MadCatz S.T.R.I.K.E. 7 Pro Reviews

Hardcore gamers know the hard facts: picking out a premium piece of kit can cost a pretty penny, and the S.T.R.I.K.E. 7 is no exception. Should you be wooed by its hearty metal chassis and whimsical touchscreen, your wallet will be $300 lighter for the infatuation. That's steep -- even for a high-end gaming keyboard -- and it's hard to say whether it's worth the premium. Sure, the S.T.I.R.K.E. 7 boasts excellent build quality, fancy modular part-switching and membrane keys that are among the best non-mechanical actuators we've touched, but the touchscreen hub the unit positions as its selling point isn't worth the $100 premium it commands. Despite a small handful of applications, a program launcher and configurable macro settings, we found the V.E.N.E.O.M.'s touch-based experience was just a little too awkward and slow to work into our gaming routine. Unless you've got a particular affinity for touchscreen macro toggles, check out the S.T.R.I.K.E. 5 instead -- it has all of old number seven's best features, and costs a third less, to boot.

Given the amount of features Mad Catz has delivered, the $299.99 price tag justifies itself. This is especially true from a hardware perspective comparing to the Razer alternative For most people this is an overkill. If Mad Catz releases some new apps, or at least open up browser capabilities, I would be able to recommend this keyboard much more strongly. Never forget this is one of the only keyboards on the market with a touch screen, delivers a mechanical keyboard experience, and can be reassembled to a different form factor as needed. What's for sure is if gamers can ignore the price on STRIKE 7, everyone should take one home.

The MadCatz S.T.R.I.K.E. 7 is an impressive, feature-filled gaming keyboard, but it's extremely expensive and doesn't use mechanical switches (though its membrane switches are very responsive).