The Logitech G413 is the latest in affordable gaming peripherals. Given affordability is relative, this is a fair assessment as $170 is pretty good for a gaming keyboard. The question is of course whether the limitations still justify the cost.
The answer is, kinda.
Style
There is no doubt about it, Logitech makes some tidy looking keyboards and the G413 SE is no exception. The aluminum top looks nice, and the mechanical keys sitting above it give a pleasant glow. Size wise it is smaller than the other full size keyboards in my house and I definitely noticed the extra space on my desk. If you need more space there is a TenKeyLess variant as well which is a bit cheaper and cuts down more space.
The keyboard only has white lights on its keys. I am used to all of the rainbow shining out of keyboards and actually found the white looked nicer than I expected. The flip side is, if you do want to vary up your colors, that isn’t a choice. It’s white or nada.
Comfort
The first thing I noticed when I started typing is that it needs a wrist rest. It has the standard optional angle, and it is definitely better than other mechanical keyboards, but out of the box I found it absolutely killed my wrists typing on it.
Fortunately, I had a wrist rest I could use, but if you are buying this keyboard as a standalone package, be aware.
The keys themselves are incredibly comfortable to type on. The mechanical keys had a softness to them that appealed to me but may not to everyone. The key shapes themselves have the perfect groove depth to be an absolute peach when typing. This sounds dumb, but seriosuly, it makes a huge difference.
Features
Something that may or may not be the deal breaker is the lack of features. For all intents and purposes this is a plug and play keyboard. You plug it in and it goes, and that’s it. You can’t use the G Hub software to tweak anything to your preferences. I mentioned it before, but there are no customisations on the lights.
More notably was the lack of a feature like USB pass through (USB ports on the keyboard). It’s a minor thing for most, but if you are used to one then that will be annoying quickly.
Verdict
The tough question for this one is what are you after. It isn’t a budget keyboard, but it is cheap for a mechanical one. If I was dropping this kind of coin I would spend a little more for the Logitech G512 which has those additional features.
The flip side is if this hits the top of your budget and you want a decent mechanical keyboard, then the G413 will do nicely. But make sure you have that wrist guard. Your wrists will thank you.