Why You Can Trust CNET Roccat Vulcan Pro gaming keyboard uses optical switch that's 40x faster than mechanical switches
The switch also has a longer life expectancy of 100 million clicks.
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Roccat Vulcan Pro, Vulcan TKL Pro and Vulcan TKL (top to bottom).
PC gaming peripheral brand Roccat is moving from mechanical to optical switches with its new Vulcan Pro keyboards. Roccat, owned by headset maker Turtle Beach, has used its Titan Tactile and Titan Speed switches in its other keyboards. The new Titan Optical switches are built to be 40 times faster than classic mechanical switches and have a lifespan of 100 million clicks.
Unlike a traditional mechanical switch that uses a physical contact, the Titan Optical uses a beam of light that's interrupted by the optical switch. The first models to use the new switch are the Vulcan Pro and TKL Pro. The Vulcan Pro is a full-size keyboard with an anodized aluminum top plate, low-profile keycaps and its AIMO-enabled RGB lighting that lets you sync light schemes with other AIMO products. It also comes with a removable magnetic wrist rest. The "TKL" in TKL Pro stands for "tenkeyless." It's a version of the Vulcan Pro minus the "tenkey," i.e. the numberpad. The chassis is smaller too.
The two Pro models are joined by a TKL version of the full-size Vulcan keyboards like the Vulcan 120 AIMO, which made our list of best gaming keyboards. It will be available with both the Titan Tactile or Titan Speed mechanical switches.
The Vulcan Pro and TKL Pro are expected to be available Oct. 30 for $200 and $160, respectively. The Vulcan TKL is expected Oct. 4 for $130. UK pricing is £180 for the Pro, £150 for the TKL Pro and £120 for the Vulcan TKL. Australian pricing was not available but converts to about AU$280 for the Pro and AU$225 for the TKL Pro, and AU$180 for the Vulcan TKL.