The packaging for the Scythe Kaze Master is certainly 'a little quieter' than what we've come to expect from Scythe. Featuring a dark blue and black theme, the front of the box has a silhouette of the Kaze Master VFD panel and a few small boxes illustrating the features of the unit. The rear of the box features important warranty information and a rear view of the fan controller. Product specifications and contact information adorn the sides.

 

 

The Scythe Kaze Master is certainly well protected by a relatively thick-walled polystyrene box with an easily removable lid. The box itself is compartmentalised and provides 'snug' compartments for both the Kaze Master and the included cabling. There's little risk of shipping damage here - nice work Scythe.

 

 

 

Included in the package were: 

 

 

Scythe has included everything to get you up and running as quickly as possible. The instruction manual is multi-lingual but easy to read and follow which should help make the installation process a breeze.

 

 

 

You can see from the included images that the Scythe Kaze Master is quite unassuming. But I think the beauty is in the simplicity. The front bezel features 4 knobs each numbered in sequence (in case you can't count lol) and a small Scythe logo in the top left hand corner. The knob pots have a very smooth movement to them and feel of very good quality.

 

One thing worthy of a mention here is the Kaze Master's VFD display. A vacuum fluorescent display (VFD) is a display device used commonly on consumer-electronics equipment such as car radios and microwave ovens. Unlike liquid crystal displays, a VFD emits a very bright light with clear contrast and can easily support display elements of various colours. While VFD's make reading a display easy from different angles they can sometimes suffer from fading. Light output drops over time due to falling emission and reduction of phosphor efficiency. How quickly and how far this falls depends on the construction and operation of the VFD. In some equipment, loss of VFD output can render the equipment inoperable.

 

The Scythe Kaze Master doesn't offer the changeable faceplates like the Kama Meter did/does, so you must decide whether the silver or black unit will suit your chassis better.

 

 

Around the rear of the panel, we can see the neat and well laid out PCB. The speaker on the far left hand side of the PCB can be controlled via the jumper immediately below and to the right of it. The red and white sensor cables are attached to the pins at the bottom, to the right of the white power cable connector. Fan cables are attached to the headers on the far right. The Scythe Kaze Master will handle fans with an output of up to 1A per channel which should cater for the majority of cooling duties unless you're wanting to run some serious Delta cooling fans.

 

 

This time around Scythe has chosen to label both the sensor cables and fan cables on each individual connector. The sensor cables have also received a label half way along their length to assist in identification.

 

 

The thermal probes at the end of each sensor cable is protected courtesy of a short piece of clear plastic tubing. It's a nice touch and ensures that the probes remain in the same condition that they were when they left the factory.