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Tesoro Tizona Elite Mechanical Gaming Keyboard

Tesoro Tizona Elite Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Review – Very few of us will ever find ourselves competing in the League of Legends World Championship or other MOBA games. Most of us will never reach the top rungs of the StarCraft II ladder. And that’s OK. Being a pro is not a prerequisite for using prolevel gear; when we’re on the field of battle, we want to have every possible competitive advantage. Victory can still be sweet even without a dump truck of cash waiting at the end of the match. Tesoro wants you in the W column and sends the Tizona Elite Mechanical Gaming Keyboard to help get you there.

Tizona Elite Mechanical Gaming Keyboard

Spanish literature buffs might be familiar with the name “Tizona.” According to the epic poem, “Cantar de mio Cid,” Tizona was one of the swords El Cid used when he fought during the Moorish invasion of Spain. The other sword? Colada, the namesake of the Tesoro keyboard we reviewed last month. Basically, El Cid preferred to dual-wield for PvP—if Tesoro wants to name its peripherals after this guy’s blades, you won’t hear any argument from us.

You also won’t hear much noise when typing on this keyboard. Our Tizona’s gaming-grade mechanical keyswitches are of the Brown variety. For quick refresher, Brown keyswitches give you a tactile bump without the ear-splitting report of Blue switches. We like the Brown switches well enough, but “the best” mechanical keyswitch is a matter of personal preference. Thankfully, the Tizona also comes in Black, Red, and Blue keyswitch variants.

As far as performance is concerned, typing or gaming on the Tizona is solid. It takes a few minutes to get used to the lack of a numeric keypad (more on that in a minute), but once our fingers adjusted, they were flying across the board. The tactile feedback was exactly what we expected from Brown mechanical keyswitches; the action was crisp, quick, and clean as we typed. The Tizona was equally responsive for gaming, and with keyswitches that are rated for 50 million keystrokes, you’ll be gaming on this keyboard for a long time before they wear out.

A trio of thumb keys just below the Spacebar add versatility. For general PC use, you can quick-launch IE, media playback software, and email, respectively. When you toggle Game Mode, those thumb keys function as “/,” “*,” and “-,” giving you a few extra keybinds to work with.

Our Tizona didn’t include a numeric keypad, but check out the keyboard’s right edge. Tesoro makes a matching numpad ($39.99, or $109.99 if you buy two together) that mates with the USB port on this edge; it’s a simple but so, so sensible implementation. Attach the numpad during business hours, then remove it when it’s LAN party time. This way, you can have a small, portable keyboard when traveling, and then you can clamp on the numpad when you want a full-sized keyboard.

The Tizona is exactly like the sword it’s named after—precise, effective, deadly. You want a weapon like this by your side.