Closer Look

Examining the keyboard you will notice rubber grips, which do an excellent job at holding the keyboard in place. Absolutely no slipping when on a smooth surface, the weights plus the rubber grips makes it so you have to exert a lot of force to move this keyboard while sitting on your desk. On the back there are the rubberized standard stilts offering similar grip. The stilts are sturdy and do not automatically close when the keyboard is pushed back, which is a flaw I found in many keyboards. The last interesting thing on the underside of the Poseidon Z is the small compartment to route the USB cable. It can be coming out of the right, middle, or left of the keyboard, not a necessary feature but helps in organization and cable management.

Poseidon Z with all LEDs turned off

At first glance the Poseidon Z may look like a small, compact keyboard or perhaps like a ten-key-less keyboard which are keyboards missing the number pad on the right. The Poseidon Z, however, is not ten-key-less nor small. What gives it its small appeal is Tt eSports’ compact design. All the edges on the Poseidon Z are minimized and leave just enough room to fit all the keys found on a regular full sized keyboard. Since the keys are spaced out like most keyboards, it took no time to adjust to the layout considering its compact size.

Poseidon Z with LEDs at full brightness

Many may find that the Poseidon Z may lack in the feature department: it has no programmable macros, LCD screen, palm rest, or USB ports, and I am completely okay with that! What the Poseidon Z lacks in features is made up by its elegance and aesthetic appeal; no crazy colors or screens to take away from its good looks. On the other hand, the features it does have are very welcomed. The illuminated blue LEDs behind every key can be adjusted for intensity or turned off completely using the Function key. In addition, the function key also provides media options by using it alongside F1 to F7, a subtle but welcomed perk. The main feature aimed towards gamers is the “Disable Windows Key”, which is the lone button found on the top right of the Poseidon Z. The usability of it is questionable since most skilled gamer wouldn’t make such a rookie mistake. Regarding the LEDs on the key, the keyboard does not remember what brightness setting they were last placed in. Every time you restart your computer the Poseidon Z will reset to medium brightness, a small but noticeable nuisance.

At this point you may still be wondering why this keyboard is priced so low. The answer is not due to quality or lack of features, but rather licensing. In older variations of the Poseidon Z Thermaltake used German made Cherry MX blue switches ,while in this newer model they opted to use just blue switches manufactured by a Chinese company known as Kailh. The use of Kailh blue switches allowed for cheaper keyboard in the end due to Chinese manufacturing. Thankfully, Tt eSports have included a 5 year warranty to dispel any doubts we had on the manufacturing quality and passed the savings in manufacturing to the consumer making the Poseidon Z one of the best priced full sized mechanical keyboards on the market.