Page 3 - Subjective Performance Tests
As for performance tests, I have adjusted both the keyboard and mouse to my liking. In daily usage, I generally leave the mouse at around 800 dpi, but for the purposes of the tests, I will try multiple tests at all settings. In my tests, I will run through both gaming and office work. Gaming includes a famous multiplayer online battle arena game, League of Legends, in addition to some first-person shooters like Overwatch. As for office work, this includes typing work like writing this review in addition to daily usage for general purposes. Graphics work is also done as an extension to office work with Adobe Photoshop CS2. For all my tests, I will be using the XTracGear Carbonic XXL mousing surface. Please remember these are subjective tests, but we will attempt to make our results as objective as possible with our cross referencing testing methods.
If I have not made it clear, the Cooler Master MasterKeys Lite L Combo RGB is a membrane keyboard. For this price point including both a keyboard and mouse, I would not expect anything else. For the past while, I have been using only mechanical keyboards, or even Topre keyboards, but manufacturers are still making membrane keyboards. Unfortunately, it seems I have been spoiled for far too long. Moving back to a membrane keyboard, no matter how much Cooler Master tries to make it more mechanical-like, is not as nice to use. Membrane keyboards will just never be able to match a mechanical keyboard due purely to its physical limitations. There still is some resistance on the switches, but they feel mushy in comparison to the mechanical switch. Even so, I have to say the experience is still a pleasing one. Typing on the MasterKeys Lite is quieter for sure, with the exception of the larger keys. These ones have a metal bar stabilizer, and it knocks against the plastic keycap while squeaking about during movement. In addition, these larger keys do not feel sturdy, and they rattle around. This is especially apparent on the Spacebar, but also on the Enter and right Shift keys. Otherwise, comparing the MasterKeys Lite to other membrane keyboards, I have to say it is a better experience overall, and I was able to type the whole review on this keyboard. However, it does not come close to the mechanical feel I have grown accustomed to.
As for lighting, the RGB in the name gives away the secret sauce of the Cooler Master MasterKeys Lite L Combo RGB. As is the trend, these rainbow lights are making an appearance on everything, from case lighting to mice and keyboards to even mousing surfaces. The lighting with this keyboard is quite easy to see, especially with the keys and their housing being translucent and transparent, respectively. However, this does not actually seem to be per key lighting. While each key does light up, some keys, especially those on the outer edges, are quite a bit dimmer. In addition, the lights do not shine evenly when you look at it from different angles. Rather, these lights are controlled in six independent zones, spread across horizontally on the keyboard. There are a whole lot of different lighting modes, including an RGB spectrum wave mode, zone reactive mode, color cycle mode, continuous scan mode, RGB scan mode, breathing mode, and a static mode. Depending on the mode, they can also be changed for color, direction, and speed. Overall, I think there is a decent amount of lighting options, and I think the six-zone affair makes for a decent compromise to have RGB lighting without making the keyboard too expensive.
As for any mouse, I generally hold onto mine with a hybrid-like grip. This incorporates the fingertip grip with the middle of my hand not touching the mouse, but the palm near the back. This held true with the MasterKeys Lite mouse, as it was just too small to put my entire palm and hand on. When it came to weight, I found this mouse too light. At 91g, it would have been nice to see more heft in the MasterKeys Lite combination mouse. In terms of feel and comfort, the Cooler Master mouse was okay to use. Overall, the comfort of the MasterKeys Lite L Combo RGB mouse was okay, but not great. I find the mouse was just a bit too small to hold, as my fingers dragged around on the table rather than being held by the mouse. Thankfully, all the buttons were at least in a reachable place for my hands. However, I think what could be improved for comfort is to see some sort of grippy surface to make the mouse easier to hold.
As for gliding, the friction underneath the mouse was minimized by the three PFTE pads quite well. This, in combination with the Carbonic surface, meant there were no problems with quickly moving the mouse around. Pairing all of this with the maximum 2000 DPI sensor, and it did a pretty good job with quick actions without having to move my mouse too much. Of course, there are other mice boasting sensors capable of more than 6500 DPI, but this will obviously come down to preference. In addition, the lighting on this mouse was really cool, as the clear strip at the back made for some unique effects. Even though there are only two modes of a spectrum color cycle or a single color, I think it is subtle and good at the same time.
Similar to the mouse with the Devastator, this one performed averagely, but left a bit to be desired. Playing games like League of Legends and Overwatch was okay without any tracking issues. However, what bothered me the most was the lack of resistance in the main buttons. As I mentioned previously, the left and right buttons were way too easy to click, and often caused a lot of misclicks in my games. This was annoying in all of the games I tested the mouse with. Tracking was not too much of an issue here, but precision was less than ideal with the Cooler Master MasterKeys Lite L Combo RGB mouse, as it just felt a tad hard to control. Even in daily office work, the mouse was just a bit unpredictable in its movement. This might have been attributed to the large DPI transitions. In addition, there was a bit of a delay between movement and response, which compounded the unpredictable performance. In terms of performance, the mouse was still acceptable at this price point, but was the weaker of the two peripherals in this combination.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look - Hardware and Software
3. Subjective Performance Tests
4. Conclusion
