COUGAR 600K Review

The COUGAR 600K is a mechanical keyboard tailored to gamers, that nails down the essentials of what enthusiasts expect and want without the unnecessary features.

Product on Review: 600K Gaming Keyboard
Manufacturer: COUGAR
Street Price: £75 GBP / $129.99 USD

Coming to the end of December 2014 we were delighted by the stylish aesthetics and the quality aluminium structure that the COUGAR 700K delivered upon. Enter the COUGAR 600K, following in the footsteps of it’s older brother and filling the gap from the 500K. Given what COUGAR has produced with this keyboard it delivers a perfect balance between price, features, looks, and construction.

Holding the middle-ground within it’s product line-up the 600K comes equipped with Cherry MX switches, a detachable wrist rest, LED backlighting, and an aluminium strengthened backplate. Glancing upon the 600K at first sight, the similarities between the 700k are quite understandable, it’s essentially a cut-down version in both size and features.

Overview by COUGAR

The COUGAR 600K is the best keyboard for those people who want a NKRO mechanical keyboard but do not need any of the additional functions that other high end keyboards usually come with. Only the standard keys plus some core handy functions that don’t get in the way.

All of this in an award-winning aluminum design inspired by the geometrical shapes of stealth warships’ silhouettes. No macros, no remappings, no setups. Just you and the highest quality keyboard available on the market.

Technical Specifications

Key switch: Cherry MX mechanical
Processor: 32-bit ARM Cortex-M0
N-key rollover: Yes (USB mode support)
Game type: FPS / MMORPG / MOBA / RTS
Polling rate: 1000Hz / 1ms
Repeat rate: 1X / 2X / 4X / 8X
Material: Aluminum / Plastic
Palm rest: Yes
USB pass-through: Yes
Interface: Golden-plated USB plug
Cable length: 1.8m Braided
Dimension: 230(L) X 467(W) X 40(H) mm
9.06(L) X 18.38(W) X 1.57(H) inch
Weight: 1.1kg

Closer Look

Packed adequately in a foam padded box protecting all aspects of the keyboard, it’s always pleasing to see manufacturers plan ahead for all purposes. Whether that’s in the opening of the package itself, or the transportation methods it may undergo when being shipped to consumers.

Sectioned in two for both the keyboard and it’s wrist rest, with additional items resting on top, it’s fair to say the packaging is quite prestine, one that’s appreciated. Displayed on the front of it’s packaging sits an image of the keyboard advertised with key features that gamers are certain to take notice off, as well to putting to good use. Bundled with the 600K owners will receive an instruction manual, a detachable wrist rest, and a COUGAR sticker sheet.

Right off the bat the most noticeable aspects of the 600K reside within it’s simple yet classy finish. Sitting under the keys is an aluminium backplate and while it speaks visually in both style and attraction, it’s best put into words as expensive, sleek, and “Boss”. Despite being the mid-tier warrior amongst it’s product line-up, the compact styling of the 600K makes it arguably more appealing then the 700K. Supporting N-Key rollover, COUGAR makes it very apparent on the 600K’s packaging that it can execute unlimited simultaneous presses.

While the 600K is available in a selection of switches from red, brown, black, and blue, the model on-hand comes equipped with blue switches. This is good news for those who are fond of the signature “Clicky” sound. Adopting the QWERTY layout design, which is considered to be quite standard to most, the 600K drops the feature of additional macros keys in order to make up for it’s compact size.

There are however a selection multimedia keys as well as Windows-lock, LED backlighting control, and the adjustable repeat rate functions. Given a selection of 1x up to 8x split between four separate keys, the repeat rate function allows for a quick speed adjustment of keys that are pressed repeatedly. COUGAR states that this is helpful for certain games, whereby pressing a specific key that is most commonly used, is likely to aid in the speed of it’s execution.

Closer Look (Continued)

One thing in particular that stands out about the appearance of the 600K is the way in which the keys are laid out over it’s brushed aluminium. With it’s subtle LED glow which can be adjusted in brightness through a dedicated key, arrow selection keys as well as the gamer’s signature WASD, appear as if they’re floating.

Multimedia functions of the 600K consist of volume control and basic media player functions. Supporting USB pass-through to the top-right of the keyboard, the braided cable splits off into two separate gold-plated connections.

As the 600K incorporates a 32-bit ARM processor, the 1000HZ polling rate which results in a 1ms response time is most likely tied into the fact that it’s achieved through USB, as opposed to a PS2 connection.

While the actual performance of this feature is highly subjective, during my time using the keyboard I experienced no delay of such nor any latency when typing or gaming. With that being said however, keystrokes are measured in milliseconds, whether or not the average gamer or first time buyer will have much reference to this is highly unlikely, and with that being said the 600K delivers a pleasing typing experience.

Software & Performance

Unlike the 700K and various products within COUGAR’s gaming mice, the 600K doesn’t support any feature from the company’s UIX software. While this may seem limiting in what owners can do with the keyboard in terms of on-screen functionality, this isn’t something the keyboard’s actually catered towards.

In making use of the essentials and doing away with the additional functions of the 700K. Where COUGAR succeeds in this on both a marketing standpoint as well as use-case scenario, is that it delivers on what certain gamers actually want. No macros, no setups, no key remappings, just plug and play.

Should gamers desire the additional features, COUGAR makes up for this on the 700K, and since some people don’t actually use or want the extras in many cases, this was clearly a smart move on COUGAR’s part.

Conclusion

While tailored towards a mid-range budget for those looking for a mechanical gaming keyboard, this isn’t down to the actual build quality of the keyboard itself nor the lack of features that other competitors as well as the 700K offers. It’s purely down to what the gamers themselves actually want from a keyboard.

COUGAR could have easily named the 600K to the 700K, and the existing 700K to a 700K+. Doing away with the added size and features of what’s available on the high-end and nailing down the importance of what many are looking for in terms of pure build quality, aesthetics, and functions, the 600K is an excellent performer. Arguably on par with the higher-end model.

Despite the amount of control being offered by other keyboards, such as LED lighting control, personal macro profiles, and software integration, the fact of the matter is not everybody’s looking for these out of their keyboards. Some people just want the essentials, and whether or not software and custom configurations are available, a fair share of people will never actually use them. This is the exact audience the 600K is geared towards and in that respect it succeeds.

Armed with mechanical switches and a sleek aluminium frame, the COUGAR 600K delivers solid performance, excellent build quality, and price tag that’s highly competitive. Gamers need not look further!

Pros
+ Admirable styling
+ N-Key rollover
+ Attractive LED Lighting
+ Detachable wrist rest
+ Aluminium backplate
+ Multimedia keys

Cons
– Software limitations may not be to everyone’s liking