By: Aaron Lai
July 5, 2024
I have never been a fan of buying sports jerseys with player names on the back. Part of this stems from the fact that players do not usually stay with the same team for their entire careers. Even if they are known for their tenure with one team, it still seems a bit strange to wear their jersey from one of their teams until they have retired. I also would not even consider putting my own name on the back, as I think it is a bit obnoxious. I am not judging anyone who does, but I personally could not even begin to think like I am a part of the team and able to compete. I recently purchased a few jerseys on sale, and both of them had names of people who were previously on the Calgary Flames. These were cheaper than blank jerseys due to the fact they were now off the team. I spent half a day removing the nameplate and numbers, as I did not want to keep those names. It was a time consuming process to break all of the stitches, but the end result was a blank jersey while saving quite a bit of money. In a similar fashion, Turtle Beach announced the removal of the acquired company of ROCCAT from their products earlier this year. Instead, all of the PC peripherals will now be produced under the Turtle Beach brand. However, unlike my comparison with athletes, Turtle Beach has more than enough expertise and brand recognition to put its own name on these products. Today, we have the Turtle Beach Vulcan II TKL Pro, which is an updated version of the ROCCAT Vulcan TKL Pro. Will there be more changes than just a different name? How will this keyboard showcase their expertise? Let us read on to find out!
Our review unit of the Turtle Beach Vulcan II TKL Pro arrived from Turtle Beach's fulfillment center in Elwood, Illinois. It was sent to our APH Networks location in Calgary, Alberta, Canada via FedEx's International 2Day shipping service. The unit came in a rather large brown corrugated cardboard box, but thankfully, the Vulcan II TKL Pro was well-packed with packing paper to reduce the risk of damage during shipment. FedEx also took care of the box, as it showed no notable signs of impact.
The Turtle Beach Vulcan II TKL Pro's retail container has updated its look to a cleaner, less gamer-centered design. Unlike the last Turtle Beach product we received, the VelocityOne Flightdeck, this box features a black-to-purple gradient background. The top displays the Turtle Beach logo and brand, while the bottom shows the product name and the description "Magnetic Mechanical RGB Gaming Keyboard." In addition to the name change, the Turtle Beach logo has been simplified to a single palm tree. In the middle, there is an image of the keyboard in white, which is the version we have today. The Vulcan II TKL Pro also comes in black. On the right side, it notes that our unit has linear Hall-effect switches and a feature called "Rapid Trigger Performance." Around the back, more features and specifications of the keyboard are listed.
Before we continue, I have obtained the specifications from the manufacturer's website for your perusal:
Specifications
Form Factor: TKL
Connectivity: USB-A Wired
1.8m / 5.9ft Detachable USB-A Cable
RGB Per-Key Illumination
Hall-Effect Magnetic Switches
Actuation Point: Adjustable 0.1 - 4mm
Switch Lifecycle: 150M Keystrokes
Processor: 32-bit ARM Cortex M3
Polling Rate: 1000 Hz
Double Kickstand
Keyboard Rollover: Full Key, Anti-Ghosting
On-Board Memory: 8MB
Software: SWARM II
Inside the box, there are four distinct items. First is the Turtle Beach Vulcan II TKL Pro keyboard wrapped in a clear plastic bag. Next, there is a white palm rest with Turtle Beach branding, which is located in a separate clear bag. A braided USB Type-C to Type-A cable, measuring 1.8 meters in length, is secured with a white Velcro strap. Finally, a quick start guide is included to help users get started with the keyboard.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look - Hardware and Software
3. Conclusion
