​Logitech G610 Orion Blue keyboard review

We were impressed with the last Logitech keyboards we reviewed. The G810 was our favourite all-rounder for typing and gaming. However, we also checked out the G610 Orion Brown. The difference here is the switches – the Brown uses Cherry MX Brown mechanical switches with its keys while this one uses Cherry MX Blue switches.

Theoretically they are very similar yet both keyboards feel very different.

Both Cherry Brown and Blue keyboards have a tactile bump which lets you feel that a key press has been registered (aka the switch has been actuated). In both instances you need to press the key down 2mm for this to happen even though the travel of the key goes down a full 4mm. The weight of press is also relatively high (50mg) so each key requires a determined bit of pressure. This cuts down on typos and improves accuracy which is the opposite of, say, the Cherry MX Speed switches used on Corsair’s top-end gaming keyboards. On those you’ll make tons of mistakes as the keys actuate if you lightly graze them which can be great for gaming but a nightmare to type with for all but the most accurate typists.

The difference between the Blue and the Brown switches is that the Blue switches make a soft clicking sound when pressed. This can annoy people sitting near you but can be quite pleasing if you’re doing a lot of typing on your own. Theoretically, Brown switches are quieter because they are the same but with a much softer click. However, we actually found the resonance of the Brown keys with the rest of the keyboard to still be noisy and distracting – some keys even make a ‘schwing’ noise when they spring back into position.

You can see the difference between the main switches below. Note the Cherry MX Red switch has no actuation “bump” – it’s a “Linear” switch which simply goes down and comes up with no extra fuss. This means it’s lighter and quicker to press than a key with a “bump” but a bit less accurate too. As such Reds tend to be preferred by gamers.

So Blue keyboards are generally regarded the choice of typists. It’s certainly not ideal for gaming as fingers need to travel all the way down and all the way back up again before the key is pressed – you’ll frequently miss double-tap type manoeuvres in games if using this. However, we also struggled with it for typing – the relatively heavy nature of the spring and the relatively high distance of travel when typing meant that our fingers actually started hurting after a while when using it. Sure we made fewer typos, but each key takes dedication to press. After a while we were missing letters because we weren’t pressing some deep enough.

But we can’t really criticise a keyboard for doing what it was designed to do. If you want a keyboard with Blue switches, Logitech’s is a very well-built example. The white-backlit keys are also a nice touch and Logitech’s easy-to-use software provides several different lighting effects. There are also some media buttons with high-quality volume roller, a lighting on/off button and a gaming button for disabling things like the Windows Key when gaming.

At $210 RRP it’s not cheap but you can already buy the Brown version for $150 so we expect the real-world price to drop quickly. Note, however, you can also buy the G810 Spectrum for just under $200 and that’s a great all-rounder.