The Roccat Magma lives up to its name. With its global backlighting across the entire surface of the keyboard, it doesn’t offer key-by-key like a classic mechanical keyboard.
In line with its new membrane gamer keyboard, the Magma, Roccat has also presented another keyboard, mechanical this time, as we like it, for gamers who have a little more budget and want performance. Therefore, the Roccat Pyro is there to ensure this task, to replace the other keypads of the brand, namely the keyboards of the Vulcan range.
But can this membrane keyboard offers such a good price/performance ratio really worth or the new mechanical keyboard from Roccat Pyro?
Pros and Cons
| Roccat Pyro | Roccat Magma |
| Brushed aluminum surface | Well-crafted design |
| Wrist rest provided | Wrist rest provided |
| Non-braided cable | Non-braided cable |
Specification
| Roccat Pyro | Roccat Magma | |
| $ | CHECK PRICE | CHECK PRICE |
| Dimensions | Height: 3.9 cm Width: 45.2 cm Length: 17.7 cm | Height: 3.9 cm Width: 45.2 cm Length: 17.7 cm |
| Type | Gamer | Gamer |
| Weight | 870 grams | 870 grams |
| Color | Black | Black |
| Connectivity | Wired | Wired |
| Mechanical | Yes | No |
| Wheel | Yes | No |
| RGB | Yes | Yes |
| Bluetooth | No | No |
| Numpad | Yes | Yes |
| Latency wired | 6.6 ms | 6.1 ms |
| Software | Roccat Swarm | Roccat Swarm |
| Compatibility | Windows | Windows |
Design
Roccat Pyro- with the palm rest, horizontal grooves on its surface, light enough but still pleasant to give a more pleasing appearance. The palm rest attaches to the keyboard via clips, no screws or magnets here. This is undoubtedly a better solution. Roccat has opted for a good compromise that allows the palm rest to hold correctly while not being painful to fix with screws.
The bottom also has non-slip pads on the underside, with much deeper grooves here, than on the other surface of the wrist rest, the visible surface. Removing the wrist rest is very simple; rotate it to remove it easily if you do not want to use it.
Now we come to the Roccat Pyro, the keyboard itself. The corner is as well finished as the Roccat Magma, with a few exceptions. Already, the keyboard’s surface is not transparent plastic here but brushed aluminum, which offers a much more elegant side and incomparable finishes. After checking, it is aluminum and not very well processed plastic.
The backlighting here is totally different and is not done on an area but key by key. Its own LED independently backlights each keycap. This is why this keyboard interests me, particularly because a keyboard of this type is often marketed 20 to 30% more expensive than the Roccat Pyro.
The volume adjustment wheel is just to the right of this small strip of LEDs, which is very well finished. It is possible to increase or decrease it by turning it from right to left or from left to right. However, this is not the most practical solution. The SteelSeries Apex 5 or the Logitech G915 do better on this point. If the G915 is much more expensive, the system is not very complicated to set up since the GG Champion’s Bane, which is much less expensive, also offers one.
These are the two main differences with Magma. The Roccat Pyro is on the bottom, with the same grooves as under the palm rest, but less deep this time around. There are also kings glides allowing to hold the keyboard on the front part. There are pads on both sides of the adjustable feet at the back, allowing the keyboard to be tilted. All this makes it hold very well on all media types (glass desk, mouse pad, wooden desk, etc.).
The cable is not braided, which is a shame. Roccat has made a great effort for its mice but not for its keyboards. However, it is fixed on the keyboard. This means that if the cable ever fails (which happens very rarely, of course), it must replace the entire keyboard. Therefore, we will advise you to pay attention to your cable, even if there should not be any problems.
We appreciate one thing here, not to see the keyboard screws. The latter are discreet and hardly visible—a good big positive point for the aesthetics.
Roccat Magma- Roccat has taken its old keyboards, the Vulcan series, to change everything. No more extra-thin keycaps; here we are, back to normal keycaps, encompassing the entire switch. The keyboard has also been nicely rounded at the edges, like an Apple Magic Keyboard. However, it does not offer such a reduced stroke in terms of the keys and is differentiated in many other ways.
The Roccat Magma adopts on the lower part of its surface horizontal lines engraved in the keyboard. This continuity with the wrist rest, which is indeed provided in a product at such an attractive price. We can precisely talk about the palm rest. The latter is attached to the keyboard without screwing but is not equipped with magnets either.
It clips onto the keyboard effortlessly; Roccat even gives a small diagram of how to attach it and detach it very simply. The palm rest is made of hard plastic, more precisely ABS. It is a plastic widely used in the world of computer peripherals that has a stunning appearance. The only problem with ABS is that it easily marks fingerprints after a while of use, unlike PBT.
Let’s go back to the keyboard, with keycaps that we still find quite thin, even though they are not a Vulcan Pro level. All the part of the keyboard under the keys is translucent white but opaque, for a straightforward reason, to pass the light of the RGB LEDs located below. On the Roccat Magma, the underside of the keyboard lights up to immerse the keys in the lava. Finally, it depends; if you illuminate the keyboard in blue/green, the lava effect will not be too there.
Under the Roccat Magma, the manufacturer has also played on textures and offers much more marked horizontal lines this time. Apart from a simple aesthetic effect, this does nothing more for the keyboard, except perhaps a reduced weight. There are the pads to hold the Magma correctly on a desk, three in number on the front of the keyboard and two on the back. Boosters are also available, allowing the Roccat Magma to be raised if necessary. These have retaining pads on both surfaces.
On the right, there are activity LEDs for various features such as Scroll Lock, Caps Lock, and Numeric Keypad Lock.
Overall, the Roccat Magma seems well finished and complete; despite an attractive price, Roccat does not seem to have skimped on quality and offers a pleasant and well-designed product.
Typing Comfort
The Roccat Pyro is a mechanical gaming keyboard with red switches. These offer up to 50 million activations, which should leave a certain margin before rendering them out of service. The latter offers a 2-millimeter stroke for activation; however, the total stroke of the switches is 4 millimeters, which is quite long. Fortunately, they activate before reaching their total running distance.
As they are red switches, they are linear, which is much more convenient for playing, but not like the switches of the Asus ROG Strix Scope RX. The latter has particular switches, which few others on the market offer. The necessary activation force is 45 grams, as with all red switches found on the market, making them the fastest since it doesn’t need much pressure.
We also have the satisfaction of observing one thing; they are not very noisy. We have been able to know red switches noisier than that, and there, quite frankly, they are quite silent even. Keycaps certainly play a role in this to reduce noise. Likewise, on a wooden desk, you will feel all the vibrations. An XXL mouse pad that includes the keyboard is a good idea to take advantage of very attenuated vibrations.
The keys are pleasant to play, the anti-ghosting technology works very well, allowing to avoid typos when writing this review of the Roccat Pyro. We can only note a slight defect, which is not really one; however, it is the keycaps. If the latter is higher than the Magma model, they are still in ABS, which is more sensitive to fingerprints than PBT keys. This is a small problem but nothing serious; however, the ABS has the advantage of being smooth and letting the light from the backlight pass much more easily.
The Roccat Magma, as we have seen, is obviously a membrane keyboard. Who would have imagined such a cheap and good mechanical keyboard? While gamers prefer mechanical keyboards, membrane keyboards should not be sidelined. Especially with such a product, we must recognize that a small-budget gamer can clearly have fun with a beautiful keyboard.
The difference will, however, be felt on the feeling of the keys. No tactile feedback is possible; however, if the keys are a little harder and require a little higher activation pressure than red switches, for example, one thing is certain. The membrane keyboard makes much less noise than a mechanical keyboard.
If you have to press a little harder on a membrane keyboard, we can only appreciate this royal silence, allowing both to write articles and to play a little CS: GO, without a reactivity of a Razer BlackWidow V3 Pro, of course, but without all the noise that goes with it, for sure.
The Roccat Magma also has anti-ghosting technology. This is to prevent a key from activating inadvertently when you want to press another key. It’s quite practical, especially when, like me, we write three articles on Roccat products in a row; typos are not that rare, even for someone who admits to knowing well his keyboard. It takes a little getting used to before switching to Roccat Magma, just a few hours to allow the fingers to get used to the new layout; although nothing really changes from before, the exact layout of the keys is not always the same.
It is possible to activate the Game Mode (Game Mode) to disable some Windows features. Among other things, this deactivates the Windows key, thus avoiding any stealth activation during a game, which is nice not to rage when you are stupidly killed.
Backlight
Speaking of backlighting, the Roccat Pyro’s is key-by-key, meaning each key has a dedicated LED for backlighting under the keycaps. This is obviously the optimal configuration, which allows having perfect backlighting on all the keys without having weaknesses in certain places because of the positioning of the inscriptions.
Some lighting effects are present, but Roccat always activates the harmonious AIMO effect by default, allowing you to synchronize your lighting between the keyboard and the other accessories of the brand that you will have connected. For me, a mouse, the Roccat Kone Pro Air.
Roccat is still pretty tight-lipped on backlighting effects. But strangely here the manufacturer offers more effects than usual, with a total of 8 effects.
We can indeed customize the backlighting of the Roccat Pyro. Either each key independently or by a group of keys (alphabet and what is around it, numeric keypad, directional arrows, ZQSD, function keys, etc.). It is practical, but it takes time. However, it is still possible to personalize the Pyro excessively.
The Roccat Magma has backlighting diffused by 10 LEDs on a total of 5 zones. It is not a classic backlight here; Roccat has chosen global lighting, giving another aspect to the Magma. What we have to say is that at first, it is a bit confusing. But after a few minutes of use, you get used to it quite quickly.
Some lighting effects are present, but Roccat always activates the harmonious AIMO effect by default, allowing you to synchronize your lighting between the keyboard and the other accessories of the brand that you will have connected. For me, a mouse, the Roccat Kone Pro Air.
If it’s not touch-by-touch but global lighting, we must recognize one thing, Roccat has done the job very well. The keys are also backlit in their center to display their functionality. Even during the day, the quality of light is good, and you can see the light passing through them after having crossed the rather opaque background.
Software
Roccat Swarm is the software to control all Roccat accessories. However, we can make two complaints—first, its interface, which deserves a facelift. Second, Roccat Swarm is efficient but needs to install the necessary elements for each device when adding a new one.
Conclusion!
If the keycaps get dirty a little quickly because of the material, ABS, it is still easy to clean. This is not a big criticism because, in the end, we can not fault him much. The Roccat Pyro provides all points for an indicative price bordering on aggressive for the competition.
If we can blame it for keycaps that get dirty a bit quicker due to their construction in ABS, this is one of the only things. The Roccat Magma is efficient and pleasant to use on all points. Roccat has done a good job of making their keyboard look good everywhere, without making it an excellent model in just one area. For that alone, it deserves a good grade!
