Feuire Saitek Eclipse II Backlit Keyboard (PK02AU)

I'm not a gamer, but I benefit from all the things the Saitek offers gamers: fluid keystrokes, solid and weighty base, lighted keys.Some notes:-What are the keystrokes like? Not as shallow as a laptop, not as deep as the logitech g15 or the ibm model m. Its a very comfortable medium depth especially if you type on a laptop as well as your desktop, the transition will be refreshing but not disruptive.Keystrokes and feedback (both tactile and sound) are very fluid; you'll hear a very very low-level 'snip snip snip' as you type; and you'll feel little resistance on the downstroke, followed by a solid stop (there's no doubt that you've pressed the key, therefore), and when you release, the upstroke pushes back on your finger (so there's no doubt that you've released). Not much resistance at all, the dominant experience is the solid stop at the bottom of the (medium-depth) stroke.-As a non-gamer, I *love* that it has an absolutely standard key layout, with the two alt keys on either side of the space bar, and the two windows keys on either side of that. No suprises whatsoever in the layout. This is helpful also because I have a ton of macros in autohotkey, and I would hate to have to readjust them all.-The lighted keys are obviously one of the bigger draws here. 1) they are *neat*. Would this keyboard be as special without the lights? Without the lights it would be a weighty-solid keyboard probably great for office work because of the relatively quiet and fluid keystrokes. The lights however push it over the top. Three colors, dimmer, can even turn the the key lighting off.-How effective is the lighting? Effective enough that if you're not sure where a key is you can glance down and figure it out, even if leaning back in your chair. However when you lean back like that, the topmost row (numerals and symbols, including the backspace key) is NOT visible. You have to bend over the keyboard to see the lighted keys there.What others have said is true - the purple light is the brightest; also, on startup it always defaults to blue, which is a bummer. It should remember your previous choice. Maybe in the Eclipse III.-Media and volume keys are handy, if rudimentary.-Someone mentioned that after a year of use, the keys wore down to the point where additional light was shining thru the center of them and one could no longer make out the alphabet marked on the key. I've decided to head off that potential future problem by buying a roll of "clear vinyl tape" (avail on amazon, few bucks; look for manufacturer JVCC). Take a strip, lay it across a row of letters horizontally, take a small sharp scissors like a sewing scissors, cut the strip to length. Then, snip the length of tape between the keys, and take a pencil eraser and rub/press the tape in between the keys. Repeat for the other 2 rows of keys. Presto, a 2-minute "keycap cover" made of vinyl- durable, cheap and replaceable. I dont know if it was worth doing, but if it means my keyboard will last two years instead of one, then thats fine.All in all, even non-gamers should buy gaming keyboards - they're better in every way for a writer or anyone who types a lot. The logitech g15 even has built-in macro keys where writers can store their snippets of text or other useful things. I went for the eclipse because my macro needs are taken care of with autohotkey and I just wanted solid normal keyboard that lets me type in the dark or in dim light. This one was absolutely perfect. Love it.

I work a lot of nights so having a decent illuminated keyboard is extremely convenient. I have the Saitek Eclipse III for my personal system and I gave it 4 out of 5 (there are some design flaws) but if you don't need a ton of "Quick Launch" keys, then this is YOUR keyboard!!! This doesn't have all the one-touch launch buttons like the Eclipse III but it doesn't need to. It does what it does just fine and dare I say this is definitely my favorite keyboard to date!The only thing I could really nitpick is the interesting 'corners' they designed. it doesn't really serve any functions but it doesn't hinder it's operation but other than that, I can't find anything bad to say about this keyboard. it does everything I need and want. One thing that I commented about between this Eclipse II and the Eclipse III is the palm support.....this one is GREAT and the one on the Eclipse III is NOT comfortable or really that functional. This keyboard replaced my HP keyboard and it has the keys I use for my work system....VOLUME, MUTE, PLAY/REV/FF and the ILLUMINTION + or -.It is illuminated and the typing is great to the touch and feels like a gaming keyboard, which is the feel I enjoy typing on and it looks COOL!!! If you don't need all the quick launch keys, BUY THE ECLIPSE II.....it works great and has a much better palm support/rest than the Eclipse III.I am so glad I bought this keyboard and hopefully will enjoy years of faithful operation. I'm still as tickled to see it light up as I did when I first opened the box....it is an awesome keyboard and I'm sure you will be happy like I am!!!***************************************************************************************UPDATED 8/29/13 -I have the Saitek Eclipse II keyboard and liked them enough so I bought 2 of them. I still do a lot of late night work so it's nice to see the keys (10 key area needs better illumination) but it's a really good, basic backlit keyboard. I had to have the 2nd one ordered replaced once due to a out of the box broken palm rest and both caused some weird things to my monitor. It causes kind of a sort of 'ghosting' much more noticeable on darker backgrounds. It almost resembles a 60mHz hum seen on older CRT monitors (for those who remember 60 cycle electronic 'noise') or that similar to electrical/electronic interference.At first, thought it was my monitor so I bought a new Samsung LCD that is less than 2 months old including replacing cables. No real change (but I love the new monitor nonetheless...lol). So I narrowed it down to the keyboard. Here's the issue. When I select 'Blue' as the background color, you can barely notice the 'ghosting' (usually on darker backgrounds). When I select 'Red' as the background, you can definitely see more 'ghosting' and when I select 'Purple' forget about it...it's totally 'ghosting' everywhere and you can't really work/view anything because it's so distracting. Of course, if I unplug the USB connection and plug in a non-illuminated keyboard (my old HP one that's worn out), no ghosting whatsoever. Basically, when anyone uses my pc, I have to tell them to either leave the keyboard illumination turned 'off' or only on 'Blue'. I was really hoping to see if there is a software fix for this as I really love the keyboard in every other aspect, it's just that darned 'ghosting interference' that gnaws at me after the last few months. I hope there is a s/w update and if anyone else has had a similar issue, post it. º:)

le produit a été livré rapidement, il est exactement comme décrit en il est en bon état. Bref, je suis satisfaite a 100%

Habe mir die Tastatur vor ca einem Jahr gekauft und kann zur Optik sagen..klasse. Allerding muss man dazu sagen das die Tastatur Macken hat wie z.B. das bei mir die P Taste nach ca. einem drei-viertelJahr nicht mehr normal funktioniert d.h. man muss sie kräftiger drücken als alle anderen Tasten. Allerdings denke ich das ich daran selber schuld bin weil ich die Tastatur nicht gerade pfleglich behandle. Ansonsten hat sie viele Einstellmöglichkeiten und ist besonders nachts sehr hilfreich weil man durch die Beleuchtung alle Tasten gut finden kann.Die Helligkeit der Beleuchtung ist einstellbar. Ausserdem ist die Tastatur in drei Beleuchtungsfarben einstellbar: blau, rot und violett.Ich bin mit der Tastatur zufrieden und würde sie mir wieder kaufen.Habe noch Bilder eingestellt(die Bilder wurden im hellen aufgenommen).

とても素晴らしい打鍵感です。Win7対応は商品の仕様にもありますが、AIMP3等のメディアプレイヤーの音量等もキーボードから操作可能です。LEDは本体右上の●ボタンから切り替え可能です。ただし、104キーボードなので入力できなくなる記号などがあるので、使う方は要注意。104キーボードを受け入れられるならば、これは良い品です。

Just the perfect standard keyboard with extreme lighting and great key press, its nice its sturdy and my wife loves it!

The shipping was fast, and the packaging was good. Media keys did not work after I rebooted my pc. After some research I found that this was a problem common with Windows 7 computers. I RMA it, going to buy a betetr keyboard.