Corsair Galleon 100 SD Review: A gaming keyboard and Stream Deck collide; combo is good, but is it necessary?

If you weren't sold on the idea of a virtual Stream Deck built into Corsair's Scimitar Elite SE Wireless mouse, what about a physical Stream Deck built into Corsair's latest keyboard? Corsair's new Galleon 100 SD keyboard is a premium mechanical wired keyboard with a built-in Stream Deck. Instead of a numberpad, you get two programmable dials, a (non-touch) screen, and 12 customizable LCD keys. It's not a bad idea — Stream Decks are like macropads on steroids, and what dedicated macro user doesn't want hyper-customizable macro keys built into their keyboard?

Of course, this functionality doesn't come cheap. The Corsair Galleon 100 SD will set you back $350 (that's more than the Asus ROG Azoth X), which isn't too surprising considering Stream Decks cost anywhere from $60 - $250 (not counting the studio version). But the best gaming keyboards start at just over $100, so the Galleon 100 SD needs to be both an excellent gaming keyboard and an excellent Stream Deck to be worth that price tag.

Design and Construction of the Galleon 100 SD

The Galleon 100 SD is a mechanical gaming keyboard with what is technically a TKL layout — alphanumeric keys, function keys, arrow keys, and a full 3 x 3 navigation cluster, and no 10-key numberpad. However, it does have a built-in Stream Deck where the numberpad would normally go. And the Stream Deck does have 12 keys, a screen, and two programmable knobs, and can technically function as a numberpad. So it's... sort of a full-size keyboard? Corsair is calling it full-size, but since I need both my numberpad and my Stream Deck for some things, I beg to differ.

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The Galleon 100 SD is a pretty good-looking keyboard, all things considered. It's definitely a gaming keyboard — it's got bright, per-key RGB lighting (that comes with an obnoxiously flashy default setting... and I love flashy RGB, so that's saying something) and a Corsair-branded lightstrip across the top, plus the built-in Stream Deck; it definitely looks like a gaming keyboard, but a premium one. It features an aluminum top case over a plastic bottom case, and the aluminum is finished in a smooth, sparkly matte black with beveled edges and the keyboard's name printed in tastefully small letters along the bottom of the left edge.

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The right side of the board is where you'll find the built-in Stream Deck, which consists of two programmable knobs, a 2.5 x 1.25 inch (63.5 x 31.75mm) color screen, and 12 LCD keys arranged in a 3 x 4 grid. I know Corsair says that this keyboard has a 5-inch (127 mm) diagonal screen, and it technically does — the LCD keys are laid over the screen (that's why they're LCD keys). However, the part that functions as a screen only measures approximately 2.75 inches (70 mm) diagonally.

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If you have a Stream Deck, this will look somewhat familiar depending on what model you have. The knobs are notched, clickable, and feel great — machined metal with texturing on the sides. They control the screen, which is separated into four parts for different "widgets"; each knob controls the two widgets below it, which you can switch between by pressing the knob for a few seconds. The right knob controls volume by default, while the left knob cycles through your Stream Deck modes (or "pages" of LCD keys).

The LCD keys are similar to those on other Stream Decks — they're the same size as those on the Stream Deck Neo, and they feel about the same. That is to say, they're fine for Stream Deck functionality, but they're a little mushy compared to regular keys. (This is an important distinction, as Corsair is trying to pass this off as a numberpad replacement.)

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Along the top of the keyboard, you'll find three USB-C ports. The two ports in the middle are for charging and supplying power to the third, which is a pass-through port. The bottom of the keyboard features four large non-skid rubber feet, as well as two sets of flip-out feet if you want more of an angle while you type. You shouldn't have to worry too much about this keyboard moving around your desk as you type, because it's pretty hefty: It weighs 3.07 pounds (1.392kg), which is heavier than most mainstream gaming keyboards (though nowhere close to some enthusiast boards with full aluminum bodies).

This keyboard is big, but it's not nearly as big as the name Galleon suggests. It measures 17.64 inches (448mm) wide by 6.26 inches (159mm) deep and is 1.65 inches (42mm) thick at its thickest point if you include the knobs. However, the board itself is closer to 0.86 inches (21.8mm) thick at its thickest point without the keycaps. The front of the board is around 0.7 inches (17.8mm) thick, so it's not too high, ergonomically speaking. That said, the Galleon 100 SD does come with its own detachable magnetic wrist rest, which is 17.64 inches (448mm) wide by 3.5 inches (89mm) deep, and 0.83 inches (21mm) thick at its thickest point.

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The wrist rest is made of plastic, with soft, leatherette-covered memory foam padding and Corsair's text logo printed vertically down the center. It's not the fanciest wrist rest I've seen — the leatherette seems a little thin, and I suspect it won't last more than a year or so with regular use — but it's sleek and comfortable and it fits the keyboard.

As for other accessories, the Galleon 100 SD comes with just a couple in the box: two 6-foot (1.8m) braided USB-C to USB-A cables and a combination keycap/switch puller.

Spec

Typing and Gaming Experience on the Galleon 100 SD

The Galleon 100 SD is, first and foremost, a keyboard — and it's actually a surprisingly nice one. The board only comes with one switch option: Corsair's MLX Pulse (purple) switches, which are designed to be "thocky and linear." They're pre-lubed, with an actuation force of 45g; they actuate at 2.0mm and have a total travel of 3.6mm. They're nice-feeling linear switches, with smooth, straight keypresses that have no audible or tactile bump, and they do have more of a "thocky" sound when you bottom out than do most linear switches. I'm not the biggest fan of linear switches in general, but I liked typing on these.

The Galleon 100 SD does feature a hot-swappable PCB that accepts both 3- and 5-pin switches, so you can always swap in your own switches if you want to. Of course, while hot-swappability is always a great option to have, I'm not desperate to drop $350 on a keyboard only to have to also swap out the switches — hopefully we'll see Corsair offering the Galleon 100 SD with more than one switch option in the future.

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The keyboard comes with double-shot PBT keycaps with shine-through legends. The keycaps feel fine: They have that slightly-textured, matte PBT finish, and seem to be in something close to a Cherry profile (lower profile, sculpted rows). The board features six layers of sound-dampening foam in the case to reduce echoes and case ping, and it's pretty effective. I heard almost no case ping in my testing, and while it's not the best keyboard I've ever listened to, it's pretty impressive for a mainstream gaming keyboard. It's on par with Asus' original ROG Azoth (but, of course, it also costs $100 more... so it should be).

Naturally, the Galleon 100 SD is also great for gaming. The standard TKL layout is all you need for most games these days, and the lower-profile keycaps make it easy to fly across the board. The keyboard also gets up to an 8,000 Hz polling rate (though it ships with a default 1,000 Hz), which you can enable via the Corsair Web Hub, assuming you can get it to work (more on this in a moment). It is a mechanical keyboard — not a magnetic switch keyboard, so it doesn't support RapidTrigger, but you can set up FlashTap (Corsair's version of SOCD).

Features and Software of the Galleon 100 SD

Corsair has recently been abandoning its universal peripheral software iCUE in favor of its new Corsair Web Hub, which is — you guessed it — a web-based app for configuring your peripherals. You can also install the Web Hub on your PC, so you're not dependent on an internet connection just to change your keyboard or mouse settings. I love this idea in theory, but in practice... the Web Hub worked for me about 40% of the time, and that's if I'm being generous.

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I managed to get it to connect maybe three of the forty times I tried, and this includes both the online version and the "installed" version. At first, it was a firmware update issue — the Web Hub wouldn't recognize the keyboard until the firmware was updated, but of course, the firmware update was something I needed to install via the Web Hub. It did eventually manage to connect and install the firmware update, but then it refused to connect for no reason after that. Luckily, there wasn't much I wanted to do in the Web Hub, except change the crazy disco of a default RGB setting (which I did quickly, one of the three times it managed to connect). But I suppose if you can get it to connect, you can also reassign keys, set up FlashTap, and change some settings (such as the polling rate).

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But Corsair Web Hub is just for the keyboard side. The Stream Deck side is controlled by Elgato's Stream Deck software. (While it's a little inconvenient to have to use two programs to set up one device, I suppose it would be more inconvenient if I had to try to use the Web Hub to set up the Stream Deck side, because then nothing would work.) Elgato's Stream Deck software is much smoother and actually works, and the Stream Deck ecosystem is very robust — which is what you need for something like a Stream Deck. The Elgato Marketplace has all sorts of third-party plugins that will let you control various devices and settings with your Stream Deck, provided you take the time to set it up.

Of course, you don't have to set everything up right away: The Galleon 100 SD comes with a pre-installed profile with several pages of presets for gaming, media, and chatting, so it's pretty useful right out of the box.

The Bottom Line

I like the Galleon 100 SD, because I like Stream Decks (now that I've gotten to know them, anyway), and I'm always a fan of more buttons. But I do miss my numberpad — I use both my numberpad and my (separate) Stream Deck for various things, but even if you're not someone who needs a ton of extra keys, tapping out numbers on LCD keys is absolutely not the same.

But full-size keyboard woes aside, the Galleon 100 SD is a surprisingly solid keyboard. If you're in the market for both a premium gaming keyboard and a Stream Deck of some sort, this is... an option. It's not really a great deal, but $350 is probably around what you'd pay if you bought both separately. (You can grab the Stream Deck+, which has eight LCD keys, four dials, and a touch screen, for around $160 right now.)