Asus ROG Falcata Review: A Split Gaming Keyboard

Ergonomic divided design. Lots of functional adjustments. Feels bully to benignant on. Robust construction. Half-keyboard is perfect for gaming. 2.4-GHz wireless with 8K polling.

High price. Two halves request wired connection. Software issues.

While divided keyboards person been astir for ages, they don’t often task into the satellite of gaming. The immense bulk connection improved ergonomics and comfortableness for agelong days astatine the office, skipping high-end specs and premium mechanical switches. That’s not to accidental these keyboards aren’t susceptible of double-duty, but constricted polling rates and productivity-oriented features mean they typically deficiency what you'll find connected a modern-day gaming keyboard.

Asus has managed to bring the 2 worlds together. The ROG Falcata is simply a divided 75 percent keyboard that's accelerated and comfortable. You get 8,000-Hz wireless polling for super-fast effect times, fully-adjustable Hall effect switches, and gaming-focused capabilities similar Rapid Trigger and SOCD (Simultaneous Opposing Cardinal Direction) input, alongside aggregate ergonomic features. However, the $420 MSRP (and adjacent the communal $280 discount) is simply a steep asking price.

Familiar Layout

The typing acquisition connected the Falcata is shockingly good. The switches are creaseless without noticeable wobble, and the typing dependable is reasonably heavy portion inactive maintaining immoderate midrange. It doesn’t person the chiseled top-end “clack” of a Cherry MX switch, but it’s amended than galore Hall effect switches I’ve tried.

The shorter divided abstraction bars effect successful a typing dependable that’s much accordant with the remainder of the keys (the magnitude of a abstraction barroom typically results successful a deeper dependable than different keys), and the stabilizers successful the longer keys are each lubed exceptionally well—none of them rattle oregon instrumentality astatine all. They usage an older exemplary of clip-in plate-mounted stabilizers that aren’t rather arsenic effectual arsenic modern printed circuit committee (PCB)-mounted stabilizers, but the older plan means the stems simply clip onto the interior ligament and tin beryllium removed for re-lubing without disassembly.

Typing connected this keyboard erstwhile it’s not divided is perfectly normal. The 2 halves slot unneurotic without immoderate gap, and the divided abstraction barroom is functional, with each fractional sitting straight underneath its corresponding thumb. The lone existent hiccup is the B key. Technically, you should beryllium pressing “B” with your near hand. It’s what astir each typing programme and usher teaches. However, a lot of radical (myself included) don’t bash this; instead, similar heathens, we agelong our close scale digit crossed the keyboard to deed it. Unlike different divided keyboards, the ROG Falcata doesn't person a spare B cardinal connected the close half.

You’ll consciousness a pang of shame and idiocy each clip you mindlessly fling your digit into the abyss betwixt the keyboards, expecting a cardinal to beryllium there. I surely did it my just stock of times. But erstwhile you’re accustomed to this switch-up, the angled layout becomes rather comfortable. The mean keyboard layout, a monolith of staggered keys, isn’t the astir ergonomic. The Falcata's layout doesn’t leap each the mode to the likes of the Kinesis Advantage, but it’s a measurement successful the close absorption that inactive feels acquainted capable to the mean user—something galore ultra-ergonomic keyboards neglect to support successful mind.

Divisive Performance

Besides ergonomic improvements, the Falcata is chiefly a gaming keyboard. The existent payment of a divided keyboard present is being capable to usage fractional of it, redeeming a bully magnitude of table abstraction for erratic rodent movement. You tin easy disconnect the close fractional of the Falcata and usage lone the near side, since astir PC gaming revolves astir the WASD keys. It's a chill trick, but it lone works if you’re 100 percent definite you won’t beryllium typing astatine all. I recovered it a spot much irritating than beneficial. If I wanted to trash-talk successful substance chat, respond to a connection during a loading screen, participate a console command, oregon propulsion up a video oregon play music, I was retired of luck unless I had the clip to retrieve, place, and plug successful the different fractional of my keyboard.

Annoyingly, the near fractional of the keyboard is wireless, but the close fractional isn’t. Having a wireless keyboard with the 2 halves connected by a ligament looks and feels bad. It's 2026. We person tiny earbuds that tin wirelessly link to your smartphone. Why can't this keyboard bash the same? At the precise least, a quick-disconnect successful the mediate of the cablegram oregon a magnetized connector could person made it much convenient.

The Hall effect switches let for adjustments to actuation distance, on with Rapid Trigger functionality and SOCD inputs. Rapid Trigger has go reasonably modular successful the HE keyboard world, allowing for a power to commencement registering different input instantly aft it is released, alternatively of waiting for the power to reset past its actuation point. SOCD settings let for accelerated strafing by prioritizing the astir caller cardinal input and disabling the different erstwhile 2 opposing question keys (typically A and D) are pressed. While this mounting is massively beneficial, immoderate games (like Counter-Strike 2) person banned it from competitory play and volition region players from lobbies if it is detected.

I antecedently rather liked Asus’ Armoury Crate software—it was functional and intuitive to usage and reasonably lightweight to tally successful the background. However, the institution has seemingly abandoned it successful favour of a caller web-based system, Gear Link. This bundle provides casual customization with adjuvant visualizations. There are in-app displays for actuation region and accelerated trigger functionality, showing erstwhile the cardinal is recognizing an input and however it behaves erstwhile pressed, a diagnostic rather a fewer different manufacturers could larn from. I initially ran into issues with Gear Link not decently remapping keys. This was fixed via a firmware update for my unit, but Asus didn't accidental erstwhile this update volition beryllium publically available.

I’m enactment disconnected by the information that Gear Link is successful a beta release, but it is the lone enactment disposable for customization, contempt Asus' ain website claiming that the keyboard is compatible with Armoury Crate. Gear Link inactive lacks functions similar firmware updates, which tin lone beryllium done utilizing the Armoury Crate software. Meanwhile, trying to customize the keyboard wrong Armoury Crate redirects you to Gear Link. Any keyboard with dedicated bundle (especially 1 astatine this price) should person it afloat polished for a last release.

Modular and Modifiable

The keyboard has rather a fewer customizable bits included successful the box. There are 2 wrist rests that tin screw onto the underside of the keyboard, and 2 sets of 4 raised feet (four gangly and 4 short) that tin screw successful underneath to presumption the keyboard astatine an angle. There are 4 mounting points astatine each country here, meaning the keyboard tin beryllium angled from immoderate broadside oregon corner. There is besides a mounting constituent connected each of the wrist rests. These options let the keyboard to beryllium “tented,” wherever the halfway of the keyboard is raised, and for the typing space to beryllium adjusted. My idiosyncratic favourite was a operation of the two, wherever I placed the taller feet successful the apical center, and the shorter feet connected the outsides, to some structure and space the keyboard astatine the aforesaid time.

The instrumentality connected the near broadside has options to set actuation distance, rapid-trigger sensitivity, and RGB brightness. You tin besides set measurement and media playback, and crook it into a scroll wheel. The LED matrix beneath it is designed to show adjustments to actuation region but feels a spot awkward: Each 0.1 mm of accommodation fills its ain bar, and it lone uses the bottommost 9 bars, truthful the surface volition rotation implicit four times erstwhile adjusting (the apical 3 bars, with dots adjacent to them, illuminate to amusement however galore times the surface has rolled implicit during the adjustment). The redeeming grace of this is that, erstwhile adjusting the actuation distance, you tin property down immoderate power to spot a visualization of however acold you’re pressing it, past tweak the actuation region to match.

Alongside each of this, the Falcata (and, by extension, the Falchion) present has an aftermarket power option: TTC Gold magnetic switches. While this is inactive lone 2 switches, it’s an betterment implicit the singular power enactment of astir Hall effect keyboards.

Split Apart

The interior assembly of this keyboard is straightforward yet interesting. Instead of a modular tray mount, wherever the PCB and sheet bolt straight into the bottommost fractional of the shell, the Falcata is much comparable to a bottom-mount. The PCB screws into the sheet from underneath, and the sheet is screwed onto the bottommost fractional of the lawsuit on the edges. While the quality betwixt the 2 mounting methods is minimal, it does amended typing acquisition by eliminating the “dead zones” caused by a station successful the mediate of the keyboard, on with somewhat isolating typing from the lawsuit (which creates less vibrations erstwhile typing).

The apical and bottommost halves tin easy beryllium divided isolated by removing the screws connected the sheet (no breakable integrative clips here!), but connected the near half, 4 cables link the apical and bottommost halves of the keyboard, each of which request to beryllium disconnected earlier afloat separating the 2 sections. Once this is done, the interior silicone sound-dampening tin easy beryllium removed. The foam dampening, however, was adhered powerfully capable that removing it near chunks of foam stuck to the PCB, making it intolerable to readhere without utilizing caller adhesive. This wasn’t a immense issue, since the foam could simply beryllium placed into the keyboard, but it is inactive frustrating to spot erstwhile astir manufacturers person figured this out.

I managed to interruption 1 of the JST connectors wrong the keyboard erstwhile pulling the 2 halves apart, but it was casual to crook the pins backmost into spot and reconnect them. The interior mounting posts are made wholly from plastic, which means you’re wearing down the threads each clip you disassemble the keyboard. This isn’t a large deal, but it's a small unusual erstwhile each of the outer threads for attaching the wrist rests and extended feet usage threaded metallic inserts. The physique prime wide is solid, and assuming you don’t instrumentality it isolated often to tinker, it should last.

The ROG Falcata does a batch of awesome things and has clever plan features. All of this comes astatine a precocious price, however, and I’m not convinced it’s worthy it compared to non-split Hall effect keyboards. It’s cool, but it’s not $420 cool.

There are immoderate radical for whom this is the cleanable keyboard: Work-from-home gamers who privation a single-solution keyboard that tin prevention monolithic table abstraction portion inactive being a functional, ergonomic, high-performance solution they tin support utilizing aft clocking out. If that applies to you, and you privation to effort a divided gaming keyboard, this is the 1 to buy. It doesn’t person immoderate deal-breaking flaws, but astir radical won't payment capable from the divided plan to warrant the expense.