ROG Azoth - Lighting is absolutely terrible!

[LastingOption]

I just received the Azoth two days ago.  Looks like a fantastic board, EXCEPT the lighting is absolutely terrible.

I am using it with my Strix Scar 15 (2022) and the intensity on the laptop just blows this out of the water.  I can say the same about the Logitech G915 and the ROG Claymore II.  There also seems to be something under the R key that is interrupting a perfect light output on just that key, though I have not yet pulled the cap to take a look and while annoying I cannot see any way this could interfere with overall keyboard luminance.

There are two ways to adjust the lighting, via AC and on the keyboard directly.  For me, the settings seem to work together (read: update) most of the time but seems glitchy.  Either way, both settings are maxed. 

Has anyone else experienced similar issues at all with the Azoth?

I'm running keyboard firmware 3.00.26 and dongle firmware 3.00.17.

I'm definitely going to return this one because of the aforementioned, but I am wondering if I should order a replacement Azoth, or move onto something else for awhile and give this product some more time to mature?

Thoughts, anyone?!

[Nate152]

Hello LastingOption

You look to be updated in Armoury Crate.

In Armoury Crate on the Lighting page, you can set the LED Brightness to 100%. While it's not eye blindingly bright, I find it's plenty bright even in a well lit room.

[LastingOption]

Thanks Nate, your experience seems to confirm that I have a defective unit.  The lighting at 100% is barely visible in a well lit room and not that great in darkness.  I'll return this one and give it another shot.

[Nate152]

Hold off on returning it.

What I might think is plenty bright you might not, so I'll post a picture in a few minutes as soon as my camera charges.

[Nate152]

Apologies for the blurry picture but you should get a sense of the lighting.

[LastingOption]

I really appreciate you taking the time to snap a pic and let me see for myself!  Sadly, my Azoth lighting isn't even in the same ballpark as yours..

[Nate152]

Well, my camera isn't doing much justice, they all look like the Esc key but a little darker.

If you're able to change the LED Brightness from 25% - 50% - 75% - 100% with each setting getting brighter, I would say your ROG Azoth is working properly.

[LastingOption]

Your pic was great, thanks.  Here is one I just took with an iPhone 14 Pro Max, which unfortunately has already applied its logic to produce an image that it thinks I want to see.  It looks much worse in person, but even here you can see that the Scar 15 2022 is orders of magnitude brighter.  I hesitated to even post this photo because of the way Apple's usually-great-but-not-always-desired computational photography changes different parts of the same image.  You can also see in the picture that the keys appear to be at the same luminance as the OLED display, which is absolutely not the case in reality.  Colors seemingly look ok sans being incredibly dim but pure white (255,255,255) looks very dull with a pink hue.

I am, however, able to change the brightness in the increments you mention on the keyboard and in Armoury Crate.  I've also maxed the brightness in every spot I've found it, including with and without Aura Sync, on the Aura Sync option itself and individually for just the Azoth with Aura Sync disabled.  Additionally, I've observed no discernable changes in illumination with changes in connection method and the product is two days old and fully charged.

I probably should have left out my pic but I wanted to include it for the sake of comparison, even though it does not reflect what I am witnessing in person.  Also, I don't wish to presume that the Azoth lighting is or should be expected to match my Scar, but it genuinely looks like it doesn't fit at all and although it's been several months since I've had the Claymore II, I would estimate the peak brightness of my particular Azoth to be absolutely no greater than 50% of the Claymore II's peak brightness.

Other than this and the annoying R key which is slightly evident if you zoom on the pic, I have experienced no issues whatsoever with firmware updates, and any connection type I choose really is instantaneous.

[Nate152]

 Thank you for the picture, you look to be in a vey well lit room, more lit than mine. Your picture looks more like the actual lighting and comparing yours to mine, I would say yours looks normal.

Comparing the lighting with the ROG Azoth to the ROG Falchion, they're similar.

I don't really notice anything with the R key but if it looks off, you can pull it off and reseat it.

So, I wouldn't return it for another to expect brighter lighting, I would only return it if you want a different keyboard with brighter lighting.