The CM Storm QuickFire Rapid Gaming Keyboard  -
The CM Storm QuickFire Rapid is (as we said before) built along the same lines as the old AT-Style keyboards. This means that the rows of keys are arranged in elevated rows. This is in contrast to many modern keyboards that put them all on the same level. The outer casing is plastic and almost bulky in the way that is slopes up towards the back. The construction is solid and is weighted down a little the QuickFire Rapid comes in at 2.1 pounds. Considering it is not a full keyboard (no number pad) this is fairly heavy.

The individual keys are wide and tall. They have the typical concave surface that is on most keyboards (and has been forever). The keys also have a very long throw, but thanks to the SGK-4000-GKCL1-US - CHERRY switches the travel on the keys is not bad. The mechanical keys also help to remove the slight lag that can happen with contact keyboards if they same button is pressed too often (or for long periods of time).

The QuickFire Rapid also uses a 1KHz/ms polling rate to ensure that your key presses are processed in a timely manner.  Speaking of the keys and switches; as we mentioned before the QuickFire Rapid has removable keys so that you can customize them to suit your gaming style. Replacing these keys is easy. You simply press the key removal tool down on the key until it clicks from there pull straight up and the key will come off. Then you press the new key straight down until you feel the switch click. We customized the A, S, D, W keys with the included arrow keys as you can see in the image below.

Flipping the QuickFire Rapid over, we found four very sturdy rubber pads. These in combination with the weight helps to keep the QuickFire Rapid in place for even the most aggressive gamer (I know my keyboard slides around all the time). There are also two stands to give the QuickFire Rapid an even greater tilt if you want that. We did find that doing that removed some of the stability that you get when not using them. Underneath the QuickFire Rapid you can also see the channels for securing the removable USB cable Cooler Master included. These are nice and allow you to run the cable out to either side to keep out of the way (our runs out to the left).

Although it is not the flashiest keyboard we have played with we have to say that just looking over the basics and the build it is an impressive piece of hardware.