The Vulcan II TKL costs around 100 Euro and aims to impress with linear switches and some additional features. Whether it succeeds will be revealed in the test by MeinMMO editor Benedikt Schlotmann.
In the price range of around 100 Euros, there are several mice and keyboards looking for buyers. One of them is the Vulcan II TKL from Turtle Beach. It offers linear switches, a detachable cable, and hot-swappable switches.
Is the Vulcan II TKL worth it in comparison to the competition? I took a look at the keyboard and tested it in everyday use.
Test Overview
- Delivery, Design, and Build
- Build Quality
- Software
- Ergonomics
- In Practice: Keys, Volume, Gameplay
- Conclusion
Who tested this?
Benedikt is a tech editor at MeinMMO and has been testing hardware for readers for many years. He tests mice, keyboards, headphones, and pretty much everything you can use with a computer, console, or other devices.
The model was provided to us by the manufacturer for testing.
Benedikt Schlotmann
Hardware Editor MeinMMO
Here you find the technical details presented as a table (click to expand):
| Design/Interface | Wired, TKL design |
| Key Type | Mechanical, linear switches in German layout; ABS keycaps |
| Programmable Keys | Yes |
| Lighting | Yes |
| Compatibility | PC |
| Delivery | Keyboard, USB-A to USB-C cable, keycap & switch puller, 3 additional Titan HS linear switches |
| Features | TKL design with dedicated media keys |
| Price (RRP) | 99.99 Euro, directly from the manufacturer |
Delivery, Design, and Build
Positive: Delivery, lighting of the keys, volume wheel |
What does the delivery include? The delivery of the Vulcan II TKL consists of the keyboard, a cable, and a tool for swapping keycaps and switches. Additionally, three switches are included that can be swapped.
How is the keyboard constructed? The keyboard offers an official TKL design. This means that the upper half features function keys (F1 to F12) and on the right side, there are some special keys above the arrow keys. However, there is no numpad. The key layout is otherwise based on the standard full-size design.
On the top right side, there is also a control wheel for the volume, where you can gradually increase or decrease the volume under Windows. The wheel allows for very precise adjustments.
What does the keyboard look like? Turtle Beach (formerly Roccat) relies on an open design for its keyboards. The keycaps are flat and sit on standard switches. This gives the design an open look, and the RGB lighting shines more through. This makes the keyboard visually distinct from others.
Speaking of lighting: It is more than sufficient in the dark to read all keys without any issues. Turtle Beach uses translucent keycaps. If you cannot type blindly or press your keys, the lighting helps you.
Build Quality
Positive: Removable cable, switch and keycap interchangeable, aluminum case | Negative: ABS keycaps
In general, you can disassemble the keyboard: The cable is detachable, keycaps are removable, and the keyboard switches can also be removed and replaced with others. The advantage is that you can easily replace broken switches. The aluminum plate, which serves as the top of the housing, also gives the device a high-quality feel. However, beneath it lies a plastic body.
On the other hand, the Vulcan II TKL continues to use ABS keycaps, which can wear out quite quickly and look greasy after a few days. Even the better Pro variant uses ABS keycaps. The tactile feeling of the keyboard feels as if there is a fine film of grease under your fingertips all the time.
A significantly better option is, for example, the Logitech G G515 Lightspeed TKL, which costs about 10 Euro more (street price around 115 Euro) and comes with PBT keycaps and also features low-profile switches.
At least you can replace the keycaps with commercially available alternatives, as Turtle Beach keycaps are based on the familiar Cherry cross. This means that while the design is lost, you have a better feel under your fingers. The cost for alternative keycaps is between 20 and 30 Euro.
Software
Positive: Clear and without intrusive advertising | Neutral: Macros for outdated games pre-installed | Negative: Bug with the lighting
For the software, Turtle Beach uses Swarm II. Overall, it is quite tidy, avoiding additional pop-ups, advertising banners, or exclusive contests within the app. Key assignments can be set up easily, and even macros are possible. The software already includes some macros, but these are partly for hopelessly outdated games: Civilization 5, Anno 2070, and Borderlands 2, to name a few.
During testing, at least one annoying bug occurred: Whenever I want to change the RGB lighting, the software crashes consistently without any error message. I am using version 1.0.0.44.
Overall, the software is more intuitive and less bloated than that of other manufacturers: Corsair (iCue), SteelSeries (GG software), or Razer (Synapse) are significantly more comprehensive and less intuitive, consuming more PC resources.
Ergonomics
Positive: TKL design | Negative: Very high keys without wrist rest
The keyboard is, from an ergonomic perspective, significantly better due to the TKL design, as you can hold your arms more naturally and closer to your body.
However, there is a big “but”: Without a wrist rest, the keyboard feels very high, so I can feel my wrists over time. I solved this issue by buying an external wooden wrist rest. This solved my problem with the keyboard.
In Practice: Keys, Volume, and Gameplay
Positive: Quiet and fast typing feeling | Neutral: Clattering of the space, backspace, and enter keys |
The keyboard features “Titan HS” switches, which are linear switches that do not have a noticeable actuation like brown or blue switches.
The advantage: The switches are very fast and especially very quiet. Two things are clearly audible: The impact of the fingertips on the keys and the clattering of the space, backspace, and enter keys. This is because the stabilizers are simply not perfectly set from the factory.
The competition varies widely in terms of volume:
- Some keyboards are significantly louder, such as the Razer BlackWidow series with the green switches, while the yellow switches, on the other hand, are significantly quieter.
- Other keyboards, such as the DARK PROJECT ALU Midnight (for testing), are very quiet and offer a soft keystroke.
The downside: You do not feel a real confirmation. Those who want to write will be disturbed by this, as it feels more precise and accurate to type when you can feel every keystroke. For gamers, linear or red switches are generally the better choice because they trigger faster and maintain lower latency through a shorter actuation distance.
In practice, this means that you can type and respond quickly. Only with optical or magnetic switches can you be even faster, as the mechanical path is eliminated. A very good example of this is the Akko Mod007B-HE (for testing) with magnetic switches.
Conclusion: Unembellished keyboard, but a fair overall package for 100 Euro
Rating
The Turtle Beach Vulcan II TKL is an improvement over the old Vulcan TKL, with which I used to play and write a lot. From this perspective, there are especially detail improvements such as the hot-swap design of the switches. Turtle Beach also scores points with tidily organized software and a quiet typing feel. The keyboard additionally feels high quality thanks to its aluminum plate.
However, you should be aware that you can get more features for the same money: PBT keycaps, wireless, and sometimes even magnetic switches. Especially from China, many inexpensive keyboards are flooding the market with a similar feature set. Here Turtle Beach can stand out compared to the better software.
I find 80 to 100 Euros to be fair overall for the Vulcan II TKL. You get a well-made keyboard with decent software and a detachable cable.
What alternatives are there?
- The K65 Plus Wireless is my recommendation if you want a compact keyboard but still do not want to miss out on a few extra keys.
- The Logitech G PRO X TKL plays in the higher price range (around 160), but offers wireless gaming and PBT keycaps. In the sale, the keyboard is worthwhile, but at full price, not really.
- My current insider tip is the DARK PROJECT ALU Midnight for around 50 Euros. The only downside: The software is only available as an official web application.
More gaming keyboards: Are you looking for additional recommendations in the peripheral sector? Then take a look at the following buying guide on MeinMMO. Here we explain to you which keyboards are currently worth buying: The best gaming keyboards you can currently buy
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