#attack x3

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Cougar Attack X3

NO-FRILLS DESIGN

The Attack X3 uses the standard ANSI layout, complete with the ten-key, which some price competitive keyboards don’t have. The only extra keys are dedicated to volume up, volume down, and mute, in the upper right corner. That’s it. The body is almost all plastic. A brushed aluminum plate covers the keyboard, and your choice of Cherry MX Blue, Brown, Red, or Black switches sit on top of it.

As an additional feature, each key is backlit with a red light. Forget about RGB stuff with millions of colors that you will probably never use. Keys are made of a hard plastic with a soft-touch coating, very pleasant to the touch. It also features a standard set of low-profile feet in the bottom, and the top feet flip out for a more angled typing experience. A thick and heavy non-removable 1.8-meter USB cable delivers the power necessary to make it work. No additional USB or audio ports.

For the most demanding gamers, the keyboard includes four dedicated polling rates: 125HZ, 250Hz, 500Hz, and 1000Hz. The lower the rate, the higher the responsiveness. The can also switch between 6-key rollover and N-key (infinite) rollover with a dedicated function button.

USABILITY

Unfortunately, Cougar decided to deliver a non-standard layout for the Attack X3’s bottom key row. The spacebar is shortened to allow elongated Ctrl, Function, and Alt buttons on the left side, while the right side has the usual key lengths. This may not seem like much, but creates two important issues for no reason: First, there’s no Windows key on the left side of the keyboard. I’m used to many shortcuts, like Windows + R to run quick commands. You can forget about it, you will need to reprogram your brain to use the right side, which means you will need to use both hands to run a simple shortcut. That also means taking your hands off of your mouse. The second issue, is the reduced availability of keycaps to replace the left side Ctrl, Function, Alt and Spacebar keys.

As stated above, the switches are Cherry, so they perform and behave exactly as you would expect them to. Standard Cherry switches plus the ability to choose between Cherry Blue, Brown, Red and Black means you don’t need to worry about weird performance. They all have their specific niche. The keys also have the standard height and shape, so it just feels natural coming from a different mechanical keyboard. You won’t have to adjust to a few millimeters’ difference. They use a sci-fi “gamer” font style.

BACKLIGHTING AND FUNCTIONS

The red backlighting on the Attack X3 is adjustable with five levels of brightness: low, medium, high, a wave effect from off to high, or completely off. The top function row commands most of the keyboard features. F1-F3 are dedicated to saved custom key profiles, and F4 toggles the light level. F5-F8 are used to switch between poling rates. F9-F12 are reserved for basic media controls: play/pause, stop, back, and forward. Finally, the six-key or N-key rollover are in the Print Screen and Pause Break keys.

The backlighting is not perfect, but it is good enough. The highest level is bright, but it unveils an issue: The red LEDs are situated on the top half of the keys. This means that only the keycap legends that are also on the top half are fully illuminated. Those keys with top-and-bottom legends, like the entire number row, the ten-key area, all of the function row, and most modifier keys, are only half-lit even at the brightest setting. This design flaw isn’t exclusive to Cougar’s keyboard, but others have solved it with clever keycap designs, or simply both primary and secondary functions to the top of the key. I must admit Cougar half-fixed this issue with something I really liked. Special keps, like CAPS LOCK, NUM LOCK and SCREEN LOCK have the led on the bottom half, so while the legend is half-lit, you can be fully aware for when they are enabled or disabled.

GAMING

Gaming feels like you can expect from a high quality mechanical keyboard. Yes, it’s true, this is an affordable mechanical keyboard, but only non-essential features are out. Obviously every gamer will have different needs, especially those who enjoy completely different genres. You may need multiple extra keys for MMORPGS like WoW, but it is completely playable without extra keys. The same goes for the basic lighting: you won’t improve your gaming level by switching to a green light.

I believe that by sacrificing those extra features, Cougar achieved a high quality keyboard in terms of fit and finish. I didn’t have any kind of wobble, which you may expect from cheap models.

SOFTWARE

While the software provides a confusing layout to create your preferred profiles and macros, the Attack X3 provides a feature that even more expensive competitors don’t: it features on-board memory. This means that you can set up and save them to the keyboard, and never have to open the software again. It offers additional goodies, like lighting controls, key repeat testing, and three profiles can be switched on the fly with F1, F2, or F3. As with any other software, it can only improve overtime.

Cougar made the right choices and sacrificed non-essential features to deliver a high quality but still affordable mechanical keyboard. At $90, the Attack X3 is unique. It gives you the option between Cherry Blue, Brown, Red and Black keys, complete ANSI layout with the ten-key, basic lighting and on-board memory.

Cougar تقدم لوحتها الميكانيكية الجديدة Attack X3

أعلنت شركة Cougar المميزة والرائدة فى تصنيع طرفيات الحاسب عن أحدث لوحة مفاتيح ميكانيكية Attack X3 موجهة للاعبين المحترفين بالكامل والتى تم تصنيعها لثلاثة أسباب وهم الجودة والخواص المفيدة والتصميم الأنيق والقوى.

تأتى هذه اللوحة بمفاتيح وأزرار أصلية من نوع Cherry MX الميكانيكية التى تقدم أفضل آداء للاعبين، وهذا بالإضافة إلى واجهة الإستخدام COUGAR UIX الخاصة بالشركة التى تساعد اللاعبين على الوصول…

The Cougar Attack X3 will be available in four Cherry MX switch variants: red, blue, brown and black with N-key rollover via USB toggling. Just like other gaming devices that are part of Cougar’s gaming line, the Attack X3 will also make use of the Cougar UIX device management system that will enable extra features such as key-remapping, macro storage and more. It will be available in December in the EU, and in Q1 2016 in the USA. USA MSRP: USD 119.9 (VAT excluded).

Product name COUGAR ATTACK X3 Gaming Keyboard Key switch Cherry MX mechanical switch N-key rollover Yes( USB mode support ) Full key backlight Yes Game type FPS / MMORPG / MOBA / RTS On-board memory Yes Polling rate 1000Hz / 1ms Material Aluminum / Plastic Software COUGAR UIX™ SYSTEM PROGRAMMABLE KEYS 10 Interface USB plug Cable length 1.8m Braided Dimension 170(L) X 467(W) X 40(H) mm 6.69(L) X18.39(W) X 1.57(H) Inch Weight 0.9kg (1.98 lb)

More information is available at: http://www.cougargaming.com/products/keyboards/attackx3/

Attack X3 Mechanical Keyboard

Cougar unveils the Attack X3 mechanical gaming keyboard for ‘purist gamers’

Cougar unveils the Attack X3 mechanical gaming keyboard for ‘purist gamers’

Cougar today introduced a new mechanical gaming keyboard targeted at purist gamers, the Attack X3. The company claims the new keyboard provides three things: quality, useful functions and an elegant and durable design. It fulfils these three things thanks to a combination of Cherry MX switches,...

Cougar تعلن عن لوحة المفاتيح Attack X3 الميكانيكية الموجهة للألعاب

أطلقت شركة Cougar المتخصصة في تصنيع ملحقات الحاسب الشخصي لوحة مفاتيح Attack X3 الميكانيكية

تأتي اللوحة الجديدة بفاتيح Cherry MX المعروفة بأداءها وقدرة تحملها وهو الأمر الذي يخص كل لاعبي منصة الحاسب الشخصي..هيكل اللوحة هو من الألومنيوم وهذا يزيد من قوة تحمل اللوحة

Cougar ايضاً تقدم مع اللوحة منصة تحكم UIX التي تجعلك قادراً على أختيار و تحديد وظيفة كل زر..ستطلق Cougar اللوحة الجديدة في ديسمبر في…

COUGAR Announces The Launch of The Attack X3 Mechanical Keyboard

December 9th, 2015, Taipei, Taiwan– COUGAR is proud to announce the arrival of COUGAR Attack X3. This new keyboard caters to those purist gamers who crave for a high quality mechanical gaming keyboard that simply provides three things: quality, useful functions and an elegant and durable design. Attack X3 fulfills these requirements with a combination of Cherry MX switches, gaming features and an…