I just tested the Turtle Beach Command Series KB5 — it’s a decent gaming keyboard but I’d love it more if it wasn’t for these flaws

The best gaming keyboards have come leaps and bounds in recent years, and the Turtle Beach Command Series KB5 hopes to join the ranks. Packing highly responsive linear switches, 8,000Hz polling, and features like ReacTap in a sturdy, aluminum body, the KB5 is a formidable performer. It’s great to type on, too, and it features a handy touchscreen for on-the-go customization.

But is that enough to be considered one of the best in 2026, when the competition is so fierce? The KB5 is competent but its flaws are difficult to overlook when it costs nearly $150. It’s wired only; it isn’t hot-swappable; and its touchscreen can be sluggish. Of course, if none of those matter to you, and you’ve got the cash, the KB5 is still an okay choice for gaming and productivity.

For the complete breakdown, read my full Turtle Beach Command Series KB5 review.

Turtle Beach Command Series KB5 review: Specs

Turtle Beach Command Series KB5 review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? A full-size mechanical keyboard with a customizable touchscreen
• Who is it for? Gamers and typists alike
• How much does it cost? The Turtle Beach Command Series KB5 is available for $149 / £139
• What do we like? The sturdy build, 8KHz polling for gaming, responsive switches, and customizable touchscreen
• What don’t we like? The wired-only and non-hot-swappable design, sometimes sluggish touchscreen, and hefty price tag

Turtle Beach Command Series KB5 review: The ups

The Turtle Beach Command Series KB5 is well-built and it’s a joy to type on. 8,000Hz polling and ReacTap make it great for gaming, and the customizable touchscreen lets you make changes on the fly.

Sturdy construction

The KB5 is part of Turtle Beach’s Command Series, so it shares a lot of similarities with the KB7 TKL ($199) — one of them being the sturdy construction. Just like the KB7 TKL, the KB5 is made of an anodized aluminum top plate and a plastic chassis. There’s no flex in the body and no rattling. The aluminum plate gives the keyboard some heft too, as the KB5 weighs 2.43lbs (with the included palm rest). Though a little heavy, the KB5 is nowhere near as gargantuan as some of Keychron’s all-metal keyboards, like the Q65 Max (5.33lbs, $209) and the Q3 Ultra 8K (3.9lbs, $229).

As a full-size 100% keyboard, the KB5 has a large desk footprint too, measuring 18.78 x 10.12 x 1.06 inches (with palm rest), so it’s best suited to staying put at your desk. Given its length, the KB5 didn’t fit into my day bag. The keyboard’s wired-only nature may make you reluctant to travel with it anyway.

Adding to the KB5’s appeal are its double-shot PBT keycaps which are more resistant to oil, wear and tear compared to their ABS counterparts. It’s nice to see Turtle Beach do away with the ABS keycaps its Vulcan II Max ($229) uses — they get very shiny with fingerprints.

I also like the notched clickable volume barrel located right above the first four Function keys. You can use this to adjust the volume and mute playback (or remap it completely in Swarm II). Rolling its barrel is what I’d imagine the thrust lever on an airplane would feel like.

Excellent for typing

Though the Turtle Beach Command Series KB5 is primarily a gaming keyboard, it’s a sheer delight to type on. While its clacky, hollow sound profile is nothing to write home about, it still offers an enjoyable typing experience. Its Titan low-profile mechanical switches have a pre-travel distance of 1.2mm (total 3.1mm) which means that they don’t need to be pressed all the way down to activate. This helps you type faster, and even after a full day’s worth of typing, my fingers and hands didn’t feel fatigued.

I put the KB5 through its paces by taking a typing test at 10fastfingers.com as soon as I unboxed the keyboard. I wasn’t expecting to type as fast as I did, because the KB5 isn’t marketed as a productivity deck, and yet, I was able to achieve 108 words per minute with 97% accuracy. The keyboard upstaged all but one deck when it came to sheer speed: the Epomaker Glyph ($139). Color me impressed!

8,000Hz polling and ReacTap

The Turtle Beach Command Series KB5’s biggest selling point is its 8,000Hz polling rate. Though impressive, 8KHz polling is overkill for 99% of gamers, and is an unnecessary drain on system resources. For most gamers, including myself, 1KHz polling is more than sufficient. You won’t notice latency issues or input lag regardless.

Still, I tested the KB5’s 8KHz polling by playing Counter-Strike 2 and Cyberpunk 2077 on the Alienware 16X Aurora. As predicted, there were no latency issues to make a big song and dance about. All of my commands were promptly registered. I found the Titan low-profile linear switches extremely responsive too, and their 1.3mm pre-travel distance meant that I could lightly tap one key after another to execute a series of actions in quick succession.

You can also enable ReacTap by tapping the screen’s left edge and swiping left. ReacTap is Turtle Beach’s term for Last Key Prioritization (LKP), and it’s a type of Simultaneous Opposite Key Detection (SOCD) resolution. As you can probably tell by the name, it prioritizes the last key pressed, and I primarily use it for counter-strafing. Basically, if you hold down A and press D, the LKP resolution overrides A and instantly registers D (or vice versa). Doing so results in an immediate end to movement and therefore accuracy penalties in titles that have inertia in their movement mechanics, like Counter-Strike 2 (where LKP will get you kicked) and Valorant.

The KB5 features five dedicated macro keys too, located on the keyboard’s left-hand side. These can be configured to execute commands with just the tap of a button. You can use these to launch another program, record the last 30 seconds of gameplay, what-have-you. Four different commands can be bound to each key, and these layers can be accessed via key combinations, such as holding down Caps Lock / Easy Shift [+].

These macro keys are useful in both gaming and productivity, and you can assign work- or game-specific commands and save them to five customizable profiles.

Built-in touchscreen for on-the-fly customization

LCD and even OLED screens are becoming more and more common on keyboards. We’ve seen them on the likes of the Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro ($189), the Epomaker RT100 Pro ($119), and now the Turtle Beach Command Series KB5. Unlike the large 4.3-inch touchscreen on the Turtle Beach Command Series KB7 TKL, the KB5’s 2.4-inch is much smaller but useful nonetheless.

The KB5’s touchscreen enables you to make adjustments to the keyboard’s settings on the fly and without having to launch Swarm II every time. You can use it to record macros, swap between five profiles, launch apps, manage audio playback, and more. Annoyingly, though, you can’t adjust the polling rate via the screen itself, and this can be done via Swarm II only.

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The touchscreen’s layout can be changed, too, and you’ll need to download the user-friendly Swarm II in order to do so. Via the Windows-only software (sorry, macOS users), you can add your preferred widgets to the screen, or select a preset template (productivity- or gaming-focused). If you play a lot of Counter-Strike, you might like the ‘KB5 CS’ preset, which displays stats like equipped weapon, bullets remaining, and total kills.

Turtle Beach Command Series KB5 review: The downs

The Turtle Beach Command Series KB5 isn’t hot-swappable, can’t be used wirelessly, and its touchscreen can be finicky at times, so is it worth the premium? I’m not convinced.

Sluggish touchscreen

While the Turtle Beach Command Series KB5’s touchscreen is useful and behaves well for the most part, I found it sluggish at times. In my testing, I found that the touchscreen would randomly freeze and get stuck on one page, and I also noticed that my commands weren’t always registered. I had to tap a couple of times to get the touchscreen to skip the song I was listening to, for instance. Yes, even after updating the keyboard’s firmware, these issues didn’t magically disappear.

Wired-only

Sadly, the Turtle Beach Command Series KB5 is a wired-only keyboard so there’s no Bluetooth wireless connectivity. That also means the keyboard is designed to stay put at your desk. This isn’t necessarily a flaw but it’s disappointing given that so many mechanical keyboards today are wireless. This becomes an even bigger problem when you realize how expensive the KB5 is (more on that in a second).

If you want a wireless mechanical keyboard with 8,000Hz polling, I’d recommend the Keychron V1 Ultra 8K which features high polling over both wired and wireless connections. However, as I said earlier, 8,000Hz polling is overkill for most people anyway.

Not hot-swappable

Okay, so the Turtle Beach Command Series KB5 is wired-only. Big deal. But my biggest gripe with the keyboard is that its switches aren’t hot-swappable. I find that surprising in 2026, when most keyboards (especially in this price range) are hot-swappable. Because the KB5 isn’t, you can’t change its switches by simply popping them out — you’ll need to de- and re-solder them to the PCB which is not only time-consuming, but it requires specialist tools and skill, too.

This means that if, say, one switch stops working, you’ll have to take the entire keyboard apart. I also feel like if you’re spending short of $150 on a keyboard, the least you should expect is hot-swappable switches. If this irks you as much as it does me, I’d again recommend the Keychron V1 Ultra 8K, the Keychron C1 Pro 8K ($54) or the Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro (which does enough to justify its $189 price tag).

Expensive for what you get

This brings me to my last argument: the Turtle Beach Command Series KB5’s price tag. The keyboard retails for $149 / £139 at Amazon, which is quite steep given that the keyboard is wired-only and isn’t hot-swappable. Its touchscreen, though useful, can be sluggish and is also heavily reliant on Swarm II, which isn’t available on macOS.

When brands like Epomaker and Keychron continue making powerful keyboards for a fraction of the KB5’s price, Turtle Beach’s offering is a hard sell. The Keychron V1 Ultra 8K, the Keychron C1 Pro 8K, and the Epomaker P65 ($119) are much easier to recommend. Heck, even some outstanding Hall Effect decks, like the Epomaker HE68 ($59), offer exceptional value for money while being cheaper than the KB5.

Turtle Beach Command Series KB5 review: Verdict

The Turtle Beach Command Series KB5 isn’t a bad keyboard — quite the opposite in fact. It boasts strong gaming performance thanks to features like 8,000Hz polling and ReacTap. It’s good for typing, too, and it’s fitted with a responsive touchscreen that lets you make adjustments on the go.

At the end of the day, though, are those features enough to justify the $150 asking price? The KB5, though well-built and capable, isn’t hot-swappable, and when its competitors are offering 8KHz polling over wireless connections, the KB5’s wired-only design leaves a lot to be desired. The sluggish touchscreen is frustrating at this price point, too. You’d be better off with the Keychron V1 8K, if it’s a bang-for-your-buck mechanical deck you’re after.