Cougar sinks its sharp claws into the mechanical keyboard market
From the earliest PC days, keyboard had processors, even if most people weren't aware of them. They couldn't be used for much else other than polling the keys, but they were true microprocessors.
I mention this because the Cougar 700K has a processor in it that would probably see off all the 8-bit computers I owned and possibly most of the 16-bit ones too.
To make this keyboard truly programmable, Cougar put a 32-bit ARM CPU in here, along with sufficient memory to store three keyboard profiles. But custom profiles aren't much use if key actions aren't perfect.
The Cherry MX switches that the 700K uses are the same as my trusty SteelSeries, allowing me to both play games hard and type like a banshee when required. The review model had Cherry MX Red, although you can also get this keyboard with Black, Brown and Blue MX switches if they're your preference.
Aesthetically, the 700K has gone for the stealth military styling with visible but largely symbolic rivets. It wasn't to this reviewer's personal taste, but I can see plenty of gamers finding it fitting their rig to a tee.
The keys are backlit red, and they can be programed to highlight certain keys or even animate. You don't get Corsair K70 level of control, but the lighting options are fun.
Where it really diverges from Cougar's 200K keyboard I covered recently is in the quality of construction, as this more expensive design is far nicer. The aluminium frame and a sizable wrist rest create a high degree of stability, though the keyboard still only weighs a modest 1,200g. However, some of the more exotic features I was less thrilled about.
Cougar designed the 700K to be highly customisable, and to this end it has configurable repeat rates and six special 'G' keys, and you can program any ten keys of your own choice. There are even extra ones that allow you to record a macro on the fly.
I'm fine with most of these choices until it decided to split the spacebar, creating a 'G6' programmable key from the right-hand half of it. By default the G6 doesn't generate a space, and while it’s easy to rectify that, it can be very annoying until you do.
To get the most out of the 700K, like many gaming keyboards, you need to install the maker's own management software too. Cougar's application is called UIX System, and it does a few tricks that I've not seen before. One of these relates to the cable connectivity of the keyboard that connects to both USB and the audio lines for speaker and microphone. Technically this isn't a USB hub but a pass-through for one of the two USB connections it uses, allowing you to attach a mouse to it. If that's a Cougar mouse, then the UIX system can load up a gaming profile for both the keyboard and the mouse simultaneously and even share macros you've created between them.
The price compares well with other gaming keyboards, and there’s plenty to like for those who want to configure every aspect of their systems. I just wish Cougar had left the spacebar alone. Mark Pickavance
An excellent mechanical keyboard for those who exclusively game.