Get Zeus and Hermes on your side with Gamdias

• Boasts a high degree of customisation options for both work and play
• Come with a slew of ergonomic features that make them comfortable to use

RGB lighting is a phenomenon that is sweeping the gaming industry. Gamers just can’t get enough of the coloured strobe lights that enhance many a late night gaming session.

Recognising this craze amongst gamers, gaming peripherals maker Gamdias is hoping that its latest range of RGB keyboards and mice will hit the sweet spot.

We had a chance to review the Hermes P1 RGB and Zeus P1 RGB. As their names imply, both products feature fancy RGB lighting that you can customise.

With that being said let us get down to the review proper.

Hermes P1 RGB: An instrument for play and work

First up is the Hermes P1 RGB (Hermes P1), a mechanical keyboard with a solid build quality and brushed aluminium body that feels remarkably well built, leaving very little room for flex yet doesn’t feel heavy.

This is a full sized 108 keys keyboard that includes a number pad. It features a floating keycap design that creates the illusion that the keys are floating above the aluminium surface. You can remove the keycaps and customise. For example the arrow keys can be swapped with the WASD keys when playing a first person shooter game.

You also get a detachable wrist rest which provides additional comfort for those long gaming and typing sessions. One minor complaint is that the wrist rest needs to be snapped onto the keyboard which isn’t as great as some other keyboards with magnetically attached wrists rests.

Now, the keyboard is very basic in its feature set. You won’t find any fancy USB passthrough to hook up your gaming mouse or an audio jack for your headphones either. Those would have been nice features but would have pushed up the price of the keyboard.

On the bottom, you will find four rubber pads at each corner of the keyboard to prevent it from moving as you type. Even the adjustable feet to raise the keyboard has rubber tips underneath so it stays in place even when raised.

There is also a little trench for cable routing and a keycap puller that fits inside a built-in slot beneath the keyboard.

Seriously for gaming

For the uninitiated, all mechanical keyboards have individual key switches that provide feedback when you type. In the case of the Hermes P1, Gamdias says that it uses the TTC Blue switch. This variety of switches tend to be lighter and give off a louder clicking sound as you type. It is definitely a great kick when you are constantly gaming but it might be annoyingly loud if you do more typing with your keyboard.

The keyboard has anti-ghosting keys which make them quick and responsive for twitch reaction games and two dedicated macro keys with six different profiles to choose from.

In terms of layout, the keys are well spaced and felt comfortable as we typed and gamed on it.

Gamdias says the Hermes P1’s RGB backlighting offers 16.8 million colours that provide dynamic backlighting effects that really light up your desk. You also get six pre-programmed lighting effects that you can engage at will if you don’t want to fire up the Hera software.

The keyboard’s fonts are a bit funky though they are completely readable and allow the bright RGB lighting to shine through. Even though the Hermes P1 does not possess dedicated media keys, Gamdias was smart enough to provide a workaround by combining the function keys with select F keys on top.

There are several other cool things you can do with the function keys including a shortcut to perform on the fly macro key recordings, engage a Game mode to disable the Windows key and switch between different RGB light pattern profiles on the fly.

Great customisation

Gamdias’ Hera software is the glue that binds your Gamdias peripherals together and within it, you can customise and assign macros for your games as well as customise the RGB lighting on the keyboard.

Even though you have to do most of the setup on the Hera software, the keyboard comes with an onboard memory that saves your profile on the keyboard itself so you are not overly reliant on the software.

But the RGB lights are more than just pretty lights to dazzle your friends with, they actually serve a practical purpose with programmable game modes so you can adjust different colours for select keys when playing different keys. You can essentially customise the keys and colours to correspond with different games be it World of Tanks, Dota, League of Legends or Counter-Strike.

All things considered, the Hermes P1 RGB has a great build quality that keeps the keyboard durable yet light. The use of TTC Blue switches provide great tactile feedback and are responsive when you need them most when gaming but it isn’t that great if you are typing a lot.

The key takeaway is the keyboard’s onboard memory that stores your preferences and presets making it great as a travel keyboard if you are switching between different computers.

For US$99 (RM416), it is a bit on the steep side for a keyboard but if you want a keyboard that you can customise and has all the basics you need for a competitive gaming setup, then consider the Gamdias Hermes P1 RGB

The killer click

When it comes to gaming, sometimes a split second is all that stands between life and virtual death. Not all mice are made equal, especially gaming mice, which are essential in a gamer’s arsenal as it giving them precision and accuracy to slay their foes.

Enter the Zeus P1 RGB (Zeus P1), an optical mouse that is designed with gaming in mind. Right from the offset, the Zeus P1 has a sleek black design with an ergonomic design that is moulded to fit your hand. One nice touch is the inclusion of rubberised grips on the side that give you a good hold on the mouse.

Even the scroll wheel has a rubber-like substance on top and the scrolling itself feels smooth and responsive.

Apart from that, the Zeus P1 has two small arrow buttons that control the DPI settings that determine the sensitivity level, typically raising it when gaming so you can cover more ground with a smaller movement of your hand.

You also get two smart keys on the side that can be programmed with custom controls and functions

Tapping on its RGB lighting to maximum effect, it has two layers of RGB lights that flow across the top of the mouse and the bottom, outlining the shape of the mouse. The effect is mesmerising, to say the least and is very attractive.

You can set the mouse to glow a specific colour or have it run through an assortment of rainbow colours by “breathing” or simply “flow” from left to right or vice versa.

In our time reviewing the Zeus P1, the mouse served us well in battles across World War II and sci-fi shooters alike, offering great control and precision when aiming. On the practical side, the customised options open up more ways to play and it certainly helped improve our overall game experience.

For US$69 (RM290), the Zeus P1 RGB is a worthy accessory for your work and gaming needs. At its most basic, its ergonomic shape is great for handling while its fancy RGB lighting comes as an added bonus.

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