Disclosure: The HyperX Alloy FPS review unit is sent by Kingston
HyperX Alloy FPS- Making keyboards great again??
The product name ‘Kingston HyperX Alloy FPS Mechanical Gaming Keyboard’ is wider than the keyboard itself.
As you can summarize from its name, it is aimed towards First Person Shooting? You would speculate that Kingston would eventually have MMORPG/MOBA keyboard with on-the-fly macro keys. Kingston isn’t very shy to diversify, similar to Corsair. Once known for flash and memory products, Kingston has a good reputation for selling headphones and headsets of different make, features and pricing.
Is diversifying good?
The problem is when brands over-diversify, leaving less time to look at real world benefits of each product and therefore have share of ups and downs. It becomes important to highlight this as many users rely on a household brand name to be great, especially when a tier 1 brand is pretty old.
Did Kingston hit the wall? At least not with the keyboard. So far, so good!
Packaging and Contents!
HyperX Alloy FPS’ packaging is solid as a tank! The outer cover gives an idea about its layer and the rest of its features are mentioned behind. This keyboard uses Cherry MX switch and provides Cherry MX red and brown variants.
Contents!
The keyboard is wrapped inside a padded sling bag which has a back pocket to store away the cables and spare keycaps. This makes it easier to carry around while having it protect the keyboard from dust. The inner packaging is soft foam. Kingston also provided additional keys for WASD and numbers 1-to-4. The numerical keys have a smooth surface while the WASD are textured? Against red keycaps to stick with the HyperX’s theme.
Specification
| Keyboard | |
| Switch | Cherry MX |
| Type | Mechanical |
| Backlight | Single color, Red |
| Light effects | 6 LED modes and 5 brightness levels |
| Connection type | USB 2.0 (2 USB connectors) |
| USB Passthrough | Yes (mobile phone charging only) |
| Polling rate | 1000Hz |
| Anti-ghosting | 100% anti-ghosting |
| Key rollover | 6-key / N-key modes |
| Media control | Yes |
| Game mode | Yes |
| Cable | |
| Type | Detachable, braided |
| Length | 1.8m |
| Dimensions | |
| Width | 441.65 mm |
| Depth | 129.38 mm |
| Height | 35.59 mm |
| Weight (keyboard and cable) |
1049g |
Why no RGB?
It may surprise you that in an age of RGB, Kingston HyperX is loyal to its black and red theme. The keyboard is all black with spare red coloured keycaps for numbers 1 to 4 and WASD. The rest of the specs are nothing special. There are six LED models and 5 brightness levels.
The cable is removable but unlike Cooler Master’s long range of Cherry MX mechanical keyboards, Kingston is using a mini USB to connect the cable and has a better grip than mini USB. Wise choice- and good job, Kingston. There’s a pass through but only for mobile charging. It is strange that Kingston did not mention max amperage or any indication if it supports fast charging. All the settings and media controls are on-the-fly which can be accessed by pressing Fn+ any of the arrow keys or its function. This keyboard weighs at 1049 gms. In comparison, CM Masterkeys Pro L weighs 1130 gms.
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