There’s nothing toxic about this heavy metal peripheral
The Palladium gaming keyboard is a midrange peripheral sitting neatly between the entry-level Thorium and higher-end Beryllium mechanical keyboard from Element Gaming.
Although the Palladium is a membrane keyboard, it does offer something slightly different from the competition in terms of its design, feature set and price.
The Palladium is quite an astonishing-looking keyboard. The dominating feature is a large aluminium plate that extends beyond the rear of the actual keyboard into a sharp lined symmetrical pattern. The plate is screwed onto a white plastic base, but each key is raised above the plate to the height of around 5mm, with the solid keys extending a further 10mm beyond that. Effectively, the tops of the keycaps are raised to 15mm off the base of the keyboard, which makes cleaning the keyboard a lot easier but also increases the travel somewhat.
Each keycap is an injectionmoulded affair, with an LED. There are 19 anti-ghosting keys set up for gaming and a ten million keystroke lifetime. The LEDs can be arranged in seven different colours and can also be set to pulsate between colours or just remain static.
It’s quite a unique design, but using the Palladium takes a little getting used to. We’ve often said that it’s how a keyboard ‘feels’ that makes one model better than the next. While the Palladium does feel very good to use, we don't like the fact the Return key is single height, so you inevitably end up hitting the hash key above it. It’s just a matter of getting used to it, but the keys do work well despite the travel we mentioned earlier.
On a more positive note, the heavy base means the Palladium doesn’t move while in use, and it forms a solid backbone that improves its rigidity. Although it doesn’t boast the extended lifespan of its mechanical counterparts, the Palladium does appear to be able to take its fair share of abuse. This is mainly due to the high quality of the components, including a braided USB cable.
If you’re in the market for a high-quality keyboard that’s a little different in terms of design, then you can't go far wrong with the Element Gaming Palladium. David Hayward
A good keyboard, with a unique design and feature set.