![Catz Catz](/uploads/1/2/5/4/125499613/675769267.jpeg)
Mad Catz collaborated with TeamSpeak's development team to integrate their state-of-the-art chat technology into the S.T.R.I.K.E.7. Once the TeamSpeak application is running on the keyboard's V.E.N.O.M. Touchscreen, you can select specific game rooms to check who is online and who is actively talking. Mad Catz acquired certain assets of V Max Simulation Corporation, which designs, constructs, integrates and operates flight simulation equipment and develops flight simulation software. Mad Catz has continued its focus on peripherals and accessories, such as the range of R.A.T. Gaming mice and TRITTON-branded gaming headsets.
(Image credit: Mad Catz)The wireless mouse, the R.A.T. Air, draws power from an included mousepad. If you want to use your own surface, you can just plug in a USB cable and use it as a wired mouse. Mad Catz refers to it as 'fully-adjustable,' so we're expecting lots of customization options.The S.T.R.I.K.E. 4 keyboard is aluminum with mechanical switches (the company has not said what it's using) and RGB backlighting. The headset, the F.R.E.Q.
4, is metal plated and uses 40mm neodymium drivers.
Mad Catz is a veteran accessory brand, which recently reentered the market after being bought out by another company. Mad Catz has since produced a range of decent gaming accessories, focusing primarily on PC as a starting point. I previously reviewed the Mad Catz R.A.T.
![Keyboard Keyboard](/uploads/1/2/5/4/125499613/878823189.webp)
Mouse and found that while it ticked all the boxes as a product, its toy-like design betrayed its relatively high price. The same could probably be said for the S.T.R.I.K.E. 4 keyboard, which is great on your hands, but so much on your eyes. When it comes to functionality, there is nothing to complain about with the S.T.R.I.K.E. This is a rock-solid keyboard, that ticks all the right boxes. The Red Cherry MX mechanical switches provide a very tactile (if loud) key-press action.
Mad Catz says the keys can survive tens of millions of keystrokes, and there's certainly a sense of premium robustness in the materials the company has used here.A rock-solid keyboard, that ticks all the right boxes.In addition to all the standard keys, Mad Catz throws in a range of multimedia controls and extra Windows system functions across the F keys at the top. There's also a channel for the durable braided cable on the back, allowing you to orient the connection to the left, right, or in the center, depending on your setup. The cable is also about 1.5 meters long, giving you plenty of room for connectivity, complete with a velcro cable tie for keeping things tidy. You can also angle the keyboard flat, or at an elevated angle, depending on your preference. When it comes to software, the 'Flux' app Mad Catz maintains for its PC products is good, allowing you to customize over a dozen RGB options, sporting millions upon millions of color shades.
You can tweak away for hours, adding all sorts of lighting effects and macros, which you can also set to activate per game. My favorite is a ripple effect, which sends a wave of light out from your keystrokes as if you were hitting a pool of light. The settings are stored directly on the keyboard, too, so you can close the Mad Catz configuration Flux app after use. What you'll dislike about the S.T.R.I.K.E 4 keyboard. Design criticisms are always subjective, but Mad Catz, like many PC manufacturers, includes a ton of 'edgy' designs in their products that I'm not sure anyone really wants. The font type used by Mad Catz on its keys is a bold type that looks extremely tacky. A large Mad Catz brand across the bottom and a weird collection of shapes in the center of the bottom lip ruin the keyboard's look.
If you're after subtlety, this keyboard ain't it.Additionally, the Flux software doesn't support High DPI displays properly. To get it working on my Surface Book 2, I had to battle with the compatibility options to even get the app to a point where I could view all of its elements. I'm not sure why this is still an issue for software developers in 2019. Should you buy the S.T.R.I.K.E 4 keyboard?