Review of the wireless mechanical gaming keyboard ASUS ROG Strix Scope NX Wireless Deluxe / Overclockers.ua

ASUS ROG Strix Scope NX Wireless Deluxe is a full-size wireless gaming mechanical keyboard. Apparently, ASUS has decided to update the entire range of keyboards, creating wireless versions for all of its main product lines. In addition, the division into two types of models is clearly visible: with mechanical switches of the NX series, and with optical RX. Although, in my opinion, the transition to wireless keyboards (as opposed to wireless mice) is more a tribute to fashion than an urgent necessity. And the main reason for such a view is the backlight, which drains the battery faster than anything else. And it is now in every gaming keyboard. Of course, you can turn it off, but then why pay for it? And a high polling frequency is also required, which also puts an extra load on the battery and has to be charged often. In a word, gaming keyboards are still more rational to use on a wire. However, the industry is actively promoting the trend of wireless gaming peripherals, and there is nothing you can do about it. So let’s see what exactly ASUS has prepared for us this time.

Specifications

Supply set

The keyboard comes in a nice red and black box (ROG’s signature colors) that has the look of the product and all the necessary information about it.

Protection from damage in the middle is provided by additional cardboard inserts, a pair of polyurethane foam spacers, plastic bags and a synthetic fabric wrapper.

In addition to the keyboard, the kit includes a palm rest, user manual, warranty booklet, ROG logo stickers, USB Type C (female) to USB Type A (female) adapter, a miniature 2.4 GHz receiver and USB Type A to USB Type C cable.

Appearance

The ASUS ROG Strix Scope NX Wireless Deluxe keyboard has an easily recognizable design, characteristic of all products in this series, made in the style of “skeleton”. The upper panel with a curve in front, which creates an additional stiffening rib, visually looks beautiful and concise. It is made of aluminum with a thickness of 1 mm and polished by the method of sandblasting. The device has high strength and withstands the diagonal twist test easily and almost without a creak. The palm rest is removable and held on by magnets. The keyboard itself weighs 933 grams.

The removable magnetic palm rest has a size of 440x75x25 mm. On the outside, it is covered in artificial leather with an embossed ROG logo on the right side. Its rear part is made of plastic. There are three large rubber feet on the sides and in the middle, two additional strips on the back, and three more spacers where they fit the keyboard. Three large magnets are hidden in the middle and closer to the edges of the back face. There is also another ROG logo and name at the bottom. The weight of the stand is 209 grams.

The layout is generally ANSI-standard with long single-row Shift and Enter buttons. The F1 key is located directly above the number “2”. Among the differences, it should be noted that the left Ctrl button is elongated, as a result of which the left Win and Alt are shifted to the right, and the space bar is shortened. The keycaps are made of wear-resistant PBT plastic by double molding. The letters of the Latin alphabet are pressed in a font of medium thickness from above exactly in the center of the caps. All symbols are perfectly visible when the backlight is on, but poorly visible without it. Additional service symbols are not illuminated, as they are applied by the method of thermal sublimation. In addition to the traditional tactile notches for printing, on the “F” and “J” keys, there is also a dot notch on the “game” button “W”. The Fn button takes the place of the right Win key.

The digital block of keys, arrows and editor buttons is made as standard. Lock-indicators of white color are mounted in the panel in the upper right corner. They are marked with outline icons with backlight. Looking from left to right, they will be 1 (Num Lock), A (Caps Lock), S (Scroll Lock), F (Fn Lock) and the Windows symbol with a lock (Win Lock). Even further to the right is the ROG logo, which lights up in different colors and can act as a battery indicator.

This keyboard uses proprietary ROG NX Brown mechanical switches. In addition to them, there may be keyboard options with NX Red and NX Blue switches. You can learn more about their features and varieties at this link. By and large, these are classic silent tactile switches. They have a trigger point of 2mm of travel and a full travel of 4mm. The force required for activation corresponds to 58 grams. The activation point is below the tactile feedback zone. Therefore, by pressing the key slowly, you can achieve recoil without triggering the mechanism. And vice versa — after activation, it is possible to perform it again without tactile feedback, if you do not release the button to this level. From the factory, the hidden wedge stabilizers of the long keys, the rods and the switch housings are lubricated from the inside. And that is wonderful from the point of view of tactile sensations. The keys wobble a little, but generally have a normal level of stabilization.

The height of the keyboard with folded legs along the back row of keys is 39 mm. With unfolded legs – 50 mm. Side panels bent inward allow you to easily rearrange the keyboard if necessary. The Cherry key profile is used here.

A cable connection port and a magnetic pocket with a receiver are hidden in a recess in the center.

The USB Type C to USB Type A cable is nylon braided and 1.8 meters long. It is thin, of medium hardness. There is a velcro here to adjust the length.

The power switch is on the back right. The keyboard has three modes of operation: 1) wired (switch in the central position); 2) wireless 2.4 GHz through the receiver (switch to the left); 3) Bluetooth (switch to the right).

In order to reduce signal delay, the receiver can be moved closer to the keyboard and connected to the cable through an adapter. It is also convenient that in the case when recharging is needed, the cable is always at hand. It is enough to remove the adapter from it.

The lower part of the keyboard body is plastic, with diagonal stripes and the ROG logo. Five rubber feet have a special “sticky” texture. If you keep them clean, the keyboard will stick to the glossy table as if glued. A sticker with a serial number is located near the right leg.

The folding legs also have rubber stickers with a similar grippy surface texture.

The backlight on the keyboard does not look bad. Colors are reproduced not very brightly, but accurately enough. White is traditionally similar to a shade of blue. Symbols are clearly visible at 50% brightness even in intense outdoor lighting. There are also many lighting effects and the possibility of individual customization of each button. Lock indicators are illuminated in a soft white color. The brightness of the ROG logo is adjustable along with the other backlight.

Functional capabilities

The ASUS ROG Strix Scope NX Wireless Deluxe keyboard has an advanced hardware platform with built-in memory for five variables and one immutable profile, where key assignments and backlight settings are stored. Additional functions are implemented by combining the corresponding keys with the Fn button. You can find information about them on the official website, in the instructions, or intuitively understand their purpose by looking at the icons on the corresponding buttons. The table below provides a complete list of those functions that were successfully reproduced.

Software

As software, the ASUS ROG Strix Scope NX Wireless Deluxe uses a rather cumbersome Armory Crate application with a lot of resource-demanding processes and redundant elements. The software needs to be downloaded and installed. There are five tabs for configuring the keyboard. The first is responsible for changing the assignment of buttons. All keys except Fn are available for this. You can assign keyboard and mouse commands (left or right button only), macro commands, launching programs or opening websites, multimedia and Windows commands, launching the Armory Crate software itself, entering certain text, completely disabling the key, or returning its function according to the setting. There is also a button to reset everything to the initial settings. Also, in game mode, in addition to the Win button, you can disable the Alt+Tab and Alt+F4 combinations.

There is a separate tab for setting the RGB indicator built into the logo. It can be set to two modes of operation: 1) synchronization with backlight, 2) operation as a charge level indicator. In addition, you can also adjust the illumination of the “8”, “9”, and “0” buttons. Either repeat the general illumination, or in Bluetooth mode, show which device is connected in white.

In the backlight settings, 11 types of effects are available, including static backlighting. The backlight can be turned off completely. You will need to download the Aura Creator program to customize the lighting of each button individually.

The “Power” tab shows the battery charge level accurately by percentage. Here you can set the level at which the low battery light will trigger, from “never” to 10, 20, 30, 40 or 50% charge. Power saving mode can also be set to never, or within 10, 5, 3, 2 or 1 minutes of idle time. You can also turn off the energy saving mode completely, or choose a variant of its operation: 1) complete shutdown of the backlight when idle; 2) reducing the brightness of the backlight.

In the “Firmware update” section, the firmware version of the keyboard and receiver is checked and updated if necessary. Current firmware versions at the time of writing this review can be seen in the picture.

In the macro editor, you can record keyboard and mouse commands (including scroll directions and additional keys), with or without time delays. Then all of this can be edited. A total of 100 actions are available per command chain, with key presses and key releases being separate actions. The command can be configured to record the delay as is, fixed delay, or no delay. Playback is available in three options: continuously on click, continuous repeat, or once. The recording delay can be set to 1, 3 or 5 seconds. All macros can be named, created and deleted, imported and exported.

Ergonomics and testing

In the ASUS ROG Strix Scope NX Wireless Deluxe keyboard, the main emphasis is on the versatility of its use scenarios. For games, it can be connected via a 2.4 GHz receiver or via a cable. At the same time, in the first case, it is not even necessary to be next to the system unit. Although, of course, the closer to the transmitter, the better. For example, from the point of view of radio interference and signal delays. There is a Bluetooth interface for connecting to a laptop, tablet, smartphone or TV. Of course, it has a number of limitations from the point of view of game application in terms of reaction speed, but that is not its purpose.

The overall quality of this keyboard is at a high level. The high strength and good appearance of the device is achieved thanks to the shape of the upper aluminum panel with a considerable stiffening rib. A convenient magnetic stand under the palms reduces the level of fatigue and makes long hours of work at the device much more comfortable. Sticky legs made of special rubber make the keyboard unbreakable, especially if it is standing on a lacquered surface. It should also be noted pleasant to the touch and wear-resistant keycaps made of PBT plastic.

The layout of the keys here is generally standard, and does not require getting used to for those who type blindly. In addition to the extended Ctrl key. It will appeal to players in the FPS genre, because it frees up the little finger for other keys, and Ctrl can be pressed with the edge of the palm. But it will be inconvenient for those who often use the left Alt and Win buttons.

The ROG NX Brown switches are quite specific in my opinion. The tactile feedback from them is more informative precisely when typing, and not during the game. Because, as mentioned earlier, the point of activation of the key does not coincide with the moment of tactile response from the key. That is, there can be both return without activation and reactivation without return. And they are quite tight. Which does not bode well at the micro-control level in dynamic games. For games itself, linear NX Red will be the best choice. And NX Brown are suitable for those who need tactile feedback, but who do not like the clicking of switches like NX Blue. On the other hand, as an average option for all usage scenarios, why not. All the more so since all the mentioned variations of the buttons in this keyboard model are available for sale. A significant plus here is also the fact that the switches themselves are lubricated from the middle, just as the wedge stabilizers of the long keys are also lubricated. That is, in terms of tactile sensation, this keyboard is quite pleasant.

The advanced hardware platform of this keyboard with a large amount of memory and a significant number of profiles allows you to record macro commands and even adjust the backlight without using software. As always, I have complaints about the optimization and interface with the Armory Crate software, but it still gets better with time.

The lighting here is done quite well. In addition, the keyboard works with it for a long time, thanks to the battery, optimization of energy saving technology and wireless interface settings. The manufacturer claims 60 hours of keyboard operation with backlight through the receiver in 2.4 GHz mode. To test this statement in practice, I tried to use the device at 50% brightness of the backlight with the standby mode disabled and the backlight off. When the PC was turned off at night, the keyboard automatically turned off with it, without physically using the power switch. In this mode, the charge was enough for 44.5 hours. And if you turn on more aggressive energy saving, then the result can be improved several times and exceed the declared indicators. As long as the battery is relatively fresh, the first two years, the autonomy of the keyboard is enough. In terms of wireless communication, this device behaves stably and well. No disconnections and obstacles were detected. The exit from the standby mode occurs instantly after the first key press, while the character is registered by the system.

ASUS ROG Strix Scope NX Wireless Deluxe supports full NKRO anti-hosting, which allows you to activate all buttons at the same time.

Results

The ASUS ROG Strix Scope NX Wireless Deluxe Keyboard is a pleasant and easy-to-use wireless device that is equally versatile for entertainment, gaming and work. The ability to connect to several devices at the same time via a cable, a separate receiver or via Bluetooth allows you to do several things at the same time using only one keyboard. In terms of design and quality, everything is also good here. A strong and beautiful body, a convenient magnetic stand under the palms, factory-lubricated switch and stabilizer mechanisms, key caps made of reliable PBT plastic, a high margin of autonomy on one battery charge, good backlight, built-in memory with fast recording of macro commands without the use of software and other nice little things for gamers like extended Ctrl and “secret” button.

No critical or noteworthy flaws were found in this keyboard. Unless you have the skill of blind typing, and you need engraving in Cyrillic.

ASUS ROG Strix Scope NX Wireless Deluxe provides a choice of one of three types of switches — NX Red, Blue or Brown. Therefore, it is worth noting that Red is best suited for gaming use, Blue for printing texts, and Brown is a compromise (but not universal) option between them. Of course, everyone will choose according to their own taste, but before that you should try them somewhere to understand the difference in tactile sensations.