When Cooler Master introduced its QuickFire Rapid last year, it seemed like it was a near-perfect mech. The only thing that let it down in some people’s eyes was the lack of a numpad, but now, a couple of years later, the company has addressed that with its latest offering, the QuickFire XT. Join us as we put it through its paces.
There’s no question that Cooler Master, through its gaming-oriented Storm brand, has one of the largest and most diversified product lines around when it comes to mechanical keyboard offerings. Even if you ignore the fact that most of its current offerings are available in a selection of the various Cherry MX switch types, CM Storm has (starts counting fingers) six different models of mechanical keyboard if you count via distinct model numbers.
The new QuickFire XT is just the latest to join the line-up.
Just as we mentioned in our news item from earlier this month, you can look at the new QuickFire XT as a QuickFire Rapid with a 10-key number pad added. As far as this reviewer is concerned, this is what Cooler Master should have issued straight out of the gate as its debut model in the mechanical keyboard marketplace. On the other hand, I do understand why the company issued the compact QuickFire Rapid sans 10-key pad instead: Its follow-up models, the QuickFire Pro and the Trigger, are both full-size planks. Product diversity aids marketing and promotes better sales, I guess.
Read the rest of the article.