Durgod Fusion Wireless Mechanical Keyboard Review
Durgod Fusion, which was previously released on a Kickstarter crowdfunding website, has attracted the attention of many netizens, and a total of 2,051 backers have supported it. The amount of crowdfunding of 271,000 US dollars has far exceeded the established amount of 100,000 US dollars. It can be seen that the Fusion series wireless keyboard is fiery. This also made many domestic players greedy and shout as a pity. However, recently we have also received the good news that this keyboard will soon be available for sale in China. In the near future, we have also obtained these three keyboards first. Next, I will bring you a review of the Fusion series keyboard.
The official website shows that the company was only established in 2016 and is headquartered in Zhuhai. It is a “peripheral that integrates product development and design, program and software development, and brand operation. brand”.
Durgod Fusion currently has three colors to choose from Nautical Blue, Steam Gray, and Retro White. The three colors pay tribute to the Age of Navigation, the Age of Steam, and the Age of Video Games, respectively. Fortunately, I applied for one of the nautical blue color schemes. Next, let’s start the review of the Durgod Fusion keyboard in hand, and see why it is so popular in crowdfunding, right?
Unboxing
Unpacking the express package, what you see is the kraft paper packaging full of retro design. Whether it is a gamepad button symbol element or a classic re-engraving of the packaging image in the 1980s, Durgod always brings users into it at first glance. The design is classic, nostalgic and retro. In life, each of us will have a somewhat nostalgic plot, and each person’s feelings and entrances are different. Du Jia accurately grasped the common points of those eras and cleverly designed its products and packaging. It resonates with most people.
Durgod FUSION adopts a double-layer packaging box design. The inner box that is also packaged in kraft paper is relatively simple. Durgod Logo and product series name are the main contents of the front of the package.
In terms of accessories, Durgod is pretty solid, including wire key pullers, cable ties, manuals, plastic dust covers, Type-C to Type-C cables, USB-A to Type-C cables, expansion adapters, The receiver is really full of sincerity. I love it. In my opinion, the most commonly used PET transparent dust cover is undoubtedly the transparent PET dust cover.
Design
The appearance design is one of the biggest highlights of this keyboard. The nautical blue Durgod FUSION keyboard in my hand uses a slightly calm dark blue as the base color, with 48 off-white keys arranged in the middle, and the Esc key in the upper left corner and the upper right The corner wireless switch key and the space bar below are matched with bright yellow, which embellish the calm, dark and dark keyboard as a whole, and adds the flexibility of the key arrangement with the triangular echo.
This keyboard adopts a relatively compact 65% layout with 68 keys, which meets the basic needs of daily/work/game, enriches the design elements, and well controls the overall size of the keyboard. The size of the keyboard is about 316mm*134mm*36mm. It weighs about 620g, is small and light, and can be conveniently placed in an ordinary computer bag, realizing portable use when going out.
Although the size is small, Durgod FUSION is still equipped with independent full-size direction keys. Compared with canceling the direction keys and integrating the direction keys into the three-key position, these full-size direction keys make the user more comfortable to use, and the game control is more flexible. The frequently used function keys on the right and the combined F function keys meet the basic needs of users.
The bright silver metal logo is very eye-catching, which greatly improves brand recognition. The Logo nameplate is a movable part, and there is a hidden secret inside. Although the clearance around the movable part is controlled very uniformly, it is really a rigorous quality control in the subtleties.
The push-type wireless switch with a wide forehead with horizontal stripes, fine vertical lines, and logo protrusions is convenient for operation and brings users into the memorable classic era of red and white phones.
Does the 48 deliberately worn off-white buttons also evoke your mottled memories of the era of old big-headed computers and the slightly yellowed wired keyboard and mouse suits. It makes people feel that a group of people is sitting together watching the red alert, The youth of Warcraft.
The bottom of the keyboard is relatively simple, the main content is six non-slip rubber feet and two feet with non-slip rubber pads. The non-slip foot pad has a height of 3 mm, in addition to the anti-slip effect, it can also play a very good shock absorption and buffering effect.
Cherry MX Keys and Quality
The Durgod FUSION series is equipped with Cherry MX Keys, which provide five different Keys for users to choose from: green Keys, tea Keys, red Keys, Silver Keys, and silent red Keys. This nautical blue in my hand is matched with a red Keys. It feels smooth, soft, and light when hitting. It is more suitable for long-hitting.
The FUSION keyboard is equipped with the original high PBT keycap as standard. PBT should be regarded as the most reliable and excellent keycap material. It is very good in terms of resistance to oil and hardness, and its anti-corrosion and anti-oxidation effects are also very good. , Claiming to never hit oil. The front of the keycap is slightly concave, which is more durable and comfortable, and delicate in hand.
The font on the front of the keycap adopts a two-color injection molding process. The advantage is that the font has bright colors, high durability, and is not easy to drop characters. The touch feels comfortable and delicate while giving users more durable durability.
Different from the front font, the font on the side of the keycap is mainly engraved by the laser filling method. Although the font firmness is lower than that of two-color injection molding, it is much higher than ordinary ink printing because it usually does not touch on the side of the keycap. Touch abrasion, so there is no need to worry about the abrasion and disappearance of handwriting.
If you observe carefully, you will find that the outer edge of the space key has also been designed with a transitional arc surface, which makes it comfortable for long-term contact without fatigue. The large key position adopts the satellite axis design, the hand feel is stable, the left and right thumbs are pressed evenly, and the key position is highly consistent. According to online feedback, Duga has been widely praised for the workmanship of Durgod.
Unplug the keycaps, we can see that this FUSION keyboard uses an aluminum alloy fixing plate to ensure that the Keys body is fixed while having a lightweight performance. It is also the case that the overall weight of the FUSION is very light, combined with a small size. The key position design makes it easier to carry around.
The PET hard transparent plastic dust cover has the characteristics of high transparency, good gloss, non-toxic, odorless, hygienic, and safe. While providing dust-proof protection for the keyboard, it does not hinder the perfect display of the keyboard’s appearance.
USER Experience
Durgod Fusion series keyboards support three connection modes: Bluetooth, 2.4G wireless, and wired. All modes support full-key non-strike technology (some wireless keyboards have full-key no punches that are implemented in the limited mode of wired connection. Therefore, FUSION’s full-key no punch is really rare), which can easily cope with different scenarios such as office and games. Among them, in the Bluetooth mode, the Fusion keyboard can pair two Bluetooth devices at the same time, and switch through the combination of keys. During the evaluation experience, I have been playing codewords and games in Bluetooth and 2.4G wireless mode. During the use, the keyboard connection was stable, and I did not experience any delay or disconnection.
Durgod Fusion can pair two Bluetooth devices, a 2.4G wireless connection and a wired connection. This three-mode four-connection multi-connection technology supports it. It can be connected to mobile phones, tablets, and computers without cables under normal use situations, which is effective Reduce the disorder and disorder caused by desktop cables, making the sharing of multiple devices and peripherals more convenient and efficient.
The concealed design of the 2.4G wireless receiver of Durgod Fusion is very clever. It is hidden under the bright silver metal logo in the upper left corner mentioned above. You only need to press the right side of the metal logo to achieve the left side tilting and then take advantage of the situation. Push the logo to the left to remove the logo nameplate to reveal the wireless receiver hidden underneath. In order to facilitate access, the receiver storage compartment is also designed with a push-and-pop structure. In order to avoid frequent use of the pop-up mechanism, I use the Logo nameplate to magnetically attract the receiver. Give me a thumbs up for this fantastic idea.
In the upper right corner of the keyboard, there is a push switch with DURGOD graphic Logo, which is used to switch the wireless function. When the switch is pushed to the left, there will be a gap, which is a typical obsessive-compulsive disorder. The three indicator lights next to the wireless switch are not only responsible for the Capslock indicator, profile indicator, and battery indicator, but also take into account the role of the wireless connection status indicator. The three lights correspond to Bluetooth 1, Bluetooth 2, and 2.4G wireless. The design of the diffuser that still uses the indicator light, the color of the light is rich and not dazzling.
Little tip: During the Bluetooth connection, the Android phone and the windows laptop are successfully connected. For testing reasons, I have performed the operation of deleting the Bluetooth keyboard on the laptop side and canceling the keyboard pairing operation on the phone side, and then I found it when I tried to pair and connect again The laptop can successfully connect/delete the keyboard, but the phone cannot find the Fusion keyboard. I repeatedly tested multiple mobile phones and failed. I once thought that the keyboard was faulty until I contacted customer service to give patient and meticulous guidance. I activated and re-paired by pressing and holding FN+Q/W for 3 seconds until the indicator light flashed quickly. The problem was solved successfully. solve. If you have a friend who has the same problem, be sure to try it patiently or ask for help, and don’t intuitively conclude that the keyboard is malfunctioning.
In wired connection or 2.4G wireless connection mode, the user can set the keyboard function through the new version of the Durgod Zeus driver. By logging in to the Durgod official website, you can download the latest version of the Zeus driver Durgod Zeus Engine. Open the software and it will be automatically on the home page. Identify and load FUSION series keyboards.
When the driver software is opened for the first time, a dialog window will automatically pop up to prompt that you need to upgrade the firmware of the Durgod Fusion keyboard. Clicking the upgrade button below will automatically upgrade the keyboard firmware to the latest V1.12 version.
Through the Zeus driver, the keys and FN combination keys can be set to expand more key positions and functions. For example, combining the FN and P keys to achieve the PrintScreen key function that FUSION does not have. After all, it will be more convenient to have the PrtSc function when performing evaluation records.
Through any combination, FUSION’s 68 keys can fully implement all the functions of 104 keys. At the same time, based on driver support, it can achieve more interesting things, such as bursts of big moves when playing games. And I even made a macro recording of the laptop screen unlocking password, and every time I unlock the screen, I only need to press the key combination FN+U to realize the function of UnlockScreen.
FUSION also supports the onboard storage function. The right part provides onboard configuration file switching. Through the built-in storage chip, three sets of custom button macros can be pre-stored and used without the driver software, making it easier and faster to use.
The onboard storage button in the Zeus software is too small, and the description text is not fully displayed under normal circumstances. This is also one of the few slots. The figure shows the display effect on the extended screen.
Another little tip:Â If you want to save the keyboard configuration file to the onboard memory, you must use a wired connection; the onboard configuration file can be retrieved and used by FN+backspace, and it can be used in both 2.4G wireless and wired connections. Run macro command and button and key combination setting; in Bluetooth mode, only macro command can be run, but a button and combination key setting can’t be used. None of these manuals tell you~
Our Verdict
In the process of unpacking, I was already attracted by the beauty and workmanship of this Durgod Fusion keyboard. The retro design, clever color matching, and exquisite workmanship, just placed on the desktop are a work of art for appreciation. , To add a lot of color to the work surface.
As for the hands-on experience, this nautical blue DURGOD FUSION with cherry red Keys shows the typical red Keys characteristics. The pressure required is lighter and the process is even. When you press your fingers, you can enjoy the soft, smooth, and bottom-to-bottom feeling. In the process of pressing the key, it is soft and flicking. With the tap of the finger, the click and click sound after the key touches the bottom, which is to enjoy the auditory feast while the code is being coded. I usually like to edit some small videos. The clicking sound of this Fusion keyboard can’t be used to dub subtitles.
Of course, in the process of using, I also encountered some small inconveniences or some small thoughts, such as:
- Because of the lack of a dedicated F function key, renaming of F2 files and F5 slide show that are commonly used in the office process and F5 slide show requires a combination of keys to achieve, and because the Fn key is set on the right side, the two-handed operation is required; In terms of games, such as World of Warcraft and Battlefield, which require more keys to be set, there is no way to quickly trigger and switch.
- In 2.4G wireless connection mode, the keyboard can be configured by Zeus driver but there is no save configuration button. This made me suspect that there was a problem with my software installation. I uninstalled it three or four times and finally figured out that it can be performed at the same time only under a wired connection. For configuration and download, it is recommended that the manual be richer, or add a detailed description article to the WeChat official account. Users have fun, without any doubt, product recognition will also increase.
- The onboard memory button on the Zeus driver software is too small, and the prompt text after the mouse is moved up is not displayed completely (regardless of whether the software window is maximized or not), which affects the user experience to a certain extent, and it is recommended to optimize it appropriately.
Generally speaking, as a mass-produced keyboard, Durgod Fusion has an excellent design, a high degree of integration of retro and technological sense. If you also have a certain retro feeling, advocate personalization, and pursue a better keyboard experience, Fusion will be good for you A choice.
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