Tesoro's Lobera Spectrum Mechanical Keyboard Heads to North America

[[Coi] Mr.CLuBBeR]

Per-key RGB backlighting meets Kaihli key switches

Remember when mechanical keyboards were few and far between? That all changed in the last several years and what was once a niche market is quickly becoming a crowded field. Go ahead and add one more model to the growing list of options as Tesoro brings its Lobera Spectrum mechanical keyboard featuring RGB per-key illumination and a few other notable bullet points to North America.
Per-key RGB illumination means gamers can customize the backlighting for each individual key with around 16.8 million color options. So if you wanted to, you could light up just the WASD keys, and have each one glow a different color. You also get nine different LED effects to play with, including dimming, full zone, trigger, ripple, firework, radiation, rainbow wave, and per key customized mode, plus five levels of brightness and five profiles to store them. If you really want a light show, you can put the keyboard in Audio Mode and watch as LEDs dance to the beats and bass of your playlist.
When you're done playing with lights, you can move over to macro recording. Unfortunately there are no dedicated macro keys, though each key is programmable, including the media keys, which are all accessible with one hand, Tesoro says.
The Lobera Spectrum supports N-Key Rollover (NKRO) and USB 6 Key Rollover, has a 1,000Hz polling rate, and offers USB and audio jack pass-through (there's a combo audio/mic jack and two USB 2.0 ports, plus a DC-in jack to charge smartphones and tablets through the keyboard).
Tesoro opted for Kailh switches available in Blue, Brown, Black, and Red. The general consensus around the web is that Kailh switches are somewhat inferior versions of Cherry MX switches, as they're cheaper to produce and require varying (inconsistent) force. My experience with Kailh switches is limited to the Blue version on a Tt eSports Poseidon ZX. It wasn't hard to tell the difference between typing on Kailhs versus Cherry MXs, as the former didn't offer as much tactile feedback. Still, they're serviceable, especially if you're not already used to Cherry MX switches.
The Tesoro Lebora Specturm is available now for about $160 street, a little more than the suggested retal price of $149.
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