Design & Features

Saitek opted to maintain the highly distinctive "bone-shaped" look with their next generation keyboard.  While I was not quite fond of it at first, I have personally grown to love the design and I'm no longer bothered by it at all.  Now, other than the same general design, the Eclipse II certainly does bring many improvements in terms of overall aesthetics.  First off, the two-tone colors are now somewhat inverted, and the keys are now black with silver accents on the outer shell itself.   The most appealing design feature is certainly the mirror-like, glossy black finish around the keys.  This certainly does aid in giving it a more quality look overall.  On the back, you have even larger rubber feet that truly do keep the keyboard in place on just about any surface.

The Eclipse II is a full-sized keyboard with a standard 104 key layout.  Rather than silver coated keys, the Eclipse II sports more appealing black keys and they are absolutely a dream to use.  The tactile feel of the keys is excellent.  In fact, I like its feel more than their first model.  You don't have to take my word for it.  If you get a chance to play with one, type on it for a couple of minutes and see for yourself.  Usually brick and mortar stores like Circuit City end up carrying this product.  If you find one in stores, play it for a minute.  You'll like the tactile feel and the responsiveness.

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That large dial on the right side is your dimmer switch, and it works well.  Also, unlike their first model that features just some volume control buttons, the Eclipse II does incorporate some multi-media keys in a much more appealing layout.  You now have play/pause buttons as well as track skip buttons.  Their is a button that will allow you to not only turn the backlighting off, but change between colors as well.

The armrest included with the Eclipse II works generally the same way as their first model.  However, it is much more appealing and doesn't "feel" as cheap.  You can pull it out to adjust distance and comfort level.  Typing with the armrest on is much more comfortable.  I only wish that their next model would off some kind of padding for increased comfort.

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Finally, a shot with their original Eclipse keyboard.  You can see that in terms of a design standpoint, it is a major improvement. 

Now let's get to its most impressive features...the backlighting.  Unlike their first model, the new Eclipse II has not one, but three different color options.  You can set the backlighting to blue, red or purple.  There is even a dimmer switch on this new keyboard, allowing full control of light intensity.  Note that you can also turn off backlighting all together via the same color switch button. 

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In order to blend in well with the backlighting, the num, caps and scroll lock LED's are blue in color. 

Now, the keys and the dimmer switch are not the only parts that "glow".  The Eclipse II adds some lighting accents to each side of the keyboard.  This is definitely a case modder's keyboard!  Its design and lighting is very "high-tech" and will blend in well with all systems.

Now, there was something I immediately noticed, coming from their first keyboard.  The laser-etched keys were not exactly clear and the light did not shine through them as well as with the original Eclipse.  Let's take a look at some shots in total darkness for comparison...

It was hard to take pictures that will show how well the keys are lit.  However, you can clearly see that purple is the best option, probably because it is using a combination of blue/red lighting. 

Next: Conclusions