ROG Strix Flare II animation
RRP $220.00
"ROG Strix Flare II Animate is the gaming keyboard of choice for 2022."
benefits
-
Hot swappable keys
-
8,000 Hz polling rate
-
USB passthrough
-
Comfortable leatherette palm rest
-
Beautiful anime matrix
disadvantage
-
Software could be more focused
-
Expensive for a wired keyboard
Year after year we see a ton of great gaming keyboards that are more or less identical to the competition. None of them are bad, but they are nothing to get excited about. The ROG Strix Flare II Animate is.
It's not just the anime matrix that makes the keyboard stand out. It's not even the 8,000Hz polling rate, the supremely comfortable palm rest, or the hot-swappable keybed. It's the combination of features that sets the ROG Strix Flare II Animate apart.
When Asus announced the keyboard earlier this month, I hoped it would be my gaming keyboard endgame. And after using it for a few weeks, I now know that it is.
draft
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
ROG Strix Flare II Animate wastes no time impressing you. From the moment I opened the box it was clear where the $220 was going. This is a premium keyboard from top to bottom, and Asus is quick to make you feel like it's money well spent.
As with the budget-oriented Akko 3068B, it's the details that make the difference with the Strix Flare II Animate. The thick braided cable comes with a ROG-branded cable tie already attached, and the keycap pullers are custom-designed to match the look of the keyboard. They even snap together so you don't have to store them separately.
You'll soon forget all these details once the star of the show lights up: The 320 LED AniMe Matrix. By default, it shows a ROG logo that slowly pulsates, and no matter how you configure it, the matrix lights up when you use function and media keys on the keyboard.
I'll cover configuring the matrix below, but I had a custom animation up and running in a few minutes. The Matrix is just a small bundle of gamer influence, but a company could still screw that up. Asus not. The AniMe Matrix is useful when you need it, downright cool when you want it, and it finishes off the look of the keyboard.
Opposite the matrix you will find some function and media keys. There's a metal volume wheel, a forward/back toggle, a play/pause button hidden on the side, and dedicated buttons for Windows lock and LED brightness.
On the front you'll find the RGB light diffuser, which is similar to the RGB strips on the sides of the Corsair K100 RGB. Without the palm rest, it offers an even glow that integrates the lighting of your keys. A rain effect, for example, is carried beyond the bottom row of keys into the diffuser.
Asus wanted to include all the features a gaming keyboard could have and they succeeded.
It looks fantastic. Even better, you can snap off the diffuser to attach the faux leather palm rest and let the lighting shine through. It seems that in 2022 Asus wanted to integrate all the functional and visual features of gaming keyboards and they succeeded across the board.
The palm rest plays a major role in this. It's plump and comfortable, and goes a long way in elevating the Strix Flare II Animate against rivals like the Razer Huntsman V2. It locks into place perfectly and refuses to budge, but it does require a bit of adjustment. When the back is raised, the palm rest is almost as high as the bottom row of keys.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
Luckily, it doesn't affect the typing experience. I ended up closing the rear kickstands with the palm rest attached and it typed Nirvana. In this configuration, the height peaks at the intersection of the keyboard and palm rest, with a subtle downward slope away from the keyboard. No customization here; I loved using the Strix Flare II Animate like this from the very first button press.
My only complaint about the Strix Flare II Animate's design is that there are no tenkeyless or 65% versions. That's just my preference, and if Asus ever decides to branch out, I'll be first in line.
counter
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
The Strix Flare II Animate model I tested came with Asus NX Red switches, which aren't my favorite. Asus offers one of three of its NX switches: either red, brown, or blue, which closely match the feel of their Cherry MX counterparts. I don't like linear switches, but that's the beauty of the Strix Flare II Animate's hot-swappable switches.
The only other mainstream keyboard with this feature is the Logitech G Pro X, which didn't start a trend toward hot-swappable switches. More than two years later, I hope the ROG Strix Flare II Animate is the catalyst.
You can plug any 3-pin switch into ROG Strix Flare II Animate, including switches from Cherry, Gateron, and Kailh. I'm more excited about the smaller switch options – switches from Akko, Glorious PC, and TTC. There has been a boom in third-party switches in recent years, and the ROG Strix Flare II Animate is primed to take advantage of these benefits.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
All my complaints with the switches don't matter because you can just swap them out. I don't like red switches for typing, so I immediately replaced most of them with my set of Akko Jelly Blues. But I like linear switches for my spacebar where I need to jump fast in games like Destiny 2. The ROG Strix Flare II Animate didn't make me decide.
Given how cheap many third-party switches are, the ROG Strix Flare II Animate encourages experimentation and bridges the gap between mainstream gaming keyboards and boutique options like the Cyberboard R3. Hot-swappable switches are a great way to bring customizations found in gaming PCs to peripherals, and I'm glad Asus is taking the lead with them.
gaming performance
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
Given how much else the ROG Strix Flare II Animate has to offer, I assumed it would have the same cookie-cutter gaming capabilities as any branded board you could buy at Best Buy or Micro Center. You know what they say about assumptions.
The keyboard has a polling rate of 8,000 Hz, which is only available on a small number of keyboards (including the Corsair K70 RGB TKL). Most keyboards only have a 1,000 Hz polling rate. What's the difference? The higher the polling rate, the faster your keyboard can report keystrokes to your PC.
With mice like the Corsair Saber Pro RGB, however, it's more important than with keyboards. 1,000 Hz already reports keystrokes every millisecond, so increasing it only further divides that millisecond. At 8,000 Hz, for example, it is 0.125 ms. That's not particularly important for a keyboard where you probably won't feel the split-millisecond difference between keystrokes.
I used the 8,000 Hz polling rate for about a week, occasionally switching back to 1,000 Hz for reference. I couldn't tell the difference. It didn't matter if it was Destiny 2, Halo Infinite, or even Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy – the ROG Strix Flare II Animate felt the same regardless of the polling rate.
The gaming experience on the ROG Strix Flare II Animate is great.
It's technically better, but the 8,000Hz polling rate isn't this keyboard's selling point. It's just an advantage. Unfortunately, it is only an advantage for some players. You'll have to be a highly competitive gamer to notice a difference, and you'll need at least a 9th Gen Intel i7 or a 2nd Gen AMD Ryzen 7 to even take advantage of the higher polling rate.
Polling rate aside, the gaming experience on ROG Strix Flare II Animate is great. It's not the switches or keycaps that you can get on any gaming keyboard, it's the palm rest and construction. Angled with attached wrist rest is my new favorite way to play games. It's comfortable and moving between rows immediately felt natural.
software
You can configure the ROG Strix Flare II Animate via Asus Armory Crate. The app comes with all the settings you want, including macro recording, custom RGB effects, and per-key remapping. But it doesn't reach the same heights as Corsair iCue or Logitech G Hub.
Part of the problem is focus. Armory Crate is a hub that includes additional features such as machine-wide profiles, game offerings, and system updates. The extras are great, but they drown out the settings for the ROG Strix Flare II. Razer has this problem with Synapse. There's too much going on, and making fundamental changes harder than it needs to be.
That doesn't mean it's difficult overall. Armory Crate doesn't look as good as iCue or G Hub, but it's just as fast. I managed to update my firmware, adjust my polling rate, choose one of the 10 pre-made lighting effects, and create a custom anime animation in about five minutes after finding the right location.
Outside of lighting, Armory Crate lets you remap any key with an application shortcut, text input, macro, or anything in between. This also spreads to the media keys. And if you don't want to mess around with the software, you can record your macros on the fly. I was hoping for a more robust macro recorder – Armory Crate sits at 100 commands – but it's still more than enough for most people.
Once you've set everything up, you can save your macros, button assignments, and lighting to one of five built-in profiles.
After learning Armory Crate's quirks, you'll be able to get around without too many problems.
Again, Armory Crate doesn't reach the heights of iCue or G Hub, especially when it comes to custom lighting effects (which are delivered via a separate app, Aura Creator). But it doesn't do anything too outrageous, and after you learn its quirks you'll be able to get around without too many problems.
The anime settings are a bit more complicated. Use one of the presets or a simple image and you'll be fine. Everything else falls apart. The animation timeline is imprecise and lacks settings, and adding your own images or GIFs is an exercise in patience.
The problem is that the anime matrix only has 320 LEDs. It becomes harder to tell what you're seeing as the image gets smaller, limiting you to basic shapes and patterns. The built-in clock doesn't show itself well either. You can view your system clock, including a notification for alarms, but numbers don't always play well with the matrix.
It's just an expectation versus reality situation. The anime matrix is limited. Within those limits, however, it's great. It's a fantastic way to get quick status updates about your PC or to check the time, and if you can find an image that goes well with this format, the Matrix will add a lot of personality to a setup.
Our opinion
ROG Strix Flare II Animate is a keyboard that refuses to say no. Plump and comfortable wrist rest? Check. Excellent lighting and customization options? You are here. hot-swappable switch? Asus has them. It's the ultimate gaming keyboard for early 2022, combining distinct elements from both mainstream and boutique gaming keyboards to create something that feels truly special.
It's still a $220 wired gaming keyboard that's hard to swallow. However, if you're like me and are willing to pay a premium price for premium products, it's money well spent.
Are there better alternatives?
Nothing combines all the features of the ROG Strix Flare II Animate, but a few keyboards come close:
- $200 Razer Huntsman V2 — The closest competitor to the ROG Strix Flare II Animate, with a leatherette palm rest and 8,000 Hz polling rate, but no hot-swappable key switches.
- $150 Logitech G Pro X keyboard — Comes with hot-swappable keyswitches but is limited to a tenkeyless design and no media or function keys.
- $230 Corsair K100RGB — Packed with extra macro keys and better software, and designed to match the ROG Strix Flare II Animate with leatherette wrist rest. However, it still lacks hot-swappable key switches.
How long it will take?
Until the LEDs fail. With hot-swappable switches, you can breathe new life into ROG Strix Flare II Animate as long as you can buy button switches.
should you buy it
Yes. ROG Strix Flare II is the gaming keyboard endgame. In early 2022 there is no other keyboard that can do everything this one does. It's expensive, but even similarly priced competitors can't top what Asus offers.
Editor's Recommendations