels feel almost exactly the same as the ones from the bigger chair, and I don't know if they're a great fit. Rolling it around on my living room/office floor carpet flooring while I'm sitting down is a massive struggle for such a light build. It might seem silly, but those small corrections to match up the chair with the middle line of your monitor can be irritating if the chair is fighting you. I don't know if substituting some narrower casters or differently designed ones would help here. Either way, be prepared for the Atlas to not be the easiest to roll around in.

Performance

I never thought I'd be saying this in a Secretlab review, but I actually have some concerns about the build quality of the Atlas after my typical month of chair testing.

Keep in mind that I'm testing one of the earliest models, and Secretlab sometimes innovates and improves on models as they extend their lives on the shelves. Your mileage may vary, but in particular, the plastics used in the mechanism of the armrests feel a little looser than I'd expect from Secretlab, and they rattle pretty loudly from side to side. Similarly, the seat depth adjustment is occasionally loose for me. When I shift my weight or cross one leg under the other, it moves ever so slightly out of position even while the seat depth setting is supposed to be locked. The backrest and cushioning both feel as new as the day I first sat on them, but for once, with a Secretlab product, I'm a little concerned about how long the bodywork may last.

I've now seen first-hand the sorts of endurance testing and R&D that go on for Secretlab products before release, so I do feel confident recommending the Atlas to you as a long-term option, but I can't help but note to you that from my month of testing, I do have some initial concerns. Similarly, like a lot of gaming chair armrests these days, these ones don't lock into position besides their height. To move them forward or rotate them to just manually shove them. These take more effort than most clicky armrests, like the ones on the AutoFull G7, which slide out of position very easily. But over time, in my experience, these types of armrests can come loose too. That hasn't happened to me with the Atlas yet, but I've sat in a lot of chairs, and that's a trend I've noticed.

All of this feels to me like it could be a result of two things, namely, the fact that the Atlas has a lighter build than the Titan Evo. It isn't quite as beefy, and like I mentioned in the assembly section, its parts feel a lot easier to throw around. Moreover, Secretlab has provided a more affordable price, and that may point to slightly cheaper materials used - plastics in the armrests don't seem as premium, for example.

I mentioned it in my early impressions, but I think the lighter build contributes good things too. It may bring more build quality concerns into play, but in my eyes, it makes the chair more comfortable. The Titan Evo Nanogen's frame and pure heft are, I think, a reason why it has a reputation for being firm. You fall into it, and the thing gives your entire body a jolt. The Atlas, with its lighter quality, doesn't do that. I can fall into this and feel caught and cushioned all at once. With a less intrusive frame and a thinner layer of cushioning, things don't feel as firm to sit in at length. The way that form has been paired with the Softweave+ fabric helps that too. It feels as though the material has a bit more flex, which allows it to feel comfier.

If there's a downside to that fabric and foam combo, it's breathability. I'll preface this by saying I've just been testing the Atlas during a record-breaking heatwave in the UK, which is a much, much tougher test of chair breathability than others in my Scottish home have gone through, but if you live in a warmer country, keep in mind that it's going to hug your shirt and you're going to feel sticky when you stand up. This happens to me even with a mesh chair in hotter conditions though.

Even so, I managed to sit in this chair for long work days and full evenings of gaming, and I felt very comfortable besides a few lumbar shuffles. That's to be expected; the backrest is never going to cater perfectly to everyone. For work and play, this thing is excellent and holds great value for money at its price point - although keep in mind that I'm testing the premium version, so I can't really speak to the more affordable options. I think if I were to nitpick one aspect of this chair, it'd need to be the armrests.

For starters, they have an excellent, plush cushioning - I have no complaints there. But there are two design flaws here that I can't help but compare to the LiberNovo Omni, another innovative ergonomic chair that puts recline as one of its main focuses. In that chair, I can recline back for the first two or three settings and still game at my desk with my arms up on the worktop to control a mouse and keyboard. It's a perfect ratio of tilt without compromising very precise armrest adjustment for gaming. In other words, the ratio of recline works so that the armrests slide back with you, but stay level with where they were when you were upright.

In the Atlas, they actually tilt back too much in my opinion, and slope upward, making it much more of a pernickety process matching them up with the level of your desk for reclined PC gaming. A readjustment of the armrest height sorts that, but it does take that second adjustment, which can get quite annoying when you just want to kick back and keep playing. Essentially, versus the Omni, it's a bit more annoying to use, but versus most other chairs, it's going to be a lot more helpful because other chairs don't sync their armrest and backrest recline levels at all. Not to mention, the Omni I'm comparing it to costs close to a grand.

The synchronous tilt system hasn't been designed for gaming, but I think the 2:1 ratio could be adjusted slightly to take on the LiberNovo Omni because it's so, so close to being that intuitive. The tilt locking tensions of the Atlas are genius, and do provide a way to keep the backrest support and relax a bit from your standard, upright focus mode. I really enjoy using the fourth recline tension for a slightly more indulgent work session, or the second mode for a much more comfortable session gaming with a controller at my desk.

Sadly, the other problem with the armrests is one I haven't been able to get past since my early impressions. Without that fourth dimension to move them narrower or wider, they compromise the ergonomics of the Atlas. Ideally, to make the most of the re-curve backrest angle, you want to sit as deep into the seatbase as possible, with the small of your back tucked right into the bottom of the backrest. If I sit in that position, my elbows don't hit the armrests without my forcing them outward from my body because they don't raise up high enough or come close enough to my midsection.

That then creates a slouch in my chest, and things get uncomfortable quickly. It's a problem I know all too well from the Corsair TC500 Luxe. If I sink into the chair a bit more, this isn't such a problem, but it's not ideal for a chair with ergonomics at its heart. For reference, I'm just over 5ft10, and I'm sitting in the Large model of the Atlas. According to Secretlab's metrics, I'm right on the cusp between the Regular and Large models, so maybe a Regular would fix this issue. Either way, it detracts from the effectiveness of the Atlas as an ergonomic seat, and I can't help but wish that just one more dimension of armrest adjustability were included because a quick shift inward is all that would be needed to fix this issue.

Should you buy the Secretlab Atlas?

It's no real secret that I've never been the biggest fan of the Secretlab Titan Evo. I think that chair is amazing for offering an ecosystem of upgrades and add-ons. I think its selection of colorways is unmatched, and its build quality is so assured that it's hard to argue against as a long-term investment. But it isn't all that comfortable in my eyes, and its ergonomics aren't anything that countless imitators now offer for cheaper.

The Secretlab Atlas is much, much more up my street. It has a distinct, sleek, and modern design; it has a beautiful blend of comfort and ergonomics; it has a good amount of adjustability for the money it costs, and most importantly, it has a value price tag which isn't sticking in the back of my mind as I review it. Secretlab typically makes pricey products, and while they're always crafted to a high standard, one sticking point for me is that I know you can often get more affordable options elsewhere.

The Atlas isn't quite as good as the Fractal Refine in my opinion. While it adds more comfort in the backrest and seatbase, it loses out on a couple of extra dimensions of adjustability - but for once, Secretlab's offering is more affordable, so I'm not wrestling to justify it against the competition.

The Atlas isn't as firm as the Titan Evo; it's got a lot of features going for it and a showstopping look that's done nothing but grow on me since the curtain was first drawn back on it. It doesn't have the same offering of add-ons at launch that the Titan Evo does, but I'm sure that in time, that could change. The Atlas isn't the best gaming or desk chair out there, but at its price, I don't think it needs to be. I really enjoyed my time sitting in it, and I think a slew of gamers and remote workers will too.

How I tested the Secretlab Atlas

I've done my usual four weeks sitting in the Atlas to test its build quality and its impacts on my body. I've sat in it for over 8 hours on an almost daily basis since then for both work, gaming, and other content creation tasks. I've also reclined in it to chill out from all of those things. I've compared my time in it with Secretlab's other chairs, as well as my time with other gaming and ergo seats like the Fractal Refine and LiberNovo Omni.

Besides my at-home testing, I also want to disclose that I was taken on a trip to Singapore to get an early look at the Secretlab Atlas ahead of its reveal. I got to meet the people behind the Secretlab brand, talk to them about the design of their products, and get a feel for the company's culture. I'm confident that this hasn't skewed my review in either direction, but it has enlightened me to the design philosophy and manufacturing standards that the company strives for.

For more on how we test gaming chairs, check out the GamesRadar+ hardware policy.

If you're crafting the perfect gaming setup, you should know about the best gaming desks, the best console gaming chairs, and the best gaming PCs.

Whenever a new series of one of my most beloved anime launches, I inevitably get a bit obsessed and snap up any figures and merch I can get my hands on. So it feels serendipitous that I stumbled upon the IQUNIX EV63 Ghost in the Shell Edition keyboards.

The $249.99 (Amazon) boards are the result of a collaboration between gaming keyboard brand IQUNIX and publishing company Kodansha, and include two 60% layout keyboards, decked out with double-shot PBT themed keycaps (hey Major), NOVA hall-effect switches, and aluminum chassis for a look that appears as if they jumped right out of the original 1995 film.

I'm currently typing with the K3 Gen II Hatsune Miku Edition keyboard from Asus, so I'm always partial to an officially licensed bit of tech, but the Shell Core and Shell Blue go above and beyond what I'd expected to see on an anime board.

IQUINIX states that the board "blends tactical precision with cyberpunk
aesthetics" and that's definitely apparent when you gaze at the images and see the transparent keycaps for yourself. The turquoise green coloring on the Shell Core design, in particular, feels very on-brand for the franchise. Its coloring reminds me of the QUAD poster I have for the 1995 Ghost in the Shell film re-release, which I own from my days working at in independance movie theatre.

If you look close enough, you can even spot the Major herself upon some of the keys, and each version of the board incorporates her image differently, which delivers a nice bit of variation for fans. Yet, as cool as they look, I'd be really intrigued to see if this Ghost in the Shell collaboration isn't just style over substance.

Both EV63 Ghost in the Shell models include Hall-effect Nova Switches, which are designed with "reduce wabble and enhanced trigger consistency." As someone who's recently discovered the wonders of Counter-Strike 2 a bit too late, I'd be curious to see what these linear-feeling switches could do to get me on the same level as seasoned players.

The keyboards are also built with FPS games in mind and include custom onboard profiles, and are powered by the brand's latest HyperCore V3 firmware. The latter of which is aimed at prioritising speed by ensuring every keypress is fast, and that there are no keystroke accuracy issues if you swap to alternative compatible switches, an inclusion which is quite unusual given the rarity of hot-swappable HE keyboards.

I'm not as well-versed in the world of e-sports gaming to notice a discernible speed difference most of the time, but it's reassuring to learn that these new Ghost in Shell edition boards aren't relying solely on their looks.

The new Ghost in the Shell anime series launches on Amazon Prime on July 7, where I'll inevitably become yet again obsessed with the queen that is Major Motoko Kusanagi. Sadly, these boards aren't available at UK retailers, so I won't be able to add them to my setup in preparation. But I'll let all of you fellow UK-anime fans know if and when they become available across the pond.

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Our team has also rounded up the best gaming chairs, the best gaming laptops, and the best gaming mice, if you want to give your PC gaming setup a boost.

I've been waiting for this gaming keyboard deal ever since I first pulled the Corsair Galleon 100 SD out the box and clocked its $349.99 MSRP. This is a seriously fun deck to have on the desk, but its price point always slightly got in the way. Yes, it's the best gaming keyboard for those after a full-size format, but at full price, you still need to sit in a niche use case to make the most of it.

You're looking at a TKL layout with a 12-button Stream Deck integrated where you'd expect a num-pad to be. That's a massive amount of customization potential, especially with the four-panelled screen and two control dials. You're essentially getting the functionality of the Stream Deck Plus (minus two dials and plus four buttons) baked into the price here. When that price is $299.99, things get a little more interesting.

This record-breaking discount comes as part of Best Buy's 4th of July sales - surprising, considering the Galleon 100 SD was still stuck at full price during last week's Prime Day offers. Still, I'll take that first discount whenever it comes - especially if it makes one of my favorite gaming keyboards easier to get hold of.

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I've had this model front and centre on my desk whenever I've not been testing a new gaming keyboard. You can even forget its obvious streaming benefits; I use those extra keys for everyday productivity, Spotify controls, and a particularly in-depth Planet Coaster 2 control suite.

Whether or not it will be right for you depends on how your setup already looks, though. If you're already sorted for a Stream Deck, there's little point in paying over the odds for an integrated model. It's nice to have it right there, but considering you can pick up one of the best Hall effect keyboards for about this price, there's more flexibility elsewhere.

Anyone on the hunt for both a keyboard and a Stream Deck, however, needs to listen up. The Galleon 100 SD scored four stars in my review, dropping the final star largely because that value doesn't quite stack up so easily. A couple of months ago, I dug a little further into the math.

The Stream Deck Neo is one of the brand's more value-packed mid-range options. At $99.99, it can easily sit next to a cheaper gaming keyboard and give you the same kind of control opportunities as the Corsair Galleon 100 SD for far less cash. With today's discount applied, you've still got $200 to spend on a mechanical TKL keyboard or a magnetic option. That's not insignificant.

Splitting the design has its own benefits; being able to position the Stream Deck exactly where I wanted was nicer than sometimes having to take my mouse hand away, and the flexibility to introduce a magnetic keyboard instead is going to benefit more competitive players.

You're still not getting the full control panel at your disposal, though, and day-to-day shortcuts are far more comfortable (and I was hitting them more reliably) when positioned along a flat interface rather than the Neo's stand.

Ultimately, today's discount tips the scales in the Galleon's favor a little, but there are still cheaper ways to achieve your command centre setup. If you're more interested in quickly and easily hitting all your macros while still upgrading your keyboard to a solid mechanical offering at the same time, though, it's well worth investigating.

• See all 4th of July sales at Best Buy

I'm also bringing you all the best wireless gaming keyboards as well as the best hot-swappable keyboards for more options as well.

As the last few hours of Prime Day begin to fade, I feel it's my duty as a tech reviewer to try to make as many people aware of discounts that could actually save them money in the long run. Please read these next few chaotic paragraphs with a sense of urgency because I've written about so many deals this week, my brain is beginning a delayed melting process that's entirely unrelated to the European heatwave that's been running alongside it. Even so, I'm coherent enough to know that this might be one of the best offers I've come across. If you are shopping, or even at all interested in a new microphone for streaming and gaming, please read on.

The Maono PD200W is not the most well-known mic on the market. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that most people, even the ones in the know, do not know this thing exists. But they should, because it's a damn good microphone even if you don't consider its main selling point. It has wireless, USB, and XLR connectivity. Most mics only have two out of those three, or just one of them, and yet somehow, Maono's is cheaper than the competition and sounds pretty much just as good as the most expensive options.

I get it, you don't believe me that it can sound that good at this kind of price. Please allow me to prove it to you. Here's my good friend and freelancer, Alex Berry, talking into it:

I know what you're thinking. "Wow, what a lovely Australian voice this man has." Yes, I agree with you, but also, what a superb-sounding microphone that conveys that voice with so much clarity and rich depth.

Okay, but how does that compare to a more expensive mic? Well, here's Alex again, talking into a Shure MV7+ that's much pricier.

Sure enough, that one sounds a bit fuller, and the sound overall might be a bit brighter, but in my opinion, not by all that much. For reference, the Shure MV7+ costs $299 at full price, and $254 during Prime Day. Would you say it sounds $170 better?

Not to mention, the Maono gives you a third method of connectivity on top of the Shure's XLR and USB capabilities, and still holds onto that classy content creator look we all know from the Shure SM7dB.

If you are a gamer who talks with friends, if you are a content creator who occasionally streams or makes videos with voice-over for YouTube, if you're a professional podcaster and you need a spare, or on-the-go capsule for yourself or guests, I don't really know why you wouldn't go for the Maono PD200W. The way this thing is priced, it provides convenience, quality, and a professional, no-nonsense look to creators and hobbyists of all levels - and even gives beginners room to grow into an XLR setup - at such a dramatically lower cost than the competition.

To give you more context, one of my go-to budget-friendly mics I still recommend to beginners is the Blue Yeti Nano, which came out in 2018 to the tune of $99, and still sells for that kind of price. Shure's budget-friendly USB-only mic, the MV6, sells for $169. In other words, I have absolutely no clue how Maono can be making a profit on the PD200W, but if it's going to allow us to get such great mic quality and convenience at this price, we might as well accept the gift, no?

For more on content creation, head to our pages about the best gear for streaming, the best capture cards, and the best streaming mixer.

Elgato's Stream Deck family transcends the live streaming gear market at this point, branching out thanks to pure usefulness to the general PC gaming crowd. I think one reason why these nifty little desk assistants have been so popular is that they've never been particularly hard on your wallet, but with a full franchise of sizes on the shelves now, and almost all of them seeing Prime Day discounts, it's hard to turn them down.

Elgato has really shown up for Prime Day this year, because I'm not kidding, besides the new Stream Deck+ XL (which is honestly so big it's only going to be really useful for the most pro-grade users), you can get pretty much any Stream Deck model on offer at Amazon right now.

I've done the rounds and studied each one's price history data, and from what I can see, four of them have new historically low prices just now. That's out of the five I'm seeing discounted for Prime Day, so there's really never been a better time to try and grab one of them. Just keep in mind that you might need a Prime membership to make the most of these since they are official Prime Day deals, so take out a free trial if you need to. Prime Day ends at midnight in your local time (on Friday 26th) so don't wait around too long.

For more on content creation gear, take a look at the best microphones for streaming and gaming, the best streaming mixer, and the best capture cards.

This is how my life goes. I use a new keyboard every two weeks, then at the end I have to take photos of it. We're all friends here, I'll tell you that after all that constant work and play it doesn't exactly look photo fresh by the time I come to write up my final review. Dust is the enemy here, but we all know these accessories aren't exactly impervious to crumbs and other grossness - that's not what you want to see from some of the best gaming keyboards on the market.

A while back I got tired of tiny brushes, or de-capping every keyboard before I took photos of it. I picked up a $7 tub of goop, and I haven't gone back since.

There's one problem - the only reason I'd mark ColorCoral down. It doesn't last much longer than around six months.

After that, the gel becomes too soft, sticking awkwardly where it previously would have lifted straight up and becoming a nightmare on the hands. So yes, you will have to replace it eventually - especially if you're using it as often as I am. For $8, though, it's earned a permanent spot on my shelf.

Simply take that crusty old keyboard, switch it off, slap the gel on top (I like to move fast here to avoid leaving the goop to nestle too deep in between the keycaps), give it a little shuggle around, and lift everything straight out. All that nastiness sticks to the gel, leaving your deck as fresh as the day it was set up.

Just don't try it on straight switches - I did that once, it was a bad move.

• See all PC cleaning accessories at Amazon

We're rounding up plenty more of the best Prime Day gaming deals, spanning everything from Prime Day PC deals to Prime Day Nintendo Switch deals.

We all have to start somewhere, and if you're still at the 'office keyboard and cheap mouse' stage of your PC gaming journey, you'll be glad to know that it's finally time to make an upgrade.

As part of the Prime Day deals, the Asus ROG Strix Scope II X is now down to $95.99 at Amazon — this is the first time it's fallen below the $99.99 mark, and it's also more affordable than Asus' other keyboards, making it a pretty tempting buy right now. If you're ready for your first serious gaming keyboard, it's worth taking a closer look.

Every member of the Asus ROG Strix Scope II X family is reduced, as well as some other models from the brand, and you can find those discounts below.

Explaining its lower price, the Scope II X is wired, and doesn't have wireless connectivity, and it's also a little more compact, but its cables and switches are more robust than on the original model. For most gamers, it's probably the best pick of the bunch.

Should you buy the Asus ROG Strix Scope II X?

The ROG Strix Scope II series, rounded out by the standard and 96 models, all have mechanical keys. This kind of button has a tactile 'click' which feels more responsive to use for gaming, and they're incredibly durable too (no more disintegrating WASD keys).

Gamers tend to opt for them for these reasons, and so if you're beginning to buy some serious gaming accessories, it's a great place to start. A mechanical keyboard like the Strix Scope II X will last for a long time, and you won't really see a need to upgrade unless it's worn out or damaged.

The one question is cabling: if you absolutely need a wireless model, it's not going to suit your needs. Otherwise, though, you're sorted.

Plenty of other keyboards are discounted over Prime Day right now, but the biggest reductions often come on higher-priced keyboards, like 8Khz ones or those with robust, WASD-hammering designs. For most gamers, the Strix Scope II X is more than enough.

• Asus ROG Strix Scope II | $139.99 $109.99 at Amazon
• Asus ROG Strix Scope II 96 | $179.99 $146.99 at Amazon
• Asus ROG Azoth | $249.99 $161.49 at Amazon

If you're looking for other items for your gaming set-up, we're monitoring all of the Prime Day gaming deals that'll help you pick up more kit. We've also rounded up all the best gaming keyboards so you can see how Asus' options stack up and find some other options worth considering.

I've been covering Prime Day for years now, and if I'm honest, it's been a continually growing trend each year that the best deals don't actually show up at the world's largest retailer; they come from competing brands. Prime Day is yet to begin this year, but other retailers like Newegg, Best Buy, and Walmart are already running competing sales.

Corsair isn't to be outdone either. It's currently running a promotion that lets you get any of its gaming chairs for 40% cheaper if you use a special promo code, which brings two of my go-to chair recommendations down to super-affordable prices.

The Corsair TC500 Luxe is one of my favorite gaming chairs I've ever tested. It manages to scratch an itch I have for gaming chairs that feel like you're sitting in a perfectly adjustable sofa, or even a La-Z-Boy. It has room for you to adjust the lumbar to suit your back, as well as a magnetic head pillow and recline, and adjustable armrests, but it's also got a wide seat base that lets you shift your position, cross a leg over, sit completely cross-legged, or just feel like you can really sink into it.

The armrests are my biggest pain point by far, and the caveat I'd issue anyone I'm recommending the chair to. I don't think they're a deal breaker because the rest of the chair is so good, but because they're set too wide apart, the ergonomics do suffer a bit. You can hear more in my full review, linked above.

Meanwhile, the Corsair TC100 Relaxed was the first gaming chair I ever reviewed, and it's kept its place on our best chair list ever since. It's a near-perfect starter chair, offering a nice blend of comfort with some beginner gaming chair perks. Yes, the lumbar cushion and head pillow are both strap-on ones, which isn't ideal. No, you won't get the last word in armrest adjustability, but you do get a chair that can stand the test of time, and will keep you comfortable for long hours at a desk.

There's a strong chance we could see both of these seats get Prime deals of their own once Amazon opens up its big summer sale selection, but if I were you, I wouldn't wait around. For these offers, you get them straight from Corsair without any middlemen that will likely only make things more expensive (unless you already have free shipping through Prime). If you're not a Prime member, you're unlikely to see better offers than what Corsair is offering on its products through its own website.

For more on Amazon's summer sale, check out Prime Day Kindle deals, Prime Day PC deals, and Prime Day Meta Quest deals.

Many mechanical keyboards bought in the last few years are hot-swappable, so - rather than buying a whole new deck this Prime Day, it's well worth seeing yours can simply take a new set of switches as an upgrade. Sure, the best gaming keyboards benefit from super-speedy clackers, but everyday typing devices deserve a little luxury as well.

After all, shelling out for a whole new typing experience can rack up quite the bill if you're just looking to swap to a different feel or actuation speed. While custom decks will run you into the hundreds, even cheaper off-the-shelf mechanical decks can still take you well over the $50 price range.

Of course, so can some switch sets. You'll find a good spread of some of my favorite linear, tactile, and clicky mechanical keyboard switches just below, spanning the premium to the budget. I've also kept my roster limited to Amazon, to make the most of early Prime Day gaming deals.

Linear mechanical keyboard switches

Tactile mechanical keyboard switches

Clicky mechanical keyboard switches

Don't have swappable clackers? Check out the best hot-swappable keyboards on the market right now. For something a little more customizable, we're also rounding up the best Hall effect keyboards available.

Prime Day is coming up next week, and that means it's one of the few times throughout the year where shopping for one of the best gaming chairs gets a little more affordable. Since we're now inundated with AI overviews and generative chat bots whenever we do any research for what to buy, I'm sure there are probably lots of folks who are tempted to dodge the experience of sifting through deals by asking AI for a helping hand. I really don't think you should do that.

Especially when it comes to something like a chair that you as a human will sit in, why would you want to ask AI for recommendations? Not to have too strong a "pick me, choose me" vibe, but I'm a chair reviewer who's been testing them for over three years now, and I don't know why anyone would want recommendations from an ass-less entity on the internet. So, as an experiment, I opened Gemini and asked it the following prompt:

"I'm looking for a new gaming chair this Prime Day, and I have a budget of $500. Which three would you recommend?"

A few seconds passed, and it then recommended the following products (spoilers: I do not recommend you shop for these ones, so read on to find my alternatives, and tap the "view details" button to get more of my thoughts on each of Gemini's suggestions).

I really thought I'd have an advantage over AI in this specific recommendation arena thanks to my human body and experience sitting in chairs my whole life, but it seems Gemini can't even stick to a strictly defined pricing prompt, because on two out of the three recommendations it's given, the price exceeds $500 by some margin - more than a Prime Day discount will remedy, anyway.

To be fair, its suggestions aren't awful chairs. The Secretlab Titan Evo is a great, sturdy option with loads of scope to upgrade it with the brand's add-ons. It's a chair I'd recommend, but not during Prime Day, seeing as Secretlab's availability and pricing at Amazon isn't ideal. We've also reviewed the Razer Iskur V2X and the AndaSeat Kaiser 4, but these aren't the ones to look out for on Prime Day to make sure your money goes as far as possible.

So overall, that's three recommendations that I would not stand behind (let alone sit on this Prime Day). As someone who has actually parked themselves in a plethora of gaming chairs and kept a close eye on the market for years, here's what I'd suggest that comes in well under a $500 budget while securing the most features for your money. Again, hit the "view details" button to get a more in-depth analysis of each one.

I'd go with the Fractal Refine if you spend long hours at a desk for both work and play. I'd classify it as a hybrid ergonomic-gaming chair. In other words, it blends office chair and gaming chair designs to give you the best of both worlds. There's a smaller amount of cushioning, but its taller shape makes that okay because it inspires you to sit up straighter. More, you can change the seat depth so you sink further into it to relax, but you still make the most of the lumbar support. Its armrests are some of the best for gaming I've come across.

I'd buy the Corsair TC500 Luxe either if you want a more comfortable chair overall that's mainly for gaming, or if you are a larger hooman bean. The armrests on the TC500 Luxe are set a little wider than I'd like, and if you're not a bit broader or taller, chances are this will cause a slouch in your posture, which won't be good for you in the long run.

I'd opt for the Boulies Master Series if you want a mix of premium features and a sleek look for remote working. I'd say of all of my recommendations, the Master is the most likely to see the lowest price during Prime Day, so this might also be a really great choice for those on a tighter budget.

Again, Gemini didn't give terrible recommendations for chairs overall, and I'd absolutely suggest you look at the Razer Iskur V2 X in particular, since it's one of the best budget options on the shelves. Now that the NewGen model is arriving, the original (which is still worth buying) is getting even cheaper.

But this experiment just shows you're going to be far better off reading up on the best Prime Day gaming deals when you check out content from actual humans. AI has its uses, I'm sure, but when it comes to recommending products, it's much more reliable to take advice from people with hands-on time with those products. In other words, using AI to help you shop during seasonal sales will often not find you the best deals or value for money. It's probably not that much quicker, either.

Annoyingly, two of my go-to value chair recommendations are showing pretty poor availability the week before Prime Day, so I haven't included them as my official alternatives. They are the Eureka Ergonomic Python II and the AndaSeat Novis. Both of these offer excellent build quality, comfort, and prices, so I've attached a widget below for you to keep track of the best offers on them in your area. I know, I'm so helpful.

James Bond has always been known for using the latest tech, driving the coolest cars, and wearing the most stylish tux, but thanks to 007 First Light giving us a bit more freedom to explore his world in depth, we now know what gaming chair he's kicking back in at his desk.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, James Bond sits in one of the most stylish, highly-coveted, and pricey chairs that actually exists in our world, the Herman Miller Embody. You can see the chair in the spy's bedroom during the game's opening hours, when he first moves into the Bayswater apartment with fellow agents Cressida and Monroe.

In fairness, it's not really clear whether or not Bond would have actually picked this seat for himself, or if it just came with the flat provided to him by MI6. If it's the latter, maybe this is a special edition Herman Miller Embody that's been modified inside Q-Lab to have even more futuristic spy features? An ejector seat function, perhaps? It's unclear - maybe the chair features again later in the game, but since I'm still early on in the story, I'll need to keep playing to find out.

In all honesty, as a gaming chair reviewer, the Embody immediately caught my eye during this scene, but I was surprised to see it rendered in such detail. Every tiny bit of the backrest is recreated faithfully - I wonder if one of the environment artists at IO Interactive sits on one themselves. Or maybe Herman Miller paid to be featured - what brand wouldn't want to be known as James Bond's chair of choice? Alternatively, it could be the developers making comment on the gaming chair market - it certainly made me laugh that Bond would sit in such a luxurious chair that costs well over $1,000 since he's known for driving expensive cars from Aston Martin.

That might be sad news if you were hoping to sit in James Bond's desk chair in real life, but the Embody has been haunting the entire desk chair market for years thanks to its alluring design, overwhelmingly positive reviews, and high price.

We originally reviewed the Herman Miller Embody back in 2022, and we were very pleased with its ergonomics, comfort level, generous warranty, and sleek design. Since then, it's sat on our best gaming chair buying guide, but has always been the most expensive option we'd recommend.

Back in our original review, my good friend Rob Dwiar said, "For me, the Embody has taught me that investing in ergonomics is a seriously worthwhile endeavour if you can do it, and it has made me rethink my entire gaming setup. It could just be all the gaming chair that you'll ever, ever need." On the other hand, he rightfully had lots of reservations about its price, and how, for the same money, you could buy multiple Secretlab chairs, which is even truer today with the arrival of the Secretlab Atlas, which I'm currently testing.

Shockingly, for its price, the Embody doesn't come with a headrest as standard, but the brand has made one available for purchase as an add-on. Ongoing support has been good for the Embody, as the company has also made new colorways available, and discounts do arrive every so often to make it a bit more approachable.

Want to ogle some more extremely pricey gaming hardware? Take a look at the best gaming PCs, the best gaming laptops, and the best gaming handhelds.

I recently had the chance to visit Secretlab's HQ ahead of the launch of its latest chair, the Atlas. I, like many, have been known to criticize the firmness of this brand's cushioning in the past. The Secretlab Titan Evo is a popular product, but it's never been my pick for the best gaming chair because while it has unreal build quality, it can feel a little too solid to sit in for my liking. So when I first got to sit down in the Atlas, I could feel Secretlab employees perched, eager to know if I thought that was an issue with their new passion project.

I'm sure that'll be the question on a lot of shoppers' minds at the moment. Secretlab's chairs are pricey, and the Atlas offers a reprieve from that with a lighter price tag that starts from $499 in the US and £399 in the UK. If the Titan Evo's price puts it out of reach for folks who otherwise would love a chair from this brand, the Atlas might finally be the one for them. But the question remains: is it as firm as people have said the Titan Evo is?

I've been sitting in the Secretlab Atlas for around four days now, on top of my experience trying it out in Singapore at the company's reveal event. And while it isn't designed for gaming, and certainly isn't targeting gamers in its marketing, its pedigree comes from a brand that undeniably has gaming at its heart. Secretlab's two co-founders met and became friends through video games; a massive proportion of its 4,000,000 customer base will all be from a gaming background, courtesy of Esports and officially licensed video game liveries for its products.

The Atlas might not want to be good for gaming, but it might just end up as my preferred Secretlab chair for gamers once my testing is said and done.

In other words, it may well be better than the Titan Evo.

Firmness - Is less more?

Okay, enough stalling. Is the Secretlab Atlas too firm?

I'd love to give you a straight-up answer, but I'm not sure it's as simple as that. The Secretlab Atlas uses the brand's same homegrown upholstery and cushioning as the Titan Evo, but it's a much lighter-feeling product that takes a really different approach to supporting your posture. It's also not trying to be a gaming chair; it's a productivity seat that puts ergonomics in more of a spotlight than add-ons and colorways.

So there's definitely a firmness to the Atlas, but because it's taking a different approach, that isn't such a bad thing. To answer this properly, I need to talk about mesh chairs and the Fractal Refine.

For years now, gaming chair brands have been trying to sneak their way into more offices and homes by going after a different niche in the gaming chair market: ergonomics. So much of the time, these end up being mesh chairs with very little cushioning, loads of clicky adjustable panels, and a massive price tag. With pretty much all of them, you feel like you're paying more for less of a product, because while mesh is "breathable", it's really just a net that'll support your bodyweight.

Regardless, these chairs get by despite a lack of cushioning. I'm not the biggest fan of mesh chairs, but it's plenty comfortable in a seat base or backrest, and it does inspire you to sit up straighter and make your posture self-supporting because there's not as much there to relax into.

In my opinion, the best chair to take the design philosophy of those lighterweight, more slender ergonomic chairs and turn it toward gaming is the Fractal Refine. It can be had with mesh upholstery, or with a fabric one, and in either case you get a much lighter degree of cushioning, but because its design is inspiring you to sit up straighter and mind your posture instead of sinking into it for hours on end, it works, and works really well. It takes less cushioning with this kind of design to keep you comfortable.

The Secretlab Atlas reminds me of the Fractal Refine in so many ways, because it takes a very similar approach. Its backrest is taller, slimmer, and arguably more minimalist. It even has a similar feature set to the Secretlab Atlas, including seat depth adjustment and, more relevantly, a narrower amount of cushioning.

I haven't gotten the measuring tape out or cut into the Atlas to know this for sure, but compared to the thicker backrest of the Titan Evo, it feels as though Secretlab has opted for a slightly thinner layer of cushioning on the Atlas. With a taller shape, an integrated lumbar curve, and a lower seatbase to inspire more ergonomic posture in your lower body, the cushioning in the Atlas doesn't feel as firm as previous Secretlab chairs. I still need to shift around at points, but the seat base and backrest both feel a lot more comfortable than the Titan Evo.

Less might just be more.

For reference, I'm testing the Atlas in its Dune+ colorway, which means I do have the Nanogen cushioning and upholstery - ie, the comfier version. That said, I tested the Secretlab Titan Evo NanoGen Edition, and it didn't feel this welcoming to sink into.

I don't know for sure if this is the case, but the Titan Evo is a heavy, sturdy bastard of a chair. It will last a lifetime because this brand's build quality is second-to-none, but at times I feel that bleeds into the sitting experience because while the cushioning could be less firm, the frame feels like it has zero give, and that might just add to the "too firm" allegations.

The build quality of the Atlas is still great, but its parts felt a lot lighter when I was assembling it, and I wonder whether this is playing a part.

The move from 4D to 3D

One of the strongest first impressions I have from my initial stint sitting in the Atlas is that its armrests are great. In many ways, they fix some of the biggest woes I've had with a lot of gaming chair armrests in recent times.

To adjust them, you don't need to push loads of buttons or release some catches. They have a lever on the outsides to move them up and down, but to rotate or move them back and forward, you just push them, and they click into position. But where other armrests click out of position far too easily, the ones on the Atlas actually take some oomph to adjust. They're yet to fall out of position from me applying pressure to them, and I hope that remains the case as my testing goes on.

I hate to say it, because the armrest surface and cushioning feel really comfortable and plush, but I do think Secretlab has fumbled slightly by dropping down from 4D armrests on the Titan Evo to 3D ones on the Atlas. If there was one adjustment I think these could really use, it's the ability to be narrower, and that's the dimension that's missing.

Yes, they can rotate to make the width problem less of a bugbear, but when sitting naturally at my desk, the points of my elbows are only just landing on the armrests; they're in no position to be fully supportive without me slumping into the chair.

When I was at the Secretlab HQ for the reveal of the Atlas, Ergonomics Specialist Dr Lindsey Migliore, a PMR Physician, Founder of GamerDoc, and a Secretlab Ergonomics Advisory Board Member, talked about the 90, 90, 90 rule - the importance of having 90-degree angles for your knees, hips, and elbows while sitting at a desk. With wider-set armrests, the Atlas risks the same issue as the Corsair TC500 Luxe in that, to properly use the armrests and achieve that 90-degree angle in my elbows, I need to pull them out from the sides of my body, creating a slouching position in my chest and hampering the ergonomics of the chair.

I need to keep testing to see if this is the case in a longer-term sense, or whether I'm still adjusting to a new chair, but it could be a bigger issue with the design of the Atlas. If the armrests were capable of going a fraction narrower and a fraction higher, they'd be perfect.

My road leads into the desert

It was one of the first things I thought about the Atlas when Secretlab pulled back the curtain on it; the Dune colorway is one of the best-looking designs this brand has ever produced. Yes, it sucks that the Atlas doesn't have compatibility with the massive library of Secretlab designs and officially licensed colorways available for the Titan Evo, but if you're able to grab one of the Dune designs of this chair, I think it just about makes up for it.

Not only is it a beautiful texture that's in its element in a home office, but it has a neutralizing effect on the theme of a room that manages to bring all of the interior design together. In other words, its caramel/beige/sandy hue has a way of blending into black, white, or wood-colored setups like mine. It somehow blends between all of these tones, and it just looks priceless.

The other Secretlab colorways look good too; the Atlas is a bold new aesthetic for the brand, so it's an immediately eye-catching chair in any color. But the Dune version has a way of complementing the design so that any harsher angles and clearer outline lines are almost absorbed, creating a much softer and more calming effect on your eye.

As someone who has placed many a gaming chair in their home workspace over the years, this is probably one of the best-looking I've had the privilege of welcoming in.

The price seems right

I still have a lot of testing to do before I'm ready to give the Secretlab Atlas a final review score, but I'm actually really excited to do that testing.

I like to sit in a gaming chair for around a month before reviewing one because I like to give it time for it to cause aches and pains, or relief. I like to see how the build quality stands up to a longer period of testing than other reviewers typically give, but that sometimes means by the end of week one or two, I'm dreading the remainder of the time with a seat because I can already recognise its flaws.

The Atlas is great to sit in so far, and for once with a Secretlab product, I feel excited that I don't have the cloud of a higher price tag making it even harder to recommend. This is a more affordable Secretlab chair than I've tested previously, and so far, I actually like it better than the more expensive ones.

Will that be the case in a few weeks time? Who knows, but right now it's one I'd tell you to keep on your shortlist while you search around for a new place to sit.

See also the best gaming desk, the best console gaming chair, and the best gaming PC.

Today, Secretlab has unveiled its first new desk chair since the Titan Evo in 2022. While it's been iterating on the Titan Evo ever since with new models and colorways that have made it a staple of the gaming chair market, Secretlab hasn't chosen to expand out into a new SKU in years. But now, as lines in the desk chair market start to blur between gaming and ergonomic options, Secretlab is choosing to launch the Atlas.

The Secretlab Atlas pulls back slightly from the expansive set of features offered by the Titan Evo for a much more focused and distilled chair design. The result is a lighter chair that puts your ergonomics and posture front and center, and a synchronous tilt recline system the main appeal. Where the Titan Evo is a tried and tested gaming chair that's ergonomic, the Atlas is an ergonomic productivity chair with a very different feel. But it may end up being more accessible to players who haven't been able to afford a Titan Evo until now.

"The traditional task chair hasn’t changed for decades, and isn’t built for the way we actually work today", says Vincent Sin, Head of Product Development & Industrial Design at Secretlab".

"Static posture is the enemy of prolonged focus, yet most chairs still lock you in a single position. With Secretlab ATLAS, we’re taking the best of Secretlab and bringing it to support task sitting. We’ve applied a decade of ergonomic design and material expertise to create a chair that supports the entire rhythm of your day — not just the hours spent upright in focus mode, but also the essential periods of rest in between.”

This desire to cater to more than one sitting position certainly tracks with the rest of the market, as floating backrests have become more commonplace - the epitome being the LiberNovo Omni, which has a fully dynamic backrest. Interestingly, Secretlab hasn't given in to this trend, instead opting for a design that integrates a non-adjustable lumbar curve into a fixed backrest.

Secretlab's alternative doesn't look to support your posture with a chair that moves around with you as you shuffle in your seat; instead, it deems the best way for you to maintain focus throughout the day to be allowing you to rest and take short breaks. The answer? "Focus" and "Rest" modes built into the chair.

The Atlas has a refined reclining mechanism that Secretlab is calling a "Synchronous Tilt Mechanism". There's a full range of 120° of recline, but for every 2° the backrest tilts, the seatbase tilts by 1°. Supported by an adjustable tilt force control, this means the armrests, backrest, and seatbase all recline without losing the ergonomic setup of the chair.

There aren't set reclining levels, because by adding more tilt force resistance, you also find you'll only be able to recline back to certain levels while also relaxing into it. It's a clever way to implement ergonomics while relaxing, and tilt tension has been an under-utilized feature on lots of chairs I've tested because it feels like product designers never know what to do with it.

Compared to many of the office and ergonomic chair rivals in the market, Secretlab's new option may feel a bit limited. These chairs, like the AutoFull G7, often combine mesh backing with loads of clicky panels that are all adjustable in various dimensions, but that hasn't been the approach with the Atlas. The Re-Curve backrest integrates lumbar support into its design to ensure you're always getting the most out of it while sitting.

As per usual, Secretlab has done a bunch of ergonomics research backed by an independent Ergonomics Advisory Board, United States Ergonomics, and other experts to find the best curve to suit all sorts of body shapes based on how people sit. While I'm sure the brand has integrated this research into its product design super effectively, I always have my reservations about a one-size-fits-all approach because everyone's body is different and I don't think it's possible to cater to every somatotype with one fixed design. Nonetheless, a Regular and Large size of the Atlas may provide some scope for you.

The Tilt Force Adjustor has four separate levels, which go hand in hand with an adjustable seat depth so you can sink deeper into the Atlas and still benefit from lumbar support - a similar approach to the Fractal Refine. Down from 4D armrests on the Titan Evo, the Atlas has 3D armrests that adjust up and down, forward and back, and can rotate - there's no moving them to be narrower or wider though.

This feels like a fresh start for Secretlab as it branches out into a brand-new product range, but my concern is that this may defeat the appeal of opting for one of this brand's products. A lot of people are drawn to Secretlab's Titan Evo because of its wider ecosystem of add-ons and colorways, and with a newer, bolder design, those things won't be compatible with the Atlas.

As of launch, Secretlab tells me that none of the Titan Evo's add-ons and attachments are compatible with Atlas, meaning the armrest tops, the limited edition Skins, the licensed colorways, and the recliner are all limited to the Titan Evo models. The Atlas does have a magnetic head pillow like its older sibling, but for now, that's all. I'd be surprised (knowing Secretlab's ongoing support for its products) if we didn't see any add-ons and accessories for it in the future, but for now, it's worth knowing the chair is a standalone within the Secretlab ecosystem before you buy.

The bigger blow here for some folks may be that the massive selection of colorways for the Titan Evo will not translate over to the Atlas, with only some standard Secretlab colorways and upholsteries available at the time of writing. The Atlas is available in Classic Black or Moon colorways with NEO Hybrid Leatherette, or in Softweave Plus Fabric in Black, Cookies & Cream, or my personal favorite, Dune - a sandy-colored beige which looks really classy and neutral in a home office.

Alternatively, if you're willing to spend a little more, the Atlas is also available with NanoFoam Composite, used in the Secretlab Titan Evo NanoGen Edition. This version comes in Nanogen Leather upholstery in Pure Black+ or Pure White+, or with Softweave+NanoFoam Composite in Black+ and Dune+.

The good news is that with a lighter feature set and compatibility suite than the Titan Evo, there's also a lighter price tag - something I've always felt could be better when it comes to this brand's products. The Secretlab Atlas will start at $499 in the US and £399 in the UK - which is some ~$200 cheaper than the Titan Evo, depending on what colorway and add-ons you get with it. The Secretlab Atlas Premium Range will start at $699 in the US and £599 in the UK - again, offering a lot of value over the brand's more expensive limited edition or NanoGen options.

I'm already testing out the Atlas in preparation for my review, but I've only been testing it for a few days so far, so I'm not ready to give my full thoughts. For my early impressions, you can check back soon to read more about why I think it might actually be a better gaming chair than its Titan Evo sibling.

To read more on Secretlab, check out the best gaming desks, the best standing desks, and the best console gaming chair.

Razer has been in the microphone market for just over a decade now, but the latest entry in the Seiren product range is taking a slightly different approach than the USB options that came before it. The Sieren V3 Pro taps into one of the best trends in the microphones for streaming and gaming market of late: hybrid connectivity.

The Sieren V3 Pro features both XLR and USB-C audio connections, which makes a clear statement that Razer wants to compete with the best. There still aren't many of these mics around; there's the Shure MV7+, the Rode PodMic USB, and the Maono PD200W. Razer says with this mic it wants to bridge the gap between entry-level gear for streaming and content creation that may not be the type of quality folks need in the long term, and the overly pricey but equally limited XLR options aimed at "pro" users.

The Sieren V3 certainly looks like it's taking a different approach to things. Gone is the loud RGB of the Sieren V3 Chroma, as it's relegated to a smaller (much classier) ring around the mic's body. The all-black aesthetic and cylindrical shape are a solid entry into a Shure SM7dB lookalike contest - which undoubtedly makes people associate it with a pro-level microphone.

It's got 32-bit float support for a wider dynamic range, with a view to streamlining post-production work. It comes with a built-in noise gate, compressor, limiter, and AI-noise remover, which may help to match it up against the Elgato Wave3 Mk2.

A 30mm dynamic capsule resides inside, protected by a built-in shock absorber and a removable pop filter. Unlike a lot of XLR mics, the V3 Pro also has some on-board controls, like a small gain control dial on its bottom, and a tap-to-mute sensor button. If you're not quite at the stage where you're thinking about one of the best streaming mixers yet, the Sieren V3 Pro has a 3.5mm headphone jack so you can channel all your other PC audio through it and still benefit from live monitoring.

The Zinc unibody design means you can mount it to a boom arm, but it comes with a standard desk stand.

Of course, any Razer peripheral is going to lean on Synapse to help you manage it. The lighting, audio enhancements, and the initial setup of the mic will all rely on Synapse software. I'm not a huge fan of this since Synapse is a fairly heavy peripheral application that tends to compete with any and all other applications you run through your gaming PC. It also has a hefty install size and has proven near impossible to uninstall for me in the past without the use of a third-party storage software that can get by Razer's background trickery.

As you might guess, I'm not super eager to use Synapse again to test this mic out, but I'm hoping if it's plugged in through a RodeCaster Duo or other audio interface through XLR, Synapse won't force itself into play as a middleman. Either way, to get the full benefits, you might be beholden to team Sneki's app.

In terms of value, the Seiren V3 Pro does sit in an interesting place. At $249, it's definitely pricey at first glance, especially if you're used to Razer's previous USB-only mics. Compared to Shure's MV7+, the V3 Pro is $50 cheaper, but that's really about it in terms of other hybrid mics that are more expensive than this in 2026. The Rode PodMic USB has a full price of $209 but is frequently discounted down below that (right now it's grabbable for $180 at Amazon). The SteelSeries Alias Pro, which comes with an XLR/USB interface, comes in at $369 at full price, but is again frequently discounted, with a lowest-ever price at Amazon of $159 (average price of $259).

Then things get even worse, because the Maono PD200W comes in below them all at $119.99 (currently available for $99.99 at Amazon). The Razer Seiren V3 Pro has a lot going for it, and I'm looking forward to testing it out for sure, but the mic market has a problem competing with the PD200W because it offers such insane value with not only XLR/USB connections, but also wireless connectivity as well.

I'd have thought that an XLR mic from Razer might mean we finally see a new audio mixer from the brand, since its one and only so far has been quietly aging and might even be unavailable in some territories now. Razer tells me that there are no plans for a new mixer or audio interface at this time, which feels like a missed opportunity to squeeze in some bundles and further upgrade paths for pro-level creators.

Noctua's Computex booth looks exactly as you'd expect it to, with the brand's signature brown color sticking out like a beautiful sore thumb in a tech conference that's bursting with RGB, bizarre PC cases, and massive demo spaces. But this brand's showing might be the most impressive I've come across. There are revolutionary cooling innovations to be seen, but I never thought one of them was going to be for my hand, in the form of a gaming mouse.

Honestly, I saw so many cool things at this booth that I'll need to write a whole other article just to touch on them all, but Noctua's upcoming gaming mouse is the thing that made my jaw hit the floor.

Made in partnership with Pulsar, it's a new edition of the Feinmann F01 mouse. It has a lightweight design (73G), and in case you're not aware of this particular rodent, its original model also has an open, cage-like design for its upper chassis. That means open space within the mouse for a lighter feel, potential for airflow, and a perfect testing ground for Noctua to do its beautiful, beige magic.

Inside the Noctua Edition of this mouse that's estimated to drop either in June or July 2026 is a tiny, upward-firing fan. To be specific, it's a tiny Noctua NF-A4x10 5V PWM fan, hooked up to a motion sensor within the mouse so that as soon as you start to move it around, it'll immediately start cooling the palm of your hand down. Take your hand off, and it'll spin down again, saving power draw for the next time you actually need it.

When I say I smiled from ear to ear upon testing that thing out, I cannot tell you the amount of giddy joy it gave me. I hate to admit it, but I have pretty clammy hands at the best of times - it's something I've always been self-conscious about. Having just tested a very expensive gaming mouse in the form of the Asus ROG Harpe II Extreme Edition, which does not respond well at all to sweaty gaming sessions, Noctua's little inventive gadget seemed all the more impressive.

It was so quiet as well; even putting my ear closer to it, any and all noise seemed to be blocked by my hand covering the fan. Noctua has allowed the fan speed to be controlled by the mouse buttons, or through a web driver in five distinct levels. So if you're in a heatwave in the heart of summer, or just in a particularly competitive round of your favorite game, it's all adjustable.

As a mouse, it has an XS-2 42000 DPI sensor and an 8K polling rate, as well as a standard USB port for charging and wired use.

As silly as this thing might seem, Noctua does not do anything by halves - I fully expect this to end up as a fan favorite when it becomes available. Not only is it a polar opposite to the RGB, gamer-looking mice on the shelves most of the time, but it's got the chops as a clicker to actually be what competitive gamers require. Honestly, cannot wait for it.

For more on Noctua's Computex showing this year, check back soon.

For more on PC gaming, take a look at the best CPU for gaming, the best graphics card, and the best RAM for gaming.

What if I told you you could have a yellow retro-styled Vokswagen Beetle and a gaming mouse in your Amazon basket a full three weeks before Prime Day? What if I told you they were both the same thing, and only a little over ten bucks?

That's what I stumbled upon this morning, checking out the new 'early Prime Day deals' tab that popped up on my Amazon homepage. Now that it's taking up permanent residence in my brain, I need to share it with yours.

What we have here is a 1600 DPI wireless mouse (impressively complete with a 2.4GHz receiver) powered up by two triple-A batteries. Those power cells slot underneath the removable roof, with your two main clicks sitting along the hood of the car. Listen, I never said it was an ergonomic design.

It's a neat gimmick for anyone looking to brighten up their desk with some novelty, but I don't think I have to tell you this isn't going to be one of the best gaming mice in your arsenal. It does have wheels, after all. Famously, the ratio of wheels to gaming mice should stand firm at 1:1.

I've had a peek and the reviews give us even more gold. One user notes a single complaint, "one of the headlights doesn't light up as bright as the other" - wait... the headlights light up?

The Elec Space Wireless Mouse is being sold by, you guessed it, Elec Space - an unknown retailer with a flair for cursing a setup with the bizarre. A quick look at its Amazon storefront reveals a heart-shaped rodent covered in sharp, jagged rhinestones, positioned upside down and wildly large in the frame of an AI marketing image. Classic.

Don't want your next CS2 run to leave you in bandages? How about the 'Cute Pig' selection? Yes, a squashed Babe with a worrying lack of feet and two ears for main clicks - that's what I've been missing. This is a Temu back door, is what I'm saying - don't expect something that's going to see you through gaming for the foreseeable future.

Car mouse will stay with me, though, as I'm tossing and turning in the wee hours dreaming of RSI and cramp. Maybe car mice are the way forward - as Herbie, Fully Loaded said back in 2005 "it only takes one person to blaze a trail."

Serious deal hunters can get prepped for the summer sale with our guides to the best Prime Day Nintendo Switch deals and the best Prime Day PS5 deals on the horizon.

I was walking around the Computex show floor this morning when I suddenly came across a range of gaming chairs I hadn't seen before. That doesn't happen all that often with me, since reviewing them regularly means I tend to hear about any new names that enter the space. The folks manning the relatively small booth welcomed me in, and since I'd probably already passed my step count for the day, I happily accepted their invitation and sat down.

The brand is called MarsRhino, and you probably haven't heard of it either because it's a Taiwanese company that doesn't distribute to other regions yet. But having taken a lengthy look at its range of gaming furniture, I sincerely hope that's about to change, because there are innovations here that deserve recognition from the wider market.

First off, they have a solid selection of both ergonomic mesh chairs and cushioned gaming chairs with floating backrests. Here's the interesting part, though: unlike the million and one freely adjusting clicky annoyances currently occupying the shelves, these are all electric.

Yes, electric gaming chairs are becoming a bit of a repetitive theme at the moment, but there isn't anything gimmicky about the ones MarsRhino had to show off. Instead of fiddling around with umpteen different controls and never knowing which lever under your bum controls what adjustable aspect of the chair you're sitting on, MarsRhino has simplified things to an easy electric control panel.

In fact, the latest, flashiest chair in the booth even has a remote control, which might seem stupid at first, but honestly would simplify chair controls even further. The staff at the booth told me that their chair batteries typically last a month, unless you're adjusting constantly and, while I was sitting down, one staff member even switched on a lumbar stretching program - eat that LiberNovo Omni.

Beyond electric frills, I must say that I'm a massive fan of the comfort level each MarsRhino chair has. They reminded me of the late great Boulies Ninja Pro, as each one had a perforated leatherette upholstery that was breathable, but also felt nice and plush to sit down in. Meanwhile, the floating backrest did a great job of supporting my lumbar, in fact - a better job than the Razer Iskur V2 NewGen I've just been testing.

Some of them used magnetic headrests, but one chair I was shown used a clever locking mechanism that allowed the head cushion to "float" just like the lumbar support. In other words, it would extend out from the backrest while still being fixed to it and then pivot and tilt as I moved my head. There's some real mileage to that as a headrest design philosophy, and it might be a way for traditional gaming chairs to compete with fully dynamic options like the aforementioned LiberNovo Omni.

MarsRhino even makes a one-seater gaming couch, which is ideal for living room players looking for the best console gaming chair. This is a niche of the chair market that's been slowly disappearing in recent times, but MarsRhino has managed to make something that looks like a Lazyboy that'd blend right into any living room.

When I'd seen all the chairs MarsRhino had brought to Computex, I was asked if I also reviewed desks. I was then pointed over to what was perhaps the most ingenious product the brand had on the show floor, a height-adjusting desk that also tilted forward and back.

When you first think about this, you may think it's a disaster waiting to happen; I know I certainly did when I saw the desktop tilting towards me. Surely, all the hardware, displays, peripherals, and work you have on your desk will slide off and crash to the floor? Perhaps, but with a fully magnetic surface and a very easy-to-use control panel, you'll have more confidence. Clever magnetic panels can also sit atop desk accessories to ensure nothing light slides off. Obviously, a monitor arm mount is going to be pivotal here, but I just love the concept of it.

There are serious practical uses for this. One thing I hate about reclining in a gaming chair is that when you tilt yourself back, you ruin the viewing angle, eye-height, and armrest level for your desk and monitor. Your arms now have restricted circulation as your forearms press into the corner of a desktop; your focus on the game you're playing will be limited because you're not in the ideal visual spot for your monitor. But with a desk that can tilt toward you, reclining and having the optimal experience is still possible.

Ingenious design - when I saw it, I wondered how no one had thought of it before. I mean, maybe they have, but they don't want people to lose thousands of dollars' worth of gaming hardware from it falling off their desk.

The other use for this is that when you put a height-adjusting desk in standing mode, getting the angles right for your eyes and wrists again becomes a difficulty. I know for me, if I'm in standing mode with my Fezibo L-Shaped Desk, I'll start to experience discomfort with my wrists as I type because although it might be set to the right for my eyes, my arms have to overadjust to reach the keyboard in the same way. Again, the ability to tilt the worktop toward you fixes that completely, and actually might encourage you to use the standing mode on your desk every once in a while - we all know the novelty wears off quickly.

I'm totally won over by this brand's wares. There are some really simple innovations that even the most inventive names in the space, like Secretlab, don't have answers for. I'm told that MarsRhino is currently seeking distribution partners in the US and EU markets to expand its serviced regions, and so I sincerely hope its presence at Computex this week helps that. If not, hey, any readers interested in MarsRhino products, please follow them on socials to keep up to date, or hound your local retailer CEO to start stocking these innovative chairs and desks pronto.

Perfecting your desk setup? You should know about the best gaming PCs, the best gaming monitors, and the best gaming laptops.

When it comes to gaming mice, I'm what most brands would call a tricky customer. I have pretty bizarre tastes that don't align with the competitive FPS games I tend to use mice for on PC, and ones that certainly don't align with the Esports design a lot of companies lean into these days. My daily driver is an MMO mouse with numbered buttons along its left side, adjustable weights, and a dedicated groove for your ring finger and pinky, so it pretty much couldn't be further from the ultra-lightweight mice most FPS players are using to glide around their massive deskpads.

• Pre-order | $259.99 at Best Buy

So, trying out the Asus ROG Harpe II Extreme Edition 20, which has just been revealed at Computex, was quite the transition. Compared to the other lightweight mice I've tried, this feels very different. Lightweight rodents for me usually translate to a lacklustre-feeling accessory that, while speedy, don't exactly give me the feedback and comfort I like. This is a different story. This gaming mouse combines a celebratory anniversary look along with really robust-feeling side buttons and a scroll wheel that you just know will last a lifetime. Or at least, I'd hope it would, because it will set you back $259.99.

As much as I missed my 12 extra function keys and dedicated finger grooves on my MMO mouse while testing this, there's no disputing that the customization, glide, and all-around competitive brilliance of this mouse improved my FPS gameplay.

Design

The ROG Harpe II Extreme 20 is a semi-ambidextrous, 82g Esports mouse that builds upon the company's previous Harpe Ace II, Harpe Extreme, and Harpe Mini outings. Being a celebratory release for two decades of the ROG brand, this takes the design language up a few notches, with a 24K gold-plated metal frame that resides under a blackened crystal clear shell. The gold scrolling wheel and side buttons lure your eyes to see the gold hues within the chassis, and the transparent shell gives it a touch of class and an understated feel.

RGB is used within to show a specialized ROG 20 logo, and subtle bits of branding are peppered around the mouse, making it undeniably a ROG product.

Turning it over, things stay just as luxurious. The mouse feet, or skates, as they're often referred to, are made of Corning Gorilla Glass, which provides a stupidly easy glide around pretty much any mouse surface. I tested it with all the speeds of the SteelSeries QcK+ Performance mouse pads, as well as a pretty slick one that came with my Couchmaster CYCON2, and the mouse slid around so easily that they all felt like glass pads.

The Harpe II Extreme Edition 20 utilizes a ROG AimPoint Pro 65K sensor with 65,000-dpi <1% deviation, and for those with those harder surface mouse pads, it features track-on-glass technology.

The shape will be familiar to anyone who has used a Harpe mouse previously. It's 39.7mm high, 126.1mm long, and 63.9mm wide, with a beautifully crafted curve to rest your hand on. It's been designed with finger tip and claw grips in particular, though, so palm-grip players like me aren't necessarily as catered to - I'll say more on that in a little bit.

The black and gold design philosophy is so strong, but you can tell Asus has meant this to be a proper showpiece, or collector's edition peripheral thanks to its packaging. The box it arrived in folds out to reveal it like some sort of exotic flower, and a sturdy, transparent case means you can take it with you without fear of the surfaces being scratched.

Features

Perhaps the only thing more impressive than the packaging is the Harpe II Extreme's expansive list of features and settings options. There's tri-mode connectivity here through wireless USB, wired USB, and Bluetooth pairing. The ROG Optical Micro switches are quoted for a 100 million click lifespan, and with a max polling rate of 8,000Hz, you know there's plenty of futureproofing for such an expensive peripheral.

Using the wireless dongle, you get access to ROG SpeedNova connectivity so that 8K polling rate isn't limited to a wired connection only. There's an impressive (quoted) 195 hours of battery life here too, which I haven't managed to actually find an end to yet in my hands-on time with it. Depending on what polling rate you set it to, your mileage will vary, but the Harpe II Extreme has a clever trick up its sleeve where it will determine interference in the surrounding wireless environment and boost its signal to maintain a steady connection.

If you're not one for spending loads of time in settings menus for your gaming peripherals, Asus has included a Zone mode on this mouse, which simplifies things for competitive players. Alongside 5 stored profiles you can configure, Zone mode will optimize things specifically for competitive play. With it on, you'll see a polling rate boost, increased sensor responsiveness, as well as sensor frame rate and wireless transmission power optimizations.

Performance

I've built more than one gaming PC with an ASUS motherboard, and I've tested its Raikiri controllers in the past, so this isn't my first run-in with a peripheral from the now 20-year-old ROG brand. One thing I have to admit is that dealing with the Armory Crate app is always my least favorite part of the ROG experience. This app always feels clunky; it usually involves subsidiary downloads to actually customize the product you have, and I worried an Asus mouse would involve me needing to download it. To my delight, that wasn't the case.

Upon connecting it to my PC via the wireless USB dongle, I was immediately met with a pop-up notification that invited me to a browser tab where I could fully customize the Herpe II. Everything from its button mappings to its polling rate, to its DPI and wider suite of settings and features was covered without the need for an additional download, and I loved how speedy the process of getting set up with it was.

Having just tested the GameSir G7 Pro 8K, I was curious to see how an 8K polling mouse would compare. Turns out, an 8,000Hz polling rate on any gaming peripheral seems to present itself in the same way. I play with a relatively high DPI of 2,300 compared to a lot of FPS players these days. But bumping the polling rate up to 8K meant that it felt a little more unruly than I was used to. Unbelievably smooth thanks to those Gorilla Glass skates, even with a (somewhat limited by today's standards) 144Hz refresh rate display, but would certainly take a while to get used to, as every twitch, pivot, and slip in any direction is registered.

Thankfully, while the 8K polling rate was a bit too hot to handle for my liking, the settings gave me loads of scope to fine-tune. I could try as low as a 150Hz speed, and ended up settling on a 1,000Hz speed after a few brief tests with 1,400Hz. There's a lot of scope to make this mouse the exact speed and sensitivity for you and your playstyle. If you like putting DPI all the way down and attacking CS2 players with massive swipes across your desk, there's loads of scope for you here.

My main FPS game is the Extraction Shooter GOAT, Hunt: Showdown, and so naturally, the bayou became my testing ground for the Harpe II. When the game's intense sound design has you completely immersed in a 3v1 western shootout, your heart can frequently pound out of your chest, and your palms start getting clammy. The shape and design of the Harpe II Extreme was excellent for keeping my grip, but one thing I will say is that the surface texture doesn't hold up all that well to those sweaty, intense gameplay sessions. There were a few moments where I felt my palm starting to slip in places, and the design of this mouse is so stunning that I worried my sweaty hands were going to stain or mark it and spoil its look. The aesthetics of this mouse are going to be a huge win for any gaming setup, but a little extra thought over actually gripping this peripheral would have been welcome, even if it is an anniversary showpiece.

While I do love the shape and look of the Harpe II Extreme, I do wish it catered to my palm grip a little more. My MMO mouse, and every mouse I've used for the last six years, has had a pinky groove, which I feel is so important in keeping my hand comfortable through long hours of remote work or intense gaming sessions. Yes, this is a niche taste with mice these days, but one I find very hard to go back to not having. One reason I don't gravitate to the ultralightweight mouse market is that I don't feel my whole hand is catered to, and I do wish Asus did a little more. My ring finger and pinky barely manage to hug onto the side of the Harpe II, and while I appreciate it's not exactly designed for a mouse grip like mine, a little more real estate on the right-hand side of it would go a long way.

Additionally, I get that this mouse is never going to compete with my 12 MMO keys, but more than two extra side buttons would have been welcome for the amount of money this rodent costs.

I can't fault the side buttons and scroll wheel that are here, though. They all feel so robust, like they'll last the next 20 years of the ROG brand. In fact, from reviewing the best PC controllers, the closest comparison I can make to the side buttons is that they feel almost as good as the most cushioned microswitch buttons I've come across. Pardon the pun, but this is the gold standard.

For reference, playing solo vs trios in Hunt, I usually average out around three or four kills per round. I may or may not have been having a good day when I did a longer session with the Harpe II Extreme, but I played three matches in a row, scoring four kills, then six, then seven, so I'm entitled to give some of that credit to the high-performance mouse I was using.

Should you buy the Asus ROG Harpe II Extreme 20th Anniversary Edition?

I have a lot of reservations about recommending controllers that cost $200 most of the time, so trying to justify a price of $259 for a mouse gives me a lot of anxiety. For reference, that RedDragon mouse I use cost me under $40, and is frequently on offer down to $25.99, so I'd argue you really don't need to spend this much to get a good clicker. Even for competitive gaming in the ultralightweight market, the SteelSeries Aerox 9 tops out at $189.99, so that should give you an idea of how much most people will likely be budgeting.

On the other hand, compared to those other lightweight mice I've tried, I think the Harpe II Extreme offers a much more premium feel. I don't feel I'm compromising as much on feel or build quality here, and I don't feel like the brand behind it is charging more for less of a product. The exhaustive list of settings and features arms you with so many ways to make this mouse work for you, and with premium parts used to craft it, you can sort of see where the price tag comes from.

Reservations about pricing aside, I think Asus has absolutely knocked it out of the park with the design of this 20th anniversary timepiece. Fans of this brand will not be disappointed by the aesthetic, build quality, lighting, and finer details of this mouse. It's a strong showing of why Asus ROG has been around for 20 years, and might stick around for a few years more.

• Pre-order | $259.99 at Best Buy

How I tested the Asus ROG Harpe II Extreme 20

I put the Harpe II Extreme to work in my gaming setup for a few weeks before writing this review. I tested it on different mouse pad surfaces and in various games, but since it's an Esports peripheral, I mainly used it in FPS games like Hunt Showdown. I drew from my own experience of using other gaming mice to make my feedback, and used the prices of similar mice to assess its value. I used the Gear Link browser app to customize the mouse's settings and get a feel for how its various features can impact its performance.

For more on how we test gaming mice, take a look at our hardware policy.

Want to compare with what else is out there? Take a look at the best wireless gaming mouse, the best TMR controllers, and the best Razer mouse.

If you've ever been served one of those videos that goes up the price range of different gaming keyboards and compares how they sound, you'll likely relate to my first experience with the Asus ROG Azoth Extreme Edition 20. As someone who has only really dabbled with the depth of the keyboard world, I always figured that yes, there'd be a difference in the feel of the more expensive options, but surely not as much as the true keyboard nerds make out.

• Pre-order | $599.99 at Best Buy

I've been typing on a DROP LOTR Elven keyboard for the last year or two, and I love its mechanical feel and faithful design, especially as someone who hammers down pretty hard on his keys; it has an excellent weighty actuation to it. The Azoth Extreme Edition 20 sounds, feels, and actuates about 20x better than what I'm used to, so I finally understand the appeal of the most expensive sounding keyboards in those videos I see in my feed.

That much has been true of pretty much any Azoth board we've tested, but this is no regular Azoth. It's an anniversary timepiece that helps mark 20 years of the ROG brand, and with some seriously premium frills, it costs no less than $599.99. It's no keyboard for the faint of heart (or wallet). Whether you're typing or gaming, it's one of the most premium you'll find. It's certainly the best I've come across, but this keyboard range's price tag is becoming a bigger and bigger pill to swallow.

Design

The original Asus ROG Azoth has been sitting pretty atop our best gaming keyboard lists for a while now, with each iteration wowing us in different ways as their prices increase.

For this version, Asus has donned a black and gold aesthetic along with a "bladed metallic" texture. The chassis is a full aluminium alloy, and the frame is metal, giving it a noticeable weight compared to a lot of other keyboards you'll have tried. It's a fully customizable/hot-swappable 75% keyboard with RGB lighting. In the top right corner, there's a small OLED display with a switch you can use to set different colors and programmes for the color of the lights - a solid continuation from the Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE.

Turning it over is where things get a bit silly. There's room for detachable magnetic feet (of differing heights) to give it more of a raised angle, which is something I never found necessary, even when pairing the board with its companion wrist rest. In the middle, though, is a 24K gold-plated, laser-engraved, polished ROG nameplate, which is as extra as it sounds. It is removable if you want to put it on display somewhere, but it certainly will contribute to the cost of this thing. Lurking underneath it is a USB dongle and a paddle switch for the adjustable gasket mount.

Speaking of, that clever switch will let you adjust the typing feel of the Azoth Extreme to be a tad firmer or softer, which may suit you if you're like me and tend to type pretty hard. What will contribute to that typing feel a lot more is the architectural choices that went into the product as a whole. For starters, the carbon fibre positioning plate has a firmer rigidity to stop vibrations on the top layer of the chassis. Then, underneath is a three-layer dampening system. First up are two PORON layers, then underneath it all is a silicone pad to absorb vibrations and minimize switch pinging and echoes.

Features

Getting to the finer details, the ROG Azoth Extreme Edition 20 features ROG NX Snow mechanical switches that are hot-swappable and come pre-lubed. They have a refined clicky and refined linear feel, depending on how you configure them, which complements the adjustment Asus has made to the inner workings of the switch.

Below the upper housing is a stem material made of composite POM material that adds a bit more smoothness to the keystroke. It has a walled stem design to protect from dust intrusion while also adding some more stability. Then, on the very bottom, you have a POM bottom housing for a deeper keystroke sound.

In terms of connections, the tri-mode connectivity from the previous Azoth boards carries over, and the Azoth Extreme 20 is equipped with a ROG Omni receiver that allows connections to multiple supported devices with a single USB dongle - perfect for if you have an Asus mouse or other peripheral that already supports it. That means fewer USB ports are used up without compromising on high-polling gear.

Speaking of which, the Azoth Extreme sports a maximum polling rate of 8,000Hz, but only if you have a ROG Polling Rate Booster. In wireless mode, the Azoth Extreme can last you a quoted 1600 hours with RGB lighting and the OLED display off, 245 hours with the OLED display on and the lighting off, or a still impressive 96 hours with both on.

You can customize the board using Gear Link, without the use of Armory Crate.

Mystery Keycap Set

Launching alongside both the mouse and keyboard is a fun twist on the ROG anniversary - a new form of collectible called the Mystery Keycap Set. These provide a fun unboxing experience for long-term fans and are excellently crafted tributes to some of the most well-known products in Asus ROG's history.

I have to admit, I'm not one for mysterious collectibles like this because so often they end up being fodder for resellers to make a fortune off of, but the attention to detail here is unreal. The Chariot keycap actually spins as one of the best gaming chairs should, the Claymore deck and Raikiri controller keycaps sport all the right textures.

Each ROG Keycap Mystery Box reveals a random collectible keycap, and the full set includes tributes to the Chariot chair, Raikiri controller, Claymore keyboard, Delta headset, and variations on the ROG 20 logo. In one box you'll find: 6 x Mystery Keycaps, and 6 x nameplates (randomly selected with no duplicates; and it may include a special edition version)

According to the press materials I've been issued, the probability of finding all of them is as follows:

• ROG Claymore: 1/6
• ROG Gladius: 1/6
• ROG Chariot: 1/6
• ROG Delta: 1/6
• ROG Raikri Pro:1/6
• ROG Logo: 7/48
• Special Edition Keycap: 1/48

One box sets you back $24.99, which isn't bad considering the hand-crafted design of the keycaps inside - although it may seem bad to those who have already splashed down $599 on the Azoth Extreme 20.

The mystery keycaps are made with a Cross-based structure (Cherry MX-based stem), which should give them wide compatibility when it comes to switches to put them on. Each keycap is made with Resin material before being hand-finished with intricate paintwork.

Performance

As I've mentioned, I'm pretty hard on my switches when it comes to typing. I don't know what happened in my younger days while I was learning to type that compelled me to hammer down as hard as I do. However, using the Azoth Extreme Edition has felt like a formative experience. Its premium switches, the way their sound is dampened with each keystroke, and the featherweight it takes to actuate them if you aren't using their firmer actuation, is unlike any other keyboard I've used. It feels like it's taking me by the hand and asking who hurt me, encouraging me to be nicer to whatever keyboard I type on next.

There are ups and downs to lots of Azoth's qualities for me, though. Its lighter actuation means it's super easy to translate your reaction time to whatever game you're playing. But there have been so many times when I've been gaming or typing when I thought I was just resting my finger on a key, only to see something happening on screen and realise I was putting too much weight on it. That's awesome for gamers who need the slightest bit of press on their keys to register, but that can also, in my case, cause mis-presses where you don't want them.

Secondly, there's no denying the build quality of this keyboard. Hell, there's 24K gold plating on it and a fully metal body - something so many other keyboards forgo because they're worried about performance. No guess as to why it weighs as much as it does!

That kind of build quality doesn't come around often in any category of gaming hardware, and it absolutely reinforces the experience of using it. With such a hefty deck underneath it, the switches all feel so stable and cushioned. Each press, no matter how hard you tap, is safe; it doesn't feel like I'm damaging anything or that I'll be wearing down the switches the more I use it like that. But with so much weight to it, it does make it feel a bit like an immovable object to keep on your desk, so if you like to shift your accessories around often, this isn't very agile. More, if you've spent a lot on a desk mat, be prepared for it to suffer marks and potentially dents under the sheer heft of this sitting on it.

Even the flashy design has its utility drawbacks. For a celebratory piece like this, there will almost certainly be form-over-function issues, but there are some basic errors I wish were stamped out. The white key symbols on the bottom sides of the keycaps aren't very legible when the RGB is shining through from underneath, and slightly blinding you thanks to transparent edges on the keycaps themselves. This would hardly be a dealbreaker, but for a 75% board where you are likely to search for the Fn functions lurking on some of the keys, it's likely an annoyance you'll run into.

Should you buy the Asus ROG Azoth Extreme Edition 20?

In years of testing all sorts of gaming tech, there have been few with the kind of premium build quality and luxurious feel of the ROG Azoth Extreme Edition.

The Azoth Extreme has been made to mark 20 years of ROG accessories, and its latest flagship keyboard, as well as its mystery keycap set, is easy to recognise as a labor of love. Its lightweight actuation has a calming effect on a hard typer like me, will offer speed to competitive gamers, and a design that will make anyone (gamer or not) see why the maker has lasted this long.

Like with any gaming peripheral of this cost, I'd remind you that you don't need to spend this much to get something good, or even usable. Even with all its 24K gold-plated flourishes, it's going to be very difficult to justify a keyboard this expensive, and there's no way around that. That said, for the Extreme users who want a showpiece, it doesn't come much better than this.

• Pre-order | $599.99 at Best Buy

How I tested the Asus ROG Azoth Extreme 20

This keyboard sat on my desk for around two weeks before I wrote up my thoughts in this review. I used it for typing, video editing, and gaming every day in that time to put it through its paces. I compared it to other keyboards I've used, and I read up on previous Azoth offerings to get a feel for what this line represents.

For more on how we test keyboards, take a look at our hardware policy.

For more on peripherals, check out the best PC controllers, the best gaming mouse, and the best hot-swappable keyboard.

It’s always felt as though Elgato is a brand that knows its audience and what they need, sometimes even before they knew they needed it. That approach has seen it steadily grow its range of creator-focused gear from the iconic Stream Deck to microphones, lighting, cameras, and capture cards. There are plenty of creators who rely on Elgato across their setup, so when it announced a chair in 2025, it felt like a left-field, yet logical decision.

The Elgato Embrace isn’t just for creators, though. It’s an ergonomic chair designed for anyone who spends hours at their desk, whether that’s gaming, creating content, or simply working. That premise is familiar enough, and at $499.99 / £499 it’s priced in a pretty familiar way too. That number puts it squarely in the midfield of the best gaming chairs. It’s easy to spend more, but it’s easy to spend a fair bit less, too.

So what makes this chair interesting is how Elgato pitches it. The initial launch took aim at gaming chairs, their pricing, and their setup process, while being pretty bold in directly calling out other brands at the same time. I’ve got no problem with self-confidence, but you need to be ready to back it up if you’re going to come out talking the talk. So the question, then, is whether the Elgato Embrace is ready to walk the walk in a very competitive desk chair market. Is this self-branded “Studio Chair” really that different from what’s already here?

Design & Assembly

I’ve put together more than my fair share of gaming chairs at all points across the budget spectrum. It’s hardly my favorite activity, but it’s never been a source of impending dread either. It’s only a chair, after all; they’re really not that hard to put together.

In its launch of the Embrace, Elgato went full TV shopping network with its portrayal of the ‘normal’ experience and made a point of highlighting how simple the Embrace was in comparison. In fairness, Elgato does leave you with a very simple building process, though I’m not sure it’s that much easier than any modern gaming chair, just quicker to get done. The main improvement is not needing to attach the seat cushion to the base yourself; that comes pre-attached and saves a chunk of the hex key work. Instead, you just pop the wheels into the base, perch the seat on the gas cylinder, and slot the backrest on. It genuinely took about two and a half minutes, so points to Elgato for that.

With it put together, the Embrace is exactly what Elgato promised in the looks department. It's a clean, understated, black office chair. It’s a grown-up’s seat that, dare I say, is almost a little bit boring and certainly quite generic looking; whether that’s for better or worse is a matter of taste. The only Elgato branding sits discreetly on the back of the headrest, which means it looks equally at home on a Twitch stream or a Teams call. It only comes in one color for now, which is a shame but not a problem, and only in one size, which is a shame and slightly more of a problem for some prospective sitters.

It may look like an adult chair from a distance and in marketing materials, but up close, it’s an awkward teenager when it comes to build quality. With the exception of the main seat unit, this is an entirely plastic chair. That’s not necessarily an issue as there's no creaking or obvious flex, but it lacks any premium feel with no real payback. It’s like it doesn’t know what it wants to be. When I’ve seen other brands opt for plastic components, it’s been in the name of cost-saving on their budget lines, and that makes sense. Here, it has the vibe of a chair that's been designed with sustainability in mind but without actually making any specific claims.

Features

The Elgato Embrace comes with the full set of ergonomic adjustments you’d expect to see on a premium chair: seat height, seat depth, lumbar support, a five-step recline system, 4D armrests, and a detachable headrest.

The mesh backrest is breathable and flexible, with a material that feels noticeably softer and less scratchy than some other mesh options I’ve tested before. If you're someone who runs hot during longer sessions or works under studio lights, it does its job perfectly well. Lumbar support is adjustable for both height and depth, and while I’ve never been one for aggressive lumbar support, the Embrace’s is a decent showing. I just wish the vertical adjustment range went a little higher. I’m about 180cm (5’11) and at its highest point, I would have still liked to go a little further; taller users may struggle to get the lumbar positioned exactly where they need it.

The five-step recline uses a tilt limiter rather than a true tilt lock, which is a deliberate ergonomic choice, but it does feel a little prescriptive. You can tighten the resistance so the backrest requires a pretty deliberate lean to move, but you can't dial in a specific angle and fix it there. It’s also worth noting that only the backrest moves, and this is independent of the seat cushion, so your lower half stays where it is regardless, which can be an odd feeling if you’re used to a more traditional tilt.

The included headrest, while fine when you’re reclining, isn't especially useful day-to-day. It's prone to shifting around and can't be completely locked in place, even when you tighten the hex bolts as hard as they'll go. The armrests are a bigger problem. The padding is thin and hard, which is not particularly comfortable on your elbows, but the real frustration is that they simply won't stay put. Height adjustment locks in solidly, no complaints there, but the rotation, forward-backward, and in-out movements have no locking mechanism at all, meaning they shift out of position at the gentlest touch. It's a problem that plagues plenty of chairs at this price (and above), but Elgato has fallen into a common trap with a chair it promised would solve all my annoyances with its rivals.

Performance

After using it as my daily driver for work over the last couple of weeks, I can tell you as far as comfort goes, the Elgato Embrace is entirely adequate without ever being particularly memorable. If you're expecting a plush, welcoming kind of comfort that draws you in, that's not what this chair is. If you’re expecting an incredibly ergonomic experience that’ll solve all your aches and pains, that’s not what this chair is either. I wasn’t disappointed by how it felt to sit on for extended periods, but a bit like its looks, the Embrace is just very standard.

The seat cushion is relatively soft and relatively shallow, too. The foam isn’t particularly dense, with a fast spring-back that leaves it feeling more like a standard mass-produced office chair you'd find in a corporate hot-desking setup than anything particularly premium.

The shape is nice, slightly sculpted but with a flat overall profile and waterfall edge intended to avoid cutting into the back of your legs and promote circulation. It’s a nice change from the aggressively-bucketed seats with high sides that you often find on gaming chairs. The seat is reasonably narrow, however, so larger users should consider other options, and there’s no XL option on offer, I’m afraid, so you’ll need to look elsewhere.

All in all, I don’t have a huge amount of criticism of what the Elgato Embrace is like to use as a studio chair, but it does feel like a chair I’ve sat in hundreds of times before. There’s nothing wrong with that; not every chair needs to be groundbreaking in one way or another, and often brands seem to add features for the sake of saying they’re different. I don’t need built-in air conditioning in my chair, thanks in advance. But the truth is, I came into this expecting more from a chair that had promised so much about shaking up the market and delivering what others haven’t. This is, in essence, a pretty basic mesh office chair trying to cosplay as a premium one.

Should you buy the Elgato Embrace?

The Elgato Embrace is a functional, comfortable-enough ergonomic chair that looks smart on camera and assembles in minutes. If those are your top priorities and you're an Elgato superfan, then there's logic to picking one up. But at $499.99 / £499, the Elgato Embrace has a value problem that it told everyone it was solving. Elgato's entire pitch was about delivering premium, full-featured ergonomic comfort at a more accessible price than the established brands, but what I'm sitting on feels closer to a $250-300 office chair with better branding. The Embrace isn't bad, it's just not $500 good.

In our list of the best gaming chairs, and even outside it, there are better options for one reason or another. Maybe they’re cheaper, maybe they’re more comfortable, maybe they’re a little better executed. The Elgato Embrace is trying to position itself as a premium alternative to both gaming chairs and high-end office chairs, but the build quality, materials, and overall feel don't fully back that up. For a first attempt at furniture from a tech peripherals brand, the Embrace shows promise, but I just wish they’d made a quieter entrance to the market.

How we tested the Elgato Embrace

I used the Elgato Embrace as my primary desk chair for a couple of weeks, using it for a mix of gaming, content, and general productivity. Testing covered extended sessions of four-plus hours at a time, and I paid particular attention to comfort, build quality, and adjustability. I assembled it myself on a carpeted floor and used it with a standard plastic chair mat underneath.

For more details about how we test gaming chairs, take a look at the hardware policy.

There's more where that came from. Check out the best gaming desks, the best standing desks, and the best console gaming chair.

Activision officially dropped the Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 reveal yesterday, and nestled among the campaign details, multiplayer upgrades, and return of DMZ, Ninty popped its head up. This is the first CoD title to launch on Nintendo hardware since Ghosts, though we'll have to wait a while for its Modern Warfare 4 pre-orders, and it comes with full Joy-Con mouse control support. As much as I love this nifty feature, I very much recommend that you don't take them up on that offer.

It's not just that you're relying on softer trigger buttons for your main clicks, or that the taller shape gives you far less stability on a desktop. I don't know about you, but when I'm in the heat of battle, I tense up - my relaxed palm grip becoming a strained claw with the adrenaline. Maintaining that hold over the tiny Joy-Con 2 is going to be unbearable.

Thankfully, you don't need to spend hundreds to pick up a far more comfortable gaming mouse supported by the Nintendo Switch 2. In fact, pretty much every rodent I've tested with the handheld has worked flawlessly. For everyday play when you don't want to rely on sticks, though, the Logitech G305 Lightspeed would be my top pick.

This is the best budget wireless gaming mouse I've tested so far, so it's not going to stand up against made-for-esports high-flyers like the Razer Viper V4 Pro or Logitech G Pro X 2 Superstrike. It will, however, run easily on the Switch 2, keep you comfortably on the couch with a wireless connection, and holds up with a sturdy build quality. Unless you're playing competitively, you don't need to shell out on one of the best gaming mice to have a good time here.

Look, the Joy-Con 2 are powerful little gamepads and that sensor is remarkable for what it is. It can't keep up with a traditional shape though, and I wince at the thought of cramping my hand around the tall, skinny oblong for serious CoD sessions.

It's lovely for mini-games or the odd break from the thumbsticks, and definitely speeds up my Balatro dopamine hit, but it's not going to cut it for fast-paced, tense FPS gameplay. Even Cyberpunk 2077 feels a little too action-y and Call of Duty (especially multiplayer Call of Duty) is going to push that unnatural hand position to its limits.

• See all gaming mouse deals at Amazon

We're also rounding up all the best Nintendo Switch 2 accessories, but you'll also want to check out the best gaming keyboards and the best Nintendo Switch headsets if you're after more Call of Duty upgrades.

Razer has been in the gaming chair market for a while now, but at the time of writing, it finds itself in a tough spot. Yes, it's facing the same old competition as it always has from the mainstay brands like Secretlab and Herman Miller, but it's the newer, emergent brands and "smaller" names on its flanks that are starting to eat into its market share. Desk chairs, including the best gaming chairs, are in an innovative renaissance right now, and the worst thing a brand can be at a time like that is stagnant.

Razer now has to contend with the likes of LiberNovo and its viral dynamic backrest; it has to deal with AutoFull offering a floating backrest, heating and ventilation, Shiatsu massage features, and 720-degree armrests. Razer has to go up against a million and one ergonomic "office" style chairs that dip into the gaming market, and scrappy brands like Eureka Ergonomic and AndaSeat that try to offer as many features as possible for a more affordable price than you'll find elsewhere. And Razer's answer? Doubling down on the Iskur V2 it came out with over two years ago.

The Razer Iskur V2 NewGen commits the sin of not feeling "new" at all, because while all the other brands duke it out with impressive attributes and innovations, Razer is sticking its hand in the air and shouting, "Hey, remember our chair though?" I certainly do remember the original Iskur V2, as well as its full price tag of $649.99/£649.99, and I'm not sure slapping that sticker back on the "NewGen" version is going to do Razer any favors.

Price

Floating backrests and dynamic lumbar systems are becoming a common theme in the gaming and desk chair market at the moment, and for good reason. It feels as though designers are finally waking up to the fact that adjustability is one thing, but human beings move frequently when they sit down all day, so we need something that can keep up without needing loads of manual adjustments. Razer was one of the first big brands to offer this with the original Razer Iskur V2, which had one of the best lumbar support systems we had come across at the time.

It had an issue, though. It was $649.99/£649.99, which put it at a more expensive cost than the likes of Secretlab (before adding any extras onto the Titan Evo). Even worse, $649 then became a price point to avoid for any smaller brand, so it looked expensive versus newer rivals like the Corsair TC500 Luxe. Eventually, as more innovations started emerging and floating backrests became more commonplace, the Iskur V2 started to look limited compared to something like the AutoFull G7, or indeed the AutoFull M6 Ultra.

I got the impression from covering the gaming chair market in the years following the Iskur V2's release that, while it offered quality, it suffered because of its high price. When a chair starts drifting further and further away from its launch price and into discount aisles more often than not, you get the impression it's struggling to keep up with the competition. Soon enough, I started seeing the Iskur V2 in the discount aisle during Prime Day, Black Friday, and pretty much every other seasonal sale on the calendar. Then, all of a sudden, it was nowhere to be seen - I could barely find stock to recommend it at most of the big e-tailers.

Its cheaper alternative, the Razer Iskur V2 X, meanwhile, seemed to show that the brand was prepared to offer a simpler, more affordable gaming chair than usual, and I had hoped this was a sign of things to come for the inevitable Iskur V3. Lo and behold, the Iskur V2 NewGen was announced at CES 2026. Truth be told, it had Benjamin, our incomparable Tabletop and Merch Editor (who reviewed the original Iskur V2 for us), and me scratching our heads. Costing the same $649 as its predecessor did, its big selling point was a new, more breathable leatherette upholstery and... not much else?

I remember asking Benjamin if he's ever had an issue with the leatherette on the Iskur V2 not being breathable enough. He said no, and he's sat in it since reviewing it. I looked online to see if folks on Reddit had been complaining about temperature control issues in the Iskur V2. I couldn't see anything, so I'm a tad perplexed at this refresh.

Thankfully, Razer isn't charging more for this new model than it did previously. But I can't help but look at this as a way to discontinue the frequently-discounted Iskur V2, bring back the original price, and sell again with the premise of "New".

Design & Features

Because there's no avoiding it, the Iskur V2 NewGen is essentially the exact same chair as the original. In many ways, it feels like an answer to the Secretlab Titan Evo NanoGen Edition. It's essentially the same product, but the emphasis on refreshing it has been through using a new upholstery, a more breathable cushioning setup, and slightly widening the dimensions.

To actually determine what is different about the NewGen model, I've scoured the product pages for both versions of the Iskur V2. The original's hyperflex backrest was called the "World's First 6D adaptive & adjustable lumbar support", while the NewGen model rebrands it to the "World's First Razer Hyperflex Lumbar Support System" - from the descriptions, both do the same thing. Similarly, both chairs are said by Razer to use "Dual-Density, Cold-Cured Foam Seat Cushions", but the new model has a breathable, perforated design. By the looks of it, the seat on the NewGen edition has also been widened slightly both in its shoulder curvature and seatbase.

Of course, the Razer Gen-2 EPU Leather with Cooltouch Technology is the biggest departure, and is apparently 13x more durable than regular PU leather. Elsewhere, all the listed designs and features of both seats are identical.

I do think only adding a new upholstery and some color options (the NewGen edition is available in Black and Green, Black, Quartz, and Light Grey) is a bit of a copout, even if there are other minor changes. But I don't misunderstand that new upholstery can make a big difference to any chair. People don't realize it, but one upholstery versus another can fundamentally alter the comfort and plushness of a seat.

If a leather or a fabric material is put together with too tight a weave, then it won't have the stretch it needs to really bend into the cushioning under your weight. Similarly, if the fabric is too loose, the hard work a brand has done finding the exact cushioning firmness they want will be compromised. Don't use a premium material, or don't use the right amount over each chair section, and it'll fray and damage over time. There's a lot to think about with gaming chair upholstery, so I don't mistake how big a change it can make.

From my experience with the Secretlab Titan Evo NanoGen, I don't feel upholstery alone can make a big enough difference on its own, though. For its NanoGen model, Secretlab went back to the foundations and added a whole new level of cushioning at the same time - and even then, it didn't make a massive difference for me personally. From all the marketing and press material I can see, it doesn't seem as though Razer has added new cushioning to this seat, just made it more breathable.

Carrying over from the original, you get 4D armrests, reactive seat tilt, and 152 degrees of recline.

Assembly

One thing I do have to applaud is Razer's assembly process, not because it's any more streamlined than your average gaming chair, but mainly because of the consolidation of packaging and the unique charm and personality given to the process. Upon first opening the box, you'll be met with a whimsical placard and a pair of nylon gloves. Razer is clearly catering to its audience here with nerdy Thanos references as well as some excellent sitting position warnings. A+ for humour - it's not something I've seen in any other gaming chair assembly process.

Jokes aside, the addition of a pair of gloves actually comes in really handy during the build. They're not going to save your fingers from being crushed, but I have broken skin a couple of times while putting one of these things together. Not only that, they help to keep the chair clean, and your hands free of any oils that might be put on the metalwork for lubrication purposes. Maybe this is something brands like Secretlab should add to their included toolkits.

Assembly was fairly easy, the standard steps of how to build a gaming chair, so not anything to really report here. I did manage to build it myself, but then again, I am a professional, so if you struggle lifting heavy parts, a co-op partner can come in handy.

Performance

In a general sense, the Razer Iskur V2 NewGen is a really decent gaming chair with good build quality and a reasonable level of cushioning. Some chairs struggle to strike a balance between support and comfort, and the jury's still well and truly out on what is too firm and too soft - because every brand in the market has different ideas.

The Iskur V2 NewGen feels comfortable to fall into, and in the three or so weeks I tested it, I didn't notice myself with a numb rear end that made me shuffle into new positions often.

In a similar way, I really like the armrests. They have quite a plush surface to them and a really great shape that means your forearms have a flat surface to glide across while using mouse movements. There aren't infinite height adjustments, but I felt I had loads of scope to match up the exact level I needed for my desktop. I'd also like to applaud Razer for sticking to a more traditional 4D armrest system. Each dimension is controlled by a release catch, none of this clicky rotation nonsense, which never fails to fall out of position and infuriate me.

Overall, there's a lot to like about this chair, which is why, for all my reservations about its price and its lack of innovations, I would still recommend it. On the other hand, I do think this is a chair for gamer that's above my height.

There's a bit too much seat depth here for people under 6ft to really benefit from the ergonomics it offers. Don't get me wrong, I love having lots of seat depth and a bit more width to the seatbase, so I have the ability to cross my legs over or shuffle my weight onto one side if need be. But too much depth will start to encourage you outward from the back of the chair, moving your lower back away from where it's supposed to be, and sneakily introducing a slouching position as you sink deeper into it. That then makes the lumbar support less effective, and the chair's ergonomics as a whole suffer a bit.

Again, this is a problem I had as a 5'10 man, so your mileage may vary, but it completely threw the ergonomics Razer was clearly going for out of whack. I couldn't, for the life of me, find a lumbar adjustment that suited my back. Even at its lowest setting, I felt like my spine was being hyperextended. This Iskur V2 NewGen just feels to me like an XL chair that would suit larger frames a bit better.

This is where the price really starts to bother me, because I've tested more affordable gaming chairs, like the Eureka Ergonomic Python II, that offer almost an identical experience to the Iskur V2 (albeit without adjustable lumbar support) and do the entire ergonomic setup better. That chair comes in at half the price of the Iskur V2 NewGen, and has an even more substantial seat cushion, so there's very little excuse to be made for Razer charging as much as it does.

One thing I cannot understand going unchanged from the original Iskur V2, is the headrest. Back when my colleague Ben reviewed it, we raised the point that even back then, neck pillows with wraparound straps were out of date compared to more efficient magnetic ones. While testing the original, the headrest would continually shift out of position, and the new model suffers the same.

In fact, it pinged off the back of the NewGen model so often during testing that I decided the only way to remedy it was to take it off entirely. Without that neck pillow to encourage me to sit upright though, I felt my head falling forward far too often, again encouraging a slouched position.

It's 2026, and magnetic neck pillows are by far becoming the norm for gaming chairs, especially over $400. I cannot fathom why, if it were coming out with a NewGen model, Razer wouldn't look to make this change.

But instead, Razer focused on breathability, and if I'm totally honest, I'm not sure it shows. The leather material used on the NewGen edition feels premium and certainly cooling to the touch, but it isn't a perforated leatherette, which I would think of as a more breathable alternative.

Testing it in my Scottish flat as the temperature rises gently into the Summer months, a "breathable" option shouldn't have too much trouble staying cool. I still felt the backrest trapping heat, hugging my t-shirt, and I'd still have to peel myself away after a long period sitting in it. It really isn't as cooling as I think the brand intended, and I shudder to think how it would fare in countries that actually get warm during Summer.

If I get really nitpicky, it's also a bit infuriating when this leather material squeaks as you move around in the chair. Floating backrests can have this problem as upholstery needs to stand up to the friction of moving parts, but the leather used here is so much louder and doesn't fill me with confidence about longevity - even if Razer claims it's more durable.

Should you buy the Razer Iskur V2 NewGen?

Not at full price, no. I really do not think this is a chair that's worth $649/£649, and I expect Razer is going to find that out again as we see it start to drop in price. It may take a year, it may take a year and a half, but I don't see this almost identical design to the original Iskur V2 performing too well in a market that's moved on from it in many ways.

Further, I'd personally recommend that if you're under 6ft tall, you look at something else. Your mileage and somatotype may vary from mine, but this feels like a gaming chair designed for larger frames.

If you do manage to get it discounted by $100-200, I'd recommend it. There's a really decent chair here, with solid armrests and good cushioning.

How I tested the Razer Iskur V2 NewGen

I used the latest Razer Iskur as my chair for daily work and play for about three weeks before coming to a final verdict in this review. I usually like to test a chair for a full month, but seeing as we've already done longevity tests with the original model, I feel more confident taking less time with the new one.

I sat in it for around 8 hours a day and beyond when I was gaming at my desk on top of a remote working life. I assembled it alone, I configured the backrest and lumbar support in many different ways to get a feel for how it could serve both my and readers' bodies. I compared it against previous versions of the Iskur on specs and price, and compared it closely with my experience of sitting in loads of different types of gaming chairs over years of reviewing them.

For more on how we test gaming chairs, take a look at our hardware policy.

There's a lot of gaming hardware out there. Take a look at the best gaming desk, the best standing desk, and the best console gaming chair.

Razer and Logitech have been duking it out for generations now, but each brand's 2026 entries couldn't be more different. While Logitech went for reinvention with the X2 Superstrike's haptic switches, Razer went in the other direction.

One rolls the dice on a new way of interacting with your games, the other refines an already-winning formula. One is almost silent, the other is about as loud as you'll find. With both options occupying the high-end price range, the best gaming mouse for you will come down to how you hold your rodent and how you like your clacks.

Competitors

What I loved about the Razer Viper V4 Pro

Speed-focused design...

For particularly competitive players, there's a set of numbers that means more than everything else. The Razer Viper V4 Pro trims its waistline down to a solid 49g (in the black version I'm testing, the white option hits 50g). That's not quite the lightest gaming mouse on the market (check out the Corsair Sabre Pro V2 Ultralight for a reliable 36g option), but it's still pretty effortless in the hands. It's also easier to flick and spin than the Logitech G Pro X 2 Superstrike and its 61g form factor. The Viper range has always lived to become an extension of your arm, and this is the best we've seen so far.

Like its ancestors, the Viper keeps a flatter dome than many of its competitors and siblings. While the Razer DeathAdder V4 Pro and Superstrike are by no means uncomfortable and accommodate a good range of grip types, there's a little extra wiggle room in this shape. There's more clearance to pivot the main body between the thumb and pinky during finer aiming moments in a claw grip, while taller mice will often bump into the base of the palm instead.

I do naturally prefer a greater curve on the thumb side than you'll find on either the Viper or the Superstrike, but that's only because I typically use the top of my thumb for a lot of the legwork. Everyone uses different muscles in their unique grip and control styles, so it's fairly subjective - if you find yourself working the thumb a lot more, though, something with a deeper gradient like the Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 DEX offers a much more comfortable shape.

I was never cramped or forced into an awkward hold here, though. The softer matte finish isn't to my personal taste, but it's still grippy enough to withstand more frantic gameplay moments and feels luxuriously smooth in the hand.

... with the sensor to back it up

Nobody's expecting to come here and read that the Razer Viper V4 Pro is anything less than blindingly fast, but here we are. Whether or not the upgrade to a 50K DPI sensor, 930 IPS, and 90 G acceleration in the Focus Pro Optical sensor will be worth it for mere mortals is a question in itself. This isn't where Razer keeps its costs low, the Viper line is where it lets its tech rip - whether players need it or not.

The same can be said for its new 2.4GHz receiver, the same dome-shaped plugin we saw in the DeathAdder V4 Pro. It supports polling rates up to 8,000Hz - a speed that only the upper echelons of esports glory will be able to notice, let alone make use of. It's no reason in itself to buy the Razer Viper V4 Pro, but it's there for those who want it.

Sturdy battery life

Razer has historically done pretty well with the battery life of its rodents. While Corsair, SteelSeries, and Logitech tend to skew a little lower (averaging between 70 and 110 hours between them), even older releases like the Razer Basilisk V3 Pro 35K have been punching at 110 to 150 hours. The Razer Viper V4 Pro ups the ante again, coming in at up to 180 hours in base 1,000Hz polling. That's the marketing number, but I've been running for two weeks (and that's been a two weeks of more gameplay than usual, with roughly 110 to 120 hours of work and gaming combined) and I still have 38% left on this charge.

Goodbye Synapse 4.0

Try as it might, Razer never quite managed to make its Synapse program the lightweight, stay-out-of-your-way software it needed to be. Thankfully, the brand is following a number of mainstream gaming hardware brands and taking its customizations to the web. That means no more downloads, crashes, and resource hogging. Synapse Web covers all the basics, including keybinding, DPI settings, sensor calibrations (and the nifty rotation and dynamic sensitivity tricks that come with them), and polling rates.

Unfortunately, it doesn't provide a fix for annoying Razer firmware updates - there are still far too many hoops to jump through in that department, and you'll still need to download the full suite.

Super tight scroll wheel

I do have to make special mention of this scroll wheel. Razer's done a bunch of fancy stuff with its encoder, swapping over to an optical sensor rather than a mechanical one. That makes for finely tuned precision in gameplay, but the actual mechanism behind this wheel is pulling just as much weight. There's a nice sense of heft to each rotation here, but it's a tactility that never gets in the way of speed. Notches clearly defined, comfortable, and easy to hit accurately. It's a small feature, but this is easily my favorite scroll wheel to date.

What to consider about the Razer Viper V4 Pro

The V3 Pro still looks pretty great as well

Unlike Logitech, Razer isn't doing anything revolutionary with this year's flagship. This is still the same shape and feel as you'll find in the Razer Viper V3 Pro. A better sensor, slightly lower weight, that gorgeous scroll wheel, and small tune up on battery life certainly makes it a worthwhile release for the true competitors among us, but there's nothing massive separating the V4 Pro from its predecessor.

Unless you're at the top of your leaderboard, there's nothing in here to pull you away from the older (and now much cheaper) previous generation.

You'll certainly hear it coming

I was taken aback by the sheer audacity of these main clicks when I first got the Viper V4 Pro on the desk - and I'm a fan of a sturdy snap. It's a large, brash, thunky sound profile that raises the decibels over pretty much everything else I've tested in the last year. These clicks are never hollow or pingy, but they're going to be noticed if you're sweeping and tapping in a quieter space. If you need your setup to stay quiet, they're loud enough to turn you away from the Viper entirely, running straight into the Superstrike's whisper-quiet haptic arms.

Should you buy the Razer Viper V4 Pro?

As with all flagship releases, the Razer Viper V4 Pro isn't actually made for the vast majority of players. Its tech, features, and FPS-first mentality just aren't justifiable for the budgets of cross-genre Steam generalists. If, however, you're a competitive player looking to up your game or support your skills with lightweight, super-fast hardware, that value comes into sharper focus.

The Viper V4 Pro succeeds in everything it sets out to do. It's supremely fast, effortless to wield, and holds its power for a particularly long time. Whether that's enough when the Logitech G Pro X 2 Superstrike is lumbering onto the battlefield is another matter.

If you're going for a classic FPS experience, where low weight, high reaction times, and fingertip grips rule all, the Viper V4 Pro is your go-to. It's a traditional esports gaming mouse dressed to the nines. If you want a new generation of main clicks, and you're happy to experiment with the possibilities afforded by the Superstrike, though, new technologies could prove more fruitful.

How I tested the Razer Viper V4 Pro

I used the Razer Viper V4 Pro for a period of two weeks, running the mouse for all my daily work, play, streaming, browsing, and everything in between. I tested specifically in Apex Legends and CS2, both on its own and side by side with the Viper V3 Pro and Logitech G Pro X 2 Superstrike, while also using the mouse for Mixtape, Planet Coaster 2, and High on Life 2.

For more information on how we test gaming mice, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

We're also hunting down all the best wireless gaming mouse models as well as more of the best Razer mice and the best Logitech gaming mice on the market.

I'll get it out the way first, the Logitech G512 X is one of my favorite gaming keyboards of the magnetic age. It doesn't offer the smoothest typing feel or break out a ludicrous number of actions per key. It doesn't use a wireless connection or a whole new form factor. In fact, the Logitech G512 X impresses me so much because it falls into none of those pitfalls, instead making smart investments with its features in order to undercut some of the more premium options on the market.

That's where some of the best gaming keyboards find their footing so, while you won't find a PCB stacked to the brim with high quality magnetic switches here, there's plenty nudging the G512 X into that top list. Another thing to get out the way before we start. Straight out of the box, this is a mechanical keyboard through and through. It's only when you take a look at the nine Gateron magnetic switches hidden along the top lip that the full customization options are unfurled.

This is a hybrid magnetic / mechanical deck, with 39 slots for those magnetic clackers to sit in and the ability to chop and change between analog and mech whenever you need to. In essence, it doesn't charge you for the premium magnetic switches you're unlikely to use on the right-hand side of the board.

What I love

Smart magnetic implementation makes for an easier price tag

The Logitech G512 X starts at $179.99 / £169.99 for the 75% version, but it's probably more useful to look at the 98% model. That's because this not-quite-full-sized design is where a lot of the more premium Hall effect keyboards are finding themselves these days, with the best two I've tested being the Corsair Vanguard Pro 96 and Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE.

Both of these are more expensive than the Logitech G512 X (at full price, anyway - more on that later), with Corsair's option coming in at $229.99 / £209.99 and the Azoth sitting at a whopping $359.99 / £349.99. They both also feature magnetic Hall effect switches throughout the entire deck.

That means you're paying for analog customization where you might not need it. Logitech restricts its nine supplied Gateron switches to the left hand of the board, where you're more likely to be clustering your action keys around WASD. This is where most players actually utilize adjustable actuation points and rapid trigger - featuring the same switches across the rest of the deck can feel like a waste.

That's where Logitech plays its smartest card. While dropping down the number of usable magnetic switches may be a disservice to the ultra-competitive among us, the majority of more casual players are better served here.

It also achieves full hot-swappability between magnetic and mechanical clackers for far less cash than the only other keyboard I've tested with this tough-to-find feature; the Cherry XTRFY MX 8.2 Pro TMR at $249.99 / £209.99. Straight out the box, you'll find either Logitech's linear or tactile mechanical switches installed.

It's not just that Logitech has cut back on its magnetic keys so save us a few bucks. It's that this analog functionality has been implemented in a way that keeps things sensible while still allowing for the full customization experience. Each Gateron switch is capable of actuating at between 0.1mm and 4mm (the full range we typically see), with dual-step actuation points up for grabs.

You can look at the four-point actuations found in premium options like the Azoth or Glorious GMMK 3 Pro HE, but few players will actually take advantage of such a feature.

Plus, the added Second Actuation Pressure Point rings (included alongside your extra switches along the top of the deck) make this magnetic feature even better with their smart tactile bump. Applying these o-rings to a Gateron switch's face provides tangible feedback for your first actuation point. I'm just guessing and relying on muscle memory in other decks.

Rich typing feel

You can find cheaper magnetic keyboards, in the NZXT Function Elite Mini TKL that launched at $199.99 but is regularly found in double-figures these days, for example. These decks always carry a slightly woolly quality to their cheaper magnetic switches, though, upping resistance in the typing feel and adding extra fatigue.

While the G512 X's mechanical clackers are a little heavier in their actuation force than I would typically choose day to day, their mechanical design keeps this lower-budget magnetic stiffness at bay. If the supplied Gaterons then went and stomped all over that smoother typing feel, we'd have a problem - but Logitech went with TMR technology for its alternate clackers. That means we've got a much easier actuation even across those other switches.

Typing with both flavors installed isn't as disconcerting as I thought it might have been as well. There's a little giveaway that some of these things are not like the others, but it never translates into an uncomfortable experience, nor a less precise one. They smooth into each other nicely, and I never felt the need to adjust tension when hitting a magnetic clacker straight after a mechanical one.

All that's supported by a gasket mounted design that makes for a softer full press and keeps each clack suitably deep in sound and texture. I never heard a single rattle, ping, or echo in my entire testing time.

Functional cyberpunk design

Some could look at the glowing plastic grate at the front of the Logitech G512 X and call it garish. Others could see a cheaper-feeling piece of plastic holding switches and o-rings in place and think it naff. I might have been one of those people in another life, but the jazzy design has won me over.

We've got enough all-black monochrome keyboards relying on per-key RGB lighting, the aqua-cyan of the white G512 X I've been testing looks great on the desk and keeps things interesting in aesthetic. There's a serious impact to that glowing front edge - if Logitech decided to include the accompanying translucent wrist rest in the box, this would have been a 10/10 for style.

What to consider

Casing quality doesn't quite match competitors

Logi nailed the look of the G512 X in my opinion, but it's not quite following it through with a durable build. I've noticed in the last week or so of my testing, the casing itself doesn't hold up to as much pressure as you'll find elsewhere across the market. There's some notable flex in the lower bezel that even yields some creaks when really pushed to its limits. That's under direct force that wouldn't be applied under normal circumstances, but the Asus and Corsair decks mentioned earlier don't behave quite the same.

Logitech is using a thinner plastic for its top plate, and when that material overhangs the light bar running underneath the front edge it's significantly weakened. The same flexing and creaking can't be felt towards the top of the keyboard, but does betray itself in the thinner lines of casing between the main alphas and the num pad.

Full magnetic decks can meet this price point

It's not necessarily a con, partly because I'm celebrating the fact that Logitech is using magnetic clackers efficiently. However, it should be noted that you're not getting a full set of adjustable switches here - just in case you really do need all those customizations. Still, even that would be a non-starter if the G512 X was priced just a little lower. As it stands today, with sales taken into the equation, you can find full sweeps of Hall effect switches for about the same rate as this - and often less.

The Corsair Vanguard Pro 96, for example, launched at $229.99 / £209.99 but it's since tumbled to sit at between $160 and $190 day to day now. Whether you use all of those magnetic clackers or not, it's still the better deal.

Should you buy the Logitech G512 X?

If you're looking to dip your toe into the world of Hall effect keyboards, have a decent wad of cash to invest in the adventure, but want the flexibility to back out and return to your mechanical switches instead, there's no better gaming keyboard on the market right now.

That hot-swappability (and cheaper price than Cherry) is a real feather in this board's cap and makes for a seriously compelling reason to go team Logi for your next deck. Being able to swap and change between not just different mechanical feels, but switch types altogether is a real benefit considering the high prices of fully analog keyboards. Even if you decide you hate adjustable clackers, the G512 X will still serve you just fine.

If you're already on board with the magnetic revolution, there may be better value elsewhere. The Corsair Vanguard Pro 96 hasn't lost its throne to Logitech here. It's more efficient not to slot magnetic switches into slots where they won't be used, but it's also undeniable that the Vanguard provides more customization options for less cash (when it's on sale). Throw in that sturdier form factor and those looking for an all-out magnetic transformation will find better features elsewhere.

How I tested the Logitech G512 X

I've had the Logitech G512 X on my desk for just over two weeks now, and it's been running the whole show in that time. This has been my only keyboard for both work and play, save for a few direct comparison sessions with the Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE and Corsair Vanguard Pro 96. In that time I tested specifically on Apex Legends and CS2, but also let it run on High on Life 2, Mixtape, and Planet Coaster 2 sessions.

For more information on how we test gaming keyboards, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

For more options, check out our guides to the best hot-swappable keyboards and the best wireless gaming keyboards available.

When Elgato announced its Neo line in 2024, it felt like an interesting shift for the brand. For the first time, it wasn’t directly chasing content creators and a slice of the premium market; instead, it looked to be going after a broader, more everyday audience. The Elgato Wave Neo is the microphone in that range, so it almost feels strange to consider it against the best microphones for streaming and gaming.

It’s a compact USB-C condenser that’ll set you back $89.99/£89.99 and boasts the simplest route to good audio as its defining trait. It's a very different proposition from the rest of Elgato's mic lineup. Where the excellent Elgato Wave:3 MK.2 leans hard into creators wanting studio-grade vocals with onboard processing, and the Wave DX speaks to the XLR crowd, the Wave Neo is seemingly aimed squarely at those with money on their mind.

I’ve spent a couple of weeks with it and ended up using it mostly in a way I wasn’t expecting.

Design

The Elgato Wave Neo is a cute little thing, a pill-shaped microphone with a white plastic shell made from more than 60% recycled material. If you've seen any of the other Neo products, you'll immediately see the familial resemblance. It comes with its own weighted metal base, an extension bar, and a pre-installed black foam pop filter that clips onto the top. If you’d like a splash of color, you can also grab one of five pastel alternatives, but they’ll set you back an extra $14.99 as an add-on, rather than being an actual color choice. In the box, you also find a braided USB-C to USB-A cable with a molded connector, and that's your lot.

The Wave Neo is understated enough to sit on your desk without demanding too much attention, and with a base footprint of just 9cm, it doesn’t take up much space either. The weighted base keeps it planted, and there's a neat cable guide on the back of the riser for tidying the USB cable away, and you can build the stand with or without the riser, depending on how close you want the mic. If you’d rather keep it up and out of the way, it supports 1/4", 5/8", and 3/8" mounting threads for a mic arm.

There are a couple of rough edges that feel a bit un-Elgato to me, though, and not just because this isn’t trying to look like the brand’s other best live streaming gear for gamers. The connection between the stand and the riser extension is loose and wiggly. It doesn’t actually have anything to secure it firmly in place. Admittedly, once it's assembled and sitting on the desk you don't really notice, but it leaves an underwhelming first impression, and I can almost guarantee at some stage you’ll go to move it and pull the top half clean off. The seam where the foam pop filter meets the mic body, right around the central LED, is also a tad rough. Again, it’s me being picky, but the Wave Neo just lacks the precision I’d usually expect from an Elgato product, even a more budget-friendly one.

The front is dominated by a large tap-to-mute button with an LED that glows white when in use and turns red when muted. It's bright and hard to miss, and for a mic that's going to spend most of its life used in work calls, knowing your mute status at a glance is a nice thing to have. You can dim it through Wave Link if it bothers you, but I actually opted to ramp it up to the max. Around the back there's a 3.5mm headphone jack, though this isn't for direct mic monitoring like you’ll find on the Wave:3; it's purely for listening to your computer's output.

Features

On the inside, the Wave Neo is running a condenser capsule with a cardioid polar pattern, and it’ll record at up to 24-bit/96kHz with a frequency response of 20Hz to 20kHz. For the price, that's actually a solid spec sheet; I’d even go as far as to say it’s overkill given the intended use case. Nobody needs 96kHz on Discord or Teams calls.

Physical controls are limited to the touch-sensitive mute button on the front. There's no gain or headphone volume dial, so if you want to adjust anything like that, you're doing it through software. The mute button is certainly sensitive. On top of deliberate taps, I was even able to get it to activate by knocking it with the top of my MacBook Air’s screen while testing positioning. Thankfully, because it's on the front edge rather than the top, like on the Wave:3, I didn’t find it prone to accidental touches.

Elgato’s Wave Link app is where the Neo picks up a couple of features worth knowing about. For most people, the big win will be Voice Focus, Elgato's AI-powered noise cancellation, which I found to be effective at filtering out distractions from within your space. It’s worth noting this is a device-powered feature in the app, rather than anything happening onboard the Wave Neo itself, so if you're planning to use it purely as a plug-and-play mic, you’ll be missing out. For anyone working from home or in an open-plan office, I'd say it's well worth the download.

Beyond that, you get a low-cut filter, the ability to adjust gain and LED brightness, and you can browse the Elgato Marketplace for extra filters and effects. It’s worth noting that the Wave Neo predates the new Wave FX Processor you’ll find inside the likes of the Wave:3 MK.2. That means despite both mics running through the same Wave Link software, you’re locked out of most of the new effects and app features like VoiceTune.

Performance

A quick glance down Elgato’s product page for the Wave Neo tells you everything about who it imagines this mic being for. This isn’t being presented as a gaming or streaming mic. It’s not sitting in RGB-filled setups while chill lo-fi beats to study and relax to play in the background; it’s in workspaces and bright desk setups.

So that’s how I approached it. I tested the Elgato Wave Neo away from my usual streaming setup, using it in my dining room and my work office across Teams calls, Discord, and general day-to-day productivity.

When it's properly positioned, not too far away, and with a bit of mic etiquette, the Wave Neo sounds impressively clean and punches above its price class for audio quality. It’s pleasant for vocals and a massive step up from what the in-built mic in my MacBook was capable of. The roomy echo of the hard-floored dining room vanished and there was real focus on my voice instead. It can't match the Wave:3 MK.2 for detail and natural richness, but for calls and casual voice work, it's a perfectly nice listen.

It’s heavily dependent on proximity, however, because move out to 30cm or so away and the quality drops off noticeably. It’s not that the Elgato Wave Neo suddenly sounds bad when you’re not in exactly the right spot. It’s just that if I leaned back or positioned it just above my laptop screen at arm’s length, I’d go from sounding objectively better in every way to simply less echoey than the in-built mic. This is a microphone that rewards good habits. Speak into the front of it, keep it close, and it delivers. Forget where it is, and you’re still ahead of where you would be with a laptop mic, but you’re not getting what you paid for.

Elgato may not directly pitch it as an accessibly-priced option for streamers, but I could see the Wave Neo doing a respectable job there too with the same level of care. Gamers aren’t spoiled for choice under $100, and while there are certainly much better options not too far out of budget, I think the Neo would hold its own. The kind of EQ massaging and DSP filtering that comes natively to more expensive mics will be a manual task here. But given the raw input is pretty clean, there’s no reason a new creator couldn’t end up in a strong spot to get started before upgrading down the line.

Should you buy the Elgato Wave Neo?

The Elgato Wave Neo does a good job of what it sets out to do. It's a simple, clean-looking USB mic that'll make you sound noticeably better on work calls than whatever's built into your laptop. Add Voice Focus through Wave Link, and it becomes a solid option for anyone working in less-than-ideal environments. It's easy to set up, compact enough to live on any desk, and Elgato’s continued commitment to using recycled materials is always a bonus.

Where it's harder to get excited is on true value. At $89.99/£89.99, the Wave Neo isn't expensive and doesn’t have too many alternatives to compete with, but it's not cheap either. You’ll also need to train yourself into proper mic etiquette and arrange your setup appropriately to make sure you’re in a position to get the most out of it. The Elgato Wave Neo isn't really trying to compete as one of the best mics for streaming and gaming, though with some care and attention, it’s ready to go live. As a work-from-home mic that should have you sounding better than anyone else on the call, it's a solid if unspectacular pick.

How I tested the Elgato Wave Neo

I used the Elgato Wave Neo for a couple of weeks, choosing to test it away from my streaming setup to better reflect what I believe is its target use case. This included Teams and Discord calls from my dining room and work office, general productivity use, and dedicated audio testing at various distances. I tested it both as a plug-and-play mic and with Wave Link enabled, including Voice Focus. All testing was done on the included desktop stand.

For more on how we test, take a gander at the GamesRadar+ hardware policy.

Content creators should also see the best capture cards, the best streaming mixers, and the best ring lights for streaming.

LiberNovo, the company behind 2025's viral Kickstarter chair, is expanding its offering. Three new versions of its popular Omni chair are set to hit the shelves, catering to distinct portions of the market. Yes, that supposedly includes different budgets too, so if the current best gaming chair is out of your reach, you may now be within swinging distance of affording one.

The first of three new LiberNovo chairs you can pre-order through the company's website is the Omni SE, an "entry level" model (although no prices are available at the time of writing), which gives you the same great dynamic support backrest as the original Omni, but takes out the electronics that supposedly drive up its price. The Omni SE still has adjustable lumbar support, but with a practical screw-driven mechanism.

If you can believe it, LiberNovo is also launching a new "upgraded" model of its chair, called the LiberNovo Omni Pro. And here I was thinking a highly innovative chair that costs around $1,000 is pretty "pro" already. The second of the freshly introduced chair range boasts a centrifugal fan system that ensures ventilation while you're sitting. It must be said, in all the time I've been sitting in the original LiberNovo Omni, I've never had trouble with it blocking in too much heat, but then again, I am based in Scotland.

The LiberNovo Omni Pro will be available in a new colorway as well, thanks to an expansion of the upholstery the brand offers. The Omni Pro will come in the standard Soft-Touch Stretch Olefin material, but an added Soft-Grain Woven Fabric will be introduced along with a Sanish Gabriel Atlantic Fabric. The new colorway will come in the Woven Fabric, which is a super-vibrant green.

Last but certainly not least is the LiberNovo Omni Maxis Series, which redesigns the breadth and scale of the Omni to suit big and tall bodies. This could be a huge addition for gamers in particular, since a larger-set backrest will accommodate a wider range of the market and match up in size with a lot of gaming chair rivals. In fairness, the original Omni does have a fairly narrow, one-size-fits-all backrest width for how dynamic it is. The Maxis has a wider backrest and a deeper seat, not to mention larger backrest slats to better support larger frames.

The Maxis actually opens up a new range within a range for LiberNovo. There's the Maxis Electric, which is the equivalent of the original LiberNovo Omni, then the Maxis Manual, a larger set version without electronics (supposedly for a more affordable cost), then the Maxis Airflow, which comes with the Omni Pro's fan system. The Maxis chairs will be available in the original Soft-Touch Stretch Olefin Fabrics, or the new Danish Gabriel Atlantic Fabric, both in either Black or white/grey.

“Following the strong response to our original Omni chair, expanding our lineup was a natural nextstep,” said Alex Yan, Founder & CEO at LiberNovo. “With the Maxis Series we’re addressing a critical gap in the market—bringing high-performance ergonomic design to users who have traditionally been underserved. Across the entire range, our goal remains the same: to help people sit better and live better.”

Regardless of the model you choose, LiberNovo chairs will now come with five set recline levels, as opposed to the four on the original. It's unconfirmed at this point whether or not the original Omni will now ship with the expanded range of recline levels, or it will stick with the four it's always had.

Annoyingly, despite these new chairs being available for pre-order, no prices for them have been published. The brand is running an early bird offer, which means paying a refundable deposit of $10 that unlocks up to $30 in savings on the chair of your choice. Deposit holders who complete a purchase by July 31st will receive a one-year extended warranty.

The new chair range officially launches on June 16, and if I'm honest, I'm not a fan at all of how these pre-orders are being handled. Yes, the deposit isn't big, and it's refundable, but not publishing prices of the new products before accepting pre-orders isn't very consumer-friendly. I assume this is some way of gauging demand so the brand can get a jump on production demands, but even so, if prices are too high for people after the fact, there might be lots of backing out, and thus, inventory left over.

Either way, knowing a price is pretty common practice with any online purchase, especially one like a new, premium desk chair.

What's more, I'm not sure offering an extended warranty to some early adopters is the right way to go about things. The original LiberNovo Omni has reviewed very well, but the biggest and most common concerns with it stem from warranty worries, so I don't think offering some customers more security than others is very fair from a brand that's still in its first full year in the consumer market.

Given the pricing fluctuations and Kickstarter uncertainty around the cost of the first Omni, I would have really appreciated some up-front transparency on how much each new chair will cost if I were shopping for the new models today. I sincerely hope the "entry-level" Omni SE actually comes with an "entry-level" price point that's in line with the rest of the gaming/ergonomic/office chair market. Around $500 is a decent entry point for a good chair these days, and even that is a lot for most customers.

While LiberNovo is doing innovative things with dynamic backrest support, its build quality is a bit more suspect than other brands in the space, with a fair bit of plastics used. It'd be amazing to get to recommend the ergonomics this brand offers to a more affordable subset of the market, so let's hope the pricing for this model is fair.

Since reviewing the original LiberNovo Omni, it's been my mainstay chair thanks to its awesome versatility and comfort. No other chair I've tested has the ability to move with me throughout the day, and although it's extremely expensive, it's undeniably the best chair I've tested. I'll be keen to see how the new models land.

For more, take a look at the best gaming desks, the best standing desks, and the best console gaming chairs.

The Corsair Galleon 100 SD has become a daily driver for me outside of testing the latest gaming keyboards. It's the keyboard I reach for as soon as I find a few days in between reviews, packing all my launchers, in-game keybindings, Spotify controls, and productivity shortcuts in one place on the desk. I received mine direct from the brand, though, and that $349.99 MSRP is a weight hanging heavy every time I find myself close to recommending it.

Things aren't helped by the fact that I haven't seen a single discount on this deck since it launched in January (trust me, I've been waiting for it - this thing has been rock solid at both Amazon and Corsair). That means you're paying one of the highest prices of any gaming keyboard I've tested so far.

It's why I generally only recommend it to players who already need a chunkier Stream Deck anyway. The $199.99 MSRP of the Stream Deck Plus (the closest you'll find to the number of buttons and controls available on the Galleon) means it takes up a good chunk of that MSRP and makes far more sense from a purchase standpoint.

There's a cheaper way, though. I've had the Elgato Stream Deck Neo on the desk for a few weeks now, testing it alongside some of the best gaming keyboards to see how the experience differs from the full $350 all-in-one. Considering the Neo comes in at just $99.99, I was curious to see how much of a luxury tax we're paying for Corsair's deck.

I tested the Neo with three keyboards in mind; the Corsair Vanguard Pro 96, to see whether adding magnetic switches into the mix will bring enough of a benefit to leave the mechanical Galleon behind, the Keychron V6 Max for those who can't drop their number pad, and the Asus ROG Azoth - still my go-to for overall typing feel.

The contenders

The good

There are a couple of benefits to sacking off the Galleon entirely.

Returning to one of the best Hall effect keyboards meant I was able to pair my Stream Deck Neo with a set of customizable switches for a streamlined in-game experience across certain commands. I primarily keep my custom actuation points to WASD when using a magnetic deck, while dampening surrounding buttons to avoid accidental presses and setting main action keys to rapid trigger.

It's a playstyle I've come to appreciate in faster titles like CS2 and Apex Legends, but one I can easily go without for more strategic experience or relaxing simulation endeavours. Being able to keep that flexibility was a massive benefit to dropping the Galleon from my setup.

The only other benefit I noticed over the Galleon (as opposed to the like-for-like features I'll detail below), was in positioning. The full keyboard puts the Stream Deck portion on the right hand side, which makes sense if you're viewing it as a number pad replacement. However, moving my 'keyboard' hand over to the other side of the deck doesn't always feel natural - and it's even more ungodly to take my hand off the mouse. The Stream Deck Neo, however, can be placed wherever you want it, keeping that right paw on the rodent and moving your left hand slightly less to hit each button.

Then we have everything that's just about equal between the two experiences.

Even pivoting to cheaper mechanical options, the Stream Deck Neo provides enough buttons for fairly comprehensive stream controls and daily productivity tools. It keeps the Galleon's ease of use as a daily launcher, and the decks I tested with kept media controls within reach as well.

Using the Stream Deck Neo with the Asus ROG Azoth meant I was able to keep some screen functions, though these were pretty limited compared to the full Stream Deck experience.

The Keychron V6 Max will likely offer up the keenest comparison for many, by virtue of keeping a dedicated number pad alongside the additional controls of the Neo.

The bad

To try and replicate my in-game macro use as closely as possible, I positioned the Stream Deck Neo to the left of my keyboard, closer to my main control hand than it would be on the Galleon. Try as I might, though, I could never get used to the taller angle of the mini device. In-game controls feel far less natural to hit, and I can never quite prove myself reliable enough to slap that pad without looking. It slowed things down by a noticeable amount even after about a week of practice.

It's annoying that the Galleon's Stream Deck is fixed to the right side, but it feels easier to hit at a flat angle inline with the rest of the keyboard. It's not going to become a competitive staple, it's still too awkward for that, but inventory management, simulation and strategy controls, and menu streamlining are all far more enjoyable on the Galleon.

Keyboard displays are a big source of contention right now, with many brands (most notably Corsair itself, outside of this Stream Deck integration) content to simply use these panels as expensive, low res digital photo frames. While the Asus ROG Azoth has a little more meat on its display bones, it still can't compare with the full-color, personalizable panel on the Galleon. Plugins are still slow coming, but there's plenty to show off here and it makes for an easier control system than the Neo's simple strip of display overall.

There's also the number of buttons available to you. The Stream Deck Neo offers up eight clackers to the Galleon's 12. I'll admit, I sometimes struggle to fill all 12 when I'm creating dedicated folders for specific apps, games, and use-cases. But at the same time I was often limited by the Neo's 8. I'd rather have too much space on my deck to ensure each page can function as a full set of distinct options, rather than having to add extra button presses and defeat the purpose of a handy helper.

There's just one minor snag that came up pretty quickly as well. We're really picking here, but adding a Stream Deck and a keyboard means you're using up an extra port. I run a gaming laptop setup, and the Neo's USB-C connection is pretty valuable in an accessory-laden desk.

The ugly

Of course, everything the Corsair Galleon 100 SD has going for it has to work pretty hard when we come to the ugly truth of the matter. The all-in-one solution is incredibly expensive, and alternatives can save you nearly $200 if you play your cards right.

Is the Corsair Galleon 100 SD going to be worth the extra spend? Maybe not.

I'm Corsair's best-case-scenario user. I don't typically stream, but I love having a command center at my fingertips, spend far too much time in menu-heavy simulation and strategy games, don't rely on a number pad, am constantly in and out of different apps and windows, and have a bunch of productivity shortcuts and keybindings to remember. I need more than eight buttons, I use those buttons frequently enough to find reaching over to a separate device awkward, and I'm happy to invest time setting up more complex folder systems to keep everything I need close to hand.

If that's you as well, the Corsair Galleon 100 SD is going to be worth the extra spend compared to a keyboard + Stream Deck Neo combo. Streamers, competitive players, and num-pad enthusiasts aren't going to find the same kind of value here.

The Corsair Vanguard Pro 96 is the strongest alternative. The magnetic keyboard is geared more towards competitive players while still packing its num-pad and slick typing experience. At full MSRP, a Vanguard Pro and Stream Deck Neo will run you $329.99. I usually see both of these devices on sale for $160-$190 / $75-$90 respectively, though. That means, on the right day, you could pick up both for anything between $235 and $280, saving you $70-$115 overall. In this case, the Galleon isn't worth the extra cash.

If you're not fussed about magnetic switches, the Asus ROG Azoth is going to be your next port of call. This is still the best typing experience I've had from a gaming keyboard, so you're investing more in the feel of your everyday keystrokes while saving some cash dropping some of those Stream Deck features. The Azoth holds a $249.99 MSRP, but it's old - it hasn't been up that high reliably in quite some time. These days you're more likely to find it between $190 and $220, putting the package - at its cheapest - at $265.

Without those magnetic switches in play, would I say the extra $85 for the Galleon is money well spent? If you want a full productivity suite, need more from your display, and play macro-heavy games regularly, yes. If you just want a streaming companion or app launcher, no.

In scenarios where I prefer to use a num-pad, the Corsair Galleon 100 SD supplies its own profiles. However, using the dedicated keys of the Keychron V6 Max and Corsair Vanguard feels so much better than these plastic clackers. Having to hit another button just to bring up my number options is an annoyance of the all-in-one. Those using a number pad every day will soon get too tired for it to be worthwhile. With the Keychron V6 Max coming in at $119.99 on a bad day, $96 on a good day, you're saving a maximum of $179 by opting for the split setup. If you need that number pad, the Galleon's other benefits aren't worth the additional spend.

Featured keyboards

I'm also rounding up all the best hot-swappable keyboards and the best wireless gaming keyboards I've tested so far for more options.

It’s been the best part of six years since Elgato made its microphone debut with the original Wave:3, and quite a lot has changed in the meantime. The market is now completely stacked, and every brand seemingly has its own microphone for streaming and gaming. It’s no longer just a hardware fight; advancements in software, AI processing, and companion apps are just as important as base physical specs. And perhaps most welcome for aspiring creators, the budget you need for studio-quality audio at home is going down, not up.

The headline details of the Wave:3 MK.2 haven’t changed much. It’s still a USB-powered condenser microphone, it still includes a stand, and it’s still pitched as being a stress-free path to great audio for streamers and podcasters. Launching at $169.99/£159.99, it’s still a similar price too, which does leave it exposed to being undercut in such a competitive market. What’s new is an upgraded processor with onboard effects that take the load off your CPU, an improved anti-clipping solution, and the ability to store your settings on-device and take them with you between machines.

We were fans of the original Elgato Wave 3, but with so many great choices in the list of best microphones for streaming and gaming, there’s a real need for these peripherals to make themselves heard. Elgato’s solution for the Wave:3 MK.2 isn’t to reinvent the hardware; it’s to expand and improve the other bits that support it instead.

Design

Elgato hasn’t exactly gone back to the drawing board with the design of the Wave:3 MK.2; this will be a very familiar-looking microphone to anyone who’s seen the original. Not that it needed to mix things up for the sake of it mind you, the original was a rather fetching thing, and the design language still holds up well on the sequel. Rocking an almost retro charm, the flat-pill-shaped main mic body is supported in a u-mount that either screws onto the included stand or a mic arm.

There are no fun color options available at launch, just a classic black. That black is perfectly sleek and pleasant, but it’s also a bit of a disappointing step down from the original’s choice of seven. Admittedly, these were added to the range over time, and I’d both like and expect to see Elgato do the same again here, but surely we could have launched with a crisp white one too? Build quality is excellent, and while I’d have preferred to see the use of metal extend beyond just the top half and wrap the entire mic body, the plastic that’s used instead both feels and looks fine. The Wave:3 MK.2 has grown slightly in all directions; the body is around 1.5cm higher and 2cm wider than the original, but it’s still a compact choice, and unless you put it side by side with the original, I’m not sure you’d actually notice it’s any bigger.

The most obvious change to the Wave:3 MK.2’s design is how things are laid out on the front. The three indicator dots for which level you’re adjusting remain, though they’re now joined by a fourth option in the form of some sparkles over the microphone icon. The row of dots below them is gone, and instead, Elgato has wrapped that information around the dial. This smooth LED ring relays what your gain is set to, how loud your current input is as you talk, and turns a punchy red when you’re muted. It’s a neat system that works well, though I found the white splodge that shows your gain level to be a little too large, blocking too much of the VU meter’s movement. Around the back is the USB-C connection for your device, alongside a 3.5mm headphone jack for real-time monitoring (which now includes your post-processing effects so you can hear exactly how you sound to your viewers), and the touch-sensitive mute button remains on top.

Features

The outside of the Wave:3 MK.2 may be very similar to its predecessor, but through its partnership with LEWITT Audio, Elgato has made a raft of intriguing changes to what’s going on under the hood. The condenser capsule has shrunk slightly from 17mm to 16mm and changed to a supercardioid pickup pattern, while the 96 kHz sample rate has been dropped entirely. Technically, losing the 96 kHz sample rate option is a downgrade from what the Wave:3 MK.1 is capable of, but the vast majority of creators won’t have seen the benefits over 48 kHz anyway. Dynamic range has climbed from 95dB to 110dB and Max SPL from 120 dB to 130 dB, meaning the MK.2 can capture a wider spread between your quietest and loudest moments, and handle louder bursts of sound before distorting.

The more impactful change is actually on the software side. Through the new Wave FX Processor, the Elgato Wave:3 MK.2 now runs five DSP effects simultaneously and onboard the mic itself. Rather than relying on processing power from your PC, a low-cut filter, expander, compressor, four-band EQ, and something Elgato calls Voice Tune all happen natively. Clipguard also moves to version 2.0 and has been reworked into a multi-stage system, which aims to make clipping virtually impossible. There are now no excuses for getting your levels wrong either, with a new Auto Gain Wizard that analyzes your voice to dial in optimal gain levels automatically. You can launch this via the revamped Elgato Wave Link app, or by long-pressing the dial on the microphone itself.

Being a condenser microphone, you’re given a little extra flexibility with placement, but you will start to lose quality when you start going off-axis. Elgato recommends being 10-20cm away from the Wave:3 MK.2 for best placement, though I was comfortably able to keep it out of view of my facecam and sounded the same at nearer 30cm. It wasn’t until I was 50cm+ away that I really noticed a drop off, as long as I was still lined up and front on. Moving side to side does have a more immediately noticeable effect, thinning out the sound and losing a lot of character at the same time.

Performance

Between streaming on Twitch, podcasting, and reviewing creator tech, I’ve worked with more than my fair share of microphones. Jumping between options, the choice between a dynamic or condenser microphone has always felt like it came with a list of various pros and cons. Dynamic microphones might sound richer but often lack some natural detail and character. Condenser microphones are crisp with detail but tend to sound roomy and want to broadcast every little noise. Having spent a couple of weeks testing the Wave:3 MK.2, I think Elgato has created a "dynamenser" microphone; a word I’ve just made up, but its marketing team is welcome to license from me.

The Elgato Wave:3 MK.2 feels like it read the pro column of both a dynamic and a condenser microphone, took those bits, and then largely ignored the cons column. It’s wonderfully good. My voice sounded warm and full, like it would with a dynamic mic, but without the overly gooey rounding off. I didn’t sound over-produced either; there was a natural sharpness as I spoke that made my stream sound like you were simply sitting across the table from me in a quiet room. Hopefully in a comfortable chair, preferably with a cheeseboard. But I’m getting off track.

Part of why I’m so impressed by the Wave:3 MK.2 is that it made me sound like me, just a digital version. So often I test microphones, and while I can’t argue with the raw quality they produce, the end characteristics are dictated by the mic itself and not the person speaking into it. They’re tuned in a fixed way and try to process everyone’s unique voice in that same, fixed way. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a bad-sounding mic from a major brand in 2026, but it can be equally difficult to find a microphone that makes you sound like you.

Through a heap of toggle toggling, I narrowed down where most of the credit goes, and it’s two features in particular: Voice Tune and Voice Focus. Voice Tune is part of the new onboard Wave FX Processor DSP line-up, and from what I can gather, it’s essentially audio salt. The right amount of salt enhances the flavour hitting your taste buds, and the right amount of Voice Tune enhances the vocal tones hitting your audience's ears. Much like being heavy-handed with the salt shaker, I didn’t find ramping this all the way up was an improvement, and ended up with it set almost exactly halfway in the strength slider.

Then there’s Voice Focus, Elgato’s AI-powered isolation effect, which does more than filter out background noise. I found it gave everything a helpful lift and was one of the key effects for removing the roominess you get from a condenser capsule. It’s worth noting that Voice Focus runs on your desktop or laptop device rather than onboard like the other effects, but it didn’t seem particularly taxing on my PC.

There are a couple of things I’m not quite as fond of with the Elgato Wave:3 MK.2, primarily that touch-sensitive mute button on the top. It’s incredibly sensitive, and on more than one occasion, I managed to mute myself mid-stream by reaching past the mic to my camera or simply adjusting its position. The LED ring on the front of the body makes it clear enough when you’re muted, so I didn’t end up with half a stream of silence, but it’s still annoying. I also found that Voice Focus was often a little too eager to filter noises out, but didn’t always catch what I wanted it to. Having recorded a podcast with the MK.2 I noticed multiple instances where quick comments or laughter were trimmed off and were only half audible. Meanwhile, it was only adequate at filtering out noise from my mechanical keyboard and controller.

Should you buy the Elgato Wave:3 MK.2?

It’s going to come as no surprise that I’m happy to recommend you invest in Elgato’s latest effort. Whether you’re new to creating content and want a great mic to get you started or you’re looking for a step up in production value from a budget offering, the Wave:3 MK.2 is an all-round improvement on the original and one of the better mics I’ve tested. Where the Elgato Wave:3 MK.2 sits in the wider microphone picture, however, is an interesting conundrum that almost entirely comes down to price.

It’s by no means an expensive microphone competing with the likes of the Shure MV7+, but it’s not fighting hard in the budget trenches either. I swapped out the excellent Maono PD200W from my setup to test the MK.2, and I won’t be swapping back in a hurry. Though if I were budget-conscious, I wouldn’t be looking to suddenly sell the cheaper PD200W for the MK.2, either. As good as the Wave:3 MK.2 sounds and as easy as it is to get set up with, I’m not fully convinced it sounds 30% better in a value-based head-to-head than the RRP gap between them suggests, particularly if you’re willing to dive into some software processing and EQ options yourself. That said, if you’re looking for maximum quality with a minimum of effort, the Elgato Wave:3 MK.2 is probably your best bet right now.

How we tested the Elgato Wave 3 Mk.2

I added the Elgato Wave:3 MK.2 to my content creation setup and used it for a couple of weeks across all my recording tasks. This included livestreaming on Twitch, recording podcasts, general voice call chat, and the dedicated testing you listened to earlier. Along with actually using it as my daily driver, I conducted a range of specific tests and made test recordings with and without each DSP effect applied. Primarily, it was tested on an Elgato Wave Mic Arm Pro, along with some testing sitting on the included fixed stand.

For more on our testing methods, take a look at the full-length GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

Still deciding what gear you need? Check out the best gear for streaming, the best capture cards, and the best streaming mixers.

I never thought Logitech would be behind one of my favorite gaming keyboards of the year. I'll be the first to admit I've previously found these decks a little lacklustre. While Asus, Razer, and Corsair often have something unique to shout about, Logi's keyboards have generally felt a little too safe for me to truly get excited about.

The Logitech G512 X launched yesterday, and having spent some time with the mechanical (but also TMR magnetic - more on that in a bit) deck it has to be one of the most interesting I've had on the desk so far.

Straight out of the box this is a mechanical keyboard, and a particularly satisfying one at that. Keypresses are a little heavier than I'm used to with traditional red linears, but there's a secret hidden inside a little window at the top of the chassis.

Here you'll find nine Gateron KS-20 magnetic switches, neatly waiting in a little row. They're fully hot-swappable with the mechanical clackers already installed on the G512 X straight out of the box, and even come with a set of O-rings within easy reach as well. Slap these switches on your most used keys, and you've got a combination of tactile mechanical clackers and more adjustable magnetic gameplay zones.

Logitech is calling the G512 X the 'first' keyboard with compatibility across mechanical and magnetic switches. It's not. That trophy sits in Cherry's case, with the Cherry XTRFY MX 8.2 Pro TMR offering up the first example of a truly hot-swappable magnetic keyboard that I've seen so far. Logi's latest release is no less impressive, though, and makes the smart move to prioritize cheaper mechanical clackers rather than far more expensive magnetic tappers straight out the box. Not only that, but those TMR sensors (a newer Hall effect lookalike that's growing in popularity this year) are only taking up half the deck.

That, combined with a more budget-friendly wired connection, means the G512 X sits at a $179.99 launch price - far less than Cherry's $249.99.

I've had the larger 96% model on deck, with full access to a slightly shifted number pad and a couple of media controls up in the right corner. The 75% keeps both of these rotary knobs, dropping those number keys for a vertical set of nav buttons instead.

This is no stock black gaming keyboard either. While Logitech's more 'Pro' styled decks tend to look a little boring on the desk top, the G512 X has plenty more energy to it. The white and aqua colorway I received is accented by a wide RGB light strip running under translucent plastic around the front. If you pick up the extra palm wrest, this lighting also produces a glowing effect as well.

Under-key lighting is sturdy, though with only one LED under larger keys, things can get a little uneven around longer (or dual) legends.

All of that would be nothing without a solid feel, though, and this is where those TMR sensors come into their own. Rather than feeling woolly and heavy, like earlier iterations of the best Hall effect gaming keyboards, these clackers feel incredibly smooth. They're lighter than the browns under the rest of the keys, but also manage to blend seamlessly into the typing experience. Once installed on the deck, each key's RGB color changes to let you know where your special clackers are as well - it's the little things.

I've only spent a little time with the Logitech G512 X so far but, ahead of my full review, this deck has already impressed me. There's evidence of an excellent attention to detail here, from the five-pin storage sockets keeping your swapped-out mechanical switches safe to the nicely textured caps up top.

$179.99 is still relatively pricey for a gaming keyboard, but Logitech has been far smarter with this magnetic release than its competitors. The Corsair Vanguard Pro 96 is my top rated gaming keyboard of the moment, even with its $229.99 MSRP. The Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE is the best magnetic option I've tested, but comes in at an eye-watering $359.99.

Logitech may lose some friends by limiting its magnetic compatibility to the left hand side of the board, and marketing it as a TMR keyboard with only nine included switches. I've been using these premium decks for some time now, though, and while it might be nice to be able to configure every key as you see fit - it's often just not necessary.

This is a lean implementation of a high-end keyboard technology that respects your wallet far more than its competitors. Right now, any brand that finds unique ways to offer greater flexibility around features and pricing is in my good graces.

• See all gaming keyboard deals at Amazon

I'm also rounding up more of the best hot-swappable keyboards, or take a look at the best wireless gaming keyboards and best membrane keyboards for more options.

Listen, I love a good touchscreen. I love it when peripherals add more customization control options. I want my setup to have as many launchers, macros, and LED buttons as possible - but even I have my limits.

Turtle Beach's new Command Series MC7 gaming mouse is now up for pre-order, at a pretty flagship-looking $159.99 MSRP might I add, and slapped right across its shoulder you'll find a massive 2.25-inch touchscreen display. It's not just giving me the ick, it's making me physically itchy.

The screen looks like it has space for four different macro zones, spanning DPI shifting, profile shifting, personalized macros, and OBS controls. It's positioned just above the thumb rest, standing starkly inline with an incredibly square front end, angled very slightly with the edge of the main clicks.

I just can't see a universe where, mid-game, I can curl my thumb around to hit any of these touchscreen zones reliably. It just looks too high, with too much of a ceiling on the thumb rest, to be truly navigable without looking down and shifting my entire hand. I'm even less likely to move my left hand over to hit anything on this panel. And this thing better have pretty intelligent gesture smarts - I can't think of anything worse than being threatened by accidental settings changes if I shift my thumb too far during gameplay. My hand is aching from the tension already.

It's not just the giant touchscreen that made me wince over the weekend. The whole rodent just looks like it's been designed with a set-square. It's somehow incredibly sharp and boxy while also relying on heavy angles around the main click height and rear hump. This is one I'll have to see to believe.

Elsewhere, the Turtle Beach Command Series MC7 offers 8,000Hz wireless polling with a 30,000 DPI sensor - all pretty standard fare for a top-end gaming mouse with competitive players in its sights. The battery presents yet another surprise, though.

This is a hot-swappable solution, much like the Glorious O3 Wireless, with two 15 hour battery packs in the box. Each pack slots into the rear hump of the mouse when it's juiced up, returning to the included charging hub after being swapped out.

I can't lie and say my first reaction to the Turtle Beach Command Series MC7 wasn't tinged with horror. I am, however, curious to see what this rodent has in store. I'm judging it particularly harshly based on looks alone, but if there's an ugly duckling redemption arc in here I'm keen to see how it plays out.

• See all gaming mouse deals at Amazon

We're also hunting down more of the best wireless gaming mouse models as well as the best gaming keyboards for more setup inspiration.

If you're on the hunt for a cheap and cheerful gaming keyboard that will see you through the next few years of play without a hefty up front price tag, you might as well stop reading right now.

If you're looking to invest in a high-end magnetic deck that offers a better typing experience than any I've tested so far, while still packing premium features like wireless play, an actually usable OLED display, and super slick customization features, there's something I need you to see.

I finished testing the Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE earlier this year, and it's stuck around in my setup. Those super smooth switches, the clean and easy 2.4GHz connection, even the comfortable 96% key spacing (not to be taken for granted) make it not just the best Hall effect keyboard I've tested, but one of the best gaming keyboards on the market right now.

There's just one problem, this thing will run you a whopping $359.99 at MSRP. I'd avoid that. Instead, Amazon has just dropped the magnetic clacker back down to its lowest price yet, hitting $295.99 for only the second time in its life. You're still paying a premium, but with just over $60 off it's a little easier to grab my endgame keeb.

Let me get one thing straight. This is a gaming keyboard for those who already know they're going all in on magnetic switches. Even at $300, it's in a different pricing league to 99% of the rest of the market - the Corsair Vanguard Pro 96, my top gaming keyboard overall, makes some smart sacrifices to keep its MSRP at $230 (and it's even currently on sale for $189.99 at Amazon).

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All of that to say, this is the Hall effect keyboard for those who don't want to make sacrifices. The wireless connection (both 2.4GHz and Bluetooth) isn't necessary by any stretch of the imagination, but it is rare to find and the battery holds up better than the Ducky One X.

You'll find a neat little OLED display window on a lot of gaming keyboards, but the ROG Azoth 96 HE's incorporates far more control features, from music playback to onboard switch actuation customization. Corsair's is essentially a digital photo frame.

And the typing experience. If you've used a cheaper HE deck, you'll know the woolly, stuffy feeling that's plagued these boards since they first went mainstream a couple of years ago. Paying $100 to $200 for a magnetic deck from this time last year will see you fighting through high-tension keys and battling fatigue in the meantime. Asus's ROG HFX V2 switches (the same ones used on the even more expensive Asus ROG Falcata) are silky by comparison, feeling almost mechanical in their snap.

The only thing holding the Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE back is its price point. It's just too expensive for the majority of the market, but if you're interested in the Lambo of magnetic decks, this is a must-see discount.

• See all gaming keyboard deals at Amazon

I'm also hunting down all the best wireless gaming keyboards and the best hot-swappable keyboards for more options.

Keychron has updated its GitHub repository to include firmware source code, 3D model files, and even keycap and control knob designs for its K, L, P, Q, and V series decks in the last few days. With new files being added as recently as one hour ago, we've essentially got everything we need to customize and 3D print some of the best gaming keyboards the brand has to offer.

I say essentially, because the actual switches and PCB will still need to be purchased. While the former can be grabbed from a wider range of brands, any of Keychron's HE models will also need their own magnetic switches.

Of course, the readme is explicit in its statement that "copying and selling Keychron keyboards or mice, or trading on Keychron trademarks, is not allowed," but other than that this is all pretty free rein. The full hub contains everything you need to get started as well as helpful guides and beginner-friendly assistance.

With a little know-how and a 3D printer at your side, it's possible to modify and create your very own custom Keychron deck. Why is the brand being so free with its documentation?

It wants to expand its community while also providing educational materials for hobbyists and students. Whether you want to learn how all those components fit together so critically or you're just keen to take your custom designs to the next level, there's plenty to dig into here.

It's going to take some work to build an entire Keychron keyboard from scratch using these files, but modifying or creating entirely new accessories for your deck is a far simpler starting position. The brand is even allowing creators to sell their new kit, just as long as it's not a full keyboard.

• See all Keychron keyboards at Amazon

I'm also hunting down all the best Hall effect keyboards and the best hot-swappable keyboards for more customization options, or take a look at the best wireless gaming keyboards for cable-free devices.

The Logitech G305 Lightspeed is a veteran of the best gaming mouse world, but eight years after launch how does this budget rodent hold up against the rest of the market? Surprisingly well.

This right-handed, AA battery-powered 2.4GHz mouse has shed its $49.99 / £59.99 skin by now, often available for well under $30. That makes it one of the cheapest options on the market, but it still manages to beat SteelSeries' newer releases for battery while holding its own in the build quality arena as well. Comfortable, relatively lightweight, and sturdy on the desk, this is a must-see for bargain hunters.

What I loved

Excellent price point

It's those numbers that often draw people to the Logitech G305 Lightspeed in the first place. While it still holds a $50 MSRP, this is a wireless gaming mouse that can be found for less than $30 on most days. Considering that's among the cheapest, even of the wired options, it's a serious selling point.

Brands don't often go this far down the price scale with a cord-free rodent. SteelSeries' cheapest competitor, the Rival 3 Wireless Gen 2 launched at a similar $59.99 (but is generally found for between $30 and $40 day to day) while the Razer DeathAdder V2 X Hyperspeed is rarely found for less than $40 these days.

Considering the G305 Lightspeed doesn't only drop lower than these competitors, but does so with more regularity, it's easily the cheapest mainstream option out there.

Punching above its weight in build quality

It might be inexpensive, but Logitech certainly hasn't cheaped out on build quality. The G305 Lightspeed was released nearly eight years ago now, but that doesn't mean it feels flimsy in the hand. I was surprised to find zero creaking or flexing around the main chassis, even when putting direct pressure on the sides or top of the casing. That's rare even for a mid-range device, let alone one that costs less than a takeout.

Yes the clicks feel slightly more hollow than the $100+ options I'm used to testing, but they're far from rattly - still tight, precise, and clean in their feel and sound. Plus the scroll wheel has a fantastic tension underneath, miles from the overly stiff or free-wheeling spins of other budget models. There's just a breath of a hint of echo from the main click (that I only heard when holding it directly up to my ear), but everything else is held firmly in place.

Rock solid performance

If it's cheap and well built, surely there must be a sacrifice in its reporting? Nope.

Even eight years after launch, the Logitech G305 Lightspeed still holds its own in the arena. Of course, this 12,000 DPI / 400 IPS Hero sensor isn't going to win a race against the Hero 2s of the best Logitech gaming mice or the high-speed eSports ambitions of Razer's flagships. Considering most casual players won't notice when that 8,000Hz polling rate is turned off and won't even move much beyond 3,000 DPI, though, this really is all you need.

It nails the necessary specs on paper, but the G305 Lightspeed keeps its word on the battlefield as well. I never noticed any jitters, click latency drops, or tracking whoopsies in my weeks of testing - this thing ran like a far more expensive rodent and I trusted it just as much when push came to shove.

Versatile design

The only area where I see the Logitech G305 Lightspeed showing its age a little is its form factor. For some reason, this flatter shape has moved out of fashion in the last few years but returning to the shapes of yore isn't a bad thing. While today's gaming mice prioritize a more bulbous, curvy shape, I've had an excellent time with the flatter chassis design here.

It essentially means I can stay comfortable in a palm grip thanks to the wider middle section, but the drop in height keeps fingertip and claw grips on the cards as well. I find myself in the latter position the most and never felt unsupported during longer play sessions. That's versatile in its grip type, but those with larger hands may struggle to keep their composure.

What to consider

Smaller size won't fit everyone

The shape is certainly suitable for a wide range of mousin' styles, so long as your hand size can accommodate the slightly smaller chassis stature. The G305 isn't a miniature mouse at all, but it is smaller than other rodents out there. Combine that footprint with the aforementioned flatter design and there's less for larger hands to hold onto here.

Replaceable batteries are common at this price point

This isn't so much a drawback of the G305 as something you'll likely need to accept if you're after a budget wireless mouse in the sub-$50 price category. Rechargeable batteries only hit the spec lists at around the $60 - $80 mark (check out the Keychron M7 8K if you're looking to move up the price list), so you'll be making do with a double-A here.

The SteelSeries Rival 3 Wireless wins on this front, though only if you're after a slower Bluetooth connection. With two triple-A batteries inside you're looking at up to 450 hours at a time. However, when that 2.4GHz dongle comes into play the G305 remains on top. The Logitech is good for up to 250 hours versus SteelSeries' 200 hours.

No Bluetooth option

This is the Logitech G305 Lightspeed so the brand is putting most of its emphasis on its own faster 2.4GHz connection. That means, unlike SteelSeries' entry, there's no Bluetooth connection to fall back on here. You'll need a spare USB-A slot to run the G305 from, which could get tricky if you're switching between PC, mobile, and handhelds.

Should you buy the Logitech G305 Lightspeed?

If you're going for a budget-friendly wireless gaming mouse, there's nothing else I'd recommend before the Logitech G305 Lightspeed. This is a best-in-class example of excellent value for money, with a build quality and performance that punches well above a price tag sitting slightly below its competition. Those with larger hands may struggle to keep control and multitaskers may need that Bluetooth connection back. However, in the grand scheme of value for money, Logitech beats SteelSeries and Razer hands down.

How I tested the Logitech G305 Lightspeed

I used the Logitech G305 Lightspeed for a period of two weeks prior to review, primarily testing across CS2 and Doom: The Dark Ages, with a little Planet Coaster thrown in for good measure. I used the device as my sole mouse for all gameplay and work during that time. For more information on how we test gaming mice, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

For more setup inspiration, check out the best gaming keyboards and the best gaming headsets on the market.

Every now and then, a new game will launch in one region that’s not available in others. Sometimes it’s a closed beta, other times it’s region-locked for a time, and our brains end up finding it more appealing because we can’t have it.

Still, what if you could ‘relocate’ your system to another region? What if you could convince the game’s servers you’re in an eligible location and gain access? It’s possible with the best gaming VPNs, but not as straightforward as you may think.

Here’s all you need to know about hopping the region fence and smelling the daisies on the other side - or, you know, playing region-locked games.

Before we begin: A note on terms and conditions

As with buying a game from another storefront, it’s not always worth the risk to access geolocked content.

Digital storefronts can potentially reject your access, and even ban accounts that try to move their locations around. Is playing that hot new MMORPG a few months early worth it if it means potentially losing your Steam Library?

That’s a decision for you to make, but it’s important to mention it upfront.

On PC, it’s relatively simple

If you’re on PC (or Mac), you’re in luck. Using a VPN is easy and reliable, particularly if you’re using one of the trusted options we’ve mentioned below.

Just as you can flit between different Netflix libraries with the likes of SurfShark or NordVPN, you can also log in elsewhere and potentially download something you otherwise wouldn’t be able to.

You can also access alternative storefronts, like other Steam or Epic listings unavailable in your region - just keep in mind the caveats above. In our experience, you may need to create a fresh account on those platforms that you use specifically with a VPN, like an EU account for an EU region.

What about on console?

On console, things are trickier. A VPN can’t run on your console, but you can access one by running it via your router.

Doing so only half the battle, though. You’ll need to set up a fresh account in most instances where you can link a region-specific payment card. In the UK? You might need to set up a US account, with a US payment card, and access the PlayStation Store or Xbox Store via a VPN on your router to be able to buy something that’s US-only.

Whether the juice is worth the squeeze is up to you, especially when considering that you may need to log into that specific account to play the title each time.

GamesRadar+’s VPN recommendations

These VPNs are great for gaming, but don’t expect them to play nicely with getting around console restrictions on their own - you’ll still need to jump through the hoops we covered above.

We recommend VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

If you're eyeing up the best VPNs for gaming, then you may be wondering what exactly you're looking for when it comes to making a decision on who to entrust with your web security while still maintaining responsive gameplay.

All VPNs will cause varying degrees of speed loss because they’re rerouting your traffic across the world, but it’s actually latency that’s the key consideration when picking a VPN service for gaming.

It’s not the only reason, though - here are the things to look out for, in order of importance.

Latency is king

Online latency (or ping) is by far the most important thing to be aware of when selecting a VPN.

It can be the difference between smooth gameplay and ‘rubber-banding’, lag, and having an all-around terrible time. The rub is that pretty much any VPN will add some degree of latency, but you’ll want to ensure you’re keeping it under 50ms in order to stay competitive in whichever game you’re playing.

They can also help you get around your Internet Service Provider (ISP) throttling your speeds at peak times.

Not all protocols are made equal, either. WireGuard is the go-to for many gamers because it balances hardware efficiency with managing to eke out as much speed as possible, and it’s considered the base of proprietary protocols like ExpressVPN’s Lightway and NordVPN’s NordLynx - two of the best options for gamers.

Platforms Second

If you’re playing games on a PC or Mac, then you have a huge number of options for getting online using a VPN because it can be run right on your hardware.

Console gamers have to jump through a few extra hoops, either using a hotspot, setting up Smart DNS, or using a VPN on their router itself.

All of our recommendations below will let you manage that, but if you’re considering an alternative option, you’ll want to bear that in mind - if you want the VPN for console, there’s no point subscribing to one that simply won’t do what you need it to.

Privacy Third

Peer-to-peer networking can make your IP address visible, and therefore vulnerable to DDoS attacks that overload your traffic to take you offline.

Using a VPN to obfuscate your traffic and prevent your IP address from being seen or reached by a third party is a great reason to invest in one.

GamesRadar+’s VPN recommendations

Here are three of the finest VPNs around in 2026, and all of them are great for gamers.

We recommend VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

Using a VPN while gaming can give you a fair number of benefits, like avoiding ISP throttling, reaching other digital storefronts, and potentially improving lag in some cases. While you might be thinking of a gaming VPN as more of a ‘PC thing’, you’ll be pleased to know it’s viable on console, too.

Whether you’re looking for any of the benefits mentioned above, or just want to load into a different server in a game to be able to play with friends located elsewhere, it’s possible to play your PS5, Xbox Series S or X, and Nintendo Switch or Switch 2 via a VPN. Here’s how.

Use a hotspot from your laptop or PC

Top VPNs have apps on just about every platform, but you won’t find them natively on console.

Instead, you’ll need to run them on your PC or Mac, and connect to either via your console’s Wi-Fi connection or Ethernet.

Doing so will then let you use the VPN to obfuscate your location or get you ‘closer’ to the server you want to connect to. The best part is that this is relatively easy to do - just look into your chosen VPN’s documentation to get started sharing it with your console of choice.

Use a VPN Router

If you’re a little more confident, you can use a dedicated hardware-based VPN solution to connect your console to a VPN on the router itself, or set up your VPN on your existing router.

The exact steps to achieve this will depend on your router, but in general you'll need to make sure your device supports OpenVPN. Note that many routers provided by ISPs will not support VPN usage.

All of our recommended options below have router VPN settings, as well as comprehensive support options if you come unstuck.

Smart DNS

It's not technically a VPN, but we’ll mention it because there’s a degree of crossover. A smart DNS setup doesn’t encrypt all of your traffic as a VPN would, but instead works to circumvent geo-blocked content.

Many VPN services, including ExpressVPN, offer a handy Smart DNS service, so you’ll only need to grab the information from your VPN provider and enter that information in your console.

The caveat is that the lack of encryption means that you’re not going to be as secure, and your data is just as open to snooping as it would be sans VPN or DNS tweaks. On the one hand, you may be able to activate Netflix somewhere, but on the other, you could come a cropper and end up locked out of it and needing to fiddle with the settings just to get back to where you started.

GamesRadar+’s VPN recommendations

Here are three of the finest VPNs around in 2026.

We recommend VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

I've been saying it for years, Asus knows how to sound dampen a keyboard - probably more so than any other mainstream gaming brand putting out "enthusiast-grade" devices. The Asus ROG Strix Morph 96 Wireless is no exception.

This cheaper entry (coming in at $139.99 / £134.99) is a sight for a set of sore eyes that have spent a little too long poring over $250+ decks to find the best gaming keyboards. You're still getting the wireless connection, solid battery life, and functional 96% layout of more premium options, though. The dampening, foaming, and gasket mounting make for one of the most tactile-feeling linear experiences I've had so far, energetic, bouncy, but with a nice sense of texture to every press.

Where it steps slightly outside of the mainstream is its modding potential. The Strix Morph features a fully removable top plate held in position by five screws. Removing this allows for in-depth personalization underneath the PCB, as well as on top of it with hot-swappable switches.

Wireless mechanical keyboards aren't as expensive as they used to be, and you'll find plenty of two-figure options out there from budget brands. If you're going for a slightly more refined typing feel, though, the Asus ROG Morph 96 is a solid option - especially if you want to crack open that case.

What I love

A bouncier linear experience

There's something about these Asus ROG NX switches, in a chassis this well mounted they simply spring off the board. I've been testing a set of ROG NX Snow V2 clickers, but the Morph is also available with the brand's Storm V2 switches as well.

Asus itself classes Snow as thocky, and if that's the case I'd be interested to see how 'clacky' the Storms really are.

This isn't a simple linear experience like the majority of the market, but rather one that has a little more texture to it. The best way I can describe it is somewhere between a very light brown and a heavy red, with something of the sound of a well-dampened blue. That's to say smooth and streamlined, but with more of a clack sound than a thock.

The clackers themselves use a walled stem design to keep dust out before each switch gets a good factory lubing to keep things smooth and steady. With a 1.8mm actuation point and 40gf initial force, they're pretty light under the hand, but I rarely mis-pressed adjacent keys.

Straight out the box I was surprised to find ABS toppers on here. Aside from the slightly below average price for a wireless Asus gaming keyboard, there's nothing else in here to suggest this is a budget offering. While some will take umbrage in the lower quality cap build, though, I take some solace in the fact that they're particularly well textured and feel sturdy under the fingertips.

Far more room for customization

Very few mainstream decks will let you break into the main chassis without clocking your warranty. Even the best hot-swappable keyboards from gaming brands like Razer, Corsair, and SteelSeries make their cases almost impossible to break into, but the Asus ROG Strix Morph 96 Wireless can be fully disassembled from the top down.

It's a shame a screwdriver isn't included in the box. If you're used to tearing down tech you'll likely have a torx driver to hand, but without one you'll be stripped these screws in an instant. Still, as a companion to the hot-swappable design and south-facing LEDs, it's a nice touch that opens the door to even heavier dampening mods.

Compact but functional design

The 96% form factor is picking up across the industry, after spending a few too many years in the shadows. It's by no means new, but with the Corsair Vanguard Pro 96 and Asus ROG Azoth HE 96 both opting for the compact layout in the last few months it feels like a resurgence is heading our way.

Unlike the former, there's a good amount of spacing between the main keys and the 'num-pad zone,' which keeps things nice and accurate in every day usage. I did find myself accidentally hitting the slightly squished arrow buttons, but it's easy enough to get used to.

With no need to drop your num-pad for extra mouse room the Asus ROG Strix Morph 96 Wireless keeps all your main controls front and center, with a row of nav keys maintained above the main numerical pad as well. All that sits in a chassis only slightly longer than a larger 75% keyboard.

Dropping the OLED display of devices like the Azoth means you've got more space for keys (though Asus does do a lot more with these panels than its competitors), while dedicated media controls are housed on the left hand side of the deck. A volume dial and multi-function button sit on the edge of the left lip, with their own RGB flair, in a similar to design to that of the Asus ROG Falcata. It's functional without taking up too much space, and that's exactly the balance I like to see.

What to consider

No magnetic functionality

You'd be hard pressed to find one of the best Hall effect keyboards at under $140 these days, so I'm not knocking the Asus ROG Strix Morph 96 Wireless too hard for sticking to mechanical clackers. However, models like the Logitech G Pro X TKL Rapid will net you the extra features of a magnetic board at only a little further up the price scale. That particular model comes in $50 more expensive at MSRP, but is often on sale at Amazon for between $140 and $160.

What specifically are you sacrificing? Adjustable switch actuations can come in pretty handy for fast-paced FPS and other competitive genres. Setting certain keys to a feather-sensitivity while making sure the keys around them are at their dullest settings improves speed while reducing accidental presses. On top of that, you're getting rapid trigger (to make repeat presses register faster) and multiple actuations per key (a more advanced feature that can trigger different inputs based on how far down a keypress you are).

You'd be looking at the cheaper end of the Hall effect scale to pick up a keyboard close to this MSRP, though, and typing experience can take a hit when the numbers are this low. I find magnetic decks have a propensity to feel a little woolly under the hands with too much tension in their actuation compared to mechanical clickers. If you're typing for longer periods of time, I'd steer clear of sub-$200 models.

Budget brands can go cheaper

The Asus ROG Strix Morph 96 Wireless manages to hold its position against slightly more expensive Hall effect decks based on its typing feel, but it's still got to justify itself against the low end of the market.

As I found in my Newmen GM326 review, budget mechanical keyboards have come a long way in a few short years. While super cheap options won't net you the same kind of sound dampening and gasket mounting prestige as this Asus model, you'll still find largely the same features, feel, and overall functionality for far less.

Brands like Redragon, RK Royal Kludge, and Womier specialize in producing low-budget decks that still look and feel great - and they're often half the price of Asus's entry. Only some of these options (and largely the more expensive ones coming in only slightly below $139.99) offer the same 2.4GHz / Bluetooth wireless connections, though, and few use a CNC milled aluminum main chassis.

If you just want to get the job done and don't mind dropping some fancy high-speed connection features, a sturdier build quality, and (generally speaking) dedicated media controls, you can still get a solid deck for between $50 and $80. Of course, buying from these smaller 'Amazon' brands doesn't net you the same kind of warranty guarantee.

Azoth still wins on battery life

It's a small point, but it bears reminding as I've been testing the Morph directly against the Asus ROG Azoth over the past couple of weeks. This is certainly a sturdy battery, running for up to 100 hours with RGB on and 590 hours in its most power-economical state.

It can't hold a candle to the 100+ hours I regularly manage to squeeze out of the Azoth with both the RGB and OLED screen on. Whether or not the old girl can still hit that 2,000 hour max charge three years later, I'm still surprised by just how much juice is in this keyboard whenever I get it back on the desk. Considering the Azoth is the best wireless gaming keyboard (thanks in no small part to this endurance), it's pertinent to mention.

Should you buy the Asus ROG Strix Morph 96 Wireless?

Compared to the rest of the mainstream gaming market, the Asus ROG Strix Morph 96 has a remarkably fair proposition. Its $139.99 price tag isn't outrageous by any means, coming in much cheaper than I would have expected a wireless mechanical keyboard to have done just a year or so ago. Hell, even the 2023 Asus ROG Azoth is still regularly going for $199.99 these days.

In a time when the shelves seem to be filling with $200+ Hall effect powerhouses, it's nice to see a deck that focuses on high-end customization, typing feel, and build quality. I'd be comfortable recommending the Morph to anyone for whom personalization and a wireless connection are must-haves, especially if you don't like to leave your media controls out of the equation.

In fact, the only reason it doesn't quite topple the Azoth in the wireless category is its battery life. Without that superior charge, the similar typing feel, excellent design, and connection versatility (not to mention the much lower price point) would have seriously threatened pole position. At $139.99, the Asus ROG Strix Morph is certainly up there, it just depends on how much you hate plugging in.

How I tested the Asus ROG Strix Morph 96 Wireless

I ran the Asus ROG Strix Morph 96 Wireless as my main keyboard for a period of two weeks before completing this review, comparing it directly against the Asus ROG Azoth, Corsair Vanguard Pro 96, and Newmen GM326 in that time. More dedicated testing time was spent in Apex Legends and CS:2, with additional play in Planet Coaster and Doom: The Dark Ages. For more information on how we test gaming keyboards, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

I'm also rounding up all the best membrane keyboards for something a little cheaper, or check out the best gaming mouse models and best gaming headsets for more setup ideas.

Last year, my social media feeds seemed to ignite with targeted ads and forum posts about a gaming chair that was going viral on Kickstarter. Beyond the gimmicky headline of "this chair has a bionic backrest", the spotlights that were shone on this chair ended up being more than warranted. In my over three years of reviewing the best gaming chairs, I've never found one that's better than the LiberNovo Omni.

But like other absolute luxury chairs before it from brands like Herman Miller, it is horrifically expensive. For reassurance, let me tell you that you do not need to spend around a $1,000 to get a great gaming seat, but it's hard to put a price on the innovation, design, and serene comfort the Omni can give you. Well... I say that, but Amazon is trying to put a lower price on those things as we speak.

There's an important buzzword you'll discover if you go shopping for a new chair, and it's "ergonomics". A lot of gaming chairs try to be ergonomic, and some base their entire design around it, but it feels like few of them understand it as a concept like LiberNovo does.

Ergonomics is about applying physiology to the design of products. A controller can be ergonomic because it fits comfortably within the shape of your hands without you needing to adjust and strain yourself to meet it. A chair can be ergonomic because it allows you to sit comfortably while maintaining healthy spine posture. But here's the issue that LiberNovo worked out - we don't just sit in one position all day long. We move, we're restless, we fidget and shift our weight around, and while a few chairs with floating lumbar support have tried to figure that issue out, none have succeeded like the LiberNovo Omni.

The entire backrest is made up of agile support rows that line up with your spine, which means they all move independently and can sync up with your back as it moves. The backrest also has a very high-tech lumbar stretch program built into it, so you can recline all the way back and get what feels like a full 5-minute lumbar decompression - free of a trip to the chiropractor.

What's really made the difference for me when it comes to the Omni are two features in particular. The first is an amazing group of reclining settings.

When you recline in most desk-based gaming chairs, you'll throw the whole thing out of whack. Your armrests won't be level with your desk anymore; you'll need to adjust your lumbar support or your cushions to suit your new sitting position. The view you have of your screen will be completely opposed to the ergonomics your chair is shooting for. That isn't the case with the LiberNovo Omni.

When you recline back in this chair, the intuitive design keeps everything about your healthy, upright position in alignment. Even if your head is now at a slightly lower level, you don't have to crank your neck up the way to keep your eyes on your game. Because the backrest moves with you, there's little to no adjustment needed from you to maintain good posture; it happens as you lean back into a more relaxed position. Even the armrests manage to maintain the exact level you set them to in the upright position.

Gone are the days when I was reluctant to recline in a gaming chair and felt like I was missing the laid-back comfort of the couch. When I'm gaming at my desk, I feel just as comfortable as I would on the sofa.

The other thing I absolutely love about this chair is its cushioning. A lot of chairs follow the school of thought that for it to properly support your body, it needs to be firmer, but that often comes at the expense of comfort. I think there's merit to that, because if you sit for too long in a really plush sofa, you might feel a bit stiff, you might struggle to get up, and long-term, it's probably not going to do wonders for your body.

But LiberNovo made allowances here. The frame of the Omni is sturdy, the cushioning isn't massively thick, and the build quality is solid. With the shape of it complementing the human body, and with freely moving parts that adapt to you, it means the cushioning can be softer and more comfortable. It's a dreamlike mix of plush cushioning and epic posture support.

Annoyingly, a chair this good isn't going to be affordable for everyone. There are absolutely alternatives that give similar design points for less cash, like the brilliant Fractal Refine, but if you can stretch to this Kickstarter sensation from 2025, I can't recommend it more strongly.

For more on gaming hardware, check out the best gaming PCs, the best VR headsets, and the best PC controllers.

I took a punt on the Newmen GM326 gaming keyboard when I ordered one off Amazon last year. Having spent years testing the latest and greatest decks, I wanted to see how the budget category was faring, outside of your usual Razer and Corsair entry level models. Newmen took me completely by surprise.

This is a $30 gaming keyboard (and that's on a bad day - right now it's down to $23.99 in Amazon's Big Spring Sale), but it's offering a typing experience I would have paid over $100 for just a couple of years ago, with hot-swappable switches, a sturdy build, and dedicated media controls no less.

Considering the last keyboard I reviewed cost $359.99, there's a lot of room for the Newmen GM326 to shine. It's one of the best gaming keyboards I've tested so far for good reason.

The 75% layout keeps primarily controls to hand while still providing a good amount of navigation, but it's the density of this typing feel that surprised me.

Just a couple of years ago a mechanical keyboard at this price would have been rattly, with echoes pinging across the empty case any time I so much as looked at a key. Here, though, each stroke feels well-cushioned and any pings are incredibly difficult to hear. I've caught a few now that I've been running the GM326 for a few more months, but at first listen this could be a far more premium model.

The caps are ABS, and feel a little thinner than the PBT options you'll find elsewhere on the market. They're nicely textured, though, and still feel solid under the hands.

Even those stock 'Red' switches are impressive. Don't go in expecting the creamy thock of a set of clackers that cost more than this keyboard ten times over, but the existing linears avoid the scratchiness I'd expect at this price point, with a nice bounce to them.

Ultimately, if you're looking at this sub-$50 price point you're more likely going to be fending off offers from membrane gaming keyboards. These have typically ruled the roost when it comes to prioritizing a low price and dedicated gaming features over typing feel. The Newmen GM326 makes it nigh-on impossible to recommend a membrane deck in 2026.

• See all gaming keyboard deals at Amazon

I'm reviewing plenty more of the best hot-swappable keyboards on the market, or check out the best wireless gaming keyboards available now.

I know, I know, a handheld should be hand... held. But hear me out here.

I've been using the Razer Joro with my portable setup for just under a year now and if you use your Steam Deck in the same way as me it's an easy recommendation. I love crunching over a handheld system, but one of the biggest benefits of my Asus ROG Ally is its ability to plug in wherever I find myself. With one of the best Steam Deck docks in-hand, I'm playing on the big and small screen - Switch style.

That's where the Razer Joro comes in. It's a super slimline, lightweight Bluetooth keyboard that keeps a fantastic connection with handheld systems. It takes up practically no space in a backpack, feels great under the fingertips, and allows me to play Planet Coaster without smashing my head against the wall. It's also just dropped below $100 in Amazon's Spring Sale.

The Razer Joro isn't going to suit anyone looking for a heavy-duty writing keyboard. Its low profile keys feel fantastic for gaming, but I found fatigue can set in during longer sessions in my review. Still, as a Bluetooth Steam Deck companion there's nothing else quite like it.

The 65% layout keeps things compact while Razer's scissor switches make sure key action is springy and energetic. That's a far cry from the portable keyboards I used to hook up to my iPad, there's absolutely no sponge to this experience.

That lack of 2.4GHz connection isn't going to put any of the best gaming keyboards out of their positions on your main PC setup, but with a long-lasting battery and easy Bluetooth switching the Joro is a unique proposition for handheld power-users.

Mine normally lives in a backpack, pulled out with an HDMI cable and dock whenever I'm on the road with my Asus ROG Ally. I'm not a competitive player, but being able to tick through strategy and simulation games with a keyboard to hand whenever I need it is a massive benefit. Paired up with a cheap and cheerful mouse, like the Logitech G305 Lightspeed (now $29.99 at Amazon), it's a full setup on wheels.

• See all gaming keyboard deals at Amazon
• View the full Big Spring Sale at Amazon

We're also hunting down all the best Steam Deck accessories, but for more typing options check out the rest of the best wireless gaming keyboards and best hot-swappable keyboards I've tested.

Razer has announced its latest Gigantus mouse pad, and I'm sure there are probably lots of people out there thinking it's a bit much. Giving people five levels of mouse pad speed to choose from probably sounds a bit silly - at a certain point, isn't it more about your aiming skill than the gear you're using? Well, I'm one of those weirdos who actually cares about the nuances different gaming mouse pads can give you, so let me tell you why I'm all for it.

The new Razer Gigantus V2 Pro goes even deeper than the SteelSeries QCK Performance pads we saw release last year, which offer three distinct feeling surfaces with different friction levels and speeds. Razer has expanded that to five different speeds with the new Gigantus V2 Pro; Max Control, Control, Balance, Speed, and Max Speed.

All of the new Gigantus V2 Pro mats use Razer's proprietary GlideCore Foam, but each "speed" uses it in different ways. The slowest two (Max Control and Control) utilize Soft Foam, with large air pockets for a softer and spongier feel and more stopping power. The Balance and Speed variants use a medium foam that Razer claims is "optimized for smooth glide with reliable control", and the Max Speed version uses a harder foam that's closer to glass/hard surface mats that have become more popular in recent years.

Last summer, I went down a bit of a rabbit hole with mouse pads, because until then, I really hadn't considered that there were even different speeds and that they could make such a drastic difference to your mouse aim. Then I tried the SteelSeries QCK Performance pads, which highlighted it all to me. My mind was blown - turns out I had been using a much, much slower pad than I should have been for over a year, and that's a reason I was losing so many close-quarters fights in my favorite multiplayer games.

It turns out that depending on the games you play and the way you configure your mouse settings, there's an optimal type of pad for you. While you might still be thinking that "a bad workman blames his tools", I promise you, after trying different mouse pad speeds and textures, it really does make a tangible difference to how you aim.

A harder surface with less friction, like Razer's new "Max Speed" pads, tends to be really popular among FPS gamers who play titles that require them to make fast moves, big flicks, or continuous tracking while shooting in games like Apex: Legends or Marathon. In games that require accuracy for a precise stopping points with your mouse, you'll probably benefit more from a pad that has more friction so you can stop exactly on an opponent's head - think Counter Strike or Valorant.

The FPS game I play the most is Hunt: Showdown, which is sort of a hybrid of the above examples. It's old western weaponry, so I need that stopping power and accuracy in my mouse pad to aim with single shots at a time, but I also need the speedy flicks to be quicker on the draw than my opponents. There are a lot of nuances to mouse pad speeds depending on the game.

For this reason, I really like that Razer is offering five different speeds. I'd be interested to try them to see if the middle options really do actually feel different from one another, but it's great that Razer is allowing people to lock into their favorite game's specific speed.

If there's something I'm disappointed about, it's that there only seems to be one size of each pad available right now. The Gigantus V2 mouse pads made different sizes their USP, so I'm hoping Razer follows up with more generous sizing options soon. I'm someone who loves having their whole desk space covered in the same surface, so if you're the same, the SteelSeries QCK Performance pads that do come in XL sizes might be the best option for you.

The new Gigantus V2 Pro mats have low-profile stitched edges, which is great for preventing fraying over time, as well as wrist irritation. Razer also claims that they've been optimized for optical sensors thanks to micro-texturing.

For more on gaming mice, check out the best wireless gaming mouse and the best Razer mice.

After years of using one of Razer's alternatives, I just unboxed and set up the Elgato Stream Deck+. It's a good time to try out this version of Elgato's most famous invention, because with the recent reveal of its new Wave 3 audio product lineup, the Plus model is fast becoming the star of the Elgato show. It pulls together all of this brand's streaming gear for gamers, allowing you to control audio, applications, plugins, and broadcast scenes in one convenient package.

This is especially true of the new Wave 3 range, because although Elgato is now giving you multiple products that can help centralize the exact audio devices you have in your setup, it's the Stream Deck Plus you'll actually need to control them. I'd be hesitant to recommend all of the new audio interfaces Elgato has launched because they almost require you to have the Stream Deck Plus already. Right on cue, it's just dropped back to a record-low price at Amazon that I've only seen twice before.

Having unboxed and done a surface-level set up so I could get on with my workday, I could feel the Elgato Stream Deck Plus pulling me back in, just begging to show me how else it could be useful. I'm used to Loupedeck's software for the Razer Stream Controller X and the MX Creative Console, but Elgato's Stream Deck app has an entire library of plugins and additional uses beyond the simple drag-and-drop interface I've been using.

Even the finest details about the Stream Deck Plus can be customized to you and your preferences. The icons you can set to each key for opening applications can be big and bold, more minimalist, or even simple black and white artwork to complement the look you want. The touch bar can have different wallpapers, the functionality of the dials and keys can go so in-depth for individual applications, thanks to all of those plugins.

Having spent a hypnotic morning going back to it to set even more of it to my liking, I still feel like I'm only scraping the tip of the iceberg of what this gadget can do.

Because, of course, the main purpose of a Stream Deck like this is to harness content creation power and make things more convenient for on-the-fly control. I've already integrated my Streamlabs scenes into one page, so I can easily switch between them with the touch of a key. Compared to other streaming controllers I've tried, those are the basics they can all do. What Stream Deck Plus is now giving me that even my RodeCaster Duo can't, is Discord integration, so I can control the volume level of my friends while I stream.

I can set more than one of the four dials to individual Discord User Volume Control, meaning if one of my friends who tends to be a bit louder is chiming in and disrupting the mix of my game audio, music, and whatever else, I can fine-tune them without going into the Discord application's annoying settings menu.

Those dials, in particular, will come in extremely handy if you don't have one of the best streaming mixers and even more so if you're going to invest in one of Elgato's new Wave 3 interfaces. The entire ecosystem can be controlled with the Stream Deck Plus, or its newer, much larger XL sibling, which has six dials. There are ways of turning the Stream Deck Plus into a USB hub to control devices through it, and there are ways of plugging in an XLR mic and having a makeshift audio interface. I'm actually a little baffled at just how many ways there are to make the Stream Deck Plus work for you and make it your own.

As I've mentioned, it feels as though investing in the Elgato ecosystem means doing some required reading now, and the only thing on the list is the Stream Deck Plus. In other words, if you invest in this device, you have a pretty open gateway to the future of Elgato's content creator ecosystem. I say this tentatively as someone who's only just unboxed and set up their Stream Deck Plus, but thanks to its current discount, it does seem like there's never been a better time to grab one for yourself.

Content creators should also check out the best microphones for streaming and gaming, the best capture cards, and the best ring lights for streaming.

Sneki has refreshed its popular FPS-first range with the new Razer Viper V4 Pro, taking the same recipe as the previous V3 Pro and adding a boosted 50K optical sensor and running battery life up to 180 hours. That's one hell of a tracker - DPI aside, this Focus Pro eye can hit 930 IPS tracking speeds with 90G acceleration - beating Logitech's Hero 2 sensor pretty easily.

With its sights set on some of the best gaming mouse models around, the Viper V4 Pro is more of an update to the original formula than an entire redesign. Unlike the Logitech G Pro X 2 Superstrike, positioned by Razer's competitor as an endgame adjustable esports mouse, the Viper doubles down on speed. It's available now for $159.99 / £159.99 via Razer.

Weighing in at just 49g it's one of the lighter entries to the competitive market from a mainstream brand. While the Corsair Sabre V2 Pro Ultralight is still going to feel nippier under the hand at 36g, Razer's not too far off ultra-levels of weightlessness here and it's still packing that hefty sensor inside.

930 IPS is the fastest I've seen on a high-end flagship to date, which should make for smooth, reliable tracking even during the most hectic of moments. Whether or not anyone needs that 50K DPI spec is up for debate, but safe to say this is a mouse positioned directly at high-intensity esports affairs.

Elsewhere the Viper V4 Pro updates the rodent's mouse clicks, with Gen-4 switches matching those of the Razer DeathAdder V4 Pro. Replacing the Gen-3 options on the Razer Viper V3 Pro, I found these clackers to offer a slightly crisper feel under the hand. Razer also states that they're good for a 100-million click lifecycle with no debounce delay.

Is the Razer Viper V4 Pro going to be worth the upgrade for anyone already on the Viper or DeathAdder bandwagon? It's unlikely. These are solid upgrades, but they're iterative and, especially if you're not playing at the top of your eSports league, they're not going to make a night and day difference to your speed, reliability, or final ranked position. If you feel the Viper V3 Pro's clicks are a little softer than you'd like, or you're after the biggest battery life in the lightest shell possible, there could be an in here.

• See all gaming mice at Razer

For more setup options, check out the best gaming keyboards and the best gaming headsets on the market. We're also hunting down all the best gaming monitors as well.

The YoloLiv YoloCam S3 might be the nicest-looking webcam I have ever used. Unlike the current trend of smaller AI-controlled PTZ (Pan-Tilt-Zoom) style webcams, the YoloLiv S3 isn’t afraid to avoid the cutesie, animated-robot-come-to-life look, instead harkening back to webcams of a few years ago that opted for a bulkier, rounded lens. However, that inspiration isn’t just surface-level as it attempts to rival - or mimic - the visuals of much more powerful DSLR cameras.

Deciding on the best streaming gear for gamers is a difficult decision. It’s a balance of finding things that won’t set you back hundreds, but also finding peripherals that will actually make your content stand out. In the last few years, we have seen an influx of top-range webcams that cater to your every need, but when taking on a giant like the Razor Kiyo Pro Ultra, which aims to give you DSLR-quality with its somewhat obnoxiously-sized sensor and lens, you need to be able to swing for the fences and hit a home run.

Setting you back $199/£209, the YoloCam S3 a webcam that sits in a very competitive window that matches its PTZ webcam rivals but majorly undercuts the Razor Kiyo Pro Ultra - not to mention is more readily available as Razer's stock seems to be dwindling. But can the YoloCam S3 play in the major leagues against the titan that is Razer? I think it might.

Design

As I mentioned, the YoloCam S3 is a visually striking camera. While it is not the most compact device I’ve ever seen, it doesn’t matter because it looks and feels like something you’d want to show off as part of your gaming setup. Sitting right in the centre of the textured black casing is the lens, which takes up about 70% of the real estate on the front of the device.

Along the bottom and the side of the device, you’ll find little symbols of magnets. When I first unboxed the YoloCam S3, I was confused why, but then very quickly discovered one of my favourite little design choices. The camera unit attaches to the monitor mount via magnets - at this point, you’re probably perplexed that a 27-year-old man could be amazed at something as simple as a magnet, but stay with me. It feels intuitive as it’s so simple to set up and allows you to control whether your webcam displays as landscape or portrait, which is a nice touch to have as a hardware-level change rather than a software one that doesn’t quite hit the same aspect ratio and quality.

If you’ve read any of my past reviews, you’ll know I’m not a fan of RGB, so I’m glad to say that there is none of that to be found on the YoloCam S3. The only colour you’ll find is a small indicator light to let you know that it’s on, and a small blue ring around the lens. To me, this gives me the sense that YoloLiv is trying to make the YoloCam S3 stand out from the pack, and I have to say that it’s working, for me at least.

However, I was surprised to find that there is no privacy cap for the lens. Most of the best webcams on the market have some way of allowing you to hide the lens to give the extra confidence of privacy in case some entity is tracking your webcam feed.It’s still worrying that this is a thing we have to think about - but the YoloCam S3 doesn’t. Just the previously mentioned indicator light, which lets you know it’s active. I’d have appreciated some cover for the lens for both privacy and protection, as I wouldn’t want it to get damaged if I move it anywhere. Admittedly, there is a setting in the app that allows you to turn the camera off when not in use, however I don’t like that it is off by default, meaning your camera will stay active unless you find the specific toggle.

Features

YoloLiv claims on their website that the YoloCam S3 is the “closest you can get to a DSLR,” in the webcam world, and it’s an interesting claim to make in the age of tiny webcams that have the power of full-blown 4K image capture. The YoloCam S3 features a lens capable of 4K at 30fps or 1080p at 60fps to really ensure that your image is crystal clear, but the key difference here is going to be that it includes a CMOS sensor size of 1/1.3” - which the brand claims is “possibly the largest sensor ever in a webcam,” however “possibly” is doing the heavy lifting for them as the Razor Kiyo Pro Ultra has a larger sensor of 1/1.2. In addition to that, Razer’s webcam has a focal length of 24mm and an aperture of f/1.85.

In addition to the hardware, the YoloCam S3 also comes with the YoloLiv Compose software, which allows you to really get into the fine details of the camera, allowing you to tweak the visuals to suit your needs. Like most of these recent webcams, it feels pretty compulsory to use the software that is provided, otherwise you’d miss out on key features such as your color correction, focus, frame rate, and exposure. I’d highly recommend you install it. The software is fairly easy to understand, even if downloading another app feels a bit tiresome.

Performance

Straight out of the box, I was impressed by the visuals. Not just at the handsome chap looking back at me on the computer screen, but by just how clear and high-quality the image was. I’ve had the opportunity to use webcams such as the OBSBOT Tiny 2 Lite, the OBSBOT Tiny 3, and the Razer Kiyo Pro and Ultra models, and honestly, this might be one of the best I’ve ever seen at this price range - which is high praise, especially compared to the Razer Kiyo Ultra.

The clarity and sharpness were pretty astounding on the YoloCam S3, perhaps a little too sharp, as you could see almost every pore and stray hair, so I jumped into the Compose Software and tweaked it to get it to a level I was happy with. The default setting was at max, so I dropped it a few notches and felt it gave a better image. Additionally, I felt the image was a little too warm, so I played around with the little bit of AI Tuning, which is built in to optimise your image. I let it do its thing, and it presented me with multiple options to cater to my needs. Essentially, it auto-selects all the best settings so you don’t have to manually do it. Aside from that, I didn’t feel like I had to tinker too much to get an image I was pleased with.

While sitting in the Compose software, I noticed just how impressive the bokeh effect was - for those that don’t know, this is the blurry background effect. This is an effect I often have issues with when using webcams; it either looks artificial or it doesn’t work that well. But with the YoloCam S3, this isn’t a software trick. It has achieved this effect via the lens itself. This makes a world of difference and takes your webcam image from good to great in my mind. It just gives that extra bit of depth that makes the image really pop. This made a huge difference to me when I streamed using the camera; it meant that the image being shown to viewers looked like it had been correctly focused using a DSLR.

Another key feature of the software is being able to change the camera’s orientation. Now, like I previously mentioned, you physically have to rotate the camera to do this, but you will also have to ensure the setting is correct in the software. So it’s not as simple as just turning the camera on its side.

Throughout my time with the YoloLiv YoloCam S3, I never experienced any issues with the auto-focus or manual focus. For the majority of the time, I just let the little guy do its thing, and it performed well when tracking my face in auto-focus. It was also very quick to focus on any item I brought close to the camera and seamlessly found my face again once the item was removed, never taking longer than a second to re-focus. There is a manual focus option, but I found it a bit difficult to set properly. I recommend sticking to auto-focus where possible.

Thanks to the very large sensor on the YoloCam S3, it never really struggled in lower light settings. I’d never recommend having your space poorly lit when streaming or gaming, but if you do tend to lean into a darker room with RGB in a corner, then this won’t capture a bad image for you. Admittedly, there is some grain and noise, but if you have decent lighting behind the lens, then that won’t be an issue, especially for those sitting close to the webcam. It performs better than some of the other webcams I have tested at this price range, such as the OBSBOT Tiny 2 Lite.

Should you buy the YoloCam S3?

I believe the YoloCam S3 to be one of the best options on the market for anyone looking to invest in a new webcam that forgoes the gimbal gimmicks and instead favours pure image quality. When you factor in price and the fact that it genuinely rivals the more expensive Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra, you’ve got yourself a very compelling device. Coming in at $199/£209, it won’t break the bank but gives you something you’d pay a much higher price for.

It is honestly a fantastic bit of kit for anyone looking to improve their streaming setup, however, if you won’t be using it for producing content, streaming, or podcasting, then you may not need something as pricey or as high-tech. But if you’ve got the cash at hand, why not?

I mentioned earlier that YoloLiv claims that the YoloCam S3 is the “closest you can get to a DSLR,” and after spending some time with it, I think they may be onto something.

How we tested the YoloCam S3?

I spent 3 weeks using the YoloCam S3 as my main streaming, podcasting, and video call camera. I had the webcam routed through its proprietary software when doing so and would then ingest that into OBS, Discord, or WhatsApp. Additionally, I recorded multiple piece-to-camera tests while using the camera.

For more, have a look at the full GamesRadar+ Hardware policy.

For more on content creation gear, take a look at the best microphones for streaming and gaming, the best capture cards, and the best streaming mixers.

12 side buttons might seem like overkill, and for some it is. Where keybindings are concerned, though, overkill is exactly what I'm going for.

The Corsair Scimitar Elite Wireless SE was intimidating when I first got it out the box last summer, but after getting to know each of its Stream Deck-enabled clickers I've kept this rodent running in my roster. Its merits within MMOs are obvious, it's one of the best gaming mouse models after all, but that's not why I love this pointer.

That Stream Deck integration means this is more than just a keypress replacement. I can swap between Spotify and Planet Coaster controls at the tap of a button, adding tracks to my playlists while adjusting the height of a tree line all with just a slight shift of the thumb. Do I need it? Absolutely not. But if I want my setup to resemble anything it's the Apollo 11 cockpit, and maximizing my button-to-device ratio is imperative in that mission.

• See the full Tech Fest Sale at Best Buy

It takes a little learning to remember exactly how each of those 12 buttons are mapped but once the muscle memory is ingrained the Corsair Scimitar Elite Wireless SE feels like a super power. That's not just for gaming, I've been using this rodent in between reviews for nearly a year now and if anything I'd recommend it primarily as a productivity device.

Stream Deck integration is nice and simple, with a drag and drop interface and the entire Elgato Plugin store at your disposal. That means controls for pretty much anything you could imagine, though some of the more impressive integrations are paid for separately. Sure, it's not quite as seamless as having LED buttons tell you exactly what they do, but with a little time (and a cheat sheet for all my bindings) these 12 inputs have become second nature.

Today's deal puts the Scimitar Elite Wireless SE down at $79.99. That's $10 higher than I've seen it in the past, but the best price of the year so far. So should you dive in now?

If you're keen to get your setup as button-heavy as possible, this is an acceptable position. I've only ever seen the Elite Wireless at a cheaper price in a couple of sales and they were all positioned around last year's Black Friday / holiday events. That means there's no guarantee we'll see that discount return in the near future.

For those who can hold off for a record-low, it's likely we'll see a $69.99 price tag here again at some point. Whether that drops during Amazon's Prime Day offers in the summer or in its far sooner Spring Sales is difficult to predict.

• See all gaming mouse deals at Best Buy

For more setup inspiration, check out the best gaming keyboards and the best gaming headsets on the market. Or take a look at the best gaming monitors for a bigger update.

The best Hall effect keyboard on the market right now is the Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE. It's the best on paper and performed the best from my testing, but its wireless connection, sturdy battery life, versatile display, and top-of-the-pack typing feel comes at a price. This is a premium luxury, but it's so, so much more expensive than my second favorite.

That's why the Hall effect keyboard I'd recommend to most people is the Corsair Vanguard Pro 96. This is still a relatively expensive model, but so are pretty much all magnetic decks, but it's the best gaming keyboard I've tested so far overall, and offers 90% of the Azoth's charm at a good chunk of change less.

Of course, Corsair and Asus haven't cornered the magnetic market. In fact, I've been hands on with all the latest and greatest Hall effect keyboards from major gaming brands like Razer, Logitech, SteelSeries, Glorious, and more. Of all these, I've narrowed the top roster down to six options and you'll find them all just below.

The quick list

The best Hall effect keyboard overall

The Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE is the best Hall effect gaming keyboard I've tested so far, but it's had to fend off some stiff competition from Corsair to get here. In many scenarios I'd actually recommend the Vanguard Pro over the Azoth, but if you're going for the gold standard of magnetic decks there's no denying Asus has it in the bag.

I'll get the TL;DR out of the way. The Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE offers the best typing experience I've had from a magnetic deck, while also piling on premium features you don't see elsewhere. That wireless connection is a rarity with these more power-hungry switches and the sturdy battery life saw me through a week of play at a time (far greater than the Ducky One X and comparable to the Cherry MX 8.2 Pro TMR Wireless). It's the sound-dampened, crisp PBT, super smooth experience I first fell in love with on the original Asus ROG Azoth - just with super-fast, versatile Hall effect switches.

It's an investment, though. The Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE has a price problem, coming in well below the $430 Asus ROG Falcata but still more than $100 higher than the Corsair Vanguard Pro 96 below. At $349.99 you need to really know you prioritize a best-in-class typing experience and wireless experience for this deck to make sense.

It beats Corsair in a key few areas, though. The 96% form factor is far less condensed than the keys on the Vanguard. There's real breathing room here, which in turn increases accuracy and reliability - I know where I am on the deck at all times, and that's just not the case for the Vanguard. That extra sliver between the arrow keys and number pad makes all the difference.

Then you've got the switches themselves.

The Azoth 96 HE uses Asus's ROG HFX V2 clackers, the same ones that captured my attention in the Falcata. They're the smoothest, most mechanical-feeling magnetic switches I've tested so far, and in the Azoth chassis they have a bounce and energy that's unmatched. I feel springy moving across this board, with the sensitivity of those adjustable actuation points making for a particularly speedy, but still satisfying, gaming experience.

If you're going all-out on the best Hall effect gaming keyboard, the Azoth is where you should be looking. If you want to get 90% of the way there for a lot less cash, though, I'd recommend the Vanguard instead.

Read more: Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE review

The best Hall effect keyboard for most players

The Corsair Vanguard Pro 96 was the top dog before the Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE came onto the scene. With its plastic construction, wired-only connection, and under-utilized display it's not quite the best on the market, comparatively, but it's still the best Hall effect keyboard for more casual players who don't want to break past the $300 price bracket.

The Vanguard thrives on its compact, but still button-heavy, form factor and excellent MGX V2 switches. Those clackers come second only to the Asus ROG HFX V2s inside the Azoth and Falcata, offering a super smooth keypress with a satisfying bounce and a real thocky feel. It's not quite as energetic as the softer options from Asus, but it's certainly more comfortable than the woolly options available elsewhere.

The main feather in this deck's cap is its functional but still space-saving layout. This is a squished 96% deck, giving you access to all your number keys, arrow buttons, and most navigation buttons, while still leaving mouse-swinging room to the right. Yes, it's a little cramped but it only takes a little muscle memory re-learning to get into the swing of those key placements, and I'd certainly take the five dedicated macro buttons while they're on offer.

So the Corsair Vanguard Pro 96 stands tall in its typing feel, actuation adjustment, and extra controls. Where does it fall down?

If you thought you were getting the same kind of OLED display experience as you would the Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE above, you'd be sorely mistaken. The panel on this model feels particularly under-utilized, only really offering some backgrounds and a volume dial. Compare that to the switch adjustment, media control, and system spec offering on Asus's model and the difference is pretty clear.

Still, with a wired connection and durable plastic chassis, the Corsair Vanguard Pro 96 comes in significantly cheaper than top-of-the-market options, without sacrificing core features and typing feeling. That's a win in my books.

Read more: Corsair Vanguard Pro 96 review

The best budget Hall effect keyboard

The Endgame Gear KB65HE is actually one of the first Hall effect gaming keyboards I tested, but that age means it's falling much further down the price scale compared to newer releases. I'll get this straight out the way, it's a lot heavier under the fingers compared to more modern models and you do drop dual-step actuation features. However, if you're looking to spend less than $100 / £100 on one of the best Hall effect gaming keyboards, it's still excellent value.

Everything about this deck is heavy, from the super dense brick of a chassis to the stiffer switches under the hood. That's not necessarily a bad thing. If you have a heavy hammer these are incredibly satisfying. I prefer a lighter touch and even I had a good time here.

It's rare to find magnetic switches in a gaming keyboard this far down the price bracket. You're usually looking at a $130 / £130 investment minimum (and that's with the heaviest of discounts applied). The Endgame Gear KB65HE keeps the basics (there are no dual-step actuations in here) while sporting a commendable $49.99 MSRP, miles from its original $140 launch price.

Those Gateron switches maintain their smooth feel with a slightly higher level of tension under each key than you'll find in more modern devices. With sensitivities bumped up as high as they go, that heavier feel goes out the window completely. I can still zip across a CS2 map at a hair trigger input, all with my more problematic keys staying well out the way of accidental presses.

You can spend a lot more than $50 and get only half of these features in a cheaper mechanical deck. The Endgame Gear KB65HE may be the oldest Hall effect gaming keyboard on this list, but that quality has endured and fought off years' worth of competition all the while.

Read more: Endgame Gear KB65HE review

The best compact Hall effect keyboard

Don't want your deck to take up all your space? 60% keyboards are the smallest most players opt for, but the lack of arrow keys is often a drawback. If you're after the best compact Hall effect gaming keyboard, though, Razer uses its analog switches to make all those problems go away. The Huntsman V3 Pro Mini keeps things incredibly efficient, making good use of those dual-step actuation features to provide handy arrow functionality while still saving you space.

These are Razer's Analog Optical Switch Gen-2s, so we're not exactly playing with Hall effect clackers here. The fundamental benefits are still the same, though, with adjustable actuation from 0.1 to 4.0mm, dual-step inputs, and rapid trigger on board. There's another trick up this deck's sleeve, though.

Those analog switches can also mimic the finer controls of a thumbstick. Simply assign WASD to joystick controls in Synapse, and you've got an extra degree of control over just how far you're moving, or steering, or peering in-game. That comes in clutch for stealth titles in particular, but if you don't have a PC controller for racing games it's also far more accommodating.

It's not all roses in Razer's camp, though. The Razer Huntsman V3 Pro Mini has a particularly thin frame, which hasn't been stuffed with particularly high quality sound dampening. That means I hear a noticeable amount of echo and ping when hitting keys particularly hard. It's nowhere near as bad as mechanical keyboards used to be, but if you're used to a deeper thock it may well take you a second to get used to.

Opting for a smaller form factor also, naturally, means you lose dedicated media controls. Everything's mapped up to alternative keys here, but if you need access to your volume at all times it's something to consider.

Read more: Razer Huntsman V3 Pro Mini review

The best full-sized Hall effect keyboard

Even the best Hall effect keyboards are power hungry, so it's a little rare to find a full-sized model that also sports a wireless connection. Ducky gets around that power draw by swapping over to inductive clackers. That means this is another not-strictly-HE keyboard, but it still has the same functions and features, with the added benefit of a cord-free setup.

Yes, this is a wireless gaming keyboard, but that max 15 hours of juice isn't going to get you too far. Instead, I'd recommend this deck primarily to those after a full-size keyboard rather than a cord-free one.

The extra cost of those inductive switches means full-sized decks are a little harder to come by, but the Ducky One X manages to squeeze a full rack of magnetic clackers into a $180 MSRP. Not only that, but it runs spectacularly.

There are a few sacrifices - awkward software means this is one you'll want to set and forget and there's no storage for onboard profiles. However, a gold-standard of sound dampening and a soft, smooth typing experience keeps the Ducky One X a step above its alternatives.

It's a slightly unique feel, almost padded out underneath the fingertips. That means you're not quite getting the energy or bounce of something like the Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE - it's more serene, like the mechanical Asus ROG Falchion RX Low Profile. I said that deck felt like typing on fresh snow, and the experience isn't too dissimilar here.

If you want the functionality of a Hall effect keyboard, but hate how they typically feel under the fingertips and don't want to sacrifice your extra keys this is absolutely where I'd be pointing you.

Read more: Ducky One X review

The best Hall effect keyboard for beginners

Logitech has been smart with its G512 X magnetic gaming keyboard. Only the left side of the deck is compatible with TMR switches and straight out the box you'll find a full sweep of mechanical clackers under those PBT keycaps. That's because rather than fill the whole deck, Logi supplies nine Gateron K20 magnetic switches along the top of the deck. These can be hot-swapped where you need them.

That means you can set up your magnetic switches exactly where you need them (likely around the WASD cluster) and still keep simpler mechanical switches elsewhere. That's perfect for beginners, especially considering the best Hall effect keyboards are a significant investment.

Here, you're spending a little less than you would for a full premium deck and still keeping the option to revert to mechanical clackers if you don't get on with the more customizable option. There's certainly a learning curve to using these switches, so any flexibility is a win.

The typing feel is a little heavier than I typically see, but it's still satisfying and smooth. I'd avoid it if you're looking for a particularly creamy stem, but I was still able to type for an entire work day without feeling too much fatigue. Not only that, but using both magnetic and mechanical switches didn't present too much of an awkward shift during day to day use as well.

It's the smart design choices of the G512 X that have earned its position on this page, though. Aside from those swappable magnetic switches, Logitech has also provided a series of O-rings nestled into the top lid. When attached to a TMR key, these provide a more tangible bump for multiple actuation use. No more guessing when you're half way down the stem - another win for beginners.

I do have my concerns about the case durability, but they're limited to the small line of plastic along the front edge of the top plastic. While the rest is sturdy, the overhang on this design means it's a little more flexible here - with considerable bending and some creaking under pressure. This is one to keep on the desk rather than in a backpack.

Read more: Logitech G512 X review

The best hot-swappable Hall effect keyboard

For the slightly more expensive Cherry XTRFY MX 8.2 Pro TMR to make sense you'll need to be absolutely sure of two things; you need a wireless connection and you want the option to revert back to mechanical switches. A $249.99 / £209.99 MSRP doesn't put the Cherry deck at the top of the price range, but you're still spending a chunk of change on those extra features. For those hunting down a more versatile mechanical and magnetic option, this is a pretty unique proposition.

Some of the best Hall effect keyboards claim they're hot-swappable, but looking into the fine print you'll find most are only compatible with a couple of magnetic options. Cherry's deck flips that completely, with support for both Hall effect and mechanical clickers. This is the first time I've seen cross-switch compatibility and it's pretty rare out there.

Elsewhere, the Cherry XTRFY MX 8.2 Pro TMR Wireless still holds up as a fantastic deck in its own right. With TMR sensors to keep that power slightly lower than more traditional options (and an 8,000mAh charge), the wireless battery life extends to a week of full-day use in my setup, with RGB switch on. Wireless magnetic decks are often falling far short of that benchmark.

The typing experience is as you'd expect from a Cherry deck, smooth, soft, and particularly well sound-dampened. There's just the right amount of resistance underneath each cap making for a speedy typing and gaming experience, especially when set at max sensitivity.

It's not, however, one for those who spend a lot of time in a keyboard's software. Cherry's downloadable program is far less intuitive than the rest of the market. Everything is still configurable and the app covers everything you'd need, but it's no looker and it can be difficult to parse each section's function. That's where the MX 8.2 Pro TMR loses most of its marks, but those building a more subtle setup will also want to check the strange logos emblazed across the space bar and top lip.

Read more: Cherry XTRFY MX 8.2 Pro TMR Wireless review

How I test Hall effect keyboards

The first thing I do with any Hall effect gaming keyboard that passes my desk is dive into the settings. The day-one experience of setting up a deck is sacred, but a smooth setup is all the more important when magnetic switches are taken into account. Getting those actuation points right, setting up rapid trigger settings, and creating certain per-game presets is essential to getting your money's worth out of a Hall effect deck, and unintuitive software can sour the experience straight out the gate.

Once everything's set up I spend a week living, working, and playing with the deck as if it were my own. That means I'm playing the games on my current roster, using the keyboard for all my daily work, and running its battery, any additional displays, and macro keys as I would in my usual routines.

The second week of testing gets a little more intensive. Once I've settled into a deck, allowed muscle memory to take over, and got a feel for the switches, I'm going back into the settings and tearing everything apart. I test competitive performance in CS2 and Apex Legends, running each keyboard at its heaviest and lightest switch settings with rapid trigger enabled.

From there, any additional features not previously covered by my everyday use are explored further. Any joystick-like analog features, four-step trigger options, or extra macro buttons / display settings are put to work across both competitive and single player endeavours. I also complete three speed tests in TypingTest.com, each test is spent in medium text on a one minute run. Final typing speeds and accuracy measures are taken as an average.

This second week of testing is also spent with other Hall effect keyboards on the desk. I directly test against each keyboard's major competition, whether that's from a price or feature perspective.

Wireless Hall effect keyboards are charged fully at the start of testing and left to do their thing. I don't turn them off when I'm done for the day, and I'm running full brightness until the battery eventually dies. After that charge run, I lower the brightness to 50% for a second go and, where applicable, test that lifespan on an 8,000Hz connection.

For more information on how we test gaming keyboards, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

Also Tested

How to choose a Hall effect gaming keyboard

So you know you want to dive into the world of magnetic switches - it's a pretty big world. To help you narrow down your choice, it's worth getting some early must-have questions out the way early.

First you need to work out how much you want to spend. These decks aren't cheap - you're likely looking at more than $100 no matter how many features you drop (Endgame Gear KB65HE excluded), but price scales with extras and you might not need all of them.

The above table isn't a hard line, it's just an approximation based on what I've seen so far. There will absolutely be outliers to these but in general you'll find that the mid-range sits between $100 and $200 for a magnetic deck, with the move to $250 opening you up to better feeling switches overall. That's a lot higher than a mechanical option.

This is the point when you need to decide how important typing feel is. If you're just going for the core features of magnetic switches, and don't use your keyboard for hours of everyday work in between play sessions it's worth sticking to the low end of the $100s. That's where you'll find some of the best value on the market.

If you know you'll need to take your keyboard with you on your travels, or you're happy to invest in a wire-free setup a cordless connection is going to cost you. You can start to drop the wire at around $250, with better battery lives available in the $300+ region.

FAQ

Take a look at the best membrane gaming keyboards and best hot-swappable keyboards for a different deck flavor.

I have a history with the Asus ROG Azoth line. When I reviewed the first model back in 2023, I instantly fell in love with its excellent sound dampening, hot-swappable PCB, and incredibly energetic typing feel.

That was back when the best gaming keyboards were only just learning what gasket mounting was and where to put the foam sheets. Things have moved on, though. With magnetic switches taking over the high-end market and Asus's own ROG HFX clackers representing the best I've used so far, I jumped at the chance to get the Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE on my desk.

After a string of, frankly, unnecessary releases in this range, this is the keyboard that's bringing me back to the Azoth - but goodness is it an expensive journey. Asus provided the review sample I've been testing at no cost, but when a device proves itself as the 'best' I've tested, I'm often a little more lenient around a higher price tag. After all, if something is objectively ticking more boxes and providing a better experience than something else, it is 'better'.

In this case, the Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE's $359.99 MSRP is a full $130 more than the keyboard I'd recommend after it, the Corsair Vanguard Pro 96 ($229.99). That's a serious leap in pricing.

This isn't out of the blue, though. The Asus ROG Falcata launched earlier last year at a ludicrous $429.99 starting price. That's a more niche split deck that's working a little harder for a specific set of users, but it's still a set of numbers that would have been unthinkable a few years ago.

The Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE has so much going for it. It is the best Hall effect gaming keyboard I've tested so far. Whether or not it's easy to recommend as a top-choice gaming keyboard is a slightly different matter.

What I love

The best feeling magnetic switches I've used

I've been struggling with the Asus ROG Falcata of late. It's got the best magnetic switches I've used so far, but the split design and $400+ price point make it difficult to fully recommend. Thankfully, the Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE uses the same clackers, and the experience is just as smooth this time around.

Magnetic keyboards are great for extra gaming features, but the extra tension under each key makes for a slightly lethargic typing feel. Considering I loved the original Asus ROG Azoth's bouncy switches, the Hall effect version has filled some big boots in 2026. Every keypress is as smooth and rich as you'd expect from a well-tuned mechanical keyboard, no more woolly pressure under each cap.

That makes a world of difference in everyday typing, but it also makes for a more spritely gaming experience as well. There's a distinct snap to each keypress here and, combined with that speedy rapid trigger and the ability to set actuation points a little higher than a typical mechanical deck, I've been propelled across the deck with particular ease.

Not many mainstream gaming keyboard brands know how to get a keyboard sounding and feeling this good, but Asus has some kind of secret sauce in its factory. These folks know how to dampen a deck, and they've poured that sacred wisdom into the ROG Azoth 96 HE.

That means it's a more pleasant experience than that of the Corsair Vanguard Pro 96. Its competitor is still impressively smooth and far better than most Hall effect options, but the Azoth brings extra energy to the experience as a whole.

If you're coming to the Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE from one of the previous mechanical options, those switches are going to be the biggest change by far. You can read more about the benefits of magnetic clackers in my guide to what is a Hall effect gaming keyboard, but essentially, they're free from the on/off moving parts of a mechanical option.

Instead, the Azoth 96 HE allows you to set per-key customizable actuation points (the moment a keypress is registered) from 0.1mm to 3.5mm in depth. It's a little shorter than others on the market - Corsair's Vanguard Pro, for example, takes you all the way down to 4mm, as does the Glorious GMMK 3 Pro HE). That means higher sensitivities on keys you need to hit faster, and more force is required on the buttons you don't want to accidentally hit.

It also opens the door to faster, rapid trigger inputs. When a mechanical switch is pressed, it needs to fully 'reset' its position before it can register a new input (physically, a pin needs to slot back into place). With magnets, you can set where that reset point is, and the deck can even dynamically alter it while you're spamming. It essentially means much faster repeat presses.

Finally, now that your keyboard knows how far down you want to press to actuate, it can assign multiple functions to different levels of pressure. The Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE allows for four individual inputs per press (two on the way down and one on the way up). You're less likely to live and die by this feature, but it is helpful for keeping walk / run separate on the W key, for example, and Asus's implementation doubles the usual two-step inputs offered elsewhere (like the Vanguard).

Battery life keeps up with that wireless connection

The magnetic switches inside the Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE offer far greater versatility and control for gamers, but you don't see too many of the best wireless gaming keyboards moving away from mechanical clackers. There's good reason for that, and it goes a long way to explaining the Azoth's particularly high price tag.

Not only does the Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE manage to get away with a wireless connection (via both Bluetooth and 2.4GHz), but it's also got a battery that can keep it juiced up at the same time. That's rare - these switches are hungry for charge and can often eat up a full battery in just over a day.

The Ducky One X, for example, will barely last 15 hours on my desk before needing to be plugged in. I've been running the Azoth 96 HE for about a week of work and play on a single charge, equating to roughly 45 to 50 hours.

It's nowhere near the seemingly immortal battery life of the original model, which I can often forget needs charging at all, but it's certainly above the average of all the Hall effect keyboards I've tested over the last couple of years.

Well designed key spacing

The Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE makes another major change compared to previous iterations. The 96% form factor means it's closer to a full-sized keyboard in functionality while still keeping a more compact design on the desk. A few decks (most notably the Corsair Vanguard) are adopting similar practices these days, which means you get access to all those right-hand numbers and a few nav keys (minus home, insert, and end) while still keeping space for mouse swipes to the side.

Asus gets its spacing right, though. There's a small line of separation between the main deck and the arrow keys, with a little extra buffer to the number pad. It's an extra piece of top plate that might not seem like much, but compared with the Corsair Vanguard that simply squishes everything into a more homogenous cluster, it makes for a far more relaxed experience.

Just that bit of extra spacing delineates the different key zones enough to make sure I always know where I am on the deck, and can hit arrow keys more reliably. Sure, it still takes a second to get used to, but it's far easier to re-learn than Corsair's implementation. It also makes for a more visually appealing keyboard overall.

OLED display feels more useful than others

Top gaming keyboards have been adding OLED displays to their spec sheets for years now, and the Asus ROG Azoth nailed its iteration back in 2023. Nobody seems to have caught up, though, and Asus has simply doubled down on what made its original panel so great.

While Corsair limits its screen to a few images and animations, and the SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Gen 3 adds more functionality without the luxury of colour and far fewer pixels, the Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE takes everything a step further.

Onboard switch sensitivity and actuation settings can be accessed and controlled via the button and rocker switch to the right of the display, with everything from hardware vitals to keystrokes per second on the screen itself. That's far more useful than the rest of the market, which seems content to keep the display as a neat extra rather than a core piece of the puzzle.

What to consider

We're in another price bracket now

The Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE packs a rare wireless connection with the battery to support it, offers the best magnetic switches I've used so far, and makes its extra features work a little harder for it than the competition. It's also priced well above the rest of the market.

The Logitech G Pro X TKL Rapid and Razer Huntsman V3 Pro Mini can offer you adjustable switches for less than $200, albeit while dropping that premium typing feel and wireless connection.

I was beginning to think the top end of the market sat with the Keychron Q1 HE 8K and Corsair's $229.99 MSRPs, but Asus is looking to push those prices a little higher than the rest of the gang. At $349.99, the Azoth isn't as expensive as the Falcata, but it's still the third most premium deck I've tested so far. That's taking the fully-configured Glorious GMMK 3 Pro HE with all bells and whistles and a launch day price tag into account - that deck can be found for between $200 and $300 these days.

Yes, the Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE offers a better experience than these alternatives, but are those benefits worth $130? That's largely down to you. I love this typing feel, keyboards are a real passion of mine, and I'm happy to invest in something that ticks all my boxes. I would still wait for a sale on this one.

The problem is this. The Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE is in a different price league to the rest of the market, but its benefits don't quite justify that jump.

Should you buy the Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE?

The Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE is an expensive gaming keyboard, and it's only going to make sense for those who prioritize a high-end typing feel more than anything else. Every other combination of features is already served by cheaper decks.

How I tested the Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE

I used the Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE as my main daily keyboard for a period of two weeks, with a day's worth of side-by-side testing against the Corsair Vanguard Pro 96, Cherry XTRFY MX 8.2 TKL TMR, Asus ROG Azoth, and Asus ROG Falcata. That's eight hours of typing per day, with a couple hours of gaming in the evening and more involved play over the weekend. In that time, I tested in CS2 and Doom: The Dark Ages, with additional time spent in Planet Coaster. For more information on how we test gaming keyboards, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

For more switch options, check out the best hot-swappable keyboards or the best membrane gaming keyboards for something a little cheaper. We're also rounding up all the best gaming mouse models on the market for a full refresh.

I'm going to say it; Corsair's gaming chairs are really underrated. Two of my favorite go-to recommendations are made by this brand, which may be surprising since Corsair is known for its PC components, not its seats. But as Amazon's big UK Spring Sale kicks off, Corsair is leading the charge with some of the best gaming chair deals I've seen so far in 2026.

First off, our favorite budget gaming chair, the Corsair TC100 Relaxed, is back down to its record-low price of £149 at Amazon (despite its dull price being £199). If you're on the hunt for something a bit more premium, the Corsair TC500 Luxe, the brand's flagship chair, is down to £379.99, which is actually an even deeper saving than the one above. It has a full price of £499.99, so this is the type of discount you only ever see a few times throughout the year.

But which one is right for you? Let's kick things off with the budget-friendly option. The TC100 Relaxed might be dubbed a "budget" gaming chair, but don't let that fool you. Compared to other chairs under £250, this one packs in a lot of build quality, cushioning, and adjustability. You don't get 4D armrests, but they will move up and down and to either side to meet the level of your desk.

Its current deal price is available in both the fabric Black and Grey colorways, but either will give you an upholstery that looks quite understated. The silhouette of the TC100 Relaxed definitely feels appropriate for a gaming setup, but it's not overtly going to disrupt the feng shui of a living room either.

The biggest pitfalls of this chair? Well, it is a budget option, which means you're going to miss out on some of the perks of pricier models. You get a lumbar and neck/head cushion as added bonuses, but those pale in comparison to adjustable lumbar support that's integrated into more expensive seats. Case in point, the neck cushion especially, is particularly hard, and during testing, I actually took mine off because it felt like my head was being pushed out of alignment with the rest of the seat.

But if that's a problem for you, and you want a bit more of a premium feel, why not check out the TC500 Luxe?

The TC500 Luxe's armrests are more easily adjusted, so much so that they actually click in and out of position without locking mechanisms - but that's besides the point. This chair does have integrated lumbar support, and you can use some twisty wheels on the side of it to move it up, down, back, and forward to suit the curve of your spine.

Where you'd notice a marked step up in quality is with this chair's neck pillow, because it actually feels like a beautifully plush neck cushion, and it magnetically snaps onto the chair's headrest. No annoying straps to loop through, no rigid support that makes you feel as though your head is being pushed forward.

I'm also a huge fan of how this chair looks. It's got three colorways, but it looks as though only two are available at Amazon right now. Either way, you have a choice between grey and white, and either will come in this luxurious leatherette-fabric hybrid. The best way I can describe it is a more malleable suede material, but it feels really comfortable to sit in an really great for temperature control.

The real design perk of the TC500 Luxe comes from its width. I'd actually argue the armrests are a little too far apart for my liking, but the seatbase being so wide means you can cross your legs or switch up your position in lots of ways and still benefit from that plush cushioning.

If you're trying to upgrade more of your setup, you might also want to read about the best gaming desks, the best standing desks, and the best microphones for streaming and gaming.