Set sail into the seas of streaming with Corsair's new Galleon 100 SD keyboard, with its built-in deck

Every year, the CES event has tech vendors around the world showcasing their latest and greatest innovations and devices. Sometimes, though, it's hard for your carefully crafted hardware to stand out in the ocean of gadgets, but Corsair reckons it's done just that with its new Galleon 100 SD keyboard, with its built-in Stream Deck.

Looking somewhat like a K70 Core that's been hacked open to remove the numpad, the Galleon 100 SD just looks like any other in-your-face gaming keyboard, replete with RGB lighting and whizz-bang features galore. Naturally, it has an 8000 Hz polling rate and FlashTap SOCD functionality, because every other top-end gaming keyboard does.

However, the Galleon eschews the trend of Hall effect or TMR switches and instead uses Corsair's MLX Pulse Linear mechanical clickers. These come pre-lubricated, and they're hot-swappable, so theoretically you could install something even faster (assuming Corsair isn't using any kind of proprietary wiring).

But none of this is really what the Galleon 100 SD is all about. The unique selling point here is the integrated Stream Deck. Topped with two rotary encoders, followed by a small LCD screen, the built-in deck offers 12 customisable keys for macros, game actions, and workflow sequences.

Having already spent decades of my life committing shortcuts and weird hand gestures for key combos to my long-term memory, I never really got on with my own Elgato Stream Deck. It saw brief use for a few weeks, then spent several months collecting dust on my desk, before being relegated to a drawer.

I don't say this to put you off the idea of buying a Corsair Galleon 100 SD, more just as a reminder that, unless you really need a deck, all you'll be paying for is a bunch of pretty-looking buttons that you won't use very much. And pay you will, because the Galleon 100 SD will set you back a cool $350 at Corsair's store.

For that amount of money, you could buy a wired Asus ROG Strix Scope II X keyboard ($100 at Amazon), an Elgato Stream Deck XL ($200 at Amazon), and still have fifty bucks left over for a barrel of tea and biscuits. I do like the look of the Corsair Galleon 100 SD, and I especially like the twin rotary encoders, but the price just feels all kinds of wrong.