Closer Look
Tesoro Tizona G2N Elite Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
Say hello to the Tizona keyboard. Like any other 80% keyboard, the Tizona keyboard is more of a carry-anywhere type of gaming keyboard due to its size. Personally, I felt like Tesoro could design something far better than this although I also think that the Tizona being simple is another way to cut the price for it to be affordable for gamers without compromising performance.
That’s actually great if you think about it since I’m that kind of gamer that prefers performance and comfort over looks.
Looking at the bottom part of the keyboard layout, the Tizona keyboard is equipped with 3 thumb keys. This keys aren’t programmable which is a bummer for me. In PC mode: the 3 key functions as Internet Browser, Media Player, and Outlook respectively from left to right while their function switches to Numâ€/†, Numâ€*â€, and Numâ€-“ on Game mode. This thumb keys aren’t mechanical and when pressed, they gave off that omron switch feeling.
Looking at the right side of the keyboard, one thing that will surely get your attention is the purple plated area above the arrow keys which contains the LED notification indicator that lights up when scroll lock, caps lock, or gaming mode is enabled.
Nothing fancy to see here but it’s a nice thing to sometime be unique in a standard aspects of a keyboard.
Looking closer and removing a few keys showed that the Tizona we have is using a Red Kailh keys. Not familiar with Kailh keys? Kailh keys are manufactured by Kaihua Electronics Co.,Ltd. A company that is based on east China & south China. Although a switch that is made in China doesn’t signify that it’s cheap overall. I mean, it’s actually a great thing to move away from being dependent to a company that’s on the main stream. With this, Tesoro can offer great gaming keyboard on a cheaper price range since they aren’t dependent on Cherry MX. If you want to know more about them check them out here: http://www.kailh.com/en/products.asp?Categoryid=113&rel=15
Red switch is a light, linear, non-clicky mechanical keyboard switch thus offering a very light use of mechanical keyboard.
Looking closer at the key caps, we can see that the keys are NOT laser etch. Why? because the Tizono doesn’t lit up that’s why. Probably another way to cut the price for an affordable mechanical gaming keyboard as well. I bit disappointed though but that’s fine if the price and performance can justify those much sacrifice.
There’s one USB port available on each side of the keyboard which can be used to attach the Tizona numpad or use them as a USB hub which is a great idea in my opinion since I have always wished that they should stop placing the USB hub at the top right part of the keyboard. Why? well it takes a bit of effort than having the usb hubs at the side or bottom.
As you can also see, there are two magnets attached on each side and these magnets are used to hold the Tizona numpad tightly. I actually liked this idea since I felt like locks or some other ways to attach the numpad can easily be broken over time. Also, those magnets are strong magnets so you can reassure that the Tizona numpad will be held tightly.
The top part of the keyboard is the part where you can connect the included 1.8m braided cable so you can connect it to your computer. A fully modular keyboard if you ask me. Tesoro decided to equip the Tizona with a DC-IN Jack in case that the keyboard requires additional power like attaching a smartphone to it for charging and all.
Also one thing to take note of is whenever I plug in the USB cable, I am quite having a hard time plugging the USB connector to the keyboard because the plastic that’s around the mini USB is too fat and it takes some force to actually plug the USB in to the keyboard.
The 1.8m braided cable is of a high quality black cable. The cable itself is also equipped with noise ferrite shield to prevent electric noise or unstable power flow so that the Tizona is well protected during use.
Each end-side of the cable uses a gold plated usb. One of the end-side is of a normal USB plug while the other one is of the mini-usb one which is very much in common in DSLR cameras.
Here is the DC-IN cable included to feed the Tizona additional power if needed. Nothing much to feature on this one.
The back side of the Tizona keyboard features two rubberized feet to make sure that the keyboard doesn’t slide. There’s also two stands to adjust the height angle of the keyboard to accommodate the users preference in terms of keyboard face angle.
A closer look at the rubberized feet. It’s quite big if you ask me and I feel like its size will be rendered useless when the user tilts the stand. In my opinion, Tesoro should probably made the bottom portion of the feet to be in a shape of a concave down.
For the feet stand, there are 3 possible position. The first one is the usual flat/straight level for the keyboard, the second one (as shown in the image above) is adjusting the feet to the max which elevates the keyboard to its second highest height adjustment possible and the last one is locking the stand fit straight which offers the highest adjustment possible.
The last one that we can feature for the back part of the keyboard is its compliance, serial code, logo, model number, and power rating.
Now let’s move on to the numpad.