Logitech Moves to Magnetic Switches With the Pro X TKL Rapid Keyboard – The Results Are Great
Logitech is entering a new generation of its Pro series product line of PC peripherals, which focuses on high-performance gaming. With the Pro X TKL Rapid, we have a tenkeyless keyboard chock-full of fresh features centered around a magnetic switch technology that’s new for Logitech, wedging itself among some of the best gaming keyboards available today. This comes with intricately adjustable functionality and robust RGB customization Logitech users have become accustomed to. After putting it through its paces, the Pro X TKL Rapid proves to be an impressive piece of gear that abandons most flashy aesthetics in favor of letting the keys be the star of the show.
At first glance, the TKL Rapid looks like any other Logitech G series keyboard. It’s a simple black rectangle with thin bezels with RGB lights shining through each key. Hovering atop the standard layout are a series of media keys and a large volume control wheel on the top right, which is quite nice to use. Because of its tenkeyless design, the TKL Rapid has a mercifully small footprint – for a keyboard focused on performance, I appreciate how much it doesn’t get in the way of whatever else is happening on my desk.
Its visible parts don’t stand out on the black colorway, which is the model I’ve been testing. For those who want a little more visual pizazz, it comes in white or pink variants as well. The keys are made of recycled ABS plastic, as is the frame, with a solid aluminum slab supporting the keyboard’s frame. There are certainly better quality and more stylish keycaps out there, but what comes stock is comfortable enough, if not completely unremarkable in feel – at least it doesn’t stand out for any bad reasons. The keys are stable on the switches, with no wiggle that I’ve noticed on the keycaps. Of course, these are parts keyboard enthusiasts can swap out, and the TKL Rapid is compatible with third-party keycaps if you want to make it more unique.
The TKL Rapid’s special sauce is under the caps in the debuting magnetic analog switches and it’s further enhanced by the level of customization within Logitech’s robust G Hub app. The move from mechanical to analog switches to make gaming better isn’t just a marketing move; it really can make a difference (as is the case in the many Hall Effect gaming keyboards we’ve reviewed recently). Instead of having a set actuation point built into a mechanism, analog switches can be adjusted via software and set the actuation point of each key, letting it recognize inputs at varying travel distances without having to swap out the switch. Even better, it can be changed on each individual key, allowing for incredible personalization.
Straight out of the box, my first hours using the keyboard were troubling, but once I dialed in the right settings, the experience came together nicely. On default settings, I was initially consistently mistyping, chalking it up to getting used to the device. After a lengthy session of using the keyboard, it simply didn’t feel quite right. That’s until I installed G Hub and started messing around with the actuation point of my keys. By default, the Pro X TKL Rapid is set to a 2.0mm actuation, which was a little too shallow for my typing style, especially considering the keyboard’s superlight 35g actuation force. Luckily, this can be shifted anywhere between the extremely light touch of 0.1mm to almost the complete depth of the key press at 4.0mm. Once I dialed in around 3.0mm, it was a revelation, and I started enjoying the keyboard a whole lot more.
It’s notable that while we are dealing with magnetic technology, adjusting the actuation point doesn’t change the pressure needed to press a key, which doesn’t take much, considering the TKL Rapid is made with competitive gaming in mind. Rather, it reads magnetic fields within the switch as the key travels and triggers at whatever distance is set for that key in G Hub. Logitech isn’t a pioneer with these switches, and Hall Effect is gradually becoming the standard in high-end keyboards, but they’re utilized very well in this model and helped open my mind on what’s possible with a gaming keyboard.
Complementing the adjustable actuation points is Rapid Trigger, a feature that affects how far upward the key needs to ascend before it is considered to be released. If you use it, the key doesn’t have to return to its default position to reset, which has had promising results while playing games. Testing the feature with Diablo IV, I was undoubtedly unleashing my abilities faster, setting the Rapid Trigger to reset at 0.5mm, with a range of 0.1mm to 2.0mm to play with. It certainly makes a difference in fast-paced games where a critically-timed button press is of the utmost importance.
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Not only can you globally set the actuation points and Rapid Trigger for the entire keyboard, but each key can be adjusted individually for both features and save profiles to be loaded for specific games when they launch. Your Overwatch 2 setting preferences are bound to be different from League of Legends or Path of Exile, and I absolutely love how I can fine-tune the TKL Rapid for each game in mind.
Because there are a lot of complications with every key potentially having different activation and release points, the TKL Rapid includes a Key Priority setting. With this tool, I was able to pair two keys that may be pressed around the same time, like my Mage’s spells on the number row in World of Warcraft, and determine which one is more important to be the one that is accepted at that moment. There are varying options like Key Travel Priority, which chooses the key that’s pressed furthest, or Absolute Priority, which will, well, choose which one key will absolutely work instead of the other. As someone who sometimes fumbles my spells in tense situations, it certainly helped clean up my casting rotation during dungeons and eliminate mistakes.
But really, this is Logitech’s version of SOCD input, or simultaneous opposite cardinal direction, which is a contentious feature in competitive gaming. In a shooter, this lets you counter-strafe (or jiggle strafe) without interuption which would be impossible otherwise, making you a much harder target. You can, and will, get kicked from Counter-Strike 2 matches, for example. (We found out the hard way when reviewing the Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro 75.) If you use this feature, just be mindful of the context in which you use it in.
Of course, being a premium product, Logitech’s usual suite of features applies to the TKL Rapid. It features full RGB lighting on every key, which can be adjusted per key in G Hub. It hits just about every color in the rainbow except a clean white and some shades of purple, which both end up more blue than anything, which is slightly disappointing.
Game Mode is also available, with a physical button above the first section of F keys, which disables buttons like the Windows and menu keys, which can interrupt heated matches if pressed by mistake. In addition, it provides the option to choose which other keys you’d like to wipe the functionality off, leaving only your critical keys active while Game Mode is engaged. Along with key mapping and more layout profiles to flip through with G-Shift, the TKL Pro is endlessly customizable for whatever game you want to adapt to.
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