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Roccat Vulcan II Max review: Bright ideas

Will the show-stopping lights be enough?

Updated: Oct 19, 2023 10:50 am
Roccat Vulcan II Max review: Bright ideas

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We don’t often review stuff from Roccat, however after they scored well in our Roccat Kone XP Air review, we’ve grown more interested in what they have to offer.

When we received a press release for the Roccat Vulcan II Max we were immediately on board as we’d never seen such an illuminated, vivid mechanical keyboard.

So, of course, we had to take a look, so If it isn’t the best gaming keyboard out there, it certainly has a shot at being the brightest, most vivid one.

This is largely a result of Roccat’s Titan II Optical mechanical switches, some of which have two RGB LEDs, one north-facing, and one south-facing. So, enjoy our full Roccat Vulcan II Max review, as we find out whether it’s innovative or idiotic.

Roccat Vulcan II Max specs

Roccat Vulcan II Max gaming keyboard

Roccat Vulcan II Max

Switch type

TITAN II Optical Mechanical (Available either linear or tactile)

Form factor

100% Full-size

Connectivity

USB (2x USB ports required)

Hotswappable?

No

Keycaps

ABS

Pros
  • The most vivid RGB lighting we’ve seen in a gaming keyboard
  • Great feeling media keys
  • Dual LED functions can be fun and useful
  • Flaccid wrist rest made us laugh
Cons
  • Overly expensive
  • Underwhelming typing experience
  • Low profile keycaps are a cheap way of making the lighting look better
Tech Specs

Switch type

TITAN II Optical Mechanical (Available either linear or tactile)

Form factor

100% Full-size

Connectivity

USB (2x USB ports required)

Hotswappable?

No

Keycaps

ABS

Weight

1.04kg/2.29lbs (Without wrist rest) 1.3kg/2.86lbs (With wrist rest)

Layout

ANSI

Backlight

Per-key RGB

Stabilizers

Cherry MX-style

What’s in the Box & setup

  • Vulcan II Max Gaming Keyboard
  • Detachable Palm Rest
  • Quick-Start Guide

The setup was actually a little bit different as the cable (not detachable) terminated in two USB Type-A ports. We’ve seen this before, but it was back when USB 3.0 ports weren’t so ubiquitous. The reason for this was to provide enough power and data throughput back when RGB lighting was just about becoming a thing.

So, why does the Roccat Vulcan II Max need two cables these days when RGB is all the rage? Well, its RGB lighting is far, far more comprehensive than most other keyboards, but we’ll get to that in the ‘design’ section.

Other than requiring two USB ports, the setup was the same as any other keyboard, However, due to the aforementioned abundance of RGB, we consider downloading ROCCAT Swarm a must, as some of the lighting actually has usability benefits.

The Roccat Vulcan II Max is packaged decently, with both the wrist rest and the keyboard itself wrapped in plastic to prevent scratches, however, given the $200 price point, we’d have liked some foam here and there.

Build quality

Despite the Vulcan II Max being constructed from a symphony of plastics, there is very little deck flex, and the whole things feel remarkably solid. This is even more impressive when you realize that it only weighs 1.04kg/2.29 lbs. You can take or leave the styling and the typing experience, but you have to give kudos to the clever engineers over at Roccat as it’s one of the most solid full-size keyboards we’ve tested.

The keycaps are squeaky, cheap-feeling ABS instead of PBT, which is unfortunate, though we feel like this won’t make too much of a difference as this is not a r/mechanicalkeyboards tactile typing phenomenon, and it’s not trying to be.

The wrist rest is hilarious too. It does its job in terms of support, but the tacky rubber texture makes it a little uncomfortable on bare skin. We love how flaccid it is too, as it led to laughs all around the office, although we have to concede that it really does diffuse RGB lighting better than any other solution we’ve seen.

However, we know all of you guys don’t care much for the ins and outs of build quality, you’re all here to see just how RGB this board is, so let’s take a look at the design.

Design

Despite our predilection for minimally designed, understated keyboards like the SteelSeries Apex Pro Mini or the Mountain Everest 60, we do tire of keyboards that are simply plain rectangles.

Luckily the Roccat is nothing like that. Obviously, the overall shape is rectangular, but you get a nice section of media controls above the Numpad and most importantly, Roccat’s TITAN II Optical switches. Our review sample came with linear reds, but you can also get tactile browns.

Of course, the most notable feature of the Roccat TITAN I optical switches is the incredibly bright RGB lighting, and some of them even have an additional LED that can be used to indicate information about the keyboard, your games, or your system itself.

The switches themselves also have a way thicker housing than traditional Cherry MX-style switches, but this doesn’t impact the lighting at all. This means that we can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that the Roccat Vulcan II Max is the brightest, most blindly vivid gaming keyboard we’ve ever tested.

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A large reason for this is the uniquely flat keycaps. Instead of curving back over the sides of the key switch like traditional keycaps, these extend horizontally to give you the same surface area on the top of the cap. This means that your typing experience will ostensibly stay the same as it normally would.

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The flat keycaps allow the RGB to be almost entirely unencumbered, again bolstering the aforementioned chart-topping lighting performance. However, removing the sides of the keycaps is a slightly cheap way of getting more visible light. Unfortunately, the flat caps have had a detrimental effect on the typing experience, speaking of which:

Typing & gaming performance

We can’t recommend the Roccat Vulcan II Max for typing, unfortunately, as the flat keycaps are super wobbly and the feedback and sound combination is not nice to listen to.

It’s worth noting here that despite the bulky switches, you can replace the flat caps with any cross-stem key caps you like, at least according to our testing.

However, this would of course impact the lighting as we discussed, which is the main reason to buy the Roccat Vulcan Max. The story is better when you get to purely gaming, though.

As the Vulcan II Max comes with the TITAN II optical switches, the actual response time is fantastic, meaning that this board, so far as we could tell, could go toe to toe with the big boys in a competitive gaming scenario.

However, the advantages of optical switches don’t stop the Vulcan II Max from falling into an area that we fear is a bit too niche. If you need the brightest lighting and care not for the sound or feeling of typing, it’s a good shout, but otherwise, we find it difficult to recommend.

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Roccat Vulcan II Max review: Final verdict

We end this review feeling a little conflicted. We love the lighting of the Roccat Vulcan II Max, and the build quality was a surprising triumph, but as a mechanical gaming keyboard, it’s tricky to recommend.

The unique key switches and novel key caps create a show-stopping RGB sensation that’s quite honestly beyond reproach, and the fact that the lighting can actually be used to indicate PCYU usage or system temps is a nice dash of practicality. Though, this small dash can’t come close to making the Roccat Vulcan II Max anything close to utilitarian.

So, pick it up if you want an unparalleled light show for your gaming setup, but if you looking for a tactile thocky typing experience, you’re better of looking elsewhere.


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