Asos Rogue Falcata Review: Steep but not steep enough

Hall effect gaming keyboards are not uncommon. But ASUS’ ROG FALCATA is the only one that’s also a separate ergonomic keyboard, aimed at eliminating wrist, hand or arm pain. For the luxury of having all this, you’ll pay $419.99, which is enough to buy a decent Hall Effect keyboard. And A split ergonomic.

It would be worth it if Falcata truly represented the best of both worlds, but I digress. As a hall effect board, it succeeds, offering many customization options, including the ability for you to adjust the activation point of each key at a time. But if you’re buying it for ergonomics like me, probably not. My biggest gripe during testing was its limited tent angles. $420 seems pretty steep for a keyboard that doesn’t… get too steep.

Tenting is an essential feature of split-ergo keyboards. Being able to extend the inner sides of each of the two sections to your liking allows your arms and wrists to rest in a more neutral position on a regular keyboard. Falcata can only pitch up to seven degrees (or six at rest with the wrist). Some people may only need the modest tent that Falcata offers. I’m used to a 15 degree angle on my Canisius Freestyle Edge RGB, while some prefer even more.

You wouldn’t know that unless you used a tented keyboard, but at this price, ASUS should have included more tent options—and longer USB-C link cables. The sections can only be separated by a maximum of 10 inches, which doesn’t allow me to stretch my arms as much as I need to feel comfortable (the Freestyle’s untethered cable can go up to 14 inches). Sure, I could use my long cable with the Falcata, but on the 20 420, that’s an oversight.

Falcata’s inadequate tentacles aside, it’s everything my daily driver isn’t. It has 75 percent of the same key layout (minus the left-hand macro key column of Freestyle), so there was no learning curve. Yet its design is far prettier and more compact on my desk. The halves can fit together like a standard keyboard, which is handy if you need to travel with it. Also, this is So Quiet to type (to be fair, most switches are quieter than the Cherry MX Blues, my reference point).

Falcata is overflowing with gamer-oriented features. It gives you the option to activate the high-speed trigger and speed tap (simultaneously in opposite cardinal directions, or ASUS’s branded name for SOCD), controversial features designed to give players an advantage in competitive games. Additionally, it can operate wired or via Bluetooth or 2.4GHz wireless (in wireless mode, its two halves are still connected to each other via USB-C), with an 8,000Hz polling rate available in all modes except Bluetooth.

Its Hall effect requirements, in addition to being silent, are that they are analog, not limited to the binary on/off states of digital sensors. You can customize the distance at which each key registers an input (and a reset), which can mean lightning-fast commands for gamers with almost no physical movement. They are a bit difficult to use with typing, at least with the default settings. I accidentally typed “ffffffffffffffffffffff” or “jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj” in many text boxes just because my fingers were putting a little too much weight on the home keys. Falcata offers several ways to adjust their sensitivity, and to customize one whole A lot of things. One way is to use GearLink, ASUS’ browser-based app. In my case, tweaking the dead zone for each key helped eliminate errors. You can even adjust these settings via the keyboard’s multipurpose scroll wheel. It’s meant to be faster, and for some it might be, but it felt more cumbersome than just using the web app.

If you want, each of Falcata’s keys can act as a macro. While I’m more used to dedicated macro keys on my Kinesis, GearLink makes assigning additional functions to any key a breeze. In the app, you can assign simple tasks to make life easier, like pushing a key to trigger a left mouse click. Since it’s a Hall Effect board, there’s also dynamic keystrokes, which let you assign four unique commands depending on the distance of key travel. For example, you can program W (advancing in games) to send W with just a light press, and also trigger Shift and R with a full press, letting you sprint and reload when you press it all the way down. This level of customization is standard for Hall Effect gaming keyboards, but this is the first time this distribution is available in an ergonomic keyboard.

Returning to Rapid Trigger and Speed ​​Tap: They’re designed to help you do things in games that aren’t otherwise possible, either due to reflex speed or keyboard hardware limitations. Rapid Trigger, which is preset and activated by flipping a switch near its multipurpose dial, allows the key action to reset immediately after release, even if you haven’t completed a full keystroke motion, the sensor can be primed to receive another input faster than a physical switch on your opponent’s keyboard.

Speed ​​Null (also by default) lets you move forward when two opposite cardinal direction keys (eg, A and D) are pressed. For example, pressing A to move left and then pressing A to move right would normally stop your character until you release either of them (reflecting reality – you can’t move in two directions at the same time), but SpeedTap prioritizes your last input, overriding any other keys that might still be pressed. Valve considers this feature to be automatically assisted, and therefore does not allow its use Counter strike 2. Still, it’s nice to be in sports where you won’t risk getting banned.

To understand Falcata, you really want both the Hall effect And A split Ergo keyboard. As an ergonomic board, this is definitely a “try before you buy”. His limited tentacle abilities may be fine, or you may just realize that’s not going to cut it. Unfortunately, you may not be able to try it As long as You buy it, because your local Best Buy might not have a model on display. If you decide to jump through that hoop, make sure you can get a refund if needed.

If you don’t mind missing out on the advanced features of a Hall Effect board, the Kensys Freestyle Edge RGB Plus is a great split ergo board at a fraction of the price. It offers hot-swappable mechanical switches (it comes with either linear or tactile, but is compatible with thousands of different switch types), and with a lift kit that tilts it up to 15 degrees. Yes, it’s bulkier and just wired, with a loud switch (depending on which one you get), and no hall effect switch. But it’s a great keyboard, and it’s even better.

Photography by Cameron Faulkner/The Verge