Endgame Gear KB65HE keyboard & OP1 8K mouse: a winning esports combo?
We take a look at the first ever Endgame Gear keyboard with hall effect switches, plus their latest high-end mouse
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The Endgame Gear KB65HE keyboard and OP1 8K mouse are two fantastic new products released in Q1 2024 by this upstart gaming peripheral company that’s making waves in the competitive scene. We’ve got all you need to know below to decide if they’re the right picks for you, though we can say that they certainly impressed us.
Who is Endgame Gear?
Endgame Gear is a brand within the Pro Gamers Group that has been around since 2019. A German company, they released their first product that same year in the form of the XM1 mouse – geared towards competitive gamers, and come out with several more mice since then.
This is the first year that the brand has ventured into the gaming keyboard market with the KB65HE, and it looks like the company has successfully brought over its quality of design to this new product line.
What’s so great about the Endgame Gear KB65HE keyboard?
Black Endgame Gear KB65HE keyboard with a yellow escape key on a wooden surface.
Retail box of an Endgame Gear KB65HE keyboard on a table with computer hardware boxes in the background.
An open box displaying an Endgame Gear KB65HE keyboard package on a table, with a blurred background of a room with colorful lighting.
A Endgame Gear KB65HE keyboard with a USB cable and instruction manual on a wooden surface.
Three camera batteries and an Endgame Gear KB65HE keyboard on a wooden surface.
A compact Endgame Gear KB65HE keyboard on a wooden desk with colorful packaging in the background.
A portable external SSD on a desk with an Endgame Gear KB65HE keyboard and OP1 8K mouse packaging in the background.
Close-up of an Endgame Gear KB65HE keyboard with a usb-c port on the side, against a blurred colorful background.
As mentioned, the Endgame Gear KB65HE is the first ever keyboard produced by the company, but it’s started off strong. This board has excellent build quality, coming with a tough aluminium housing that’s CNC-milled (essentially meaning it’s been cut from one solid piece of metal – improving its structural integrity) so there’s no flexing whatsoever. The keycaps are also Doubleshot PBT, made by legendary keyboard company Ducky, meaning they should definitely stand the test of time – their light textured finish makes them a pleasure to use when typing or gaming. The two sheets of silicone rubber beneath the switches also work to cushion the keys, reducing noise and giving a bounce to them when depressed.
The main unique selling point for this board however is the use of ‘Hall Effect’ switches, which we saw for the first time a couple of years back in some competing brands but haven’t seen since in the keyboard market, despite the fact that they’re very enticing for enthusiasts. Hall effect switches can feel a bit like mechanical switches but are actually a completely different mechanism – a magnet is present within each of the switches and the board detects the change in the magnetic field when this is moved. This has a couple of advantages over mechanical boards: firstly, durability – given there’s no mechanical mechanism to wear out, these switches tend to last much longer, secondly, adjustability – the actuation point of the switches is variable as they can detect how far down they have been depressed (up to a precision of 0.1mm). This means you can set custom actuation points for the keys as light as 0.1mm or all the way down until they bottom out by using the accompanying software.
The specific keys we had with our model were the high-quality Gateron KS-37B switches with dual-rail structure, though the keyboard is fully hot-swappable so you can change these for your preferred switches (as long as these are also hall effect switches). The ultra-lightweight trigger force and option for extremely low actuation gives you lightning fast responses when gaming, and the pre-lubricated switches feel fabulously smooth.
The eponymous Endgame Gear software is intuitive, stripped back, and not weighted with bloat like those of some competing brands – easy to navigate, even if you’re new to enthusiast gaming keyboards like this. Besides the actuation control you also get per-key RGB customization and can program macros onto the board.
The KB65HE has a 65% size layout, meaning it comes with arrow keys, plus Del, PgUp, PgDn, End keys, but no dedicated function keys – an increasingly popular size option in gaming keyboards releasing in 2024 that’s a good middle ground of portability and functionality.
FInally, the main attraction of this board is that all this quality is available for the very reasonable price of $139.99 / £139.99, which is very competitive compared to the competition.
Why should you consider the OP1 8K mouse?
Endgame Gear OP1 8K wired gaming mouse on a desk with colorful backlighting and its packaging box in the background.
A gaming Endgame Gear OP1 8K mouse and its packaging on a desk with a colorful, blurred background.
A wired Endgame Gear OP1 8K mouse next to its packaging on a wooden surface.
The OP1 8K Wired Gaming Mouse is territory we’re more familiar seeing from Endgame Gear, and it’s another high quality, lightweight gaming mouse for gamers looking to maximise their edge.
The 8K in the name references the 8000Hz polling rate of the device, which is the highest you’ll find in a gaming mouse, and basically the highest anyone could realistically need. This is produced by the high-speed microcontroller (MCU) within the mouse working in conjunction with the brand new PixArt PAW3395 sensor. Such a stupendously high polling rate means you’ll enjoy unparalleled accuracy with this mouse, as well as smoothness; ideal when popping heads at distance or up close during an intense FPS session.
The other major advantage for competitive gamers that this mouse provides is the fantastically low click latency. There’s almost no detectable pre-travel when you click the right or left mouse buttons, and the mechanical Kailh GX switches have a great tension to them with a satisfying and snappy click, yet remain light and highly responsive.
Besides the primary two buttons you get two programmable side buttons on the left, that can be customized within the Endgame Gear software. There’s also a ‘Mode’ button underneath the mouse that can be light-clicked to cycle between DPI settings and long-clicked to cycle between polling rates. You also get a mousewheel on the top which has smooth, yet defined stepping. All the secondary buttons feel satisfying to use and have no real wobble, speaking to the overall build quality of this mouse.
If you want something different from the button switches, these can also be swapped out and customized, along with the skates and aesthetic skins – something we love to see in premium mice like this.
In terms of ergonomics, this is a mouse with a classic compact design with flat sides. It’s a small size performance mouse that is ideal for those looking for a light device, further assisted by the fact that it’s wired, though the angled stress relief helps to minimise any cable drag so this isn’t a worry.
