Recently got myself a Roccat Valo to go with my Kone and Taito mousepad.
First impressions were good. The packaging was very smart and i couldnt fault it at all. Looked like a premium product, not just a keyboard thrown in a cardboard box. It looked like someone had spent some time on making it look nice.
Opened it up, pulled the keyboard out, and i must say, its fairly big. Bigger than i was expecting. It looked slightly less impressive than it did in the pictures i had seen on the Roccat website, but it looks awesome none the less. Included was a key remover (works remarkably well!) gaming microphone, audio/mic extension cables and all the paperwork, including drivers on CD. You also get 3 bags of M keys (macro keys), each bag a different color. red, light blue and dark blue. These keys can replace the standard black M keys to make them stand out more, so you remember which key does what.
So, i plugged it all in (it needs 2 usb ports if you want to use the usb on the side of the keyboard) and installed the drivers. The first thing i noticed was that the typing angle was far to shallow, even with the feet unfolded. Maybe its just my particular setup, but my old Dell multimedia keyboard was a much higher angle and i preffered that. I have got used to the keyboard and i still dont like the angle, so i have now put 2 CD cases under each foot to raise it up a bit more.
After the drivers had installed, i noticed that the backlit keyboard wasnt as bright as i expected, even on the brightest setting, but im used to it now and its ok i suppose...
I couldnt get the mic to work (and i still havnt got it to work) Its plugged into my Creative Fatal1ty X-fi Titanium soundcard, and it just wont work no matter what i try. I was disappointed by the macro keys not being able to specifically open a program (for example "C->Program files->Mozilla Firefox->firefox.exe") I know there is a pre-set option for a macro key to open the default internet browser, but that was just an example of what i presumed you would be able to do.
I am so-far not impressed with the amount of things you can display on the screen. Im sure i read that there was going to be software to display game info and allsorts. So far, its pretty much Time+Date, cpu usage, ram usage and macro status. How exciting...
My biggest current problem with the keyboard is that EVERY single time i turn my computer on, and try and type, it comes out like this;
Helo,tis is metypng my norl speedo he Roct Valo kebard.
If i unplug the keyboard, and re-plug it into different (or the same) usb ports, it works perfectly until i turn my computer off and on again. If this happened once a month or something, i wouldnt be too bothered, but everyday gets very very tiresome, especially when it takes about 45 seconds before the keyboard is ready to type after its re-plugged in. Its meant to be a premium gaming keyboard?
On a plus note, the drivers are almost identical the the Roccat Kone drivers. Very easy to use, and a fair few options (mainly macro based)
To sum up, im not 100% happy with my purchase and as it stands, it wasnt worth the money. If the missing keystroke problem is fixed in an update and some more support is added for the LCD then i will be happy with it.
Anyone else got any first impressions of the Valo?
First impressions were good. The packaging was very smart and i couldnt fault it at all. Looked like a premium product, not just a keyboard thrown in a cardboard box. It looked like someone had spent some time on making it look nice.
Opened it up, pulled the keyboard out, and i must say, its fairly big. Bigger than i was expecting. It looked slightly less impressive than it did in the pictures i had seen on the Roccat website, but it looks awesome none the less. Included was a key remover (works remarkably well!) gaming microphone, audio/mic extension cables and all the paperwork, including drivers on CD. You also get 3 bags of M keys (macro keys), each bag a different color. red, light blue and dark blue. These keys can replace the standard black M keys to make them stand out more, so you remember which key does what.
So, i plugged it all in (it needs 2 usb ports if you want to use the usb on the side of the keyboard) and installed the drivers. The first thing i noticed was that the typing angle was far to shallow, even with the feet unfolded. Maybe its just my particular setup, but my old Dell multimedia keyboard was a much higher angle and i preffered that. I have got used to the keyboard and i still dont like the angle, so i have now put 2 CD cases under each foot to raise it up a bit more.
After the drivers had installed, i noticed that the backlit keyboard wasnt as bright as i expected, even on the brightest setting, but im used to it now and its ok i suppose...
I couldnt get the mic to work (and i still havnt got it to work) Its plugged into my Creative Fatal1ty X-fi Titanium soundcard, and it just wont work no matter what i try. I was disappointed by the macro keys not being able to specifically open a program (for example "C->Program files->Mozilla Firefox->firefox.exe") I know there is a pre-set option for a macro key to open the default internet browser, but that was just an example of what i presumed you would be able to do.
I am so-far not impressed with the amount of things you can display on the screen. Im sure i read that there was going to be software to display game info and allsorts. So far, its pretty much Time+Date, cpu usage, ram usage and macro status. How exciting...
My biggest current problem with the keyboard is that EVERY single time i turn my computer on, and try and type, it comes out like this;
Helo,tis is metypng my norl speedo he Roct Valo kebard.
If i unplug the keyboard, and re-plug it into different (or the same) usb ports, it works perfectly until i turn my computer off and on again. If this happened once a month or something, i wouldnt be too bothered, but everyday gets very very tiresome, especially when it takes about 45 seconds before the keyboard is ready to type after its re-plugged in. Its meant to be a premium gaming keyboard?
On a plus note, the drivers are almost identical the the Roccat Kone drivers. Very easy to use, and a fair few options (mainly macro based)
To sum up, im not 100% happy with my purchase and as it stands, it wasnt worth the money. If the missing keystroke problem is fixed in an update and some more support is added for the LCD then i will be happy with it.
Anyone else got any first impressions of the Valo?
haha
Going to do the same as you and email Roccat. And I've just ordered a Razer Lycosa!
