You know, I generally tend to aggressively avoid anything with a “gaming” moniker attached to it. Keyboard, mice, monitors, etc. In general, I find these things to be not as good as they originally might seem. However, I found this Accelerate Keyboard and Mouse Review combo pack in my local Home Bargains. Decided to put down some of my hard-earned cash and decided to bite the bullet.
It was only £12, so it wasn’t very good I would only be wasting £12. Might even be able to get a refund? Let’s check it out.
Keyboard
To be quite honest, I was quite intrigued and surprised at some aspects of this combo pack. My initial thought regarding the keyboard was that the build quality was pretty lacklustre. It was very easy to flex with just some slight pressure from my hands. I definitely don’t think it would survive a fall onto the floor for example. Aside from the slightly less-than-desirable build quality, some other features did catch my eye.
The LED lights didn’t automatically come on and had to be toggled on and off with the Scroll Lock Key. It was pretty nice to have some small control over this, as I don’t think everyone would want them on. Once they were lit, the light they emitted was pretty strong. The keys were also pretty easy to remove, which gives plenty of opportunity to customize the board. The wire protruding out of the back wasn’t detachable or braided, a design feature I’ve never really liked.
Mouse
The mouse was a little more interesting. In contrast to the keyboard, the wire was braided, something I much prefer. Overall, the design and potential longevity of the device seem to have been taken into consideration more. Alongside the left and right buttons, it also had a scroll wheel. This isn’t really out of the ordinary, of course. However, the pile of four extra buttons definitely made it more complicated to handle. There was a DPI selector button to change the DPI settings of the mouse. A Forward and Back button along the side, as well as a Double Click button, rounded out the extra buttons. I can’t say I ever used the Forward and Back buttons during testing but the Double Click button was very useful.
Probably the best feature of the mouse was the size of it. I don’t think I have particularly large hands, but some mice I’ve used before forced me to curl my fingers up. This design just felt a lot more comfortable in my hand. It also had a nice width to it. A pretty comfortable experience.
Summary
As a keyboard and mouse combo pack, I would say the Accelerate Keyboard and Mouse set is pretty generic. Neither the mouse nor the keyboard is super amazing. I will be using the mouse for the foreseeable future though, as it fits very nicely in my hands. It is also much better quality than the keyboard. For someone starting out in gaming and who desperately wants a keyboard and mouse that lights up, I think you can do a lot worse than this, just don’t expect either to last very long. The keyboard in particular.
I do also want to mention that the mouse is a stock model, that can come in any number of other “gaming” sets. It is the best part of this pack, but you don’t have to buy this specific pack to get hold of one. Check out the video below to see the original video this review was based on.
