Lots of new features, little refinement: Turtle Beach's Command Series reviewed
31.10.2026
Translation: machine translated
Touchscreen? Check. Hall effect switches? Check. Detachable number pad? Check. With the Command Series KB7 and the KP7 keypad, Turtle Beach is aiming for the big leagues. However, the device fails in everyday use due to technical issues and poor build quality.
Following the acquisition of Roccat, Turtle Beach is shaking up its keyboard lineup. The Command Series includes, among other things, the tenkeyless KB7 keyboard and the attachable KP7 keypad. Both use magnetic switches. The KB7 also features a 4.3-inch touchscreen. That sounds like an exciting package. In everyday use, however, there is less to it than I had hoped.
Cheap instead of premium
Anyone familiar with Vulcan keyboards will recognize some features: the exposed aluminum plate, raised switches, and flat keycaps. But much is different. The dark gray housing with brass-colored accents is largely made of plastic.
Above the function keys sits an additional row with four triangular buttons. They feel hard and cheap. They switch to game mode, change profiles, mute the microphone, or turn off the lighting. The dial and the two round media buttons on the top left also feel inferior. It's a shame that Turtle Beach neither designed the additional buttons consistently nor gave them a higher-quality finish.
For a tenkeyless keyboard, the KB7 is huge. It is 399 millimeters wide, 256 millimeters deep with the palm rest, and weighs 858 grams, or around 1.1 kilograms with the rest. The attachable rubber palm rest sits surprisingly firmly and conducts the light from the illumination through its transparent material. You might like it, you might not. I think it looks bad.
The keyboard does not pass the flex test. Even when I press harder in the middle, the housing gives way. That's not really bad, but it doesn't feel like a premium product either.
Later, another problem arises: because the device is increasingly annoying me—you can read more about that below—I set it aside for a few days. When I take it out again for the photos, it won't turn on. The unit is defective. The pictures in this article therefore show a second unit from our warehouse.
Turtle Beach includes a bit more than the bare essentials in the box. The KB7 comes with four replacement keycaps with a slightly different texture, a keycap puller, a braided USB-C to C cable, and a splitter cable with two USB-A connectors to USB-C. You read that right: for the KB7 to work, you have to occupy either one of the rare USB-C ports or two USB-A ports on your PC. The reason for this is the touchscreen, which is particularly power-hungry.
The touchscreen is nice but still annoying
The touchscreen is located at the top right, where the navigation keys usually are. It is bright, responds reliably, and is easy to operate. By swiping, I can switch between three pages with twelve fields each. In addition, there is a page where I can control the volume of individual applications. I can assign the fields with a number pad, shortcuts, system values, or links to Discord, Steam, OBS, and Streamlabs. If I swipe down from the top edge of the screen, I open the settings for actuation point, Rapid Trigger, macros, and lighting.
Sometimes this is practical. Nevertheless, I miss the physical keys. I touch-type with ten fingers. If I constantly have to look at the screen to hit Delete or Insert, it slows me down. During the two-week test period, I don't get used to it. And I won't be using the keyboard any longer than that.
Two devices that don't quite fit together
The KP7 number pad works alone or docked to the KB7. It can be connected to the keyboard via rails with contact pads, similar to the Joy-Cons of the Nintendo Switch. Attaching it is fiddly. At least the keypad holds up well, even when I carry the whole setup around. There is no locking mechanism.
The KP7 is more than just a number pad. In game mode, it becomes the left half of a keyboard with WASD, arrow keys, and a short space bar for the thumb. To do this, however, I have to attach it to the left. Since I don't normally use a number pad, that's fine. In any case, it would make much more sense on the left—even in the office. Because that way, I can enter numbers and operate the mouse at the same time. However, it requires some getting used to.
There are also minor weaknesses. The labels on the top row of keys are printed and are not backlit. The thumbwheel and the top button are of inferior quality, just like on the KB7.
The Hall-effect switches are okay, the sound less so
Both devices contain Turtle Beach's Titan Low-Profile Hall-Effect switches. These are linear, magnetic switches. Under the stem sits a magnet that a sensor on the circuit board measures. This allows the actuation point to be freely adjusted between 0.1 and 3.2 millimeters. The switches are rated for 100 million keystrokes and can be replaced without soldering. Whether Hall-effect switches from other manufacturers will work is unclear.
The switches themselves feel reasonably smooth. They are lubricated from the factory and hardly wobble. However, the rest of the keyboard ruins the typing feel. The keys sound clacky and hollow. There is no sound-dampening material inside. The stabilizers also rattle, even though they are lubricated, and pressing the keys feels somewhat rubbery.
The keycaps are fine. They are made of double-shot PBT, so the labels won't fade. However, the caps are rather thin and low. The lighting comes into its own thanks to the high-positioned switches.
Stuck keys and glitchy software
My biggest problem is the technical implementation. The KB7 starts up sluggishly. While the screen says "Loading", the keyboard does not respond. I only get into the BIOS with luck.
Even when logging into the operating system, I sometimes have to wait until the KB7 is ready for use. Sometimes keys get stuck for no apparent reason. Then only a restart of the keyboard helps. The volume mixer on the display also often does not match the system volume.
Worst of all: if I move the KP7 from one side to the other, the KB7 stops responding. It only works again after I disconnect it from the PC and reconnect it.
Then there is the Swarm II software. It also runs sluggishly. It recognizes the keyboard only slowly, every change to the screen layout is saved individually and blocks the app with a loading screen. It's even slower with background images. Sometimes the layout in the app and on the keyboard differ, and there is no way to synchronize them. The microphone mute and the light synchronization between the devices only work if Swarm II is running.
That's a shame. Because the app offers many functions: individual actuation points per key, Rapid Trigger, and SOCD. Especially with Hall-effect keyboards, the software plays an important role. Here, it falls significantly short of its potential.
At least: Turtle Beach is constantly releasing software and firmware updates. Maybe it will get better.
In a nutshell
Good ideas, weak execution
The Turtle Beach Command Series KB7 and KP7 bring a breath of fresh air to the keyboard world. The touchscreen, modular keypad, and Hall-effect switches are exciting approaches. However, in everyday use, the problems outweigh the benefits. The KB7 starts up slowly, keys get stuck, and the connection drops when moving the KP7. While it is cool that the keypad can be attached to either the left or right side, the layout almost forces me to use it on the left. The touchscreen replaces keys that I want to hit blindly, which I cannot do this way. Added to this are a mediocre typing feel, a hollow sound, and slow, error-prone software. At 160 francs for the keyboard and 80 francs for the keypad, the package is expensive. Too expensive. For that price, I expect more refinement. Anyone looking for a Hall-effect keyboard will find better alternatives. Turtle Beach has a good concept, but it still needs improvement.
Pro
- Touchscreen with many functions
- Number pad can be attached on the left or right
- many settings for actuation point and rapid trigger
Contra
- long startup time and sticking keys
- Connection drops when unplugging and replugging the keypad
- The keypad looks like a foreign object on both sides
- hollow, unfinished sound
- sluggish and error-prone software
Kevin Hofer
Senior Editor
kevin.hofer@digitecgalaxus.chFrom big data to big brother, Cyborgs to Sci-Fi. All aspects of technology and society fascinate me.
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