Review: Turtle Beach Vulcan II TKL Pro Keyboard

A Strong contender in the ten-keyless mechanical gaming keyboard space.

At $119.99, the Turtle Beach Vulcan II packs a punch in its combination of value, features, and build quality. The Vulcan II is a hot-swappable mechanical keyboard that offers premium features in a compact design that will keep your set up looking sharp.

Tech Specs:

· Form Factor: Tenkeyless

· Connectivity: USB-A Wired

· Cable: 1.8m Braided, Detachable USB-C

· Lighting: RGB Per-Key Illumination

· Switches: TITAN HS Linear Mechanical

· Switch Lifecycle: 50M Keystrokes

· Hot-Swap Support: Yes (3-pin & 5-pin compatible)

· Switch Actuation: 1.8mm

· Switch Actuation Force: 45g

· Processor: 32-Bit ARM Cortex M3

· Polling Rate: 1,000Hz

· Adjustable Height: Double Height Kickstand

· On-Board Memory: Yes, 5 profiles on-board

· Software: Swarm II

· Volume Control: Knob with Push-to-Mute

· Dimensions: 366.16 * 137.33 * 32.15 (mm) 14,42 * 5.41*1.27 (inch)

Performance:

For this review, Vulcan II earned its stripes with a healthy amount of Battlefield 6 and Arc Raiders. The keyboard performed fantastically with no issues in responsiveness during gameplay.

I enjoyed the sound profile of the keyboard; it is a subtle but still satisfying click on each keystroke. For gaming, the software features an entire suite of potential customizations. These include macros, command layering, and ReacTap (prioritizing inputs for better strafing in games). If you are a gamer or power user that needs a keyboard that has easy to use software and also performs great, the Vulcan II would make an excellent choice!

Finally, the hot-swapping is something I tested as part of my review. The inclusion of a puller and additional replacement switches is a nice touch from a manufacturer! I had no issues swapping out the switches as needed. So, if you’re a keyboard enthusiast, rest assured that you can customize the Vulcan II to your hearts content.

Software

Love it or hate it, the Vulcan II’s best features are found in the software. While you can theoretically do some of the customization without the software, it becomes necessary to make the most of your keyboard. The Swarm II software has generally been great for me on all other Turtle Beach products. The Vulcan II is the first time I ran into one issue; when attempting to load or change different lighting profiles, the software would soft-lock and crash. I tried to do a clean installation, ran updates, and reached out to support. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, the issue persists. Besides that glitch, the software worked great and I was easily able to do anything I wanted (except change the lighting).

Build Quality

Overall, the construction of the keyboard feels great. The only change I would’ve liked to see was a full metal body rather than just an aluminum top plate. Without the full metal construction, there was a bit of flex in the board if I pushed enough. Beyond that, the entire design and construction feels very premium and it comes in at a very competitive price. A similar model from Razer is about $10 cheaper but lacks hot swappable switches. So if that is a feature you want, $10 is a very fair additional cost to consider!

Final thoughts:

For the past 18 months I’ve been using the Vulcan II TKL Pro and swapping for the Vulcan II with its mechanical switches versus the Pro’s Hall Effect switches, was only barely noticeable in touch and feel. While the Hall Effect switches on the Pro do offer some more functionality, for many people the Vulcan II will be more than adequate. If you’re in the market for a ten keyless keyboard that includes hot swappable switches, the Vulcan II TKL Pro is a fantastic choice!