A mechanical gaming keyboard from Tesoro Technology with LED backlight, USB and audio hub, Full-NKRO support and lots of customisation.
Product on Review: Lobera Supreme
Manufacturer & Sponsor: Tesoro
Street Price: £80 GBP / $150 USD
Established in 2011, Tesoro are a thriving and relatively new brand which are concerned with gaming products. For a company which is still only young, you’d be surprised to discover they have already produced quite a collection of different products ranging from mice to keyboards and from surface pads to audio headsets. Today is our first outing with Tesoro and we are to take a look at one of their latest mechanical gaming keyboards.
Lobera Supreme is a mechanical gaming keyboard which comes accompanied by an assortment of exciting and useful features. Gamers will be pleased to know that Full-NKRO is support, USB and audio ports come as standard as well as a highly customisable backlight LED lighting system.
Tesoro on their Lobera Supreme
Combat design with full colors illumination effect makes LOBERA SUPREME even powerful and energetic. Full USB N-Key rollover function provides no limit simultaneous key presses under its USB connection. Mechanical design creates solid tactile feel and rapid response for extreme gamers. High speed USB 2.0 hub with audio jacks offers easy connection for user’s favourite portable peripherals. 5 profiles, up to 300 macro keys can be defined by the user. Tesoro LOBERA SUPREME is the ultimate choice for gamers.
Technical Specifications
• Switch type: Gaming-Grade mechanical switch
• Switch mount:Silver plated backed
• Actuation force: 45g
• Key shape: Cylindrical
• Responsiveness: 2mm (4mm to bottom)
• Cable length: 1.55m (braided & shielded)
• Laser etched keycaps
• Audio & USB 2.0 Hub
• Media function buttons
• 44.4×20.6×4.4 cm / 17.5×8.1×1.7 in
• Net weight: 1.17 Kg
• Switch mount:Silver plated backed
• Actuation force: 45g
• Key shape: Cylindrical
• Responsiveness: 2mm (4mm to bottom)
• Cable length: 1.55m (braided & shielded)
• Laser etched keycaps
• Audio & USB 2.0 Hub
• Media function buttons
• 44.4×20.6×4.4 cm / 17.5×8.1×1.7 in
• Net weight: 1.17 Kg
Packaging & Bundle
Packaging is lively and attractive
Lobera Supreme is presented in a large box which has a small window in the shape of Tesoro’s logo to provide customers with a sneak preview of the actual keyboard inside. The front contains very little information but is nicely presented while the back has a full-sized illustration of the keyboard with a listing of the fundamental features.
Just a few items within the bundle
Opening this box up, inside we have the keyboard held in place with polystyrene blocks and encased in a plastic cover for protection.
Tesoro include an instructions manual, quick start guide and a USB-to-DC-IN cable. Due to the USB ports on the keyboard only supplying 100mA of power, this cable goes between a USB port and the keyboard to supply more power for such devices as smartphones.
Closer Look
The layout of Lobera Supreme
Wonderful aesthetics
Removing the packaging from Lobera Supreme we can finally take a look at the actual keyboard. There is no disguising the sleekness and appeal of Tesoro’s efforts with this offering – no matter what angle you view Lobera Supreme from, this keyboard looks top-class.
Lobera Supreme follows a QWERTY design with the addition of some extra keys below the spacebar, extended shift keys and the enter key split into two.
The reverse side
On the reverse of the keyboard there are rubber strips to prevent the unit from slipping on smooth surfaces, and flip out legs to adjust the height to the user’s preference. For those that require it, there is a specifications label on the underside of the board which lists the serial number for any technical support.
Elegant styling
Multimedia buttons at the top
Some of the keys on Lobera Supreme double up to offer extra functionality. Since this keyboard is LED backlit, there are keys to control this feature in the NumPad zone. Pressing the “Fn” and “8” or “2” allows the user to increase/decrease the strength of this lighting.
The F buttons which run along the top of the keyboard provide the user with multimedia options – this is a handy feature to have at the fingertips as it means that options such as “mute” can be accessed on-the-fly, quickly and easily.
By looking closely at the characters on each key, it’s noticeable that the font is different from traditional options.
Over the page we’ll continue looking at the features.
Closer Look (Continued)
Onboard record buttons
In the top-right corner we have the Tesoro logo on a purple diamond steel type design. Also in this area are the usual LED indicators which tell you if such features as CAPS lock is enabled but there is also a button allowing the user to record macros too. This button works hand-in-hand with Tesoro software.
Thumb buttons below spacebar
Below the spacebar there are three buttons named H1, H2 an H3, there buttons are ideally located for quick thumb access to specific commands or macros that
Selection of ports
Gold-plated USB and audio cables[/i
Tesoro has given Lobera Supreme a number of ports to extend functionality for gamers. These ports include the following:
• 2x USB 2.0 ports
• DC-in
• Headphone jack
• Microphone jack
The DC-in port works in conjunction with the bundled cable Tesoro include – this port/cable combo provides extra juice for charging such devices as smartphones directly from the USB ports. Without this extra power the USB ports on the keyboard only give 100mAh.
In order to obtain audio functionality for headphone and microphone jacks the connectors must be connected to the front panel or around the back of the computer. Tesoro has furnished all connectors with gold-plating and cables are braided for extra durability.
Lighting, Customisation & Performance
Lobera Supreme is LED backlit and users can control the lighting system by increasing or decreasing the strength of the LED, changing the colour and altering the animation effect.
On offer there are 16.8M colours to choose from within the software, so it’s doubtful your colour of preference is missing!
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Software
Tesoro provide software for Lobera Supreme which assists with the overall customisation of the keyboard. There are a total of five profiles to configure and every key except for ESC and F buttons can be modified to a command or macro – up to 300 macro keys can be assigned if desired.
While the software does work, it isn’t exactly intuitive. Tweaking the options on the keyboard isn’t as straight forward as we’d have liked and often we found ourselves resorting to documentation to obtain help in adjusting settings. The alt text isn’t very helpful and the actual text itself is too small.
One thing we’re pleased to see is the option to import/export profiles, this can be handy for transferring to different keyboards, systems or even sharing with fellow gamers.
Performance
Lobera Supreme comes equipped with full NKRO (N-Key Rollover). We tested whether this claim stood true and sure enough with Aqua’S KeyTest there were no problems with multiple presses on the keyboard.
This keyboard comes in a selection of different Kailh switches, ours uses blue switches. Kailh switches are very similar to Cherry MX. We’re accustomed to black and brown from previous experience so getting the opportunity to try out blue is a worthwhile venture and although it does take some getting used to with the tactile feedback we found it pleasing to use.
Blue switches are generally better suited to typists rather than gamers because of the weight and response – it can be difficult to double tap. Another aspect to factor in is the noise – blue switches are noticeably louder when pressed, compared to other switches and can be disruptive if you’re working in close proximity to others.
For both general use and gaming we found Lobera Supreme an excellent keyboard to use. Being able to customise the keys and assign commands to such buttons as those below the spacebar is invaluable whilst playing competitive games.
Conclusion
This is our first outing with Tesoro and from what we’ve seen, we’ve been impressed.
With the mechanical gaming keyboard sector being saturated by numerous brands it takes a stand-out product to move into the spotlight and Lobera Supreme certainly has the attributes to do so.
Aesthetics are just as important as the actual functionality of a keyboard for the gamer and Lobera Supreme has the styling and finesse other brands aspire to. We love the brushed aluminium appearance and the diamond pattern wrist support. The option to configure and make use of the LED lighting is also a highlight because you can choose from a selection of 16.8M colours.
The inclusion of USB ports and audio jacks is handy and the added extra of being able to boost the power of the USB ports for smartphone charging via the DC-in cable is also very useful.
The only real disappointment that we encountered is the software. The features are all there and they work well, but the software that marries them up isn’t initiative and at times can be tricky to use. We’d like to see an interface which is more streamline but also helpful in allowing the user to perform specific tasks.
Costing £80 GBP / $150 USD – Lobera Supreme is accurately priced and considering all the high-end features that are on offer, this keyboard represents great value.
Lobera Supreme is furnished with a number of exciting features which gamers are sure to find useful. It’s available in an assortment of different Kailh switch types and we think it looks rather smart too.
Pros
+ Superb aesthetics
+ LED backlit – 16.8M colours
+ Great build quality
+ Available in many Kailh switch types
+ Full NKRO
+ USB ports and audio jacks
+ Lots of customisation available
Cons
– Software needs improving
+ Superb aesthetics
+ LED backlit – 16.8M colours
+ Great build quality
+ Available in many Kailh switch types
+ Full NKRO
+ USB ports and audio jacks
+ Lots of customisation available
Cons
– Software needs improving
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