Cougar 700K Mechanical Keyboard Review

Final Thoughts

Price

The Cougar 700K is a high-end mechanical gaming keyboard, as such it commands a premium price tag and you won’t get much change from £100 from most major retailers. This is expensive, but it’s about on par with rival offerings in terms of features for a similar price.

Overview

I really like this keyboard, there’s a lot of great things about it that stand out for me and only a few minor drawbacks, so let’s get those out of the way first. I can’t get past the issue with the mixed switch types on this keyboard, there’s a big difference in the feel of the quality of the mechanical switches, the membrane switch volume keys and the heavy click buttons of the top row of multimedia keys. The volume keys should either be mechanical, or the same type as the multimedia keys. This isn’t a fault, more a personal preference and on a £100 mechanical keyboard, I’d like my switches to match. The next issue would be the wrist rest, it features those clip in plastic arms that are notorious for snapping, why manufacturers still use them is beyond me, but they do; a magnetic fitting would be preferable.

Minor issues aside, the Cougar 700K has a lot of great features that make it very competitive. Firstly we have the software, which is really nicely laid out, easy to use and it doesn’t take long to setup and configure the more advanced features of the keyboard to your liking. The G-keys setup is really nice and with the addition of the split space bar, you’ve always got the most important macros and launchers that you need within easy reach. I thought the split space bar would feel weird while typing day to day stuff, but it doesn’t. In fact, the split space bar is even better than most standard ones, as it’s a significant amount quieter.

Build quality is fantastic. You get the premium quality of the Cherry MX switches combined with the thick and durable brushed aluminium chassis, which also adds some nice aesthetics to the keyboard overall. The keyboard is quite large and heavy, so it’s not exactly ideal for lugging around to LAN gaming events, but it’s certainly a great keyboard for your home desktop.

Pros

• Great build quality
• Brushed aluminium chassis
• Choice of Cherry MX switches
• G-keys and split space bar G-key
• Built-in multimedia controls
• On-the-fly recording
• LED backlighting
• USB and Audio pass through

Cons

• Odd mixture of switch types on multimedia keys
• Plastic clip mount for wrist rest

“It’s a little expensive, but the on-the-fly macro recording, programmable keys, G-keys, multimedia controls, backlight and durable build quality certainly go a long way to justifying the price tag. If you want a mechanical keyboard that’s a little different from the usual crop, the Cougar 700K is a great place to start.”

Thank you Cougar for providing us with this sample.