When Logitech kindly decided to send us one of their keyboards for a review, I got designated with the task of doing so as apparently due to taking over 6 months to decide on a keyboard for my own personal use made me the ideal person to do so. I’ve written a few keyboard reviews in the past, so how hard could it be? To my surprise, when the courier arrived at my doorstep, I was suspicious of how large the box was, and on opening the box I discovered at had been sent not one, but three Logitech G512 keyboards……oh boy.
Logitech, along with Microsoft, is a brand name synonymous with keyboards and mice going all the back to the 80s. Now that I think about it, I’ve always had a lack of desktop space, so back then I was using one of these things:
Precision pixel movements (well, big pixels back in VGA days), check, but gaming with it in CounterStrike 1.6………well that was an art that took months to learn (and not yet mastered).
Video
Logitech G512
The Logitech G512 Lightsync RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard was announced back in June, placing it squarely in the middle of Logitech’s range of gaming keyboards. The hoorah around the G512 was that Logitech also announced that it would be made available in 3 different in-house designed switched; Tactile, Linear and the new GX Blue, more on this later.
Let’s have a quick look at it’s specs:
G512 Romer-G Tactile/Linear
- Length: 132 mm (5.2 in)
- Width: 445 mm (17.5 in)
- Height: 34 mm (1.4 in)
- Weight (w/o cable): 1150 g (40.6 oz)
- Cable Length: 6 ft
G512 GX Blue
- Length: 132 mm (5.2 in)
- Width: 445 mm (17.5 in)
- Height: 35.5 mm (1.4 in)
- Weight (w/o cable): 1130 g (39.9 oz)
- Cable Length: 6 ft
Romer-G Tactile/Linear Mechanical Switches
- Durability: 70 million keypresses
- Actuation distance: 1.5 mm
- Actuation force: 45 g
- Total travel distance: 3.2 mm
GX Blue Mechanical Switches
- Durability: 70 million keypresses
- Actuation distance: 1.9 mm
- Actuation force: 50 g
- Total travel distance: 4.0 mm
- Connection Type: USB 2.0
- USB Protocol: USB 2.0
- USB Ports (Built-in): Yes, 2.0
- Indicator LIghts (LED): 2
- Backlighting: Yes, RGB per key lighting
Special Keys
- Lighting Controls: FN+F5/F6/F7
- Game Mode: FN+F8
- Media Controls: FN+F9/F10/F11/F12
- Volume Contros: FN+ PRTSC/SCRLK/PAUSE
- Programmable FN keys via Logitech Gaming Software
The Logitech G512 sports a minimalist look, there’s no extra row of media keys along the top of the keyboard, there’s no smartphone/tablet holder, and bezel surrounding the keys are kept to a minimum. With a brushed aircraft-grade aluminium alloy finish, the G512 looks very sleek.
As with all of Logitech’s RGB accessories, control of the G512’s RGB LEDs is done via their own Gaming Software, an intuitive program that lets you easily and quickly customize your RGB LEDs to your heart’s content. Even on the brightest settings, the G512’s RGB lighting is subtle and never blindingly brighter, and if you have a look at the video you can see that with different switches the RGB lighting is slightly different due to the way the switches are designed.
A quick mention very on an additional feature the G512 has and that is it has a USB 2.0 passthrough port built into the top edge of the keyboard, and this leads to it cable having 2 USB ports; one for the keyboard and RGB functions, and one for the USB passthrough port.
This is a little letdown with only USB 2.0, most of us would have preferred this to be at least USB 3.0, and maybe even USB 3.1. Maybe in future versions we will see this. Before we move on, I did find a strange notch at the top of the keyboard, and having searched the internet for some answers for this is, will still don’t have a clue for what it is for…
With a 1ms response time, the Logitech G512 is very responsive, but how responsive you want it will depend on what switches you decide on….
The Switches
Logitech G512’s three different kinds of switches can be split into two categories; clicky and non-clicky. The clicky version is Logitech’s new GX Blue switches, and they do look very similar to a Cherry MX Blue switch.
If you go to Logitech’s own website here, you can actually hear the actuations of these three kinds of switches.
With a actuation distance of 1.9mm, the GX Blue has a slightly shorter travel distance until you start to hit the click-bump, meaning lighter presses. Whilst many gamers swear by these clicky keys, I personally do find them getting on my nerves after just a few minutes of typing with all the clicking going on.
The GX Blue has a crosshair profile at the of its switches, meaning you can get replacement keycaps very easily.
For those that want quieter keystrokes but still want a to feel a physical bump during a keypress, then opt for the Romer-G Tactile.
Instead a click, the Romer-G Tactiles have a more gentle thud during its actuation, and in our tests, with only a 1.5mm actuation distance, very light keystrokes are needed before the keys register. Couple this with a shorter total travel distance of the key strokes, prolonged typing does not tire your fingers out so easily.
Last but not least are the Romer-G Linear.
These are preferred switches as much like my Cherry MX Silver switches, there are not physical bumps or clicks, just a smooth keystroke. Add to this the same short actuation distance as the Romer-G Tactile of 1.5mm you don’t need to press the keys all the way down, just light taps on each keys is another. As for gaming, this is the perfect key switch for quick double taps or quick rapid keypresses.
A downside to the Romer-G Tactile and Romer-G Linear switches is that they do not sport the normal profiles of the top of their switches, meaning getting replacement keycaps can only be done so from Logitech themselves.
| Switch | Romer-G Tactile | Romer-G Linear | GX Blue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feedback Type | Discernable Bump | Smooth | Audible Click |
| Actuation Distance | 1.5 mm | 1.5 mm | 1.9 mm |
| Total Travel | 3.2 mm | 3.2 mm | 4.0 mm |
| Average Force | 45 gf | 45 gf | 50 gf |
| Tactile Force | 50 gf | n/a | 60 gf |
| Lifespan | 70M Keystrokes | 70M Keystrokes | 70M Keystrokes |
Conclusion
For a no-fuss RGB gaming keyboard, there’s probably none better than the Logitech G512 Lightsync RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard. Priced at just USD$99.99, it strikes a right balance between performance and quality. The G512 is solidly built and I was surprised to feel it is quite heavy, so it is not going to slide about on your desktop. Sure, you don’t get all the fancy stuff like dedicated media buttons or a wrist-rest bundled in, but the G512 will surprise you on how complete it feels using. There are just one or two niggles, such as only having USB 2.0 as its passthrough, but not all gaming keyboards has one of those in the first place.
Add to all this the option to pick the right switches for to suit your personal taste, the Logitech G512 is a top contender for any gaming set up.
You can buy the Logitech G513 RGB
- Logitech G513 Carbon Romer-G Tactile – https://amzn.to/2OWZnW5
- Logitech G513 Carbon Romer-G Linear – https://amzn.to/2ItzhI5
- Logitech G513 Carbon GX Blue – https://amzn.to/2NQTrl4
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