Kaliber Gaming HVER review: A simple but effective gaming keyboard

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TA-ratings-88As with gaming headsets and mice, gaming keyboards come with a variety of options and pricing. Our Kaliber Gaming HVER review takes a look at a very simple aluminum gaming keyboard that doesn’t have many options but isn’t going to break the bank either.

Specifications

The Kaliber Gaming HVER Aluminum Gaming Keyboard has the following features and specifications:

  • Brushed aluminum chassis provides a solid, flex-free platform
  • 26 Anti-Ghosting keys so you never miss a keystroke
  • 3-Color LED backlight with adjustable brightness
  • Double injected keycap characters never fade
  • Windows key lockout
  • Plunger key design offers a solid tactile feel
  • Weighted base for added stability
  • Keyboard Configuration 104-Key
  • Number of Keys 104
  • Numeric Keypad Yes
  • Anti-Ghosting Keys 26
  • Backlighting 3-color LED
  • Keyboard Technology Dome switch
  • Key Switch Type Plunger
  • Keycap Type Double injected
  • Hot Keys Function Multimedia
  • Windows Key Lock Yes
  • Keyboard Color Black
  • Keycaps Color White
  • Operating System Requirements: Windows Vista®, Windows® 7, Windows® 8, Windows® 8.1, Windows® 10
  • Housing Case: Aluminum, ABS
  • Interface: USB 2.0, 1.1
  • Cable Length: 67″ (170cm)
  • Humidity: 8%~90% RH
  • Operation Temperature: -20~50 degrees C
  • Storage Temperature: -20~65 degrees C
  • Dimensions: 1.6 x 7.1 x 18.6″ (4 x 18 x 47.1cm)
  • Weight: 2.6lb (1.2kg)
  • 3-year limited warranty

What’s in the box

  • Kaliber Gaming HVER Aluminum Gaming Keyboard (GKB704L)
  • Quick Start Guide
  • Warranty Card
Kaliber-Gaming-HVER-review-02
In the box is pretty much just the HVER Aluminum Gaming Keyboard…

Design

The design of the Kaliber Gaming HVER Aluminum Gaming Keyboard is definitely its biggest draw. It’s also sold as part of the IOGEAR Kaliber Gaming Imperial White Edition Gamer Pack (with the FOKUS Pro Laser Gaming Mouse and the KONVERT Universal Gaming Headset) and definitely looks the Star Wars Imperial Army part. Note, these are not a licensed product, but given the “Imperial White” name in the Gamer Pack, there’s no mistaking the influence.

The main front plate of the HVER Aluminum Gaming Keyboard is just that — brushed black aluminum. It looks pretty sleek and has some interesting flanges and cutouts which give it quite an industrial look. The Kaliber Gaming logo is centered on the top of the keyboard in silver and green, while the logo and the wordmark are on the lower right-hand side of the keyboard in the same colours. Six silver screws are visible at a glance, if you look closely you can see quite a few more which adds to the industrial look.

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The HVER Aluminum Gaming Keyboard has some cool flanges and cutouts.

The keycaps themselves are white with clear letters and numbers for the backlit LED to shine through. The font is a bit of an interesting one with some pretty stylistic letters including A, Q, D, and the numbers 6, 8, and 9. The keyboard features a full number pad, as well as your typical multimedia function buttons across the top. There is also a button for toggling the backlight on and off, as well as the brightness. In the upper right-hand corner are three round white indicator “keys” that kind of look a bit out of place. As opposed to the keycaps, they’re a glossier white and light up accordingly when you have Num Lock, Caps Lock, or Windows Lock enabled.

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The Num lock, Caps lock, and Window Key lock “keys” look a bit out of place.

While at a glance the HVER gaming keyboard looks premium, flipping it upside down exposes the plastic base. Sandwiched between the base and the aluminum top plate is a translucent white strip which also illuminates when the keyboard is plugged in. Depending on your gaming environment, this glow can faintly be seen emanating from under the keyboard. The base of the keyboard has four rectangular rubber feet, as well as a pair of flip-out feet stands which also have rubber on the bottom for added grip on your desk.

Kaliber-Gaming-HVER-review-09
Rubber feet and your standard flip-out feet adorn the bottom of the keyboard.

When plugged in with the standard plastic coated USB cable, the keyboard lights up and can be set to display aqua, green, or blue LED backlighting.

Overall, the HVER Aluminum Gaming Keyboard sits between a premium and industrial look, and the main aluminum plate with the weighted base adds a nice feel to it.

Ease of Use

As with many USB keyboards, the HVER is no different — simply plug it into an available USB port, let the driver auto-install, and you’re off and running. Changing the LED colours, or disabling it altogether, is easy with the Fn + LED key. Adjusting volume and launching your email, web browser, or calculator is easy with the Fn keys as well. As mentioned above, there’s really not much to this keyboard.

Kaliber-Gaming-HVER-review-15
The Fn keys are programmed for media and other basic tasks.

Performance

Being marketed as a gaming keyboard, just how well does the HVER stand up? I’ll admit, I’ve become really partial to mechanical keyboards as of late. As a result, I found that the keys on the HVER are really soft, however, there is a slight tactile response when typing. The anti-ghosting worked as expected, and I never experienced missed keystrokes. Having a Windows Key lock function is definitely a great addition and helps accidental Windows menu popups while gaming. As far as non-mechanical keyboards go, I didn’t have any issues with this one. Being a gaming keyboard, though, it would have been nice to see some sort of basic software customization options.

Kaliber-Gaming-HVER-review-10
The HVER key with key cap removed.

Price/Value

With an MSRP of $34.95USD on the IOGEAR website, the HVER Aluminum Gaming Keyboard is reasonably priced considering the design and construction materials. It’s currently on sale for $29 on Amazon, so you can save yourself an extra $5 there. As far as value goes, it’s a very basic gaming keyboard with next to no customization options. If you’re after a basic keyboard, this should do the trick, if you’re looking for customization you’ll probably want to look elsewhere.

If you’re not picky on color, you can get the gray aluminum with black keys version for $19.95USD on Amazon, which really is a great price for this keyboard.

As previously mentioned, the HVER Aluminum Gaming Keyboard is also available as part of the IOGEAR Kaliber Gaming Imperial White Edition Gamer Pack which also includes the KONVERT Universal Gaming Headset and FOKUS Pro Laser Gaming Mouse. If you are thinking of purchasing all three items, you can save yourself $10 by purchasing the Gamer Pack from IOGEAR or around $45 off by purchasing it from Amazon.

Wrap-up

If you’re looking for a sleek, industrial looking, backlit gaming keyboard, the HVER Aluminum Gaming Keyboard offers decent quality and performance at a decent price.

*We were sent a sample of the Kaliber Gaming HVER Aluminum Gaming Keyboard for the purposes of this review.
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