Good tenkeyless mechanical keyboard - red switches, blue backlight

[wermcran]

Any recommendations? Ideally I'd like the F keys to be close to the number row.

 

[Nashemon]

I am not an expert on mechanical keyboard by any means. But did a lot of research when I was buying one last year. I've owned two different ones.

I've had a Ducky Shine 3, red switch, blue backlight. Got it online from NCIX for $119 or $129. Worked well as a keyboard, but I had nothing to really compare it to being my first mechanical. I had a few issues with it. First, the B key stopped lighting up. They say the switch can be replaced. I had no luck with that. Ended up damaging several tools and the keyboard. The detachable mini USB cord does not securely attach, so lifting the keyboard bent the USB terminal pretty nicely. The spacebar spring is squeaky.

I bought the Corsair K65 RGB (red switch standard) on a whim from a Best Buy store (employee pricing), regularly $149.. It's not cheap. And it's not blue backlight; It's every color you could ever want. So if you ever get tired of blue, or want to change certain keys, you have that option (with provided software) without buying a new keyboard. I've had no issues with it at all. Like it much better than the Ducky. It does have 2 USB cords, which is a little weird. But they are braided through the same thick cable. I think if you have USB 3.0, you can just use one, though. The backlight is controlled by the software that you have to always have running. It doesn't interfere with anything and works well. Requires reading the online help to use the advanced features, though. Without the software, the keyboard lights up red with white arrows and WASD, which may be undesirable if you're not spending time working in the OS with the software loaded. Would be nice if the keyboard had some kind of memory to store one lighting profile to use outside of the OS, but that may not matter to you.

Either way, I've never considered how close the F keys are to the number row on any keyboard I've ever used, other than a laptop type keyboard, I guess. Never noticed they were different when comparing mechs to rubber dome.