The Tesoro Lobera Supreme Mechanical Keyboard Capsule Review

Software

The Tesoro Lobera Supreme is a fully programmable keyboard and thus it comes with its own software that, unfortunately, it is very basic and archaic by today's standards. Even though it is very simple to use, the interface is not very practical and can be confusing at first. It has a "PC Mode", which disables all advanced functions and makes the Lobera Supreme an ordinary keyboard, plus five programmable profiles. Each of the profiles can be linked to an application, automatically engaging while that application is running. The keys can be programmed and re-mapped individually, but any changes of the lighting color affect the entire keyboard.

It is possible to either re-map a key, to launch applications with it or to perform a macro that has been programmed using the software. The macro recorder however is very basic. Macro recording is initiated by clicking the "Start Record" button, all key presses with their time delays will be recorded, and then it will stop once the "Stop Record" button is clicked. The time delays and the sequence can be edited, as well as new key presses can be inserted into an existing macro. It is also possible to set the macro to repeat a finite number of times, as long as the key is being held pressed or until it is pressed again. However, the recorder is unable to record anything beyond keyboard keystrokes, such as mouse movements and clicks.

The color selection brings out a list of about 180 colors for the user to choose from. Although most are just slightly darker hues of a major color, the number of colors is more than satisfactory. Different colors can be selected for each of the five profiles. Selecting a color instantly affects the entire keyboard, with every key and the side strips changing to that color.

Conclusion

When Tesoro released the Lobera Supreme over a year ago, its primary marketing point was the multiple color backlighting. In early 2014, that really was something special. Today however, most manufacturers have released at least one keyboard with configurable backlighting. This makes the Lobera Supreme "just another mechanical keyboard" and somwhat limits its marketing potential.

Quality-wise, the Lobera Supreme is relatively well made and solid as far as a plastic design will go. It could use cross instead of bar supports under the larger keys, but the feeling of the keys remains acceptable for a high performance keyboard. Aesthetics are a subjective matter but we feel that it is mostly suited to "aggressive" gaming systems, with visually complex or metallic cases. As a keyboard, the Lobera Supreme is a very good product.

The heart of every programmable keyboard is the software and this is where the Lobera Supreme appears to lack the most. It lacks polish and the macro recorder is amazingly basic for such a product. With the vast majority of gamers requiring the recording of at least absolute mouse movements and clicks, it is unlikely that any gamer will not have to look for a third-party macro recording software. Finally, it could really use a language check, as the English translation needs a pass from QA.

The Tesoro Lobera Supreme currently retails for $150 including shipping, a rather high price that pits it against many other advanced keyboards, such as the Razer BlackWidow Chroma. A little more can buy you the Corsair K70 RGB, which has Cherry MX switches and an aluminum body. Although the Tesoro Lobera Supreme generally is a good keyboard, it is not much of a deal at its current retail price. It is hard to recommend the Lobera Supreme unless somebody specifically likes its appearance much more over other designs or if is found retailing for less.