Corsair Galleon 100 SD Review: The Ultimate Weapon for Streamers and Macro Fiends

The Galleon 100 SD is the keyboard I’ve agelong wished Corsair would make: a full-fat gaming committee crossed with a Stream Deck, the almighty macro container made by Corsair subsidiary Elgato. The effect is simply a keyboard that takes up an inordinate magnitude of abstraction – and costs arsenic overmuch arsenic some products enactment unneurotic – but does precisely what it should.

You get each of the nice-to-haves you’d privation from a large modern gaming keyboard, similar 8000Hz polling, pre-lubricated mechanical switches and FPS-focused features similar SOCD, positive that unparalleled power and customization that a Stream Deck provides, each successful a chassis that is among the champion Corsair’s ever built. Still, there’s besides country to much afloat recognize the imaginable successful a aboriginal plan here, with magnetic switches being a funny omission and bundle improvements to beryllium made.

Corsair Galleon 100 SD – Design and Features

The Galleon 100 SD continues the modern styling inclination Corsair introduced with the Vanguard Pro 96, with textured knobs, bladed fonts and a rounded achromatic aluminium chassis. The MLX Pulse mechanical switches wrong connection a creaseless keypress, with mean 45g actuation unit and a linear enactment that is well-suited for gaming and pleasant capable for typing arsenic well. The RGB-backlit PBT keycaps supply a spot of texture for the digit and a agelong beingness versus ABS alternatives, portion a gasket equine arrangement, the aluminium chassis, and layers of dependable dampening supply a pleasantly heavy dependable signature. In short, the Galleon ticks each of the boxes I’d expect for a premium mechanical keyboard successful 2026, without rather challenging much boutique typing-focused examples built for enthusiasts. Magnetic switches would unlock other FPS-focused functionality, but it seems that Corsair is targeting a broader assemblage for this one.

The large alteration present is the summation of a 12-key Stream Deck into the right-hand broadside of the board, replacing the fig pad from a full-size layout with a four-zone LCD show supra and 2 chunky knobs astatine the top. The 5-inch 1280x720 show is vibrant and crisp, with substance and icons that are readable (if not pin-sharp) from a mean viewing distance, and of people the keys are physically person and much convenient to property than they would beryllium connected a abstracted Stream Deck unit.

Everything present is customisable successful the Stream Deck software, which I’ll screen successful item later, but the default precocious statement includes media accusation from Spotify, a upwind forecast, measurement levels and an app launcher. Holding down either knob volition toggle betwixt the 2 zones beneath it; with a regular property and rotation performing antithetic functions depending connected the widget selected. For example, the Spotify widget skips tracks and plays oregon pauses, portion the upwind widget lets you scroll done the upwind of the time and spot further accusation for a definite clip period.

The little conception is much modular Stream Deck fare, with each of the 12 keys displaying unrecorded accusation (like your CPU, RAM and GPU utilization) oregon serving arsenic a static app shortcut. With folders, pages and profiles that tin automatically activate successful circumstantial PC applications, determination are fewer limits to the magnitude of power you tin physique out. As good arsenic authoritative integrations for Elgato products, games and truthful on, you tin besides find escaped and paid community-made options successful an online marketplace oregon codification your own.

If you don’t person the Stream Deck bundle running, you get a barebones statement that’s inactive reasonably useful, packing successful media controls, toggles for polling rates, profiles and crippled modes, and instructions for downloading the Stream Deck software.

The remainder of the keyboard contains immoderate bully ideas, including an RGB-backlit portion on the apical of the keyboard with a Corsair wordmark and tri-spoke elements; a likewise wordmarked thenar remainder made of a soft, squidgy material; flip-out legs to set the space of the keyboard; and, somewhat unusually, 2 other USB-C ports. You get 2 USB-C cables successful the box, and the thought is that by moving that other cablegram and plugging it successful the bottommost of the keyboard, you tin past plug successful different USB-C accessories similar mice oregon flash drives into a much easy accessible USB-C larboard down the 2 knobs. Of course, you could conscionable plug successful immoderate USB-C happening you wanted directly, without involving the keyboard, but the extremity effect arguably looks cleaner by utilizing the other port.

I did interest that the Galleon would consciousness a spot inexpensive oregon flimsy with its Stream Deck addition, but Corsair’s designers person done good to integrate everything unneurotic into a robust and cohesive full that feels arsenic costly arsenic it really is. If you’re a streamer oregon macro enthusiast, this is simply a precise sleek mode to support the options you request wrong casual reach.

Corsair Galleon 100 SD – Software

As you mightiness person guessed, the Galleon requires you to sojourn 2 places to power it: the Web Hub for changing the keyboard’s settings and Stream Deck for mounting up that titular portion. Both are mostly well-designed, though analyzable capable that uncovering your mode astir does instrumentality immoderate time. I’d suggest starting with the Web Hub bundle first, updating your firmware if available, and past you tin excavation into the settings.

Here, you tin acceptable up the keyboard for gaming, including selecting polling rates up to 8000Hz (to fractionally trim the hold betwixt a cardinal being pressed and registered) and alteration SOCD, abbreviated for “Simultaneous Opposite Cardinal Direction” (letting a property of A override a property of D, for example, to assistance counter-strafing successful FPS titles). There are besides much garden-variety controls for remapping keys, choosing lighting schemes and truthful on, though you won’t find features similar adjustable actuation points, accelerated trigger, oregon different communal FPS-focused features owed to the deficiency of magnetic switches. (The sockets present are hot-swappable, but lone for different 3-pin oregon 5-pin mechanical switches, truthful you can’t alteration the halfway tech inside.)

The Stream Deck broadside of the equation is simply a spot much involved, with a unrecorded provender of what’s being shown connected each dial country and fastener connected the near and a paper of disposable widgets connected the right. Adding oregon moving widgets is arsenic elemental arsenic dragging and dropping, and each but the simplest widgets person further settings to customize their functionality and appearance. Icon packs marque it easier to person a accordant appearance, but you’re escaped to spell with customized icons, emojis, substance and truthful connected to suit your ain preferences.

As mentioned earlier, the default acceptable of widgets tin beryllium extended done the Elgato Marketplace, though comparatively fewer third-party options are disposable for the caller dial areas versus the archetypal Stream Deck keys. Both of the third-party widgets I was hoping for did beryllium – YouTube Music and a calendar – but the second was lone disposable arsenic a £5 oregon £10 purchase. I recovered that creating third-party widgets for the slim infobar connected the Stream Deck Neo wasn’t adjacent imaginable erstwhile I reviewed that instrumentality past year, truthful I anticipation that the dials present are easier to make for.

In presumption of what you tin really bash with the Stream Deck, it’s a agelong list, including creating and playing macros, controlling euphony oregon audio devices, and supporting unrecorded streams. Controlling different parts of the Corsair ecosystem is particularly good catered for, including adjusting Elgato lights, mics and cameras, Corsair peripherals, and present Fanatec sim racing gear.

Game integration feels similar a spot of an afterthought, with nary casual mode to find what games connected your strategy are supported by the keyboard – you person to hunt done each Galleon-compatible profiles oregon manually hunt by crippled rubric instead. Some third-party integrations are besides expensive, with a Star Citizen illustration battalion costing £25 and Flight Simulator 2024 requiring an £18 investment. This feels similar an country that could beryllium improved substantially if Corsair intends to support gathering retired enactment for games, oregon incentivizing third-party developers to bash truthful instead.

I did acquisition a fewer bugs successful the Stream Deck software, astir notably each installation of a caller plugin requiring 2 attempts to successfully instal – a symptom erstwhile the default loadout for the Galleon requires 8 oregon truthful plugins. Thankfully, the halfway functionality of assigning functions to each fastener and triggering them worked similar a dainty successful the Stream Deck software, portion the Web Hub provided each of the functionality I needed connected the keyboard setup front.

Corsair Galleon 100 SD – Performance

The Galleon 100 SD is simply a beardown enactment for gaming, with a peculiar alacrity for much analyzable simulation games wherever you payment from having a ample fig of disposable keys. Throwing lesser-used (and easy forgotten) keys and cardinal combos connected the Stream Deck pad is handy, arsenic is having an different afloat layout to usage arsenic normal. The cardinal enactment is well-tuned, with tenable travel, bully audible feedback, and a creaseless action, truthful games similar League of Legends oregon StarCraft 2 that tin punish mispresses heavy are easier to play than they would beryllium connected a softer and shorter-travel keyboard.

I besides recovered juncture to usage the other Stream Deck keys successful FPS games similar Counter-Strike 2 (for buying weapons), but I thin to similar narrower keyboards without a fig pad to guarantee plentifulness of mousing abstraction for the low-sensitivity gameplay that astir players adopt. That led to a shadiness of vexation successful Battlefield 6, arsenic it wasn’t arsenic comfy to play with my arms dispersed wide crossed the desk. The inclusion of SOCD and a snappy 8000Hz polling complaint was thing of a salve, and I person nary qualms astir the keyboard’s wide show for each but the astir competitory FPS players. Still, I can’t assistance but imagination astir a Galleon 100 SD successful a southpaw layout, with the macro pad connected the near broadside of the keyboard.