Why I buy this one ?
- Bulk/Retail - Retail
- Connectivity - USB
- Color - Black
- Switch Technology - Patented illumination technology with on/off

What our customer's say!

"Creative Fatality Gaming Keyboard Black", Recently purchased this keyboard. This is a great keyboard, it lights up and the movement is quick and sharp and crisp.

"Great feel, good size, backlight is dim, better keyboards avail.", Just received and installed my Creative Fatal1ty keyboard. I'm not a gamer, by the way.

It's a major improvement over the previous standard keyboard I had in two ways: 1) this keyboard is much more compact (though it's still a full-size keyboard) and it gives me much more room on my keyboard shelf and 2) it's a joy to type with.

The keys are similar to laptop computers in that they don't have to be pushed down as deep and they are far more responsive than standard desktop keyboards. The only disappointment is that the illumination is not as bright as I expected it to be. I use it in a room that isn't very bright to begin with, and the keyboard is also on a keyboard shelf that is partially covered by the desktop above it. Even in this state the backlit keyboard is difficult to see, and the keys themselves are not lit in the center of each key.

Since the whole reason for buying a new keyboard was to see the keys better, this may be a dealbreaker. On the other hand, the compact form factor and ease of typing may make up for this shortfall.

Since my initial review I've been able to test two other keyboards, both ordered through Amazon. The first, FireFly - Borealis - Illuminated KeyBoard USB, is about 1/2 inch wider, an 1 inch deeper, and about the same height as the Fatal1ty board. The extra inch in depth gives you more option keys (like "sleep", "play", "mute", etc), as well as a nifty dial for increasing or decreasing volume.

ADDED NOTE 04/12/2008: UNFORTUNATELY, THE FIREFLY BOREALIS IS NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE ON AMAZON OR TIGERDIRECT. YOU CAN'T BUY IT ANYWHERE ELSE THAT I KNOW OF. HOPEFULLY THIS HASN'T BEEN DISCONTINUED!

Like the Fatal1ty, the keys are incredibly responsive and well designed. Unlike the Fatal1ty, the illumination is unbelieveably perfect! In fact, there's no comparison: the Borealis lighting is superior in every way to the Creative Fatil1ty board.

Why: well first, the backlighting is much brighter, and it's more of a blue-green color as opposed to the blue-white of the Fatal1ty. The blue-green, while brighter, is less harsh on my eyes. Second, the keys are opaque black, but the letters and symbols are translucent, so the backlighting illuminates only the letters, making the keyboard much easier to read.

At this writing, the Firefly Borealis keyboard was only $20 bucks, less than half the cost of the Fatal1y! But because it comes through Tiger Direct, it isn't eligible for Amazon's free shipping, so the total came to $28. Still, it's a bargain in every way compared to the Fatal1ty board.

The third board I tried was the Everglide Dkt Keyboard Silver Board, a beautiful aluminum baby that's just as compact as the Fatal1ty (but with a few more functional buttons). It set me back $41 with free shipping. It's backlighting is set up similar to the Borealis, in that the keys are opaque so only the symbols light up (as well as the space in between the keys). But the lighting isn't as clear, and because the keyboard is silver in color, there's less contrast between the keys and the symbols. In fact, the keyboard is actually easier to read with the illumination off! While it's the sleekest looking of all three boards, the key response was sloppier. The keys had a lot of play in them, actually wiggling from left to right or up and down. And it seems you had to push them down further than the other two boards. The illumination, while brighter than the Fatal1ty, was still no match for the Borealis.

So, I'm keeping the Borealis and returning the other two boards. It's going to cost me a little in return shipping fees, but it's worth it to finally have the perfect keyboard. Besides, I saved so much on the Borealis that I still came out ahead financially!

"Great Keyboard!", Although I do indeed play online FPSs time-to-time on my PC, I would never consider buying a keyboard solely because it games well. What attracted me to this keyboard was its small footprint, backlit keys, USB connectivity and finally its low price. I connect an optical mouse and this keyboard to my laptop and having a number-pad as well as having a nice durable keyboard that takes the stress and wear off my laptop keys (I'm a bit of a masher) is a real plus. In short, I would definately buy again as I've been using this one now for several months.

"If by gaming keyboard, they mean harder to use, then yes it works.", Cons:
- Probably the worst part is the layout, for some reason logitech decided to make it incredibly small, in by doing so, none of the keys are in the right places, and if they are, they are 1/2 their normal size.
- The illumination light is hidden amongst the regular keys.. why?
- In gameplay, I cannot use more than 2 keys simultaneously. In other words, if I'm strafing and jumping, and I try to switch weapons using a key bind, the keyboard doesn't respond. I've been thrashed dozens of times now due to this problem. My silly MS wireless keyboard didn't even have this problem.
PROS:
- The key action is good.
- The footprint is small, but this comes at too high a cost in my opinion.

This keyboard might be good for some games, and for gaming only. If you plan to use it in conjunction with your day to day activities, I wouldn't recommend it. This keyboard seems more like an ultra-compact application for traveling users, not for gaming.

I'm going back to my MS wireless elite keyboard... and I'm out $50 for this one.

"Solid gaming keyboard", Quality compact feel to it. The scissor-type keys are firm when pressed, and are quiet compared to the "clack board" I previously used: I prefer quiet typing over hearing every keystroke loud and clear from two rooms away. The keyboard is heavier than my last one-- it feels substantial. The backlighting at night is a great feature for gaming. I prefer gaming with as little ambient room light as possible--the darker the better-- as you see better detail on the monitor. The light level on the keyboard is excellent at night-- it's not too bright so you won't need to squint looking at it- its perfect. Apparently, the technology which lights the Fatal1ty keyboard was originally developed for the US military's keyboards. This keyboard has a USB cord-- you won't need to re-charge batteries (like with cordless) in the middle of a game. My only complaint is there were no instructions on how to turn the lighting on. When I plugged it in, no lights came on automatically and I was left wondering (just press a key to the right of the space bar). However despite that, Two thumbs up! If anything changes, I'll update this post.

Read this reviews before You buy...

"Lighted, No Frills Gaming Keyboard", Gaming keyboards are all about speed. This keyboard achieves this function through partly through the low profile keys which feel a lot like a laptop. A lot of people don't like this style of keys, prefering something with more substantial resistance, but then again alot of people PREFER these style keys. Resist purchasing this unless you fall into the latter category.

Nearly every gaming keyboard in the universe has extra keys for multimedia and programmable macro keys. This keyboard does not. This could be considered a negative if you were rating this keyboard's function compared to others in the gaming category. However, I wasn't looking for the extra frills and functions, so this keyboard is one of the very very few which fits my needs in this category.

Again another feature which might be considered negative is this keyboards unconventional layout. While at work, I have a tendency to use the home key cluster alot, I don't use it much at home, even when working the word processor. The delete key is in a rather odd spot, even more so than many unconventional keyboards, and this could upset you if your application demands use of these keys a lot. But, games don't use these keys pretty much always, so the designers cramed these keys in where they could fit around the alpha keys, in pretty much the way they thought would work best. The result will leave you 'hunting and pecking' for the right key at the right time, but if you used this keyboard on a daily basis, you might even eventually PREFER this layout too.

Most gaming keyboards have backlit keys, which are really cool, but this is one of the few keyboards where the entire key is transparent with the alpha characters are in black. The backlight is turned on via a key on the keyboard, which I find really weird (seems like you could accidentally hit it and turn the lumination off in a dark room) but this hasn't been a problem yet.

The form factor is perhaps where this baby shines the best. It is absolutely tiny in the best possible meaning of the word. The keys aren't overlly small, or the laptop style keys would really feel just like typing on a laptop. But these keys are full sized. And the layout allows the keyboard to fill a minimum amount of space on your physical desktop, which is really great for those of us with limited space, or those who prefer a less cluttered appearance.

"Silly name, very good keyboard", In spite of it's ridiculous model name, and having no clue as to why it's categorized as a "gaming" keyboard, this is a very pleasant keyboard to use. It's quiet, has a shallow key dip and takes minimal space on the desk. Don't forget that since it's a USB device, it won't wake up your computer from standby. You have to remember to hit the power button instead of the space bar (or any other key). If you do a fair amount of typing and aren't a two-finger key-pounder, this may be just right choice and it justifies it's higher than average price.

"A couple of problems with the fatal1ty keyboard", You should be aware that the electo-luminescent panel make noise - a find of high pitched buzzing. It's not loud so your PC is quiet must be quiet for you to notice it. But if you PC is nearly silent, like mine, it is annoying. I play some quiet tunes to drown it out. Still that is not perfect troglodyte programming conditions

My other beef is the key closest to the space bar on the left is a copy of the backslash/vertical bar key but on my machine it sends a key-scan code of 10 which prints a weird character having nothing to do with \ or |.

There are no instructions on how to turn on the lighting with this keyboard - it is the key 2 positions to the right of the space bar.

The keys themselves work smoothly - short throw with good tactile feedback. A much nicer feeling keyboard than my Logitech.

"Great compact electroluminescent keyboard!", I purchased this keyboard to replace my bulky $12 Microsoft Internet Keyboard, and I'm glad I did! XP recognized the keyboard right away without problems. Besides from looking cool, the electroluminescent (EL) keys are very useful at night and do not give off any heat. $50 was more than I wanted to spend on a keyboard, but after considering all the other keyboards out there are huge and more expensive, I went ahead and got it. Small form factor and EL make this keyboard a good buy!

"Gaming Keyboard", Did not like this keyboard. I recommend the Logitech GS15 backlit keyboard- NEW model, released this September, not 2005 model which is too large for most desktops.