CM Storm Quickfire Rapid-i Mechanical Keyboard Review

Introduction

CM Storm, the gaming division of legendary manufacturer Cooler Master are back once again with their latest mechanical keyboard. OK I tell a slight lie there, this keyboard isn’t exactly their latest, but it is the first time I’ve been able to get my hand on one for review. We’ve had a lot of fun in the past testing CM Storm products, as they rarely disappoint us thanks to their excellent performance and competitive price tags. The CM Storm Quickfire Rapid-i is a popular choice with a lot of gamers, so I want to see what all the fuss is about.

The Quickfire Rapid-i comes in a choice of Cherry MX switches; Blue, Brown and Red. I have the MX Brown switch model at my disposal today. The Rapid-i features a five level, five mode white LED lighting system, ABS grip coating, N-key rollover and more; pretty much everything you would expect from a mechanical gaming keyboard.

The model we have at our disposal today is a TKL style keyboard, this means it’s had the number pad removed to give the keyboard a much smaller ten-keys-less form factor. The cut down size saves space on your desk, but it also makes the keyboard a lot easier to transport, it should even fit in your backpack when you’re heading out to a LAN gaming event.

The key caps feature a light coating to them that adds a little texture and grip and they’ve been laser etched to allow the LED lighting to shine through. Another thing that stands out is that the chassis under the keys is finished in white, which contrasts nicely with the soft-touch rubber finish of the keyboards exterior chassis.

From the F-keys you can control the polling rate and lighting settings, these are accessible via an FN-Shift key.

General multimedia controls are located on the right side of the keyboard; these are accessible via the Fn-Shift key. The media keys are located in such a way that you can quickly change the volume, or skip through songs with one hand; no need to take your left hand off the all important WASD keys!

The chassis around the keyboard is pretty slim, so you’re certainly going to save even more desktop space with the Rapid-i.

The keyboard is a little heavy, but that’s hardly uncommon for a mechanical keyboard and in terms of durability, this keyboard should survive more than a few hard knocks and bumps.

Around the back of the keyboard you’ll find the CM Storm logo just below where the soft-touch rubber finish ends. On the left side you’ll find a micro-USB port; nice and simple.

There’s four rubber grips on the base of the keyboard to help keep it from sliding around your desk.

The flip up feet are plastic, but they feel pretty robust compared to most keyboard feet and there’s a wide rubber grip on the base of each foot.

CM Storm included a key-cap puller in the box, which means you can easily strip the keys down and maintain your keyboard. As you can see, we’ve got MX Brown switches, with white LEDs. Here you can also better see the white finish on the interior of the keyboard, this will no doubt help reflect the white LED lights better, giving a nice underglow effect to the keyboard.

Finally, we have the included USB cable, which comes fitted with gold-plated connectors and a high quality black braiding.