ASUS ROG Azoth 75% Wireless Keyboard

The Asus ROG Azoth Extreme is by far my most favorite keyboard I've encountered yet. I have cycled through a few gaming keyboards (Razer, Roccat, Corsair, etc.) along with a small handful of custom boards (RoyalKudge, GMMK, Keychron, etc.) and all of them have their pros and cons. However, for myself, the Azoth Extreme hits on all the dumb points I enjoy. First off, the score does seem lower for something I would state is my favorite, but I'll explain. The first star loss would just be due to the tear inducing price of this thing...the second would be due to the Armoury Crate software and it's interaction with the board. Let me jump into that a bit more, regarding the Armoury Crate and kb interaction. The software is simply cumbersome to say the least. Everything you enable, adjust, etc. all seem to have fleeting moments of cooperation with the kb. I've been working with getting the Music Mode to work properly, with not luck resolving it thus far. I won't go into more details, but it's just not a quick easy process nor is it very clean looking, considering you're dropping $500 on a k e y b o a r d... Now that the dis pleasurable points are out of the way, I can get into some of the things I love. Right off the bat, the look of this thing and the heft of it is something to behold. Pictures won't do it justice, as it's just a beast. The thing arrived at my door with big red HEAVY stickers on the Amazon box. Despite this though, it is not something I would fault it for. It has a solid feel to it whether it's being used or toted about, and would probably make a deadly mace. The details all over it are just dark, like Batman's suit with carbon fiber detailing. The next thing once you begin using it is the sound and feel of the switches. This thing is a thocky boy and feels wonderful to type on. I literally find myself just figuring out more things to do to type more often, hell, I just started going through my Amazon orders to write more reviews because of how much I enjoy typing on this board! I will say that I did not spend much time using the original keycaps, as I have a set of Cerakey ceramic keycaps that I installed right off the bat, which add even more depth to the thock sound. The OLED screen is gorgeous. I know this is a feature of the board that people seem to differ on. I like a lot of the little features, like the date/time, temp settings, and customizable animated gifs. I absolutely enjoy being able to set up some customized screens to control random things, but also dislike being prevented from editing the standard built-in screens. Like pressing the toggle switch UP to go to previous track? I love when the Music Mode works, as I can see the artist and song show right at my fingertips. I've not had a chance to use it wirelessly when I travel between home and the office, but I'll update again when I've given this proper use to get an idea about the connectivity and how the battery fares. The final thing I want to touch on would be the wrist rest. This accessory alone is such an amazing piece. I thought I preferred a more padded wrist rest versus a hard one, but this silicone is next level on how lovely it feels to type. It's solid enough to not feel like memory foam, but soft enough to not feel like I just have my wrists on the desktop. Asus currently does not sell this piece solely, so I am concerned about how it holds up to wear and tear, but I'll try to add updates regarding this as time goes on. UPDATE: I had this keyboard briefly, which was purchased used/refurbished, and it was very problematic with the OLED screen. Both with uploading gifs to the screen and with music mode not properly showing when music played. Turns out, these were issues with the screen. I spoke to ASUS about this and they had me RMA the device. They confirmed the screen was defective and issued me a brand new unit. Support was very quick and no issue at all. I still find the Armoury Crate app is clunky, with this new board having some hiccups trying to perform the driver updates, but it managed to get through them. This is a minor annoyance for me though, as I am not making many changes once I've got the set up done. UPDATE 2: ASUS Support has been great with them replacing the unit issued for RMA with a new unit. I have had the new unit for a few days now, but within 24hrs of set up, I've began encountering the same issues with the Music Mode/OLED screen auto dimming/etc. that was present on the prior unit. This appears to be something with the firmware and not the device itself. I've informed ASUS Support of this in the original ticket and am awaiting a response. Aside from the issues with the screen, everything else appears to be good. No issues with buttons or the OLED wheel. This is still my favorite keyboard I've used, just from the overall feel and look of the unit. I just hope that ASUS can match the Armoury Crate functionality to the price on this board, because that's really holding this back from top tier. I would find it very hard to suggest this board to anyone at the refurbished price, let alone full cost...