Today we’re taking a look at the newest release from MSI, the VIGOR GK30 Combo pack. We look at how it stacks up against other budget options on the market.
Product on Review: MSI VIGOR GK30 Combo
Manufacturer: MSI
Street Prices:VIGOR GK30 Keyboard: £49.99 GBP / $49.99 USD – CLUTCH GM11 Mouse: £24.99 GBP / $24.99 USD – Combo: £59.99 GBP / $69.99 USD
The combo pack that we’re looking at compromises of the VIGOR GK30 & the CLUTCH GM11 Mouse. The keyboard features plunger type switches with 12+ million key stroke life and the mouse features a PMW-3325 Optical Sensor.
The VIGOR GK30 features 6 lighting areas which can be customised with up to 10 lighting effects while the CLUTCH GM11 has 8 lighting effects, all the RGB settings can be controlled without software but as always to get the precise settings it’s recommended to download the MSI Dragon Center software, doing so also allows you to change macro settings and customise hotkeys on both the mouse and keyboard.
The VIGOR GK30 features a water resistant floating key design and 6 N-key rollover with 20 key anti-ghosting. A notable call out for the CLUTCH GM11 is that it features a symmetrical design however only the left side features side buttons which isn’t ideal.
The mouse and keyboard are available separately or as the combo that we’re looking at today, being priced at £59.99 in the UK and $69.99 in the US means the combo falls firmly into the budget category and we’ll be taking this into consideration in our review.
MSI on the VIGOR GK30 and CLUTCH GM11:
SHOW YOUR COLOURS – Customize your GK30 with millions of colours and up to 10 lighting effects in 6 lighting areas.
STYLE THAT CANNOT BE DEFINED – Graphite black brings out the chic, streamlined outlook of GM11 with detail made and highly durable quality. Double Injection moulding technique ensures you the comfortable grips
Technical Specifications
VIGOR GK30 Keyboard
Key Switch Type: Plunger SwitchesKeyboard Interface: USB 2.0
Normal Keys: 104/105/108 (Region dependant)
Backlight: RGB
Operating Systems: Windows 10 / 8.1 / 8 / 7
Cable: 1.8m with gold-plated connector
Main Key Switches: OMRON Switch with 10+ Million Clicks
LED Light: RGB
N Key Rollover: 6 Keys Rollover, 20 Keys Anti-Ghosting
Weight (Product / Package): 1042g / 1303g
CLUTCH GM11 Mouse
Sensor: PMW-3325 Optical SensorSensor Type: Optical
DPI Switch: 400 / 800 / 1600 / 3200 / 5000
Interface: USB 2.0
Buttons: 6
Polling Rate: 1000Hz, 125/250/500/1000(Default) Hz
Main Key Switch: OMRON Switch with 10+ Million Clicks
LED Light: RGB
Cable: 1.8m with gold-plated connector
Operating System: Windows 10 / 8.1 / 8 / 7
Weight (Product / Package): 89g (Without cable) / 249g
Packaging & First Look
Looking at the box head on and we get a shot of the keyboard & mouse, a slightly misleading picture as the VIGOR GK30 & GM11 aren’t wireless and in the picture it looks like they are.Turning the box around to take a look at the back and it dedicates most of the space going into to the specs of the VIGOR GK30 Keyboard & Clutch GM11 Mouse.
Opening up the box and there isn’t much in the way of protective packaging, so if handled roughly the keyboard & mouse could arrive damaged.
Taking the key board and mouse out of the plastic packaging and we get our first look at the sleek design of the VIGOR GK30 & Clutch GM11. At first glance the products have a higher end look
around them, we’ll certainly be checking if the build quality is above it’s price tag too.
Included in the box are the instruction manuals for the GK30 and GM11 respectively.
Closer Look (Vigor GK30)
First off we’ll take a look at the VIGOR GK30 keyboard, the key caps are made from a moulded black matte plastic which strangely don’t seem to attract finger prints like you would expect, a big plus here!Turning the GK30 Keyboard on it’s head to look at the back plate, and we can see that the GK30 features the MSI Gaming Base which helps improve anti-slip performance and provides increased support beneath the space bar. The keyboard also features adjustable legs however they only have one height setting available.
Another notable call out for the GK30 Keyboard is that it features media keys which can be used through the fn key which features a keycap with a see through MSI dragon logo.
As we mentioned you can control the RGB settings with the INS/HOME/DEL/END and directional buttons. The other notable call out feature is that the stems of these switches are cherry compatible so if you have custom key caps they will slot right in here and it means that the option to customise the keyboard is there for those who don’t.
Closer Look (Clutch GM11)
Looking at the CLUTCH GM11 mouse head on and we can see that the construction material is similar to what is used on the keyboard, one of the RGB zones on the mouse is the Dragon Logo on the main section of the mouse.Moving on to the left hand side of the mouse and there isn’t much to mention, it features the standard forward and back buttons.
Turning our attention to the rear of the mouse and we get a better look at the scroll wheel and DPI button switch.
Although MSI make a point of stating the mouse is symmetrical the right hand side of the mouse does not feature buttons so it is not truly symmetrical.
Software
Unfortunately at time of writing the only software options available to us were the lighting options, a demonstration of the available software is below.Performance Testing
VIGOR GK30 Keyboard
The case with membrane keyboards is that they are usually spongy and unresponsive compared to mechanical keyboards. The VIGOR GK30 bucks this trend somewhat, it sports “mechanical-like” plunger switches. the sponginess is there however this is one of the more responsive membrane type keyboards. We found that the travel distance for the keys was not too dissimilar to a mechanical style switch so after a few minutes getting used to the keyboard we were typing at a slightly lower WPM count than if we were using our daily driver.In terms of the build quality there is a little flex in the keyboard, it seems there is no backplate underneath the keys. The grip pads on the bottom of the keyboard certainly help keep the keyboard in place and the adjustable feet feel like they would handle a lot of abuse rather easily.
CLUTCH GM11 Mouse
The Clutch GM11 works well for what it is albeit a little on the smaller side for our liking however all the buttons respond well however the scroll wheel is a little bit too loose for our liking.We are quite fond of the lighting on the mouse, especially the light bar around the bottom of the mouse, The other RGB zone on the mouse is the MSI logo.
Conclusion
At this price point the Vigor GK30 ticks a lot of boxes on the positive side of things.Both the Vigor GK30 Keyboard & Clutch GM11 Mouse are reasonably well built, with a bit of flex in the keyboard, which a back plate would resolve, but you would be hard pushed to find that kind of build quality at this price range. The mouse functions perfectly fine but is quite a bit smaller and lighter than our daily driver.
In our day to day work as well as in gaming we find ourselves using our macro keys more often, and we found ourselves missing them here, but again, at this price point you would be hard pushed to find a keyboard with dedicated macro keys however we feel that MSI could at least include this feature in their dragon centre software.
The main bug bear that we had with this kit is that the software seems unfinished, the dragon center software kept telling us that there was a firmware update available for the mouse however when we went to the section within the software to scan for updates it stated non were available meaning that we could not use the software for anything other than changing the lighting.
Back to the positives and the last one is that the GK30 is water resistant, which is perfect if you’re buying these for a younger family member.
If the software worked as it should we would be happy to recommend this kit, however until this is the case we’d recommend giving it a miss
Pros
+Media keys through FN
+Reasonably well built
+Water resistant
Cons
-No dedicated macro keys
-Non-functional software
-Cannot reassign any keys
+Media keys through FN
+Reasonably well built
+Water resistant
Cons
-No dedicated macro keys
-Non-functional software
-Cannot reassign any keys
Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net.
Stay connected with the Vortez Social Media pages:
Join in with the discussions on Discord
