HP Omen Sequencer and Reactor evaluation: fingers on

I received’t lie. When HP introduced a string of new Omen peripherals at this 12 months’s Computex present in Taiwan, the factor that basically caught my eye was its supposed ear-cooling gaming headset. It even had a cool-sounding identify and the whole lot. The HP Omen MINDFRAME. Sadly, that was the one factor lacking from the HP Omen demo day I went to final week. I did, nevertheless, get to prod their new Sequencer keyboard and Reactor mouse, and let me inform you, the Sequencer (pictured above) might have the nicest quantity slider within the historical past of keyboards. Let’s have a look.

A bit like Razer’s new Huntsman keyboard I reviewed final week, the Omen Sequencer is an optical-mechanical keyboard. While it nonetheless has particular person switches like a standard mechanical keyboard, every key additionally has its personal optical laser, permitting it to successfully reset as quickly as you press it down.

Technically, it takes 0.2ms to do that, however that’s nonetheless tremendous quick in comparison with even the quickest mechanical keyboards. As a outcome, HP are hoping the Sequencer might doubtlessly provide you with an edge as a younger, upstart esportser offered your response instances aren’t already shot to items like mine.

Indeed, a fast tappity-tap across the Sequencer proves promising, offering a pleasant stage of tactile suggestions and total consolation. The actual attraction of this keyboard, nevertheless, isn’t that over-sized area bar, or its RGB lighting zones, and even its 5 programmable macro buttons down the facet. It’s that attractive pink quantity slider within the prime proper nook.

Red is my favorite color, so it will get prime marks for that proper from the beginning, however simply LOOK AT IT. It’s grooved, knobbly metallic diamonds, the sheer dimension and size of it. It’s simply pretty, and it feels cool and premium underneath your hand, too. Definitely the very best quantity slider I’ve ever come throughout, anyway, which you’d hope it could be, contemplating it’s going to value £160 / $180 when it launches later this month.

The Omen Reactor mouse seems to be equally interesting, too. It doesn’t have an identical pink scroll wheel sadly, but it surely does have a height-adjustable physique that may match quite a lot of totally different hand sizes. Just push within the little slider button on the best hand facet and the again lifts up, revealing a pleasant, thick bronze spring coil beneath. It virtually seems to be a bit like that scarab beetle from Aladdin, solely black with an enormous RGB Omen emblem plastered on its behind.

It’s undoubtedly a mouse for those who recognize the little particulars. The huge, flat plate on the left provides you loads of room to relaxation your thumb when it’s not clicking its two facet buttons, and the brushed hairline end (which you’ll be able to nearly see within the photos above for those who develop them to full dimension) seems to be pretty when it catches the sunshine excellent.

There’s additionally a devoted DPI button and a beautiful massive scroll wheel between its two pincer-like proper and left click on buttons – which even have optical-mechanical switches in them similar to the Sequencer keyboard.

The Reactor’s actual get together trick, nevertheless, is its cable. Yes, you heard me. The cable. I couldn’t get a great image of it as a result of I lacked a second pair of fingers to indicate it in motion, however for sure, this isn’t your bizarre braided mouse cable. It’s created from aluminium, for starters, and stretches and comes again into place like a type of old school phone cables.

An ingenious resolution for those who’ve ever had a cat mistake your mouse cable for an precise mouse tail earlier than, and goes a protracted strategy to justify its considerably extortionate value of £70 / $80.

Indeed, I’ll be intrigued to see the way it compares to Acer’s upcoming Predator Cestus 510 mouse, which additionally has height-adjustable plates and extra facet grips for a extra tailor-made match.

I’ll hopefully be getting each the Sequencer and the Reactor in for correct testing very quickly, so keep tuned for my full verdict within the coming week or so.