Ozone Strike Pro Keyboard Review: Clarity of Purpose
Experience and Final Thoughts
It does not have millions of LED colors to choose from, it only has two. It is not needlessly flamboyant but it is striking in its own straight-forward way. What the Ozone Strike Pro has that most other gaming keyboards lack however, is a clarity of purpose. It is a gaming keyboard through and through, covering most of the essential requirements in place of easily marketable flourish. It has key remapping, on-the-fly input rate adjustments, NKRO via USB, macro key sets, USB as well as audio pass-through features built onto a reliable Cherry MX based platform.
When it comes to modding, the Ozone Strike Pro fares well with easy, relatively risk-free disassembly and standard 1.25x bottom row Cherry MX key sets for easy key-cap replacement. Although if it was PCB mounted, it would have received a perfect score in the moddability rating.
In terms of aesthetic, the Ozone Strike Pro is rather tempered compared to its contemporaries, not just in its dual-LED usage but on the styling as well. The built-in wrist-rest was a considerate move on Ozone’s part but since it only extends 45mm, it is rather awkward for positioning even for those with small hands. This is more of a palm rest than a wrist-rest. Unfortunately as evident in the disassembly photos, it is built into the frame. For modders, this is not a tall order considering the PCB and mounting plate does not extend that far down so this could be shortened with tools. Non-modders however, would have to either adjust or use a wrist-rest extender for a more comfortable experience.
The Strike Pro software is serviceable and unlike most of the recent crop of gaming software I have encountered, does not sacrifice function for form. Although it could be made much more efficient than its current incarnation as saving the settings takes an absurd 25 seconds to finish. This is not entirely the software’s shortfall however as the built-in Holtek MCU is a slower, more cost-effective solution than what is typically present in most current gaming keyboards. Outside of that, it is more than adequate to perform the rest of the Ozone Strike Pro’s functions on-the-fly and the ALCOR Micro AU625 USB hub controller does a good job of performing pass-through function as well.
Overall, the Ozone Strike Pro earns the Modders-Inc “Must Have” award for providing a solid gaming experience with a useful set of gaming features for novices and advanced users alike. It has an MSRP of $109.99 and puts it head to head with most Cherry MX based fully backlit non-RGB LED solutions in the market.
[sc:must_have_award ]
