Introduction
Founded on July the 23th, 2004 by Sam Mathews, Anne Mathews and Nader Atoui. Fnatic is one of the most known gaming teams in the world, being the winner of the title “Team of The Year” in 2006.
In November 2015, the gaming peripheral company Func was acquired by the eSports team Fnatic. The goal of the new brand is producing high quality peripherals.
Official product link:
https://shop.fnatic.com/products/rush-pro-gaming-keyboard-silent-red-mx-cherry-switches
Packaging and accessories
The RUSH Pro Silent is packaged in a two tone cardboard box with small orange accents.
The front side of the box features a top image of the keyboard with the LED illumination switched on. The name of the keyboard alongside the Fnatic logo and brand name are placed on the left side while one the right side there is the keyboard layout and the type of Cherry MX switch used.
The back side of the box is black being in contrast with the white front side, here the keyboard is presented with the help of an overview image of it. The right side present the main six features of the RUSH Pro Silent.
The keyboard is packaged in soft foam and a plastic bag, the overall protection offered by the packaging is good, the foam helps in preventing any impact from transferring to the keyboard and accessories.
Accessories
The product comes with the following accessories:
– 1x User Manual
– 1x Wrist rest
– 2x Wrist-rest clips
Specifications
Model: RUSH Pro Silent
Keyboard Type: Mechanical
Key Architecture: Cherry MX Red Silent
Actuation force: 45g
Switch Pre Travel: 1.9 mm pre travel
Switch total Travel: 3.7 mm total travel
Backlighting: Yes, Individual LED’s on each key
Anti-Ghosting: Full N-key roll over USB
Memory: Onboard 128 KB
Media Controls: Yes
USB Pass Through: Yes
Wrist Rest: Yes
Cable Type: Braided fiber
Cord length: 1.8m
Weight: 1275g
Features:
– HERRY MX SILENT SWITCHES: Equipped with CHERRY MX mechanical switches, RUSH supports even the most intense gaming scenarios and delivers every keystroke command with precision and reliability. Silent switches provide reduced noise for gaming and reduced travel for faster response times.
– BACKLIT & CUSTOMIZABLE: With LED lighting and on-board memory, RUSH supports five player profiles of custom keys, macros, and LED settings. Enabling the Fnatic Mode function allows you to disable the windows key and enable macro settings on virtually any key.
– ERGONOMIC DESIGN: Designed with a soft-rubber coating and detachable wrist support, RUSH is built to be comfortable throughout even the longest of gaming sessions.
– MORE USB: Built with two additional USB ports on its back, RUSH doesn’t make you sacrifice a USB connection. Connect the keyboard plus two more USB devices through its USB pass-thru.
Visual inspection
The Fnatic Gear RUSH is available in multiple variants depending on the Cherry MX switch it uses, the RUSH Pro Silent uses the new Cherry MX Red Silent mechanical switch. The overall design of the keyboard is simple and functional; the case is made out of hard plastic with a matte finish that is soft to the touch.
The keyboard features a detachable wrist-rest that uses the same soft matte coating that is present on the keyboard casing. The wrist-rest is attached with the help of two plastic clips that snap into the front underside of the keyboard.
The backside of the keyboard has only two rubber feet that are height adjustable at the back while at the front there are only two rubber pads. There is no channel to route the cable into.
Each key is individually illuminated by a single red LED, here the Cherry MX Red Silent switches are visible, these have an actuation force of 45g and a total travel of 3.7 mm.
While the keyboard features multimedia functions and keys, these are shared with the F function keys, F5 through F11. These include the standard commands such as: mute, play/pause, forward/backwards, and the five custom profiles of the keyboard. The F12 key enables Fnatic Mode which disables the Windows key while gaming and enables the custom macros.
At the back of the keyboard there are two USB 2.0 pass-through ports, these are feed through the standard connector of the keyboard and do not require any additional connector. A great feature when you want to reduce cable clutter.
The keyboard uses a 1.8m braided cable that uses a standard USB 2.0 connector at the end, this connector is gold plated.
The PCB of the keyboard is entirely red with good soldering across the board. The two USB 2.0 pass-through ports are controlled by a GL850G USB hub manufactured by Genesys Logic.
The main controller is an MC9S08JM16 8-bit USB microcontroller, being responsible with the onboard memory management.
Testing
Fnatic Gear RUSH Pro Silent features an all red LED illumination, each key is individually light by a single LED, in addition, the red PCB inside helps with the color diffusion. The main features of the RUSH Pro Silent are the Cherry MX Red Silent switches, designed to be silent and to offer a good tactile feedback.
The single color illumination has three levels of brightness and a breathing mode integrated in the on-board memory profiles.
Software
The keyboard can be configured using the proprietary software of Fnatic the “Rush Settings v1.5”. This software has an intuitive interface being easy to use, the interface mantains the black-orange chromatic of Fnatic.
The left part of the window is dedicated to macro configuration while the top part is dedicated to personalize and select the keyboard’s profiles.
The Fnatic Gear RUSH Pro Silent was tested both in normal use & gaming.
Normal day to day use consisted of Internet browsing & a few writing applications (MS Word & Excel).
When it comes to games the keyboard behaved exemplary, being tested in multiple games.
The games used for testing are the following:
– Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege
– Shadow of the Tomb Raider
– Deus Ex Mankind Divided
– Grand Theft Auto V
– The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
– Fallout 4
Final thoughts
The Fnatic Gear RUSH Pro Silent offers a good gaming experience with high quality Cherry MX Red Silent switches and low noise operation. The keyboard layout is good however the media keys are shared with the function keys, instead of having a dedicated set of multimedia keys. The onboard memory controller makes the RUSH Pro Silent a good keyboard for events, being independent of software customization. The soft touch matte surface of the keyboard and wrist-rest is good in daily gaming use however it is prone to staining just like any other matte soft surfaces.
The red only LED illumination of the keys is available in three levels of brightness and offer a pleasant experience when used.
At the moment, the Fnatic Gear RUSH Pro Silent is available at a price around €79.99 on the Fntic web shop and other online retailers.
