If you’re a PC gamer, having a good gaming board is an absolute must. Unfortunately, most of these tend to be a wee bit on the pricy side, but if you don’t mind skimping on some of the fancy stuff in favour of the basics, then you might want to check out Logitech‘s G610 Orion Brown keyboard.
To put it at its simplest, the board is a cheap-ish alternative to their other gaming boards, if you can go without the fancy lighting and Romer-G switches. The Orion Brown, as its name implies, is home to Cherry MX Brown switches, which gives you just enough tactile feedback but minus the noise.
In terms of build, the keyboard has roughly the same matte finish and form factor as its more colorful sibling, the Logitech G810 Orion Spectrum; down to the media keys. Speaking of media keys, it has a full set of media keys to its right, complete with a huge volume control dial.
I particularly like the control panel being off to the right side instead of right on top, it feels more intuitive and I’ve always appreciated dedicated media keys.
At the keyboard’s rear you will find a pair of feet with two levels of elevation; depending on how high you want to prop it. They will tilt up the keyboard at either 4 or 8 degrees, depending on your style. For us, it was fine flat.
However, unlike its Spectrum range siblings, while the G610 is fully backlit, you only get the option of white. You can still adjust the brightness or swap between one of the lighting modes in the Logitech Gaming Software app, though it just simply isn’t as fancy as their other boards. Regardless, you can still customise the lighting modes as you see fit, despite the lack of colours being just a small downside.
But what’s great about the board is that it’s not particularly loud, and the Cherry MX Brown switches do provide for some nice feedback. Key travel is decent enough, but it is missing some of the dedicated macro keys that usually are present in most gaming boards. Sure, you can still program in the shortcuts using the app but it’s not quite the same.
Pricewise, The Logitech G610 goes for RM 599, which is still relatively hefty for a keyboard but still puts it somewhat cheaper than most gaming keyboards. But if you want something fairly reliable, you should at least put it in your list of must try boards.
If not, at least try its cousin the Logitech Atlas Dawn on for size, especially if you’re looking for something lightweight and compact.
