ASUS ROG Strix Scope TKL Deluxe review: One of the best tenkeyless keyboards!

ASUS ROG Strix Scope TKL Deluxe is a beautiful gaming tenkeyless keyboard. It has a solid build quality, and the sleek and compact design means that you can easily take it with you to LAN parties. The Deluxe tag in its name is not there just for marketing purposes. Both the attention to detail and the price tag of this keyboard make it stand out in a crowded market. If you want to know more about ASUS ROG Strix Scope TKL Deluxe and what it has to offer, read our review:

ASUS ROG Strix Scope TKL Deluxe: Who is it good for?

The ASUS ROG Strix Scope TKL Deluxe keyboard is an excellent choice for:

• Gamers who specialize in FPS games and prefer tenkeyless keyboards
• Users who want a sleek portable keyboard
• People who love the Republic of Gamers brand and RGB lighting

Pros and cons

Here are the positives about the ASUS ROG Strix Scope TKL Deluxe:

• It's an excellent keyboard for gamers
• It's a tenkeyless keyboard with a small footprint on your desk
• You can choose between a wide range of Cherry MX RGB switches: Red, Blue, Black, Brown, Speed Silver, and Silent Red
• It has RGB lights and supports ASUS' Aura Sync
• It's made of premium quality materials
• The Left Control and Shift keys are wide and easy to use while playing games
• It has a Stealth key (F12) that you might find quite useful in certain situations
• The wrist rest is comfortable and attaches to the keyboard using magnets
• The braided USB cable uses a USB Type-C connector

There are also a few less positive aspects about it:

• It doesn't offer USB passthrough
• Its price is not for everyone
• The software provided by ASUS still lags behind the competition

Verdict

The ASUS ROG Strix Scope TKL Deluxe is one of the best gaming keyboards that we have tested in 2019. We love its design, the premium build quality, and the richness of options for the types of Cherry MX switches that you can get on it. We are also impressed by how comfortable the wrist rest is when typing for a long time. If what you're looking for is a top-notch tenkeyless gaming keyboard, and money is not an issue for you, we recommend that you buy the ASUS ROG Strix Scope TKL Deluxe.

Unboxing the ASUS ROG Strix Scope TKL Deluxe gaming keyboard

The ASUS ROG Strix Scope TKL Deluxe keyboard is a premium device from the Republic of Gamers family. Its packaging looks great. On the top side of the box, you can see a glossy image of the keyboard, together with the ROG logo, the keyboard's full name, and some of its main features. On the back of the box, ASUS printed more details about the keyboard's specifications, as well as an illustration that showcases its main features. Opening the box reveals what you've paid for: the ASUS ROG Strix Scope TKL Deluxe keyboard tucked inside a protective sleeve, its magnetic wrist rest, a detachable braided USB Type-A to Type-C cable, and two ROG stickers. You also get the user manual and the warranty documents. The unboxing experience is outstanding, as you'd expect from a premium gaming device. It is enough to open the box to see that this keyboard deserves its Deluxe name.

Hardware specifications

The most important aspect of any gaming keyboard is the type of key switches it uses. The good news is that the ASUS ROG Strix Scope TKL Deluxe is available with a lot of options. Here are the switches that you can get on this keyboard:

• Cherry MX RGB Red - linear response, non-clicky, actuation force of 45g, and key travel distance of 2 mm to actuate (4 mm to bottom)
• Cherry MX RGB Brown - linear tactile feedback, non-clicky, actuation force of 45g and tactile force of 55g, and key travel distance of 2 mm to actuate (4 mm to bottom)
• Cherry MX RGB Blue - strong tactile feedback, audible click, actuation force of 50g and tactile force of 60g, and key travel distance of 2.2 mm to actuate (4 mm to bottom)
• Cherry MX RGB Black - linear response, non-clicky, actuation force of 60g, and key travel distance of 2 mm to actuate (4 mm to bottom)
• Cherry MX RGB Speed Silver - linear response, non-clicky, actuation force of 45g, and key travel distance of 1.2 mm to actuate (3.4 mm to bottom)
• Cherry MX RGB Silent Red - linear response, non-clicky, actuation force of 45g, and key travel distance of 1.9 mm to actuate (3.7 mm to bottom)

The ASUS ROG Strix Scope TKL Deluxe that we received for review was using Cherry MX Red switches, which can last for 50 million presses each. These switches are ideal for those who like to play fast-action games, but they're not the best for typing, because you do not get any feedback when pressing them. However, that applies only to fast typists, which we're not. The keyboard also features N-key rollover anti-ghosting tech, so it can register all your keypresses accurately, even if you press them all simultaneously. The ASUS ROG Strix Scope TKL Deluxe is a tenkeyless keyboard, which means that it has no numerical keypad but, otherwise, its size is standard. Its frame is made of aluminum which looks beautiful and is lightweight, but the mechanical switches add to the total weight of the keyboard, bringing it to a total of 860 grams or 30.3 ounces. Furthermore, the wrist rest adds another 170 grams or 6 ounces. To connect to your gaming PC, the ASUS ROG Strix Scope TKL Deluxe uses a detachable USB Type-A to Type-C braided cable with a length of 6.56 feet (2 meters), long enough even if you keep your computer under your desk. The ASUS ROG Strix Scope TKL Deluxe keyboard is 14.02 inches (35.6 cm) wide, 5.36 inches (13.6 cm) deep and 1.58 inches (4 cm) thick. The wrist rest is another 14.02 x 2.96 x 0.83 inches or 35.6 x 7.5 x 2.1 cm. In terms of operating systems that it supports, the ASUS ROG Strix Scope TKL Deluxe gaming keyboard officially works with Windows 10, although you should be able to use it without issues with Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 too. If you want more details about its hardware specs and features, visit its official webpage: ASUS ROG Strix Scope TKL Deluxe.

Using the ASUS ROG Strix Scope TKL Deluxe gaming keyboard

The ROG Strix Scope TKL Deluxe is the tenkeyless version of another gaming keyboard made by ASUS, called ASUS ROG Strix Scope. Except for the fact that the TKL Deluxe keyboard is smaller, thanks to the absence of the numeric keys on its right side, it is identical to the original Strix Scope. That's a good thing, because when we reviewed the Strix Scope, we found it to be an excellent gaming keyboard. You can read more about it, here: Review ASUS ROG Strix Scope: One of the best gaming keyboards of the year! Our experience using the ASUS ROG Strix Scope TKL Deluxe was, in a word, premium. The keyboard features a floating key design, which means that you can see the RGB switches sitting on the frame. It looks beautiful and minimalist, and it's a thing that many gamers like. The upper part of the keyboard's frame is made of aluminum, which gives you a sense of confidence regarding its robustness, but it also shows the craftsmanship of ASUS. We believe that the ASUS ROG Strix Scope TKL Deluxe is a perfect fit not only for fans of FPS shooters, but also for anyone who desires a sleek keyboard that doesn't compromise on quality. Its length is much smaller than that of a standard keyboard. Furthermore, its bezels are also tiny, leaving almost no space between the keys and the keyboard's frame. Just like its big sister, the ASUS ROG Strix Scope, the TKL Deluxe comes with large Control and Shift keys on its left. If you're a gamer, that is something you want, because it is easy and fast to identify and press them while playing fast paced games. On its top area, some of the function keys double down as multimedia keys. ASUS decided to make them work as multimedia keys first, and only function as F keys when you also press the Fn key. Also, the last of the function keys, F12, acts as a stealth key. In other words, if you press it, everything on your computer is minimized and the sound is cut off. That's perfect for those who play at work, and shouldn't. 🙂 Another thing that we loved about the ASUS ROG Strix Scope TKL Deluxe is the wrist rest. It's made of faux leather and attaches magnetically to the keyboard. Although some people might not like the faux leather because they think it makes your hands sweat, in our experience, it doesn't. It is soft and keeps your hands comfortable even if you work or play using this keyboard for the entire day. I used the ASUS ROG Strix Scope TKL Deluxe for writing articles, as well as for playing a few games, including Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Metro Exodus, and League of Legends. The keyboard felt great in games and the typing experience was good. However, if you're going to buy it for typing first, gaming second, you might want to buy it with Cherry MX Blue or Brown switches instead of the Red ones that we tested. The ASUS ROG Strix Scope TKL Deluxe is a top-notch gaming keyboard that we've grown fond of.

Drivers and software

The ASUS ROG Strix Scope TKL Deluxe keyboard can be customized with the help of the ASUS ROG Armoury 2 software. This app allows you to create profiles for the keyboard and change illumination patterns, set which key shortcuts are disabled in Gaming Mode, record and assign macro actions, sync the lighting effects with other Aura-compatible devices, and also get statistics about the number of keystrokes. You can create and use up to five profiles, which ASUS ROG Strix Scope TKL Deluxe stores on its flash memory chip. Regarding the statistics, you can see the Keystroke Per Minute, but you have to open ROG Armoury and press the Record button for it. Otherwise, the software doesn't start recording statistics, which is not useful. The ASUS ROG Armoury 2 software is adequate for personalization and does an excellent job regarding lighting effects. However, it lags behind what the competition offers.

Do you like the ASUS ROG Strix Scope TKL Deluxe gaming keyboard?

Now you know how we feel about the ASUS ROG Strix Scope TKL Deluxe. We like it a lot and we are sure that the vast majority of gamers like it too. If you have anything to add to our review, or if you have questions, don't hesitate to write a comment below.