On paper, the Vanguard Air 99 Wireless is a fantastic mechanical keyboard. It offers a full-size layout plus macro keys, a volume knob and a beautiful two-inch OLED display in a footprint narrower than a regular full-size board; it feels rapid thanks to its laptop-like low profile switches; and it works with Corsair's modern web app, so no software runs in the background while you're using it. In person, the Vanguard Air 99 also doesn't disappoint: the metal frame and PBT keycaps feel great, sound dampening produces a satisfying report, and the full RGB backlighting looks great poking through the mixture of backlit and fully transparent keycaps.
The only issue? This keyboard costs £240/$260, a staggering price even for a modern wireless option from a top manufacturer.
That's nearly as much as the Corsair Galleon 100 SD, a keyboard I reviewed for IGN that also includes a full-size Elgato Stream Deck which costs £100 by itself, and comes with all of the must-have FPS features, like binding multiple actions to a single key, speeding up your inputs or adjusting your actuation point. The Air 99 doesn't do Stream Deck stuff - beyond a single Elgato hotkey - and its optical switches are your garden variety version. That means there's with no way to set a custom actuation point, use the keyboard as an analogue input, or access those FPS-focused features I've come to look for.
Still, over time the Vanguard Air 99 will no doubt become a cheaper proposition, and it's still worth covering what this keyboard gets wrong and right for those that come after.
Starting with the design, the Vanguard has plenty of nice touches. The soft bevel around the aluminium frame is cool and smooth to the touch, giving your thumbs a convenient place to rest, while the short z-height ensures that you don't need a full-size palm rest anyway. The subtle Corsair branding feels classy, the mode and Mac/Windows switches are easy to find, and the USB port can be used with replacement cables. I like how the 2.4GHz USB dongle tucks into the frame near the charging port, how the display area juts out slightly in the top right, the definite clicks and chunky texture of the volume wheel alongside. It's all smartly done, packing a lot of features into a design that doesn't feel fussy or cluttered.
The actual typing experience is also top-notch; this might be the best low-profile keyboard I've ever tested. Pressing down each key produces a short, neat, deep sound, and writing at pace produces a similar effect to rain drops on a tin roof. I had to train myself to find the home row, ignoring the extra column of macro keys on the left side, but after that brief adjustment period I've had a comfortable time. I always know when a keyboard remains on my desk way beyond the review period that it's a good one, and that's exactly what's happened here.
With a full layout available, minus a handful of keys that have been lost in the shuffle to slightly squished-together layout, the Air 99 works well for a wide range of games, from fast-paced FPS games that benefit from the short key travel, to slower-paced simulation or RPG titles that require those extra keys to activate less commonly used functions.
FlashTap (aka SOCD, "simultaneous opposing cardinal directions") is the lone FPS feature to make it into the keyboard, and as expected it helps you to master side-strafing in games like Overwatch or Valorant. (For example, if you're holding A to walk left around a corner, SOCD ensures any press of D cancels your A input automatically, speeding up your character's change of direction significantly). There's also up to 8000Hz polling if you want it, which reduces your input delay slightly.
Activating these features, plus the usual key remapping, macro recording and RGB lighting adjustments, are found in the Corsair Web Hub app. This is well organised and works reliably, and also includes . Still, it's nice to be able to make other changes without downloading or running software in the background, and the OLED display at least shows useful stats like your current level of charge, polling rate, OS setting and profile.
With all of its features, and the quality of its construction, it's clear that the Vanguard Air 99 Wireless is a premium keyboard that justifies a premium price. Equally though, £240 is only something I'd recommend paying for a unique keyboard that absolutely ticks every box for you, and does so for years and years. The Air is fantastic, but it's not quite at that buy-at-any-price level of quality. Therefore, I'd suggest waiting until a shopping holiday like Black Friday. This board is much easier to recommend at ~£150, and getting there is surely just a matter of time.