As with photography, the equipment is just a tool. The person behind that tool is far more important, but hey, it doesn’t hurt to have some killer equipment either. The exact same thing can be said about the competitive PC gaming scene; equip the best players with the worst equipment and they’ll still whoop you good. Give them the best equipment and they’ll whoop you better.
To this end, Thermaltake started up their Tt eSports line to support the professional gaming scene and we’re taking a look at two of their proudest offerings: the Challenger Ultimate Gaming Keyboard and the Black Element Gaming Mouse. If you’re hard to the core, you’ll want to take a look at these.
Start With the Challenger Ultimate Gaming Keyboard
There are some keyboards that are designed with multimedia in mind. Others are built for web surfing. In the case of the Challenger Ultimate, Tt eSports is targeting the gaming enthusiast. Key features include the ten programmable macro keys (which can be used for shortcuts if you prefer), two USB ports in the back, headphone and microphone jacks, and five profile settings that can be quickly switched between with the press of a button.
This is not a wireless keyboard, since it is catering to the hardcore gamer. To that demographic, latency simply is not something that can be tolerated and only a wired connection will do. Since this keyboard does need a little more power, the cable will take up two USB ports on your computer. It retails for about $99.99 US.
Sweaty Hands and Personality
Want to stand out from the crowd at your local LAN party? The Challenger Ultimate tries to do part of that with its “Wizard 256 Back Light Design.” After you’ve installed the included software, you can map out your macro keys, but you can also choose the backlighting on the keyboard too. It’s great that they’re not preset colors, so you can really find the color you want. The Tt logo, however, is always red: you can only choose to have it on or off.
In the top-right portion of the keyboard is the profile button, switching between five different sets of profiles. The profile settings include the macro keys, as well as the backlight preferences. Adding to the personality, you can swap out the arrow keys and WSAD keys with red ones. I can’t imagine a competitive gamer looking down too much during a heated match, but the red does stand out.
Perhaps one of the quirkiest inclusions is the mini-fan. The tiny fan can be inserted in either of the two ports above the function keys and it will automatically turn on. I guess this can help to keep your hands cool, but you’ll wanto be really careful if you use a keyboard tray at your desk; most keyboard trays don’t offer enough clearance for the inserted fan and it can break very easily.
Usability and Comfort
And this is where it really matters. Let’s start with the gaming environment. I played through several sessions of Team Fortress 2 and, as silly as it sounds, the swapped out red keys almost came in handy, as my left hand was able to get back to the “home” gaming position just a tad faster.
The keys just had the right amount of travel and “clackiness” for comfort. Also, the added USB port in the back was very handy for connecting the Black Element Mouse (which I’ll comment on in a moment), since your keyboard and mouse will presumably be in the same place. The fan is a silly addition, but the quick profile swaps were handy.
In terms of day-to-day usage, the keyboard is comfortable to use for extended periods of typing, but the somewhat loud “clacking” of the keys can annoy some people after a while. That said, a “softer” key travel would not be appropriate for the gaming environment.
I appreciate being able to easily program the macro keys, but the provided software doesn’t work all that well; if I set a key as a program shortcut, it only shows as “launch” in the user interface. Similarly, I couldn’t reprogram the media keys to work with VLC (instead of WMP), nor could I get the volume keys to control anything but the on-board audio jacks.
Add the Black Element Gaming Mouse
Flipping over to the other half of the equation, we find the Black Element Gaming Mouse, also from Tt eSports. I wouldn’t say that this necessarily accompanies the Challenger Ultimate, but they certainly share much of the same DNA, including the illuminated Tt logo in the front.
There’s also significant lighting here, but you don’t get the same 256 color customization as the keyboard. Instead, you’re stuck choosing from just five different colors, though you can turn the light on and off for the scroll wheel and light pipes separately.
The Black Element is marketed toward MMORPG and RTS gamers, but I don’t see why a FPS enthusiast couldn’t use it too. The mouse has fundamentally an ambidextrous design, but the placement of the extra buttons lends itself to righties. The gold-plated USB connectors are an added bonus. It retails for about $64.99 US.
Weights and Extra Buttons
When you get to a certain level of competitive gaming, you want a higher level of customization. That’s what Thermaltake is offering here, since you can add and remove weights from the base to suit your preferences. They almost look like batteries, really.
In terms of buttons, you get the main two buttons, of course, as well as the scroll wheel in between. What’s interesting is, given the RTS targeting, there is no horizontal tilt to the scroll wheel. There is one additional button to the right and three additional buttons, aligned in a slim row, on the left. These are all programmable.
Below the scroll wheel are two additional buttons. These allow you to quickly switch between four levels of DPI settings on this laser mouse, ranging from 800 to 6500 DPI. That can come in really handy, since you can do that on the fly without having to muddle through an additional interface.
Comfort and Performance
The rubber coating makes for a softer, more comfortable finish, and the molded design accepts your hand quite readily for extended gaming sessions. I would have preferred if the three extra buttons on the left were a little more toward the rear than the front, but that’s a minor quibble.
Again, I used Team Fortress 2 as my benchmark game and I found the mouse to be both comfortable and responsive. Being able to change the DPI settings on the fly was handy for when I switched between running around and settling down for a sniper shot. Movement was smooth, though it worked best on a proper mousing surface, rather than a bare table.
The real downside comes on the software side, just like the keyboard. The user interface looks all jazzed up, but it’s not particularly functional. For instance, there are several icons in the interface where it’s not exactly clear what they do. Like the Challenger Ultimate, the Black Element also allows for five profile settings.
Final Thoughts
Thermaltake has done a wonderful job with offering a distinctive aesthetic to go with its Tt eSports line of products. The build quality is great, performance is commendable, and discomfort during extended use was never a concern. The two items really do seem to go together. There was no doubt that a proper gaming mouse and keyboard like this improved my gaming performance.
My main recommendation would be an improvement in the bundled software for customizing this gaming equipment. The hardware is there; it just needs the software to provide for a better user experience. With some help in that department, Tt eSports can rank right up there with the Razers of the world. There really is no excuse for the software not to match the hardware theses days. But if you can get over the software quirks, or tend to go commando and not use any software at all, then we highly recommend the Thermaltake Challenger and Black Element combo for your next gaming interface upgrade.
The Challenger Ultimate and Black Element list for $99.99 US and $64.99 US, respectively at many retailers and etailers that stock Thermaltake products.
Pros
- Positively striking design
- Plenty of customization, including backlight options
- Bonus features to stand out from the crowd
- On-board memory to store profile settings
Cons
- Software is pretty, but ineffective
- Mini fan on keyboard is remarkably fragile
- USB hub and audio jacks can “confuse” Windows at times
Overall Rating: 8.0 / 10.0
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Tt eSports by Thermaltake Challenger Ultimate Gaming Keyboard and Black Element Gaming Mouse Image Gallery
