By: Jonathan Kwan
August 25, 2023
I took possession of a brand-new house earlier this month. I am quite familiar with the process, as I have done so quite a few times since I was a young child with my parents. This time around, there were many things that remained the same, yet there were also a handful of things that were new to me. What has not changed is signing tons of paper documents, the need for bank drafts, and putting green and blue tape everywhere during the inspection process. What has changed -- shocking sticker price aside -- were small things the builder provides that aim to improve your overall experience. The builder partnered with a local tech startup for a moving concierge service app, which I downloaded to try out. The app opened up with an "ask me anything" screen with generic example questions, and being in 2023, I thought it was an AI chatbot that would send me automatic recommendations. I decided to give it a shot and sent it something random to see how well it worked, and to my surprise, I did not receive an instant response. Confused at first, I quickly realized this was not an AI chatbot, but rather a real person on the other end. I think we are so used to AI nowadays that I am conditioned to think any app with a chat screen is a chatbot. I learned what looks like something might not be what you think; we often need to look at the details to know what is behind the scenes. In November of last year, I reviewed the excellent ROCCAT Vulcan II Max. Today, ROCCAT sent us another unit from their lineup called the Vulcan II. At first glance, it looks almost identical to the Vulcan II Max. But what is the difference? To start, the Vulcan II Max uses Titan II Optical switches, while the Vulcan II we are reviewing today uses Titan II Mechanical switches. But are there other changes under the hood? Read on to find out!
Our review unit of the ROCCAT Vulcan II came in a relatively large brown corrugated cardboard box from a shipping fulfillment center in Elwood, Illinois, USA. Elwood is a small village outside of Chicago, and a quick Google Maps search of the originating address appears to be a large office building in an industrial area. Using UPS Standard, everything arrived in excellent condition to us here in Calgary, Alberta, Canada for our review today.
Traveling along with the ROCCAT Vulcan II was the Vulcan II Mini Air reviewed by my colleague Aaron Lai. The Vulcan II's retail packaging uses the same basic design template as what we have seen from the company in the past. The predominantly purple color scheme is contrasted by white text. A photo of the three-quarter view of the keyboard occupies the majority of the real estate in front. Adjacent to the photo of the keyboard is a sticker on the right that shows the keyboard layout and switch variant, which, in our case, is US and linear, respectively. The company also highlights this uses Titan II Mechanical switches, and the switch housing is optimized superior lighting. At the top, you will find ROCCAT's logo. At the bottom is the model name and description line, "Mechanical Gaming Keyboard". Further feature highlights and miscellaneous product information such as specifications and feature highlights can be found on the remaining sides of the box.
Before we move on, let us take a look at the specifications of the ROCCAT Vulcan II, as obtained from the manufacturer's website:
General
Form Factor: Full Size
Connectivity: USB-A Wired
Cable: 1.8m braided USB 2.0
Switch lifecycle: Tested to 80 million
Polling Rate: 1000 Hz
On-board memory: 4MB
Profile On-board: 4
RGB: RGB per-key illumination with 16.8m colors
Keyboard Rollover: Full Key (NKRO) with 100% Anti-Ghosting
Processor: 32-bit ARM Cortex M0
Software: SWARM
Adjustable height: Yes
Switches
TITAN II MECHANICAL RED
- Linear
- 1.4 mm Actuation Point
- 3.6 mm Travel Distance
Dimensions
Keyboard: 463*152*33 mm (18.2*6*1.3 inch)
Keyboard with palm rest: 463*236*33 mm (18.2*9.3*1.3 inch)
Weight: 949g (without palm rest) 1141.5g (with palm rest)
Package Contains
ROCCAT® Vulcan II Keyboard
Detachable Palm rest
Quick-Start Guide
Compatibility
- Windows® 10 and above (software support)
- USB 2.0 (or higher)
- Internet connection (for driver software)
Out of the box, you will receive everything you need and not much else. Securely placed inside the box is the ROCCAT Vulcan II keyboard itself wrapped in a clear plastic bag, while its detachable wrist rest is placed inside a separate plastic bag. The only product literature included is a quick start guide, of course, also placed in a sealed plastic bag.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look - Hardware and Software
3. Conclusion
