Logitech Fleshes Out Its Gaming Keyboard Lineup With G610 Orion

Buying a gaming keyboard today is far from easy, unless you’re the type of person who simply chooses the first one that looks good. There seems to be a countless number of manufacturers churning these things out, and even one company can offer an overwhelming selection. In Logitech’s case, the company covers many different price-points, so you won’t have trouble finding one that’s just right for you. But what if you want a higher-end keyboard but don’t want to pay $150+? Logitech’s new G610 Orion can help with that.

Price at $120, Logitech’s G610 Orion comes with either brown or red CHERRY MX switches. Logitech touts the fact that CHERRY’s switches are an industry standard, which is true, but it’s a bit of an odd thing to say when the company has its own switches, called ROMER-G. At the moment, ROMER-G switches are exclusive to the more expensive G910 and G810 keyboards, so it seems likely Logitech will not be breaking them out for mainstream keyboards too soon.

It’s hard to keep track of all of the companies out there that are opting for RGB switches in their $100+ keyboards, but Logitech is having none of it. The company has instead opted for white LEDs on its G610, which is actually something I quite like, versus RGB. White LEDs have always been underutilized, I feel, so it’s nice to see them being used more and more. At least we’re past using blue LEDs for everything, right?

The G610 might just have one color for the backlighting, but it can be tweaked to your liking. You could use the Logitech Gaming Software suite to highlight just certain keys (eg: spell hotkeys for your MMO), or turn them off entirely if you don’t want them. Also, while the G610 doesn’t have dedicated macro keys, you are able to use F1 – F12 for those purposes.

As far as gaming keyboards go, the G610 really is laid-back in terms of design. It looks clean, without much slack on the chassis. Any slack is attributed to the dedicated media keys the plank has, as well as the volume roller (one of my favorite keyboard features ever). Overall, a sharp package that might not look too advanced, but will get the job done. Despite its simplicity on the outside, Logitech’s LGS will help you customize and tweak the G610 Orion to your heart’s content, making it feel like a much more advanced keyboard.

The G610 Orion will become available this month, for $120 USD (or €139).