Introduction

We had a Cougar keyboard review in 2016 and then again in 2018 with the Puri TKL. It only felt right to continue this in 2020, so we are here today with our third Cougar keyboard. The company has taken a different approach to most when it comes to their products, with angular designs that have led to more eyes on their cases in particular. This design choice has carried over to some of their keyboards as well, as we see with the Ultimus RGB sample provided to us by Cougar.


In terms of its form factor, the Ultimus RGB goes the other direction from the Puri TKL, with the latter being a small device with portability in mind and the Ultimus RGB adopting a full-size keyboard integrated into a fairly large chassis. We also get RGB lighting instead of the white-only backlighting on the Puri TKL, and a steel frame with angles on the top and bottom to make people think about their product releases, including the Conquer case. The company also switched from Cherry MX switches to Cougar-branded mechanical switches here, which we will take a look at as part of the review that begins with the specifications in the table below.

Specifications

Packaging and Accessories

We see the continued adoption of the orange accents for Cougar products on the packaging of the Ultimus RGB keyboard, as well as the orange accents on an otherwise black cardboard box. On the front is the company logo, again in orange, and a large render of the keyboard all lit up with marketing features on the top and bottom. This is followed up on the back and sides with more product illustrations, specifications, and more marketing features with plenty of orange highlights.


There are two seals and a double flap in the middle to help keep the contents in check during shipping and handling. Opening the box, we see a company product brochure and keyboard user manual on top of the keyboard itself. The manual is useful as it describes the onboard lighting controls in the absence of any software drivers, and an online copy can be found here. The keyboard is inside a plastic wrap and held in place snugly between thick foam pieces. A cardboard compartment above has the keyboard cable placed inside, and there is more empty cardboard around. If anything, the packaging is bigger than it has any reason to be, and I don't understand why Cougar is using it since there are no other accessories included with the keyboard.