Hello All,
Welcome back to the gaming peripheral brand guide series, where I rank different brands in terms of their peripherals and explain why. This time it's the medium tier: not incredible in quality, but still more than serviceable. Some decent quality but well-priced brands are in here as well (looking at you, redragon).
5. Corsair
Here's why Corsair did not make the top tier: Yes, they have some pretty nice mechanical keyboards. Yes, in general the durability of their products competes with anyone. But the reason Corsair is not in the top tier is that in terms of peripherals, there is nothing unique about Corsair. Their keyboards are almost carbon copies of Steelseries' Apex keyboards, and their mice are just repeats of Logitech's and Razer's, but adding a considerable brand tax. Take, for example, their newest mouse, the Corsair Scimitar Elite. What I see is a clone of the Logitech G600, but with higher DPI (that almost no one uses) and a much higher price tag; the G600 is $27, while the Scimitar Pro is $80. The closest thing to an "innovation" Corsair has made with their peripherals is that their MMO thumbpad can slide 8 millimeters forwards or backwards. In terms of their headsets, they have some pretty standard, but good quality models (Much like Logitech). Lastly, Corsair also suffers acutely from how bad their game engine is, with complaints about it making games laggy and not saving profiles. Overall, a brand with above-average quality, but exorbitant prices, an abysmal game engine, and a lack of differentiation from other brands drag it down to medium tier.
6. Redragon
Although their products may not be the absolute latest and greatest, Redragon consistently produces functional, durable, and good-looking products at great prices.This is reflected in the stockpiles of five-star reviews they receive on almost every product. The Redragon Griffin RGB (mouse) and Redragon Kumara K552 (mechanical keyboard) are particularly good choices. They are very cheap, have great RGB lighting, and are quite durable, a trend among redragon products. Redragon often has the highest rated peripherals because of their balance between price and quality. Their mice and keyboards are their specialities, with their headsets being only decent; additionally, redragon produces no drivers for any Mac OS. But, to draw the bottom line, Redragon is an outstanding brand to consider, especially for those who don't want to drop a payload of cash on gaming. (Looking at you, DROP)
7. Cooler Master (CM)
This is a brand that used to be solely PC components, but now also has some great mechanical keyboards. Their keyboards aren't at terrible prices, either. For example, the CK530, a fully mechanical RGB keyboard with a sturdy aluminum backplate. Their headsets are solid as well, all including omnidirectional microphones and comfortable ear cups. Finally, they have a fairly popular ultralight mouse (53g) called the MM710. The MM710 is not the top ultralight mouse choice but comes at a decent pricepoint for an ultralight mouse. Overall, Cooler Master is a solid brand with decent prices for your keyboard or mouse.
