[ratingbox]
The Tesoro Tizona is a mechanical gaming keyboard that wants to win your hard-earned gaming dollars with some features that other keyboards do not offer. The keyboard is without a 10-key numpad, but does support an add-on number pad with its two side-mounted USB ports.
Other keyboards only offer one USB port, primarily because the extra cable is a passthrough. The Tizona has a true USB hub integrated into the keyboard, so the single lead cable can support both integrated ports. This is fine for most low-power devices such as mice and flash drives, but higher-powered devices require a bit more juice. The keyboard supports additional power via a separate USB cable , but this cable is woefully shorter than the main cable.
Keyboard layout
The Tesoro Tizona is rather heavy, as most mechanical keyboards are. The keyboard is housed in dense plastic instead of metal or brushed aluminum as many keyboards implement.
The layout is pretty standard, with the backslash “/” above the Enter key, and the Enter key is single-tall (some keyboards have an oversized Enter key at the cost of a smaller backslash key). The labels are printed on the keys, rather than the laser-etching methods of other premium mechanical keyboards.
The notable features of this keyboard are the extra features such as Media keys and Gamer modes, which are toggled with the Function “Fn” key, which replaces the right Windows keys.
Tesoro took some time to brand the keyboard with their name. The Escape keycap has the “Tesoro” logo on it, and the “Tesoro” name appears on the spacebar.
The font of the keyboard is a blocky style that gamers may like, which is very similar to the Cooler Master QuickFire Stealth.
The bottom of the keyboard has two flat rubber feet at the bottom front, and since they are not rounded do not catch completely when the back of the keyboard is raised. The back of the keyboard has two levers that can be set to two positions, which change the back elevation of the keyboard.
The keyboard integrates a USB 2.0 hub into the keyboard, with one standard USB port on both the left and right sides of the keyboard. The keyboard has a detachable mini-USB port for input and includes a 6-foot braided USB cable for this purpose.
An additional USB-to-DC cable is included to supply an additional 500ma of power for the USB hub. This DC cable is much shorter than the braided cable, which makes taking power from the same source -impractical. Thankfully most devices should not require additional power; the ones that may need extra juice are mechanical 2.5” hard drives.
I really like that this keyboard can use two USB devices over one cable. Other keyboards only have one USB port, and some even require their own dedicated plug (like the Corsair K70 and K95). We tested throughput with USB thumb drives, and did not notice any notable issues (other than any USB 3.0 SuperSpeed devices step down to USB 2.0 Hispeed transfer rates).
The Tesoro Tizona looks a lot like another keyboard we reviewed, the Cooler Master QuickFire Stealth. The keyboard is a compact mechanical keyboard without the additional 10-key keypad (which we review here).
Because of its reduced footprint, additional functionality is achieved through the use of a Function “Fn” key, which replaces the right “Windows” key on most other keyboards. Holding down the “Fn” key plus these other keys toggle different features:
| Fn + F1 – F6 | Fn + F12 | Fn + Ins | Fn + Del |
| Media Functions | PC / Gaming Mode | G mode (6-key rollover) |
K mode (full n-key rollover) |
The different modes of this keyboard are a little confusing at first. There is no included paper manual, nor is there any information about using the keyboard on the Tesoro website. What I’ve learned was through my own tinkering. All of the other review websites that cover this product have neglected this feature, as well, which would directly affect the rating had they paid attention to it.
PC Mode, N-Key mode, and G Mode
The Tesoro Tizona mechanical keyboard can be put into two different modes: “PC mode” and “G” mode. In addition, you can put the keyboard in “N” mode or “G” mode.
G mode is toggled with Fn + F12 (left) G light indicator above arrow keys (right)
If you press Fn + F12, then the keyboard toggles between “PC” and “Gamer” mode. In G mode, the “G” light turns on, and the thumb buttons change:
| PC Mode | Gamer Mode | |
| Thumb 1 | Browser | / |
| Thumb 2 | ? | * |
| Thumb 3 | – | |
| Windows Key | normal | disabled |
| Context (right-click) Key | normal | disabled |
Niether of these modes changes the n-key rollover mode, which is toggled separately. In regular mode “G’ mode (Fn + Ins), there is a maximum of 6-key rollover. When the keyboard is toggled into “N” mode (Fn + Del), then the keyboard has full n-key rollover. In this mode, we achieved over 42 keys at the same time! This is more than any other keyboard we’ve ever tested, including the Corsair K70 and K95.
6-key N-rollover in N mode (left). Full n-key rollover in G mode
This keyboard gave me the least trouble of all the mechanical keyboards I’ve tried lately. There are no backlit LEDs to short out, and the keyboard indicator lights worked properly on Mac and Linux computers (which is not the case for Corsair’s entire K-xx keyboard lineup).
The keyboard did unexpectedly die when plugging into a different computer. The keyboard simply would not respond, no matter what coaxing I did. Thankfully it was just a bad USB cable, and I plugged in a new USB-to-mini-USB cable and the keyboard responded again. Finding a cable that fit was another issue, as the mini USB port’s opening is not large enough for many cables.
As I pointed out with our Cooler Master QuickFire Stealth keyboard review, a small form-factor keyboard takes some getting used to. I naturally detect the placement of my hands based on the presence of the 10-key pad, and I was frequently mis-placing my hands and double-checking hand placement.
Fortunately, there is a 10-key upgrade that can be added to the right or left of the keyboard. This numpad is reveiewed separately, but I mention it here to note that the extra gap between the keyboard and numpad is enough to make hand placement odd.
The keyboard also does not have a wrist rest. This would have been handy there are times that you don’t want to use the thumb buttons (which would in the case of most people be always). One of the reasons many people choose the Corsair K70 instead of the K60 is primarily for the full-sized wrist rest.
One of the main reasons you might be interested in the Tesoro Tizona is its small footprint, as it can easily be placed in a laptop bag or backpack. This can also be a boon if you have limited desktop space or need to maximize space for your mouse.
Because there is no right keypad, I found myself fudging for arrow keys and the Insert/Delete bank by feel alone. Fortunately, there is an optional 10-key keypad that can be attached to the left or right of the keyboard (reviewed here).
The keyboard uses cheaper Kailh switches, which is not bad in and of itself, but since the switches cost less, the keyboard should not cost the same as one implemented with more expensive Cherry MX switches.
When I pulled off the keycaps to take photos, I noticed that some of the switches were Cherry MX switches. UPDATE 9/22/2014: Tesoro acknoledged that this happened because it is a pre-release board and the production units are fine. This type of thing happens with pre-production units.
The overall layout of the keyboard is good and the keyboard has a good feel and offers a satisfying click, but the typing experience would be more comfortable with a wrist rest.
The Tesoro Tizona is very close to the Cooler Master QuickFire Stealth, It differs from Cooler Master’s offering considering the cheaper switches and the absence of replacement keycaps but pulls ahead when you consider the two USB ports, thumb buttons, and an expandable 10-key numpad.
The things that annoyed me with the QuickFire are also present with the Tizona. The secondary Windows key is replaced by an annoying Fn key, and the thumb buttons are practically useless. If you attach the optional 10-key numpad, then the Tesoro Tizona is as large as the Corsair K95.
This keyboard could be a good backup mechanical keyboard, especially if space in your bag or backpack is an issue. The two powered USB ports and expandability make it an interesting consideration.