DESIGN
ASUS ROG Falchion
The ASUS ROG Falchion is a 65% small board that won’t take up much desk space. Please keep in mind that our dimensions do not include the cover case. The ergonomics of the ASUS Falchion are adequate. It’s straight board with one incline setting. While it does not include a wrist rest, the board is low enough that you should be able to type for extended periods of time without one.
The RGB illumination of the ASUS ROG Falchion is outstanding, with individually-lit keys and good color mixing. The Armoury Crate software allows you to change the color, effects, and brightness. You can also use the board to cycle through effects and change the brightness.
ASUS ROG Strix Flare II Animate
The ASUS ROG Strix Flare II Animate keyboard has a detachable wrist rest. It takes up a lot of room on desks. The ergonomics of the ASUS ROG Strix Flare II Animate are excellent. It’s a straight board with an incline setting to reduce wrist strain. A detachable wrist rest with a lovely leatherette covering is included and feels quite plushy and pleasant.
The ASUS ROG Strix Flare II Animate features full RGB backlighting and individually illuminated keys. In the companion software, you may tweak the backlighting to achieve a variety of effects. Notably, when connected, the supplied wrist rest includes its own RGB lights, which gives a lovely underglow effect. When the wrist rest is not attached, a frosted plastic light diffuser connects to the front edge of the keyboard via magnets.
BUILT
ASUS ROG Falchion
The ASUS ROG Falchion features a solid build quality thanks to its rigid plastic chassis and aluminum top plate. It features textured, double-shot PBT keycaps with a lovely curve that cradles your fingertips. The keys have some wobble, but it’s little and shouldn’t be apparent while typing. On the underside, there are four rubber pads in each corner and two more on the inclined foot. They do an excellent job of holding the board in place. The accompanying polycarbonate cover case, which is not part of the board itself, features rubber pads that keep the board in place when in use.
ASUS ROG Strix Flare II Animate
The build quality of the ASUS ROG Strix Flare II Animate is excellent. The plastic chassis has only a slight bend, which is barely perceptible during normal use. Furthermore, the robust metal baseplate maintains the entire unit highly firm. The six rubber feet on the keyboard’s bottom perform an excellent job of keeping the board in place. The shine-through legends on the double-shot PBT keycaps are quite lovely on the fingertips. Unfortunately, the keys themselves are not very stable, with visible wobbling, particularly on the left shift key.
FEATURES
ASUS ROG Falchion
The ASUS ROG Falchion sports a touch panel on the left side that allows you to manage volume and create app shortcuts. You may even assign it a macro to utilize while gaming. You may also assign macros to any key on the board using the Armoury Crate software or the macro hotkey. When you toggle Caps Lock Key and the Windows Key lock, a white light on the touch panel illuminates. There are no on-screen prompts for Scroll Lock or Fn Lock, although there are indicators.
ASUS ROG Strix Flare II Animate
The ASUS ROG Strix Flare II Animate keyboard is filled with features. There’s a scroll wheel and also dedicated media keys on the top left of the keyboard for skipping and playing media. Windows key lock button and one button to alter the brightness of the RGB illumination are located to the right of the scroll wheel. This keyboard includes a USB connection on the top for USB pass through. The LED screen in the upper right corner is the most noticeable feature of this keyboard. This screen can be used in one of three modes: system, audio, or animation. Each of these modes displays a different image on the LED screen, such as the key functions, song title, artist, or any of the pre-programmed animations. If you like, you can change the animations and use your favorite gif. This keyboard also supports most 3-pin switches and is hot-swappable.
PERFORMANCE
ASUS ROG Falchion
The linear Cherry MX Red switches on our ASUS ROG Falchion seem light and responsive. They are silent and offer no physical feedback. It is also available with Cherry MX Brown, Blue, and Speed Silver switches if you prefer a different feel. The ASUS ROG Falchion keyboard is really comfortable to use. The textured double-shot PBT keycaps offer a gently curved design that cradles your fingertips. The keys are rather stable, and while they do wobble somewhat, this should be minimal during normal use. While the board does not include a wrist rest, it is low enough that long hours of typing should not cause tiredness. Our unit’s Cherry MX Red switches seem light and sensitive, so your fingers shouldn’t get tired. However, if you buy this board with different switches, the typing quality will most certainly alter.
Our ASUS ROG Falchion’s Cherry MX Red switches are silent, although this may vary based on the switch type. When used wired or wirelessly via its receiver, the ASUS ROG Falchion offers extremely low latency.
ASUS ROG Strix Flare II Animate
ROG NX Brown switches have a low actuation force and a short pre-travel distance. Because the tactile bump occurs early in the keypress, it is extremely visible. This keyboard, however, is available in ROG NX tactile Brown, clicky Blue, or linear Red. Alternatively, this board is available with Cherry MX switches in the same configurations. If none of those options appeal to you, you can use the keyboard’s hot-swappable PCB, which features a 3-pin connector that is compatible with most switches.
The ASUS ROG Strix Flare II Animate keyboard is excellent. It has a typical layout that takes no time to get used to, and the wrist rest provides extra support while typing, so you won’t experience wrist strain. The PBT keycaps feature a pleasant texture that feels well on the fingertips. The keys, on the other hand, aren’t particularly stable and wobble visibly when used. Furthermore, the tactile NX Brown switches are light to type on, but they feel heavier at first because the tactile bump is practically instantaneous. Overall, the typing experience feels and sounds great right away.
ASUS ROG Strix Flare II Animate is rather quiet while using the tactile NX Brown switches. Inside the case, a layer of sound-dampening foam suppresses any further noise. The typing noise will be much louder if you obtain the board with other switches, such as the clicky blue switches.
SOFTWARE AND PROGRAMMING
ASUS ROG Falchion
The Armoury Crate software from ASUS includes an easy-to-use UI. Macroes can be customized, keys can be remapped, the RGB backlighting and touch panel can be customized, and profiles can be saved to the onboard memory. The software is only accessible to Windows computers. However, all the keys on the ASUS ROG Falchion continue to function perfectly in Linux; however, the Print, Scroll Lock, and Fn Lock keys do not function on macOS. While the board can be utilized wirelessly, it can only be utilized with the USB receiver that comes with it.
ASUS ROG Strix Flare II Animate
Armoury Crate software is used to customize the ASUS ROG Strix Flare II Animate. The lessons included with the software make it simple to design macros, alter the RGB backlighting, and remap keys. You can also modify the animation at the upper right corner of the board, but the animation effects do not save to onboard memory, so you must have the software open to see them. This test box’s score is primarily based on the features of the associated program, not its overall performance. During testing, we had no problems. However, members of the community have noticed a number of concerns with this program.
CONCLUSION
ASUS ROG Falchion and ASUS ROG Strix Flare II Animate, are both excellent gaming keyboards with excellent gaming performance and low latency. They do differ in that the Falchion is a tiny wireless variant with fewer extra hardware capabilities, but the Strix Flare II is a full-sized, wired-only unit with an 8000Hz maximum polling rate and several extra hardware features.
