Speedlink Ludicium budget gaming keyboard review
Speedlink Ludicium gaming keyboard
£18
Pros
- Price
- Full-size keyboard
- Highlighted WASD keys
- Plug and play
- Media/Short-cut keys
Cons
- Not the fastest board out there
Just like clothes when the words ‘Retro’ or ‘Vintage’ are used, PC peripherals with the prefix ‘Gaming’ generally are expensive. So, when I saw the Speedlink Ludicium gaming keyboard’s price – I just had to review it.
Gaming peripherals seem to have style checklist: Are they angular? Check. Do they have any red keys? Check. How about an aggressive name? Errrr…
Now, I don’t actually know what Ludicium means, but it doesn’t quite have the ring of Speedlink’s other boards – Velator, Rapax or even Parthica.
The Speedlink Ludicium at least looks the part though. But how does it handle?
Speedlink Ludicium design
As mentioned earlier, the Ludicium certainly looks like a gaming keyboard.
It has a striking, angular design. It also is very streamlined. The keyboard looks as though any wasted space has been trimmed off.
The beauty of its 21 x 4 x 49.7 cm size is that it takes very little desk space even though it is a full keyboard.
Check out our Speedlink Parthica Core keyboard review
The Ludicium is equipped with a full QWERTY board, as well as num-pad and central bank containing cursor keys and the usual Home, End, etc.
Naturally, in order to be called a gaming keyboard, special attention needs to be made to the WASD keys. So, not to break tradition, these are all red.
Furthermore, Speedlink has helpfully added a little flourish around each letter as a hint at what each key will do in-game.
Other red keys can be found at either end. On the right you have the media keys that will control track skipping, play/pause, and volume up and down.
On the other edge are shortcut keys to email, calculator, and that kind of thing.
Of course, the cursor keys are also highlighted.
There is a 1.2m cable running from the rear which terminates in a USB plug. The cable isn’t braided though.
There is also no backlighting to the keys, although there are, as Speedlink’s website proudly states, three status lights. Prepare to be amazed at the Num, Caps, and Scroll lights, people!
Finally, the keyboard is very light, weighing in at just 621 g so perfect for packing away for LAN sessions.
Speedlink Ludicium performance
The Ludicium is a plug-and-play keyboard. No clever macros to set and save to internal memory. There’s no software to download for fancy light patters either.
Just shove the USB plug in to your PC or laptop (if you want) and you’re good to go.
All the keys work and it is pretty comfortable to type on.
Granted, the keys are a little springy and their response isn’t going to woo any pro-gamers. But, at this price point, I very much doubt that this is the Ludicium’s target market. However, anything requiring rapid key-presses may see you not coming in first place.
They keystrokes aren’t exactly silent either. Not quite as noisy as my mechanical Corsair boar, but not so far off.
Ergonomics
I was looking forward to testing the board’s claim of being “height adjustable for maximum ergonomic comfort.” As I suspected, however, this translated in to being “you can lay it flat or flick out the pair of plastic feet for extra rake.” Again, this is fair enough for a keyboard at this price.
Read our Speedlink Fortus wireless gaming mouse review
The desks here are covered in a gaming-friendly surface but, when testing the Ludicium on a naked desk, the lack of any grippy feet meant that you could find yourself chasing the keyboard around your station.
Speedlink Ludicium review conclusion
This is lightweight and compact gaming keyboard. Although, just because you can use it to play games with doesn’t mean you have to – or should.
The Ludicium looks pretty good and is comfortable to type on. However, competitive gamers should save up for just a bit longer if they are looking for a responsive keyboard.
If you are looking for a full-sized keyboard that takes up the minimum amount of room but also packs some handy short-cut keys, then the Ludicium will fit that brief.
Speedlink Ludicium price and availability
You can buy the Speedlink Ludicium right now from Amazon for £17.99. Not bad for the price, huh?
