Cooler Master MasterKeys Pro L RGB Keyboard Review

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Just the basics.

By Matt Clark

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Cooler Master has made its name over the years by offering quality components like tower cases, CPU coolers, and peripherals. The company's latest keyboards are the MasterKeys Pro line which has spawned full, medium, and tenkeyless varieties. I'm taking a look at the MasterKeys Pro L RGB (See it on Amazon), a full-size board featuring RGB LEDs, and loaded with Cherry MX switches in all the popular flavors: red, blue, and brown.

While the market is flooded with huge gaming keyboards adorned with slick aluminum finishes and a slew of secondary buttons, the MasterKeys Pro L has a much more basic design and feature set, which has unfortunately resulted in a somewhat bland keyboard. But let's dive into the specifics before passing judgment:

Design and Features

At around $130 (discounted from a $170 MSRP), the MasterKeys Pro L is priced comparably to most mechanical gaming keyboards. Granted, a number of those keyboards have features the Pro L is immediately lacking. Every surface on this keyboard is made of plastic and from a distance this thing looks like any boring office computer keyboard. Matte black is the color of choice here and intentional or not, the simplicity of the design is almost jarring. Prior to plugging it in and setting the LED lights ablaze, the is not MasterKeys Pro L a looker. Still, when you lift the keyboard up and you'll discover a nice weight to it.

There is no wrist rest on the MasterKeys Pro L. There aren't any dedicated macro keys, either. Take a look at the back and you won't find any USB passthrough, just a thin, albeit braided USB cord. You also won't find any special replacement keycaps in the box. My test unit came with Cherry MX Red switches, and they did respond nicely to input, however, with smooth movements and a light click, as expected.

The lack of "extra" features extends to the overall key setup. You'll find the normal range of QWERTY keys, arrow keys, a number pad, and not much else. Much like a laptop keyboard, the MasterKeys Pro L utilizes the Function key to access media controls on the fly. Volume control, for example, is manipulated by tapping the Home/Page Up/Page Down key array. But the other function keys are where the MasterKeys Pro L becomes useful in terms of RGB lighting and customization.

Holding the Function key and F1 through F3, for example, you can change the red, blue, and green color range—and intensity of those colors—for the LEDs that live under the board's switches. Pressing F5 in the same manner cycles through a number of lighting modes, including static colors, wave animations, and ripple effects. At first, this process was completely disorienting and more than a little frustrating, but with time it started to make sense. Turn up the intensity of red and blue, turn down the intensity of green, and you have purple keys, for example. The LED lights are nice and vibrant, too.

It's also possible to record and execute macros through the function keys, which is nice if you're looking to do so quickly in-game. Sitting above the number pad, the MasterKeys Pro L does feature its one set of unique keys in the form of four “P-keys” used to cycle through user configurations. Granted, with the limited feature set, it's difficult to imagine a need for that many configurations on this particular keyboard. Ultimately, the ability to change lighting and macros without opening additional software is nice, if a bit convoluted in its execution. And that's especially true once you get a look at the mediocre software.

Software

Keyboard software is usually pretty bad, and aside from Logitech's package most of them are the clear result of what happens when a hardware company tries to design software. That said, Cooler Master's software for the MasterKeys Pro L is the worst I've used out of all of them. Essentially, the whole system is an interface for setting up and customizing the keyboard's color options. But using the Function keys might actually be easier, believe it or not. There's a list of available color configurations/animations you can click on and...well, that's about it.

On the right side you'll find a fairly standard color picker and sliders. There may be a way to build macros or do custom keybindings within this interface, but if there were, I couldn't find them. It's a bit of a mess.

Gaming

Cherry MX Red switches are excellent for gaming and this is one area where the Cooler Master MasterKeys Pro L really shines. Strip away all the outward-facing design and you're still left with a very well-functioning mechanical keyboard. The keys felt very responsive during playthroughs of both Battlefield 1 and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. The keycaps and switches feel great with shooters, and while the MasterKeys Pro L is a full-size keyboard, its key spacing feels fast and efficient. The lack of a wrist-rest is a bit of an annoyance ergonomically, but it's possible to alleviate that with an aftermarket purchase, of course.

My only real issue while gaming—or typing for that matter—was in using the larger keys, e.g. the spacebar and return keys. Often, it's on the larger keycaps where questions of build quality arise with loose or extra-clicky keys. I did find the spacebar, in particular, on my review unit to feel a little unbalanced and springy. But as stated previously, all of the keys—including the spacebar—were responsive enough and overall performed as to be expected.

Additionally, the need to use a function key to adjust volume in-game does not feel good. Granted, if you're using a halfway decent headset there's a good chance you can use it to set volume anyway. Still, the lack of a dedicated, one-finger volume control knob is available on other keyboards in this price range, so it's sorely missing here.

Purchasing Guide

The Cooler Master MasterKeys Pro L RGB has an MSRP of $170, but it is usually available online for $140, and it occasionally drops to $120. You can also pick up a version of the Pro L with white-only LED lights for considerably less money - around $100 - if you just want function and aren't interested in form:

• See the Cooler Master MasterKeys Pro L RGB on Amazon

The Verdict

Overall, the MasterKeys Pro L RGB is a bit of a weird duck. If you're the type of gamer who is just looking for a super simple Cherry MX keyboard and don't want to hassle with software, it's respectable. The keys are pretty great overall and the build quality is decent. But for around the same amount of cash there are much better options.

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