The Back-lighting:

In this section we'll take a look at a few shots of the keyboard back-lighting. I did not have a 5VDC adapter to use with the keyboard, so two levels could not be investigated.

I had initially intended to use the keyboard on a certain desktop PC, so I ran the included USB cable through the hole in my desk down to the back of my PC in anticipation. I then decided to install it on another PC, so I figured I would leave the included cable where it was and grab a different one of the shelf. This lead to problems, as the quality of the included cable is apparently key to the back-lighting functioning at all. The second cable is only about 18" long and has always worked well for data transfers, but it is apparently not suitable for use with the Trigger. I assumed having a detachable cable would make the Trigger easier to share between systems - perfect for those traveling to LAN parties - but I could only get the lighting to work with Cooler Master's cable. The keyboard worked with the other cable, but not the back-lighting.

The keyboard lighting has different intensity levels, but they are fairly subtle and my camera could not distinguish them well. The two images below show a sample of the keyboard lit in the mode where all keys are illuminated. The lighting is strong, and the clarity of the characters on each key is very good.



The next image shows the keyboard set to only illuminate the WASD keys and the Macro keys. This mode might be preferred by gamers, as it will help them target these popular keys with ease in a low light setting.



Overall the illumination works well and looks great - but I was just disappointed by the need for an optional power adapter to unlock full functionality, and that the detachable cable might as well be permanently attached.