Microsoft Sidewinder X6 keyboard review

[Custom101]

Microsoft Sidewinder X6 review
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What I like

- Low-profile keys
Very enjoyable to type on. Fast travel time and aesthetically desirable as it's not as thick and clunky looking as full height keys

- Backlight
I've never seen a more defined and beautiful keyboard backlight. Admittedly it could be a little brighter, but the distinct and dedicated illumination between each and every key is a seriously secksy feature. 

- Key resistance
Weighing in at 55g, these keys feel very good to press. A very brief, smooth, but  noticeable resistance which I can't find a word to describe except for classy. It. Just. Feels. Good. Especially for a membrane keyboard. 

- Long spacebar
One windows button is more than enough and the extended spacebar is a great replacement. Easier access in contrast to a key which would have been rendered useless anyway.

- Slim F keys
Due to the isolation of the F keys, the regular sized keys look monstrously large. This keyboard however addresses this aesthetic flaw and makes them slim and sleek. I don't use F keys all that often anyway, so smaller the better.

- Media keys
Well placed and make sense. Mute bottom is located right next them, a feature which lacks in a surprising number of keyboards

- Calculator key
That sweet, sweet button.. so good

What I don't like

- Paint coating on keys
Terrible. Just terrible. After 2 years of use, the lettering on various keys have started to disappear due to the coating deteriorating.

- Volume/backlight rocker
This is pretty nick picky, but these knobs are unnecessarily massive and don't suit the overall 'sharp' design.

- Lack of cable management
There is none. Wires must drape over the keyboard of over your armrest.

- Lack of legs
No legs! Such a standard feature.

Overall, I have had an A+ experience with this keyboard. It was my first 'non-standard' keyboard and twas very cool. Purchased it when I was a 'hardcore gamer' so it had to have LED's and macros (which I've never used) lol. If it wasn't for the damn paint stripping off the keys, I would have stuck with it until it died. Severely underrated membrane board


 

[davkol]

There are two horrible things about the layout of this keyboard:

• Esc shifted one column to the left
• AltGr too far in the right, due to lack of the right Win/Super key (a mistake by itself, because of custom bindings/layers)

I wanted to like it, the detachable keypad and a huge palm rest¹ were neat, but the layout, the layout, the layout… or actually there were more issues:

• crap quality, the internals looked awful (I still might have photos somewhere)
• the combination of these specific mid-throw rubber domes and extremely cylindrical keycaps made my fingers horribly hurt
• 2KRO, although the cheaper X4 was effectively 17KRO
• inconsistent backlight color between the keyboard and numpad
• bad-quality potentiometers that sometimes rubbed against the case

¹ that's why there are no feet

[Custom101]

@Davkol - What you rate it on a scale of 1 to 10?

[Elrick]

I wanted to like it, the detachable keypad and a huge palm rest¹ were neat, but the layout, the layout, the layout… or actually there were more issues:

• 2KRO, although the cheaper X4 was effectively 17KRO

The X6 came out first as their so-called premier "Gaming Keyboard" then they released the X4 which was a more polished model but with fewer features.

Again Microsoft is run by separate groups all performing a similar task but never communicating between themselves.   Like all huge corporations they never keep in touch with one another, except when it comes to fronting court and answering questions in front of a judge  .

[davkol]

@Davkol - What you rate it on a scale of 1 to 10?

Scales like this require reference points to make sense, e.g., in terms of quality, but then you have to balance it with stuff like innovation. In the end, you're getting a meaningless compromise.

I think X6 could be—provided it didn't hurt my fingers—an okay keyboard for RTS games (or anything that works with 2KRO for that matter), thanks to the tenkeyless layout (more ergonomic) and a huge palm rest (for some people). However, that was around 2010. Nowadays, many more higher-quality compact keyboards are available.

I didn't like it for typing or general desktop use back in the day, and I'd hate it even more these days.

The X6 came out first as their so-called premier "Gaming Keyboard" then they released the X4 which was a more polished model but with fewer features.

True that. What was stopping them from releasing an update version though? Well, apart from corporate policy and the habit of discontinuing promising products (cough, trackballs, cough).

[Custom101]

Scales like this require reference points

I'll be sure to use my new Logitech G710+ as one when it arrives

Like all huge corporations they never keep in touch with one another, except when it comes to fronting court and answering questions in front of a judge  .

lmao sad but probably true