Vulcan II TKL Pro Keyboard Review: Cheap Hall Effect Switches

At first glance

Expert assessment

Advantages

Great value
Relatively quiet
Nice colors

Defects

ABS Keys
No lighting integration
The construction is a bit cheap

Our verdict

The Vulcan II TKL Pro isn’t the best keyboard with an adjustable touchpad on the market, but it’s the best deal out there, and the ultra-bright and smooth RGB lights are a bonus.

Today’s best prices: Vulcan II TKL Pro Keyboard

$149.99

Want a disco ball that you can type on? Then get the Vulcan keyboard. Want a disco ball that you can type on that also has adjustable keys? Then get the Vulcan II TKL Pro.

Turtle Beach, the new home of gaming peripherals formerly sold under the Roccat name, is jumping on the Hall effect bandwagon. The new Vulcan II TKL does nothing more than its predecessor… and that’s fine. It targets such a specific niche, and offers such a steep discount compared to other adjustable keyboards, that it makes up for many of the keyboard’s other shortcomings.

Aside from the Hall switches, the new keyboard doesn’t offer much more than the previous version… and that’s fine.

Retailing for $150 and selling for $130 at the time of writing, this keyboard isn’t the best adjustable-actuation keyboard on the market. But it’s the best deal.

Further reading: Best Wireless Keyboards 2024: Top Bluetooth and USB Models

Vulcan II TKL Pro: Hall Effect Switches with Adjustable Activation

Before we go any further: The Vulcan II TKL Pro has Hall effect switches, which means there’s a tiny magnet and magnetometer under each key. This allows it to do some cool tricks with adjustable sensitivity. If you’re not sure what this is, check out my guide to keyboards with adjustable activation . If you know what that is and don’t care… well, stop reading, this keyboard probably isn’t for you.

Michael Crider/Foundry

Who is it for? Someone who puts visual aesthetics at the top of their list of keyboard features and enjoys an RGB light show with every keystroke. The Vulcan series turns heads with its ultra-bright LEDs and translucent, floating keycap designs, and this one is no exception.

Yes, it’s nice and very, Very bright. The white ABS keycaps and brushed aluminum body are definitely the way to go if you want to accentuate those lights, though this keyboard is also available in black. It uses a TKL layout (which means no 10-key number pad), but is otherwise standard… aside from the notable exclusion of the Print Screen, Scroll Lock, and Pause Break buttons. Instead, you get the familiar volume wheel that you can click to mute.

Vulcan II TKL Pro: Look at the keyboard, not the palm rest

In terms of basic features, you get two-step keyboard feet, a very nice braided USB-C cable (white or black to match), and a very disappointing palm rest (same thing). As with most adjustable keyboards, the switches aren’t hot-swappable, but you can put any keycaps you want on them. Although if you’re buying this board, I can’t imagine you’d actually want to.

Let’s talk about fit and finish. I’d put the keyboard itself in the middle of the pack in terms of gaming competition. At first glance, it looks great—and that’s the point—but the plastic bottom and volume wheel feel a bit cheap compared to the aluminum top. Despite the plastic construction and light weight, it’s very stable thanks to the large, wide pads on the bottom, so it won’t slip around during intense gaming sessions.

Michael Crider/Foundry

I really like this cable. It’s six feet long with durable braiding, has sturdy plastic on both ends, and a handy little keyboard logo on the USB-A side—a great touch from someone who spends a lot of time staring at the back of their computer case.

And I really don’t like the wrist rest. It’s flimsy, flimsy foam with a thin fabric top that looks like it’ll stain if you look hard, and no stitching, so it’ll definitely fray within a few months. After a few days, it was showing discoloration from my hands. It’s barely a wrist rest, and I went straight back to my not-so-cheap one from Amazon.

Michael Crider/Foundry

I won’t take away points from the rest—many keyboards don’t include them at all—but I can’t give any points for this extra consideration, either. Compared to the very nice palm rests on the standard, nonmagnetic Vulcan II and the super-sized Vulcan II Max, it’s a disgrace.

Vulcan II TKL Pro: Typing and Gaming

Typing on the Vulcan II TKL Pro is surprisingly good, at least for a gaming keyboard with magnetic switches. I’m not a fan of the shallow and slightly slippery keycaps, but they’re not bad. And the switches themselves are pretty smooth (made specifically for Turtle Beach with a lifespan of 150 million clicks, nice), which is typical for these designs.

That’s good, because you only have one switch choice, linear with medium-firm resistance. The feel doesn’t change with activation—it’s all software—so you have to have a very precise feel if you want to make those small changes. I did notice that I miss the Print Screen button, but that’s a very specific issue, since I take a lot of screenshots in my work. At least it’s in a very natural place on the function layer, Fn+P.

Michael Crider/Foundry

The keyboard is noticeably softer and less rattle-free than many adjustable activation models. That’s not exactly quiet —I’d expect harsh words if I took it to the library. But the internal padding that sticks out from under the spacebar is much appreciated. I don’t think you’ll ever get a “hidden” or “silent” adjustable drive plate as a hardware feature, but this is the closest I’ve seen so far. A sort of “shortest giant” situation, if you will.

I found the gaming experience to be usable, if not spectacular. Again, those smooth keycaps aren’t to my taste, and I missed the slightly roughened grip of the PBT plastic. The pudding-cap patterns seen on the budget wonder G.Skill KM250 would have been a great compromise here (and you can get them cheaply). But once I got used to it, I was able to play shooters and RPGs without much of a learning curve.

Vulcan II TKL Pro: Adjustable Activation and Software

Beyond the basics, the adjustable actuation plate lives or dies on its software. And the Turtle Beach software is… okay. Not the best I’ve seen, but far from the worst. It’s easy enough to change the actuation points of a single key or multiple keys at once, and none of the keys are stuck with a basic mechanical function. Sensitivity comes in 40 individual steps, from 0.1mm to 4.0mm, as is usually the case.

Michael Crider/Foundry

The usual treats for fans of adjustable actuation are present, including a quick-release trigger, multi-function binding (up to three actuation points on each key), and analog-style input to mimic controller functions. Again, if you don’t know what that is, check out my roundup of keyboards with adjustable actuation for a thorough explanation.

Gamers get up to five individual profiles stored on the keyboard’s internal memory, which works well with its lightweight nature if you want to take it with you on the go. You can also set these or other profiles to automatically launch with games or apps, something that some other gaming keyboards clearly lack. That’s all you need for intense, obsessive customization for any game you might want.

Michael Crider/Foundry

The rest of the software is a bit of a letdown. For a keyboard so focused on visual presentation, it’s odd that there are only eight built-in lighting patterns. They’re very pretty, very fluid animations, but only eight seems like a missed opportunity. There’s a pretty cool feature where the number row turns white and acts as an indicator of the sensitivity of the Hall effect switches… but that’s very new, since you can only use it by looking hard at the keyboard itself.

Michael Crider/Foundry

You can create your own lighting patterns, but there’s no integration with other lighting systems. For a keyboard like this, I’d really like to see it sync with Philips Hue or Google Home for dazzling displays on a desk full of RGB lights. Actually, no. To have desk full of RGB lights, but I think anyone tempted by this keyboard can definitely go for it.

Vulcan II TKL Pro: Value and Conclusion

So far, the Vulcan II TKL Pro seems decidedly average, as the kids would say. (I’m almost 37, I can be a little patronizing now, that’s how it works.) But I’m impressed with the value. $130 is not a small price to pay for a keyboard, especially one that’s wired and has a wrist rest, best used as a dog chew toy. But Is cheap for a keyboard with adjustable controls.

Michael Crider/Foundry

For comparison, Razer’s Adjustable Acting Huntsman V3 costs $220 in the same form factor. Corsair’s K70 Max costs $230. Are these keyboards better than the Vulcan II TKL Pro? Absolutely. Are they a hundred bucks better? Only if you have an extra hundred bucks and don’t want to do anything with it. The difference in price is a nice gaming mouse or headset — maybe both, if you’re thrifty.

If you are looking for an adjustable control board at a very good price and you think that the icing on the cake is nice RGB lighting, the Vulcan II TKL Pro will be a great choice.

So if you want a solid, adjustable actuation plate at a great price and you think the really nice RGB lighting is the cherry on the cake, the Vulcan II TKL Pro is a great choice. Just please buy a better palm rest with some of the money you save.