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Mechanical keyboad

S

skaertus

Senior member
I have two laptops which I connect to an external display, and a Microsoft keyboard and mouse wireless combo which works well.

Now I am starting to take a look at other options which may make my experience better. I have read some reviews of mechanical keyboards and they seemed to really provide a better typing experience, as far as I could understand.

Then, I started to look at some options of mechanical keyboards which I might use. Nearly all those mechanical keyboards are aimed at gamers. However, I am not a gamer, and I will not use it for games (those days are gone). I am using it for typing. Writing book chapters, articles, essays, memorandums, and so on.

I tried to find some mechanical keyboards to test (and check the typing experience with my fingers) on stores and it was frustrating. I live in Brazil and even in a large city as São Paulo most people do not have an idea of what a mechanical keyboard is.

I went to a few stores and I first found a semi-mechanical keyboard which had a typing feel very similar to a standard keyboard. Disappointing.

Then, in another store, I found a Razer Blackwidow Chroma and a Blackwidow Ultimate. I guess both of them are the versions which use the proprietary Razer switch. They felt very good on my fingers, and they were very clicky. They were also very expensive, in the USD400-500 range. The Brazilian government charges sky-high taxes of more than 100% over electronic devices, so they end up being much more expensive than in the U.S. or any other country. I am not sure I am willing to spend as much money on a keyboard, especially since I can find a device that fulfills the same function (although not as well) for 10 bucks.

I've searched for options and I found some cheaper mechanical keyboards, for even less than USD100, and I guess all of them use the Outemu Blue switch, which, I have learned, is a cheap but good copy of the Cherry MX Blue switch (which seems to be the best for typing, even though not as recommended for gaming).

The options I found were the RedDragon Kumara K552, the Anala K558, the Kala 557, the Varuna K559, as well as other models. There is also the Hyper X Alloy Elite, and some models from OEX. I am not sure about the others, but the RedDragon ones sell in the U.S.

Are they good? Or should I try to find some cheaper Razer models? I do not have the variety I could find in the U.S., so I would have to stick to the choices I have available here.

Thanks.
 
I ended up buying a Redragon K552 Kumara keyboard for about USD 60, which was the cheapest one available here in Brazil with decent reviews. The keys feel just great, and I like the clicky sound. The only thing that bothers me a little is that the keys are very tall, and that there is no wrist rest. I bought a third-party wrist rest, but it is not great.

I am thinking of replacing this keyboard for one with a wrist rest. I looked at other models and I am very confused at Redragon's naming scheme. Initially, I thought that the higher the number, the better the keyboard would be. But it does not seem so.

It seems to me that the K550 Yama is the highest-end model, followed by the K555 Indrah. Then there are the K558 Anala, the K556 Devarajas, the K551 Vara, the K559 Varuna, which seem to be intermediate models, but I do not know exactly where they sit. Finally, the K552 Kumara and the K553 Usas seem to be the lower-end models. Not sure, though. Does someone know how this works? Seems to be very confusing indeed.

Then, first, is it worth to get a keyboard just because of the wrist rest? Second, can someone explain me this confusing naming scheme? Thanks a lot for the help.
 
ok, he lives IN BRASIL so maybe a $150 kb is not a good recommendation.

i own a very expensive CODE with cherry mx clear (circa $220 after taxes and mods) and a VicTsing (circa $40) and to be honest, i'm ok using the $40 kb.

there's been a resurgence of no-brand mechanical keyboards lately, and some even come with Gateron Brown, which apparently are superior even to modern Cherry switches. Outemu (which i have on my blues-clone victsing) are also good. If you dig around the Peripherials sub-forum, you should find some nice reviews ...

oh and the thing with keys being tall .. give it a week and you won't even notice.
 
Last edited:
skaertus said:
I ended up buying a Redragon K552 Kumara keyboard for about USD 60, which was the cheapest one available here in Brazil with decent reviews. The keys feel just great, and I like the clicky sound. The only thing that bothers me a little is that the keys are very tall, and that there is no wrist rest. I bought a third-party wrist rest, but it is not great.

I am thinking of replacing this keyboard for one with a wrist rest. I looked at other models and I am very confused at Redragon's naming scheme. Initially, I thought that the higher the number, the better the keyboard would be. But it does not seem so.

It seems to me that the K550 Yama is the highest-end model, followed by the K555 Indrah. Then there are the K558 Anala, the K556 Devarajas, the K551 Vara, the K559 Varuna, which seem to be intermediate models, but I do not know exactly where they sit. Finally, the K552 Kumara and the K553 Usas seem to be the lower-end models. Not sure, though. Does someone know how this works? Seems to be very confusing indeed.

Then, first, is it worth to get a keyboard just because of the wrist rest? Second, can someone explain me this confusing naming scheme? Thanks a lot for the help.
Click to expand...

Never expect companies' product naming schemes to make sense. The people who came up with it probably couldn't explain it to you either.

Without knowing why you don't like the wrist rest, I'd hesitate to recommend a course of action - I've always used the separate gel ones with the soft (anti-microbial) coverings. The plastic ones make me sweaty.
 
I use a Rosewill RK-9100, which I don't this they make anymore, but I love it. Cherry Red switches give me great response, three levels of backlighting is a treat, and two USB ports for convenience (one uses my Logitech wireless mouse receiver). For $100, it was the best value in mechanical keyboards at the time. Regardless of what you get, backlit keyboards are (IMO) the only way to go. Can't imagine not having one now.
 
My favorite is my filco majestouch ninja 2 blue switch. I've got a few of them. And it's what I use all the time. Also have ducky shine 6 and a couple unicomp keyboards.
 
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