Cougar 500K Gaming Keyboard Review

Usage & Final Thoughts
I have been using the 500K gaming keyboard for a few weeks now and I do like it. The biggest hurdle for me was getting used to using a membrane keyboard again. If you are going from a mechanical keyboard to a membrane keyboard it will take a little while for you to adjust. While the 500K is very comfortable to both type and game on, it does not compare to the 600K or 700K that have mechanical key switches. Mechanical key switches just feel better all-around. The other big change in this keyboard is that the space bar has been cut in half, again this will take a little bit to get used to.

When it comes to gaming features the 500K has quite a lot. The entire keyboard can be completely remapped and of course you have the 6 G-keys that can be used for macros or shortcuts. You have a repeat rate selection between 1x, 2x, 4x, and 8x, which can be useful when you are playing a game that requires you to hit the same keys over and over again. Of course you have three different profiles to store all of your settings and macros on and these are stored on the keyboard itself. One thing that I’ve grown to love about Cougar’s gaming keyboards is the FPS palm rest. This makes playing FPS games much more comfortable.

Other notable features of the keyboard are that it is fully illuminated in orange. There are 5 different lighting levels and a breathing mode as well. There are a full set of multimedia keys, which a great to have in game when you might want to turn the volume up or down or mute it completely. There is a USB pass-through port on the keyboard as well which means you can easily plug in a USB flash drive, mouse, or even a headset.

The biggest downfall of this keyboard is that it is not mechanical and it is not made of the high-grade aluminum that its bigger brothers are made of. If you can live without those two things this is a great gaming keyboard and one of the more fully-featured gaming keyboards that is not mechanical.

Right now you can pick up this keyboard for $79.99 at my favorite online retailer. Overall ThinkComputers gives the Cougar 500K gaming keyboard an 8 out of 10 score.

rating8 10 small

Pros:
– 6 programmable G-keys
– Full N-key rollover
– Illuminated
– Can fully remap the keyboard
– 3 different profiles
– FPS palm rest

Cons:
– Not mechanical
– Not made of aluminum like the 600K and 700K

About Author