2020, It was.
After years of experimenting & refining their gaming range, HP finally hit gold with their 2020 OMEN line-up. They finally had a laptop that you could easily recommend. Rightfully, the devices were well received with-in the community and those who bought the laptops were all praise for the same.
Unlike their laptops, the complementing accessories being offered under the OMEN range were already good, but we had very few people talking about them.
Well, we are here to cover one such good keyboard from OMEN. Their flagship gaming keyboard to be precise.
Enter, OMEN SEQUENCER.
We had hooked up our Gaming PC with the OMEN Sequencer and it’s been in use for over a year now. So, this write up is say, a long-term user review of sorts.
I personally have over 800 odd hours in CSGO (might not seem that impressive) & also having worked my way through a descent collection of RPG titles, I was pleasantly surprised when I started using this keyboard.
After all the action it has seen, the keyboard has held up very well and we are impressed to say the least.
To the GOOD stuff:
Like most of us who work/ game across devices, Laptops & Desktops - The transition at times might not be smooth which was not the case with the Sequencer. The reason I brought this up is because when I move to a desktop keyboard things kind of slow down for me hence… this is an easy keyboard to adjust to.
First thing first, the keys take very little effort to work with. They are light to use and are set-up just right as to negate for accidental presses too. Hence, your fingers don’t tire out easily, even when you are on those extended marathons.
The Optical-Mechanical Blue Switches help a lot where you basically have light being used for detection of inputs instead of the usual mechanical parts. The keys also have descent travel and a good sound to them too.
Click... Click... Click...
Also, the response is like instant and quite consistent. Indeed, you expect this from a premium keyboard. If you are someone who had shuffled through keyboards then you would really appreciate the ones... GOOD Ones.
And about consistency… The keyboard supports true n-key rollover and anti-ghosting which is where you have all your inputs recognized in the order that you had intended which makes up for a great experience.
EXTRASS...
The keyboard is quite sturdy thanks to the aluminium frame construction and even the small things are done right… like the rubber base that keeps the keyboard rooted even when going hard at the keys. If you are someone like me, who does not change his keyboard for years then this is for you.
The keyboard uses Dual-USB connection but supports USB pass-through, so you can make use of the USB port in the keyboard. You also get a generous braided cable which is quite sturdy.
Then there are those 5 customizable macro keys that you can make full use of. Be it for gaming or other creative works. This can be done through the OMEN Gaming Hub Software. This is where you also go to customize the lighting. The OMEN Gaming Hub also has pre-sets available.
Out-of-the-box...
The keyboard had also held-up very well over the course of the year with no fade on the key caps nor did we notice any paint chipping off the frame. The keys still feel very fresh, and the feedback continues to be as it was when we started using the keyboard.
One gripe that I have with the keyboard is the placement/ size of the ‘Red - Metal Roller Bar (Volume Control), OMEN branding & the mute button’ section on the right. If they would have integrated this section to the left side/ say made it small, then it would have been more compact.
I might be nit picking here but still...
Also, like when you are bored or like waiting to be re-spawned or just trying to figure something out then the roller bar is a great toy to like space out on.
To limit this only for gaming would make little sense because this is a good keyboard that can find place in a content creators’ setup too.
If you are someone on the lookout for one then we would suggest you give this Flagship Keyboard a check.