Logitech G is back. This time I'm putting their gaming keyboard, the G910 Orion Spark through its paces. A few months ago, Anthony Leather did a fantastic review, showing off the keyboard's technical specs and aspects. That being the case, I'll just be giving a brief overview of the technical side, and then jumping directly into use.

First off, let me talk a bit about the size. This keyboard is huge. In fact, it's bigger than most of its contemporaries on the market. Though this fact doesn't change the use experience, it does have significant repercussions to your desk. At approximately 20 inches across, it takes up quite a bit of real estate. If you have a big desk top area, then this should be no problem. However, if you have a smaller, more practical desk, you may run into a few problems. Of course, something tells me that if you're budget is such that you can't afford a bigger desk, you probably won't be shelling out $180 for a gaming keyboard. If your desk size is more of a function of available space and not available funds, then have at it.

The new Romer-G switches and keys are quiet and responsive. As mechanical switches they have a great feel and functionality. The quiet stroke is honestly a major plus. As someone who uses a computer a lot, it's nice not to hear that heavy clickety-clack coming from the keyboard. I want to type, not go up the first hill of a roller coaster. This keyboard achieves that nicely. The keys themselves are another story. Instead of the typical slightly-cupped design of most standard keys, Logitech has changed to a scalloped design for the key faces. It sounds goo int theory, but in practice is a much different beast. For the most part, you won't notice much difference, but then every so often you feel a heavy raised edge and it throws you off.

Why is this point so important? Well, unless you're a keyboard player from the 1980s, you don't have multiple keyboards just ready to go. I don't know of anyone who has more than one keyboard at any time. If you do, please comment. This means that whatever 'gaming' keyboard you pick for your computer has to function as an actual keyboard most of the time. Let's be honest with ourselves. A gaming keyboard is more about the peripherals and extra features than anything else. If you wanted a true gaming keyboard, it wouldn't be a keyboard. It'd be directional keys and a bunch of special keys for functions. Nothing else.

Speaking of special keys, the Orion Spark has nine of them. Nine keys to rule them all. You know, there's a joke in there somewhere I just can't seem to... Anyway, the keys are basically all-in-one hot keys, that are programmable to macro functions and in-game controls. What makes this better is the fact that there's three profiles that can each be programmed differently. This means that one profile can be all your real-world functions (open, copy, paste, all those kinds of things) and the other two can be in-game profiles. Downside here is there's only three customizable profiles. I would have gone with six profiles, that way you have one real world and five game profiles.

Adding the extra buttons would have been easy. There could be three more profile buttons, and an additional G key, all it would take would be to shift the large glowing 'G' to the middle of the keyboard where the ARX dock sits. Then you could have had 10 G keys and six profile keys. Let's speak about that dock for a moment. As we've all come to understand, 'dock' is really just a fancy way of saying 'where your phone sits'. Downside here is it doesn't charge your phone like other docks. But then, how would Logitech know what kind of phone you have? The ARX software gives a bit more functionality and monitors your system. That's if you can get it to work. I installed it twice, and got it to work exactly twice. When it did work, it was kind of cool to see CPU usage and temperature. It's also nice to have another way to program buttons, or at least see what those programs are.

The software for the keyboard (and all Logitech products) is fairly straightforward. It's really easy to use. In fact, it's one of those things where you don't really need instructions. It's either automatic in its functionality, or uses pictorials to walk you through? Want to change the background color of the keys? Well, click on the light bulb surrounded by different colors. Want to change the G-key functions? Click on the big G-key. For stuff that isn't as obvious, it walks you through, like changing the scheme for the background colors. You can assign groups, or blocks, or individual colors to keys, or use one of six preset effects designs. You can also choose from 18.6 million colors if you want to customize your look that intricately.

Final Verdict:

8.5/10 There's a lot to like, and a lot that needs improving. I like the media buttons, and the volume scroll wheel. I like the idea behind the G-keys, and having multiple button profiles. I don't like the key redesigns or some of the fancy embellishes on the keys. Gamers don't need a reminder of where certain keys are. We all know where the 'WASD' keys are, you don't need to make them stand out over every other key. Also, the key scalloping is a serious drawback to typing speed. More often than not, I find myself having to go back and correct mistakes using the Orion Spark than with other keyboards. My typing speed has gone down because of it. Not a vast amount, but it has dropped since using the Orion Spark. Just something to think about when considering keyboards. As someone who is in front of theirs a good portion, I want the experience to be better than previous ones, especially if I'm shelling out $180.

For those who complain about the Romer-G key switches, and their softer action. Never change technology, keep whatever it is you're currently using. Frankly, in my mind there's nothing to complain about. I've seen the term 'mushy' used, more than once. For mechanical keys, the Orion Spark has some of the best key action I've used. It's smooth, it's quiet, it's responsive. I don't need my keys to have a lot of resistance or a hard press. I want something that has enough resistance that resting my fingers on the keys doesn't cause them to press, but easy enough to push that I don't have to expend serious energy just to type. The Romer-G keys met that criteria nicely.

Now, Logitech claims that the keys will last for 70 million keystrokes. I don't have time to test this keyboard to failure point, so I'll just have to trust them. But, here's some quick numbers to give you an idea of usability of the keyboard. Let's look at a 300 page document (letter 8.5 x 11 page size) with 110,000 words. That's approximately 629,000 characters, including spaces. In order to reach 70 million characters, you'd need 110 similar documents. But remember, that's not 111 documents of just one key pressed. According to Oxford English, the top ten keys most likely to fail first (top ten most common letters used in English) are, in this order: E, T, A, I, N, O, S, H, R, D. So maybe, maybe after typing those 111 documents you might be replacing those ten keys. But I doubt it. Logitech has made a solid product, with only a few design flaws.