Tesoro Durandal G1N Mechanical Keyboard Review


A few weeks ago I’ve decided to change my keyboard. For the last two or three years I’ve been using Microsoft Wired Keyboard 600, which is nice, low profile keyboard. During my research for the new keyboard I’ve found many articles about mechanical keyboards and how good they are in the comparison to “traditional rubber domes” ones. This convinced me to buy one. Still there was a question about exact model. So again I’ve spent some time reading materials about key switches and their purpose (I can recommend this thread - it contains lots of useful information). The final decision was to buy keyboard with Cherry MX Brown switches.

Unfortunately in Europe and especially in Poland there is problem with getting mechanical keyboard, not saying about the possibility of choosing the type of keys switches. You can buy some keyboards with Cherry MX Redswitches, because those are used in the “gaming keyboards” and therefore more popular. Of course I could import a keyboard from the USA, but then the price would be too big for me - the shipping cost is pretty big, plus I would need to pay duty and value added tax. All of this makes that I bought Tesoro (in the United States it’s Max Keyboard) Durandal G1N mechanical keyboard, which has just shown on the European and Polish market.

Quality

The keyboard has simple, US international layout. There is one additional key - Fn which allows using multimedia functions keys that are mapped to keys from F1 to F6 (mute, change volume, play, pause, rewind). The keyboard looks almost like the “normal” one, except the right, upper corner, which is a bit bigger and has lighting sign of Tesoro company. You can also see the name of the brand on the bottom of the keyboard, just beneath the space bar. The maximal dimension of the keyboard is 46 cm (18.1 in) length and 17 cm (6.7 in) width. The front case imitate brushed metal, which looks good and prevents leaving fingerprints. On the back of the case there are rubberized elements that prevents slipping keyboard on the table. The keyboard itself is heavy and made from good quality of plastic. It has braided cable, which is also a nice addition. In summary I can say, that I’m pleased with the quality of my new keyboard.

Writing experience

This is my first mechanical keyboard and I have to admit that writing on it is a real pleasure. You can easily feel the moment when the key switch has been activated (for the MX Brown switch it’s in the half way through the key press) and you can release it. This allows you to use less force to write something on the keyboard. The result is that you can write faster and your hands are less exhausted. Unfortunately I haven’t used any other mechanical keyboard so I can’t compare this one with others - maybe in the future I will be able to do this ;)

I’ve decided to buy keyboard with the brown switches because they are advertiser as quieter than the blue ones (for the blue switches you can hear the ‘click’ sound when you press the key), but still good for typing. Despite of it I have to admit that this keyboard is quite loud. For me this isn’t a problem, but for my wife it is ;) She complains about the noise, so I have to close the door to my room when I’m typing a lot of text or playing any game. To solve this problem I’m going to buy the rubber o-ring switch dampeners to reduce the noise. When I do this I will try to write something about it on my blog.

Conclusion

If you are looking for good and not expensive keyboard for writing and occasionally playing games I can recommend you the Tesoro Durandal G1N keyboard. I’ve been using it for more than a month and I’m very happy with it. My wife apparently not …

Tesoro Durandal G1N Tesoro Durandal G1N Tesoro Durandal G1N Cherry MX Brown switches


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