Tesoro Excalibur Mechanical Keyboard Review

I am one of those gamers who believe that my mouse and my keyboard is my real weapon and not the one that my character is using in game. Yes, I take my peripherals seriously. Why? Because the precision of every move that I will make and part of the success of my strategies depend on the reliability and accuracy my peripherals has. Speaking of weapons and peripherals, Tesoro is one of the emerging companies when it comes to manufacturing extraordinary gaming peripherals. Tesoro have their own way in giving their products its name… mythical and historical weapons.

What we have here is Tesoro’s entry-level gaming keyboard, the Excalibur. Dubbed as “Sword of King – Excalibur is the sword of King Arthur. It is known for its power to blind enemies and its scabbard attributes prevent the bearer to die from injuries. The legend says that who owns the sword, is the rightful King of Great Britain.” The Excalibur is equipped with Kailh Gaming Grade Switches and varies from blue (audible click, perceptible feedback), brown (no click, perceptible feedback) and the one that we got here, red (no click, no feedback).

SPECIFICATIONS:

Memory	512KB
Switch	Gaming Grade
Key lifespan	Heavy-Duty
Material	Plastic
Connection	USB
Key Rollover	Full N-Key / 6 Key Rollover
LED	Blue
Multimedia Keys	6
Cable	1.55 meters
Dimensions	450x145x24mm

UNBOXING THE EXCALIBUR:

Every Tesoro product’s packaging are very similar to each other. The touch of black and purple are always present and it just gives enough charm for the packaging to be eye catching. The front side of the packaging shows the main features of the product complimented by the photo of keyboard.

As always, we have a busy backside of the packaging here. With the details features and specifications of the keyboard altogether with the graphical representation of each.

Upon opening the packaging, the sight of the Excalibur in a bubble wrap will bless you. Well, aside from the keyboard itself, we found a brochure and manual in the packaging.

THE TESORO EXCALIBUR:

Tesoro gives the Excalibur the “simplicity is beauty” kind of build. With its standard size and appearance, the Tesoro Excalibur is indeed one of the simplest mechanical keyboard I have ever seen. Its like Tesoro did not spend much time on designing this stuff. Despite being housed in a plastic body, the Excalibur gives off this great-build-quality feel. It’s like it won’t break or ruined easily.The keyboard itself is not so glossy (which is a good thing for me). Despite having a matte kind of feel body, the keycaps of the Excalibur are smooth af and I feel very comfortable pressing the keys.

The media keys are found from F1 to F6 keys, and the nstant profile switching buttons are found from F8 to F12.

Our Excalibur here is equipped with Kailh Gaming Grade Red Switch. With almost zero tactile feedback and low actuation force requirement, this keyboard will really help a lot for MOBA and RTS players out there.

Underneath the keyboard, it shows a synthetic metal kind of look but still, it’s made of plastic. And of course, the model and safety warnings are present as well.

The Excalibur is equipped with a thick-nonbraided cable and unlike other gaming keyboards out there, any USB port are nowhere to be found.

SOFTWARE/DRIVER:

Tesoro did not provide any disc for the keyboard’s software and driver. Just like what Tesoro always do, each product has its own software. The software is not as easy in the eye as Corsair’s CUE. However, using the software is as easy as pie since the functions are quite self-explanatory. Recording of macro is easy, setting specific profile function is easy, importing and exporting configuration files are easy as well. We hope that Tesoro will offer only one software that will cover all of their products’ configuration. :3

USER EXPERIENCE AND CONCLUSION:

The Tesoro Excalibur may possess a really typical physical look but it definitely is not lacking when it comes to giving off a great build quality. The profile switcher are placed in a really easy to access positions (F8 – F12). The PC lock also feature (FN + Pause) really helps me since there are times that I accidentally press the window button. The N-key roller is present as well and it works great for me. If there’s a thing that I’d like Tesoro to improve on with the Excalibur, its the damn fact that I can’t customize the button’s LED effects. The only lighting mode of the Excalibur are the following:

• LED off
• LED Dim
• LED Brightest
• LED Breathing effect
• LED Game Zone 1 (Only keys W, A, S, D, F8 to F12, Enter, Space, Arrow Keys, Numpad 8 4 6 2 and Numpad Enter are left on)
• LED Game Zone 2 (Aside from the mention keys in the Game Zone 1, keys 1 to 0, Tab, Caps, Shift, Alt, and Ctrl are turned on as well)a

The Tesoro Excalibur, is very comfortable to use. I’m totally hands down for this keyboard when it comes to comfort. It looks as typical as it can be but the response rate is impressive. I used this keyboard playing my favorite games and I’m satisfied with its performance. This keyboard made me feel like using skills are easier and every key press are so enjoyable (don’t ask me why. I just feel that way). I’ve been using the keyboard for months and I’m honestly starting to love red switched keyboards. The LED of the keyboard is not so distracting and every key press is so amazing. This keyboard makes me believe that peripherals do really help in honing one’s gaming skill. Using the Tesoro Excalibur makes me believe that gaming is not just “natural talent” and makes my belief in “it’s not in the peripherals, it’s in the player” saying fade away.

Currently. Amazon priced the Tesoro Excalibur at $89.99 or P4,168.16. Sad to say, this keyboard is not yet available in the Philippines and we are hoping that maybe someday, it’ll be available here in our country. Because honestly, Tesoro’s products are incredible and provides great build quality for a very acceptable price.