MERC Gaming Keyboard Review

A few days ago I got a call from Scott, the grand PUBA here at Bjorn3D, asking if I'd be interested in reviewing a gaming keyboard from Ideazon. I thought for a few seconds and assumed he was talking about their Zboard keyboard that is pretty popular amongst heavy duty gamers. My was reply was, sure. Although that reply doesn't sound that enthusiastic, I thought it would be a cool change of pace even though I don't fit into the "heavy duty gamer" category. I do play most of the first person shooters when they come out...but I digress! Scott's next words were something to the effect of "this keyboard is brand new and hasn't been released yet." Those are the magic words to a reviewer, "new and yet to be released." I was then completely psyched! Those are magic words to any reviewer of computer products!

Okay, enough foreplay; on to the matter at hand. On Monday, the guy in the brown square truck, whose initials are UPS, delivered to my door the product I'm about to reveal to you. Could we have a fanfare maestro: It is indeed my pleasure to share with you today my impressions of the "new and yet to be released" ZBoard MERC Gaming Keyboard from Ideazon (ZBoard).

Listed from the accompanying product literature that was included with the keyboard:

• MERC's dedicated gaming terrain combines 34 gaming keys, a deadly central butterfly layouts, three thumb keys an 11 weapon keys.
• Sleek ergonomic game pad tilts 11 degrees to match natural wrist position while providing hours of comfortable gaming
• MERC also has an enhanced QWERTY keyboard for game-play banter, chatting with friends or standard PC functionality with Windows shortcut keys
• Core game commands are labeled for quick access, including run, walk, jump, crouch and reload.
• MERC features multimedia keys and programmable hot keys
• Phantom elimination capabilities deliver superior simultaneous keystroke response.
• On-board programmable chip recognizes the game being played and instantly re-maps the MERC with the corresponding key layout.

After carefully opening the secure packaging, which if you've read any of my other reviews you'll know is a major plus to me, I was greeted by an extremely nice looking keyboard and the accompanying software. It looked ergonomic in design with what appeared to be many nice features which we'll examine in greater depth later in the review. My biggest surprise was how streamlined everything was coupled with the size, which was about the same in comparison to most of the other keyboards currently on the market. Most of the other gaming keyboards I've seen over the years were either proportionately longer and/or wider than the MERC, which was not always necessary.

MERC Gaming Keyboard

As you can see from the picture 75% (looking right to left) of the product is your typical QWERTY styled keyboard and number pad in a somewhat standard layout. It's the remaining 25%, or the gaming section of the keyboard, that the balance of this review will predominately focus on.