20 Best Switches For Gaming Keyboard (2023 Updated)

It is such a great keyboard experience. RGB! PINK! RAINBOWS! CLICKITYCLACKITY! The RGB is so customizable down to each individual key but if you can’t be bothered with any of that, the presets available are all really cool and you can change those with a press of a button.

Obviously keeping it clean is a concern but if you’re careful with your belongings, no problems. Another possible concern is it’s quite a high keyboard. It’s not an issue for me but other people may find it to be – nothing a wrist rest wont fix though.

The Keyboard is bloody great. It’s the quality i was searching for. Very comfortable and smooth. Extremely quiet. Love the extruded aluminium frame and even the rubber feet feel right when moving it around.

Could use a bit more incline to tilt the keyboard back. I just set it on a 19mm piece of wood for time being, and that works well. The lights were a surprise but pretty well orchestrated, well very well orchestrated.

Amazing clicky keyboard. Very comfortable to type on and looks absolutely amazing. The colour options for the lighting are so good. I love it. Get lots of comments on it on insta with my set up!

Note: I lubed these keys before ever installing/using them, so my experience is not the out-of-the-box product. These are very consistent tactile switches, with a bump that I like, and which use relatively heavy springs.

After lubing (springs in light lube, rest of switch surfaces with heavier) and installing in a GMMK PRO and using a set of Keychron PBT keycaps, these switches give me *exactly* the feel and sound that I love when typing/working.

Well worth the time, cost and effort in the long run. Very satisfying.

These are like Holy Pandas as they are made to be like them, but one of the main differences is the pretravel is much shorter to get to the bump. This is all based on preference if you like this or not.

These switches are great, they feel fantastic after some lube, which the G-Lube is perfect for. If you’ve always had Cherry MX Browns and think hmm I like tactile switches, then you should get these because they are actually tactile haha.

While yes this switch is shrouded in a bit of controversy the performance of this switch is no joke. They come completely dry and while that may mean they arent simply plug and play they are 100 percent worth the effort of lubing.

After lubing these switches are the real deal. Dry they are a bit scratchy and do suffer from spring ping but that is all fixed with the lubing. TL:DR after lubing boy do they thocc.

Quite tactile. In fact one of the most tactile switches I’ve come across. No rattling or scratchiness. Works seamlessly with my Keychron K2 board. Solid investment imo. Shipping was delayed due to Aus post covid delays.

Friendly service and were helpful when I contacted about the delays.

Just came from Milky Yellows. These feel slightly better but could still use more lube from factory. Might re lube with Krytox 205. Sound great, not too heavy on the keypress. Shame they don’t do 3 pin switches since I’m using this on my GMMK.

Yes, they’re expensive. Yes – they’re not the most incredible switch out there. HOWEVER – If you want something that feels good, sounds good and doesnt require extra lubing or suffer from availability issues – you can’t go past these for availability and consistency.

I feel like I hit the Jackpot with this keyboard. Its so hard to find white components for PC’s that are high Quality. The Razer Huntsman Mini carries the brand’s standout optical mechanical switch keyboard.

With each key’s light feel accompanied by premium double shot PBT keycaps, it can be great for both gaming and typing. I will have to advise against installing the Razer software. You can simply activate gaming mode by pressing function key +U.

The Razer software has A few bugs that need to be straitened out before I will attempt to re-install. A lot of people compare this to the Ducky 2 MINI, Since I snagged this from Best Buy for half the price of the Ducky 2 mini and this being an all white keyboard vs the blue enter Key on the ducky II I figured this decision was A no-Brainer.

Even if the ducky II mini did not have the blue key I would of went with Razer regardless. Using Razer mechanical keyboards at work and at home with clicky optical keys keys is perfect with me. I feel that Razer keyboards have build quality that are built to last If you feel the need for that.

15 MS faster response time to compensate for your slow reaction time when playing Apex or War Zone then by all means get the linear switch version. I find this keyboard to be more then enough for my needs.

Even after 2 weeks I am able to navigate fine when writing code without having the standard arrow key’s.

Outstanding keyboard for the $85 sale price I purchased it at. I likely would have purchased a different board instead if this was full price ($130). I’m also really happy that I purchased this 60% board instead of Corsairs, mostly because the arrow keys on the Corsair board are too far from the function key, and the switches on this board feel better.

Pros: – The 60% form factor is great for both saving desk space and freeing up space for your mouse in shooters. – The PBT keycaps feel great. – The RGB is subtle and sufficient. – The Razer optical red switches are so far my favorite mechanical switches.

(I’ve previously tried Cherry reds, silent reds, silvers, browns, blues, and Corsair OPX). Additional pros: – The red switches have a bit of resistance before you press, so accidental presses are less common than on other linear switches.

– The keys are significantly quieter than all other mechanical switches I’ve used, including the silent reds. Additionally, there’s enough room in the keyboard that you can open it up and install a layer of foam to further dampen the sound of the keyboard.

– There’s no noticeable latency. (rtings claims that this keyboard has less than 4ms input latency) – The detachable USB-C cable is nice. – The placement of the secondary function keys is fairly good.

After a few weeks of practice and learning, there’s basically nothing that I’d need a bigger keyboard for. It’s now second nature for me to use the function key to access the arrow keys. Cons: – The “feet” to raise the keyboard are borderline useless because of how badly the keyboard slides around the desk when they’re down.

It would have been better to just not include incline options with this keyboard than to provide feet that are that bad. The keyboard is otherwise stable when flat. – No on-board memory for saving profiles for use between computers.

– The pre-programmed secondary functions cannot be reprogrammed, period. Not on the keyboard itself, and not in Razer’s software. – No included wrist rest. I recommend budgeting for one when buying this board.

– Razer Synapse software for the keyboard is not good. It chews through a good amount of CPU resources, and it updates sufficiently frequently to make using it truly obnoxious. I highly recommend never using the Synapse software to control fancy lighting effects.

Your CPU will heat up more when the machine should otherwise be mostly idle, and it can lead to frame drops in games. I only boot Synapse up to change the sensitivity on my Razer mouse, then promptly shut it down.

– And one really minor gripe. the keys *slightly* rattle a bit when pressed. Other than that they actually sound pretty good.

As a senior software developer, I spend nearly all my time using a keyboard – working, gaming, chatting, etc. I’ve gone down the rabbit hole and have dozens of keyboards – split, joined, ortholinear, chording.

You name it, I’ve tried it. I tried another brand’s “Red Linear” and it was awful for both the feel of the keys and the ringing noise after each press. If you’re serious about a soft touch and a good ‘warm’ keypress sound, The Huntsman Mini is in a whole new league and is highly recommended.

Perhaps it’s the optical switches, or just the build quality of the back board, but it feels fantastic. Of course, this is a 60%, so if arrow keys are important than avoid the mini, but if navigation shortcuts don’t phase you and you want a compact, full featured keyboard then look no further.

Typing speed out of the box was easily 70wpm for me with minimal errors and mis-strokes. The sensitivity seems to be dialed in perfectly. With a bit more practice on this board 100wpm+ feels easily attainable.

This is a worthy keyboard – especially for the price. Signing off, Keyboardiophile.

Brilliant out of the box performance. Did take a little breaking in for the spacebar to return properly but excellent sound and feel. Running them in an RK84 with the HyperX Pudding keycaps and the sound and feel is just phenomenal.

Highly recommend if you’re looking to upgrade from a standard MX or Gateron Brown.

By far one of the best budget tactile switches. These feel and sound amazing with a bit of lubricant (avoid lubing stem legs). They are not too hard to press (unlike many premium tactiles), perfect for typing and much better than stock cherry / gateron browns which come with many keyboards.

these sound really good, I currently only have them on a switch tester set because i’m saving up for a Glorious GMMK. Very excited to finish my build ! Going for a Sakura themed build but with blues for a change.

Definitely a 9/10 for these switches.

Pros: -Solid construction -Lap friendly design -Mechanical, somewhat silent switches -Good Wireless -Dedicated macro keys Cons: -The Romer-G’s are cheap switches compared to Cherrys, -Oppressive control and configuration software.

-The macro keys do not stay configured without the software running. My use case: I have the keyboard sitting in my lap and game on my big TV with it sitting on a couch with a mouse on the arm of it and the PC sitting under the end table to the side of that.

I’ve owned 4 Logitech G613’s. While well engineered with integral wrist rest and long-life batteries, they have their problems. the keys being the biggest ones. The first one lasted about a year before the keys started “repeating”.

Hit “m” and get “mm” on the screen for example. It got to the point where I was wasting a lot of time backspacing instead of typing on Discord or in-game. I replaced it with another. This one also only lasting a year or so before doing the same.

With a new lower price, I bought two more. My current one and one in reserve. In between the first two and the recent two, I tried a Razer Blackwidow V3 Pro which I paid a lot for and used very little.

In my use case, wired keyboards are problematic, with wires eventually breaking from movement. With the computer and mouse on the right of the right-side of a couch, you need wireless to place the keyboard out of the way to the left to stand up.

Another downside is the oppressive software that must be installed if you want to program the macro keys, and the macro keys don’t stay programmed if the software isn’t running. I use the macro keys, most notably for Discord’s Push to Talk key.

It’s a great design for for “in the lap” gaming. The engineering and non-minimalist design with built on wrist-rest and traditional sunken key design with resting and handling bezel is ideal. The bezel is large enough you can lift the keyboard off easily and set it aside to get up.

The lack of vanity LEDs and 2xAA batteries give it life that lasts months. I never seem to have it lose signal. Aside from the cheap switches, these really are quality keyboards. I’d pay triple it’s price for one with quality switches.

My IDEAL keyboard. Logitech G613 chassis – integral wrist-rest, full keyboard, full-height, mechanical keys sunken, wide bezel to rest fingers and palms on. Replace the keys with Cherry MX Brown switches.

Add a simple, low power LED system for backlighting that can be enabled/disabled via a hardware switch. Increase battery count to 4 cells for lifespan or a Li-ION system that can last approximately 250 hours of use between charging (8 hrs a night for 30 days).

Use the Logitech Lightspeed wireless system and put a small microcontroller/flash memory on the board so once macros are set on the keyboard, they stay set across reboots and don’t require the software running.

Hardware Windows key disable switch. Finally, software devoid of metrics collection and spyware. THIS is my IDEAL keyboard.

Build quality isn’t bad, it’s built like a tank. I like having the extra buttons I can assign to various things. There’s a switch that also disables the Windows keys which is nice. It’s not RGB which isn’t a bad thing but it would be nice to have perhaps maybe white LEDs to light the keys up some.

Not that it’s a dealbreaker. The Romer-G switches are. different. Took me some getting used to as I normally prefer something like Cherry Red MX switches. They’re similar to it but maybe a bit more clacky and the resistance of the keys doesn’t feel as much as the Cherry Red keys I prefer.

I’ve come around on it after a couple weeks of use between work and play and to be fair it’s not bad. Between typing out emails to gaming, they’ve started to grow on me. Battery life is outstanding as well as responsiveness in gaming.

I like the idea of switching between lightspeed and Bluetooth for my PC and tablet. Hell it comes with a nice little tablet stand if you need one. The wrist wrest is integrated into the keyboard which for me is a bit of a con but I got used to it.

I would have liked to see a removeable one but it’s not like it’s an inconvenience or anything. All in all it’s a solid wireless mechanical keyboard for the price. If anything I’d recommend seeing one where you can get a feel for the keys if it’s for you.

Mechanical and wireless? I thought this was an amazing idea. The keyboard is sturdy and the sound of the keys is pretty satisfying and this thing has survived some pretty rough treatment and kept going without even flinching.

The surface finish is a different story though. Within a year, maybe even less, the surface of the caps and the palm rest were shiny. As it sits right now it looks like I’ve had this thing for 4 or 5 years so I have to ding the quality on that one because I’ve had more heavily used keyboards go for at least 3 years before looking so worn out.

Another thing is the key response. If you breathe on these keys they will register a key-stroke. Okay, a bit of an exaggeration but I can’t count how many times I’ve ever so lightly touched one of the keys only to have it register an unwanted keystroke and it can get out of hand REALLY fast.

Still a good keyboard if you don’t have clumsy fingers like me.

I’ve been using this keyboard for over a year now, and it does the job. The keys feel decent, though (for comparison) I’d pick my old Razer BlackWidow over this one (and of course this one over a standard membrane keyboard).

The media control keys are as useful as on any other keyboard. The LED patterns are a bit of a gimmick, but not complaining. There’s one pattern that highlights the key you just pressed, which is kind of cool.

Problems I’ve had: (1) On my Mac (Mid-2015 MacBook Pro), I find the keyboard hangs about once or twice a day. By “hangs” I mean that the keyboard stops responding and the LED pattern freezes, so it’s like the keyboard’s internal processors have stopped.

Unplugging and replugging gets the keyboard going again, so it’s not fatal, just annoying. I’ve had no such problems with this keyboard on my PC (Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon). (2) After about 6 months I found some keys started to double-press intermittently, as in, would insert two characters when I pressed it once.

Again, annoying, but doesn’t render it unusable. As a relatively inexpensive entry-level tactile non-clicky mechanical keyboard I think this is good. I’m happy but not thrilled with it, and given the price, I don’t feel I can complain.

If you’re very particular about your keyboard’s performance, maybe spend a bit more on another model =).

I’ve been using the keyboard for around 2 weeks now, and it’s quite a good keyboard. The switches, however are a bit scratchy and the tactile bump that the brown switch is supposed to have is almost non-existent.

It is very subtle and you will have to concentrate the actually feel the tactile bump. The switches are made by TTC. The build quality is very sturdy, and the aluminium used for the board is a nice touch as it tends to reflect the RGB quite well.

RGB is very bright and you can see it clearly even in the day. The software for the keyboard is very easy to use. Overall, this keyboard is very nice for it’s price and I reccomend it for anyone just starting to get into the keyboard community and on a budget.

This was my first (and only,) mechanical keyboard that I’ve bought. I was honestly hesitant to even buy one, because you know, how much better could they be? But oh man, I was blown away by this keyboard.

It’s pretty much one of the only ones in this price range that has individually controllable RGB LEDs (ARGB) and macros, and it’s remarkably stylish. The typing experience is amazing; I’m actually using it to type this review! The lights are vibrant and shockingly bright; my first reaction to plugging the keyboard in was ‘oooooh wow.

‘ The lighting can be customized using the keyboard or the software, which is a nice touch. And, I mean, you can play snake with the lights on your keyboard 😀 That said, there are a few niggles. The wrist pad rest thing that was included with the keyboard has a fabric top layer, much like a mousepad, and has already started to fray at the edges.

The software leaves a fair bit to be desired, and for some reason, the keyboard doesn’t work with alternative software like Project Aurora. One last thing that bothers me a little is that the keyboard software feels the need to use my system microphone, but on the positive side the keyboard can be used without any software at all, if you’re paranoid about yet another tech company stealing your data.

That said, I’m incredibly pleased with my purchase, and plan to keep using this keyboard for the foreseeable future.

If you are looking for a mechanical keyboard with clicky keys, this is for you. It also has RGB LEDs which can be set with the iCue software to do either patterns or application specific color patterns (like movement cross in a specific color).

Like all the blinkenlights it can be controlled via Asus’ Aurora software (or OpenRGB on linux). The only thing I didn’t like about the keyboard is the keycaps are essentially upside down for the letters (the shift-character is below the un-shifted character) For example the ^ is below the 6 but still works the way you expect, which for numbers is fine but on things like the backslash are confusing initially.

The spacebar has a crosshatch carbon-fiber texture on it which is nice. Unlike a lot of modern keyboards the USB cable (USB-A) is built in (and quite thick with a braided cover) so if you were hoping to color match with a custom cable this isn’t for you.

It has all the usual media keys and flip-feet. A spare USB-A passthrough port on the back is where you expect it to be. The media keys work on the Mac as is, on windows you load the driver (plug-n-play on win-10) and it worked on Ubuntu out of the box.

The other thing I would note is the back corners are quite sharp (odd on a molded piece of plastic) but 2 seconds with a nail file and the corner can be dulled down.

I love this Corsair k70 low profile keyboard. I love the lights in this keyboard. There’s so many different variations that you can use. It really adds to the experience if there’s low light or at night time.

And I use this for playing digital pinball games. I bet you didn’t know that was a thing. I remember playing that back in the 70s and I loved playing pinball with my friends at the store. So I found a website that you can purchase these games.

And you use the shift keys for your flippers and the control keys will nudge it. Well trust me I pound on these keys and it can take a beating. You don’t have to do that in order to play these games but when I’m in the zone I accidentally do it all the time.

Doesn’t make the ball go any faster but of course when I’m in the zone I forget this isn’t an actual pinball machine and I pound on the keys sometimes. That’s why I know this keyboard can take a beating and still holds up with no problem.

I have never cracked one of the keys on this. Now the old model they had a few years ago those keys cracked all the time. Not this one. They have redesigned this and this thing is sweet. And it has a control for the volume on this silver wheel at the top.

And you can lock the keys with this button at the top that has a picture of a padlock so that while you’re playing a game you don’t accidentally hit the Windows key or something and screw up your game.

I think this thing is definitely overpriced but at least you know you’re going to be getting a really good keyboard that should last for a long time. It even has a USB on it for hooking something up to it like your mouse or a webcam?.

Straight out of the box, is an amazingly sensitive keyboard. Loved the feel, layout, response, overall noise, every aspect. iCUE isn’t the greatest to work with but I got disappointed over time. My previous keyboard (a cheap mechanical Roccat) lasted me about 3 years with no issues and I upgraded to this as I was upgrading my system as a whole.

This keyboard only lasted 1 year and 5 months before experiencing Key Chatter across common keys. After a thorough clean and no improvement, I replaced the damaged switches with un-used ones from the keyboard.

2 and a half months later, key chatter again. Apparently, the keyboard wasn’t covered due to wear and tear given its age. I was disappointed at the fact I’ll have to replace what’s marketed as a high-quality keyboard at such an earlier stage than lower-quality keyboards from competitors.

Overall: Amazing keyboard for short-term usage. Loved it overall and felt the higher price point was worth it however time has not been on its side and its shorter lifespan compared to other keyboards has left me extremely disappointed in a keyboard I thought so highly of.

I’ve got a few things from Cooler Master by now and I really do like this keyboard. I’m not the type to need the AIMPAD tech, but it’s nice for it to be there when I do game. It took a while to sort out the software, It was an absolute pain.

As for the shipping package. It arrived totally obliterated, someone had taken the liberty of opening it on both ends and the actual package box itself was opened as if someone was going to rifle through it.

Fortunately there’s nothing wrong with the device and I did put in a report. Maybe Newegg could more safely package items so the products don’t become victims of weather and abusive/thoughtless shipping agents; that’d be wonderful.

This keyboard is similar to the outgoing Quickfire Rapid in form and function, but with a few noteworthy improvements. The case is made of a smooth, hard plastic, rather than the rubberized, dust-attracting plastic the QFR used.

The detachable cable can be routed through three different channels in the bottom of the case, compared to the QFR’s single channel. While there is no included PS/2 adapter, the Masterkeys achieves N-key rollover over USB, whereas the QFR only offered 6-key rollover over USB.

Finally, the caps, scroll and winkey lock indicator LEDs are lined up above the arrow keys, rather than built into the switches of their respective keys as it was with the QFR. Should you decide to get another set of keycaps, you won’t have to worry about covering up these lights.

Unfortunately, Coolermaster dropped the ball with the keycaps. While they are thick PBT, as advertised, they’re laser-etched and ink-filled, meaning the legends will wear down and fade about as quickly as most stock keycaps would.

Such a shame, too: the caps feel great and have nice looking legends. They keycaps are still a cut above most stock keycaps, especially in this price range, so I didn’t deduct an egg. In the future, I sincerely hope CM uses dye-sublimation or double-shot injection for any PBT keycaps they choose to ship with their boards.

Despite they flawed, though functional keycaps, this board is an excellent budget tenkeyless. It boasts quite a few improvements over the Quickfire Rapid, while maintaining the rock-solid construction and low price.

A very light linear switch. Personally I like heavier switches in my keyboards but I picked these up to try them out. I’m honestly really surprised how well I like them. At times they could be mushy.

They do need to be lunes to feel better.

I’ve been using this keyboard for probably 3 years and has been a solid keyboard for 2. 5 years. Some of the keys will repeatedly press when only pressed once. And sometimes not work at all which can be quite annoying.

Been thinking of upgrading because of these reasons but feel a bit uneasy on choosing logitech again. I also have a g920 simulator wheel that has developed 2 slight malfunctions. After using the wheel for maybe 15 minutes.

The steering won’t be calibrated anymore and will need to be unplugged and restarted which is time consuming and annoying. And also the sensitivity of the steering will be locked at the highest level and can’t be changed through the logitech g application because it won’t register until wheel has been restarted.

maybe some of your newer products might be of higher quality. I sure wouldn’t mind getting a new keyboard some time soon. Also quick note, the keyboard has a nice typing feel to it and also a satisfying click.

I bought this keyboard when my corsair strafe died after 7 years. Its a great keyboard, less noisy than cherry keys and the compact size is great for less space desks. The annoying bit about this keyboard is whenever you wake your pc the keyboard light takes 5 seconds to turn on which is very frustrating when you are typing your security key you can’t see anything if you sit in a dark room like myself.

Another thing i don’t like is secondary key characters such as !$ etc the backlit light is not strong enough to show you those keys.

This was the first keyboard I ever bought and I slightly regret it, the switches are okay but the material of the keyboard feels cheap and the stabilisers are plain awful. The keyboard was $200 when I bought it.

I could find cheaper keyboards with better stabilisers, cheaper and better switches, better build quality and includes lube. I would definitely not recommend this keyboard to anyone because there are better alternatives however the keyboard’s software is really good.

This keyboard is intolerable to use. I have been using a 20 dollar keyboard from Walmart for the past 5 years and use a variety of different basic/old keyboards at work and decided to treat myself to a high quality keyboard.

However this is the worst keyboard I have ever used. Its so sensitive that spacebar and ; constantly get pressed just by resting your fingers on them without applying any force. I had to plug in my old keyboard just to write this review because its impossible to type with the Hunstman Tournament without constantly having your hands hovered above the keyboard like you’re about to try to strangle it.

It does not help in games either. My movement was slower in Apex Legends because making the keys more sensitive is still slower if you can’t have your fingers rested on the keys you commonly use cause now your finger takes more time to get to it.

It’s almost impossible to hit certain keys without hitting other keys as well and updating the drivers and changing the limited settings in the software that forces you to make an account did not help either.

This was a huge waste of my time and money and I’m returning it tomorrow.

These make fantastic gaming keyboards due to the removal of the numpad area, without losing keys you actually need in every day use like the 60% variants do. Noise is quiet to moderate – These are just louder than MX reds, but far far quieter than clicky blues.

Razer software works well and custom keybindings for any missing keys can be saved into the keyboard itself if you have a program or game that needs a specific key PBT keycaps are great, i changed one of mine to the razer mercury white keycaps and love the look.

Came damaged but the pccg team was quick to replace it with a perfect new one. Very very fast switches and relatively quiet operation. RGB is done very well and does not bleed through the keycaps. The doubleshot pbt keycaps have a quality dense feel.

The removable usb c cable is a great addition.

The keyboard is great. The settings in G Hub to customize macros and RGB is practically limitless. The GX blue switches are smooth and have great feedback and that beloved click sound. (Don’t buy if you don’t like, find the browns.

) the deliver was one day later than the estimated, but it is an estimate, you expect an extra day or two. Other than that, PCCG even threw in a FREE bag of Haribo as a little personal touch!.

I bought this as my first moddable mechanical keyboard a few years back, meaning that prior to that I had only ever owned a Corsair K90. After a few years of using this thing, I’m back to give it a proper review.

First, the build construction is lovely. The metal makes it feel really solid. The feet on it are great, so it doesn’t slide around. The LEDs emit the perfect amount of light to keep the keyboard looking more sleek and less obnoxious.

The solid construction also helps give the keyboard a nice “thocky” sound right out of the gate when typing. I haven’t tried to tape mod this one, mostly because there doesn’t seem to be much room for it in the case.

I have seen some foam kits online specifically for the CTRL if you are really trying to squeeze every last bit of “thock” out of your keyboard. Coming from the K90, I thought I would miss having all the extra keys, but I don’t.

I do still really like having the right hand stack, which is why I generally keep coming back to TKL keyboards instead of the 60%-75% that a lot of other enthusiasts prefer. I won’t comment on the switches, since those are entirely subjective anyways, but the keycaps and stabilizers provided are fine.

If you’re getting serious about this hobby, you’ll likely replace the keycaps with something you like better anyways. I do highly recommend picking up a different set of stabilizers though. The Drop Phantoms are a good cost-effective step up if you don’t know what else to buy.

The main drawback I would say is the firmware. Yes, it’s based on QMK, so you can get your keyboard doing some pretty cool things with a little bit of time and research. But it’s not VIA compatible, which is a pretty glaring flaw in 2023 to be honest.

Yes, Drop has an online configurator to remap keys and lights easily if you don’t want to dig into QMK (as well as a standalone GUI configurator that has been “coming soon” for. I don’t know how long), but their recent rollout of the latest major firmware update via the online configurator caused some serious issues for many people’s keyboards, though thankfully those issues seem to be (mostly?) resolved by now.

Taking all of this into consideration, Drop’s keyboards just feel a bit behind the times with their firmware, but if you only plan to do very minimal tinkering with your keyboard’s lights and keymaps, then that’s probably of no consequence to you.

Overall, I’d recommend the CTRL, since you’re getting a pretty great keyboard at a very reasonable price, which is important in a hobby as expensive as mechanical keyboards. Can you do better when it comes to TKL mechanicals? Yes, but probably not without forking out a bunch more cash.

This is my first mechanical keyboard and I figure why not go all out. It certainly is a lot more expensive than other keyboard’s that I saw, but I was drawn by the clean aesthetics of it. Build quality of the keyboard is fantastic, really nice weight to it and it feels like a premium product.

I bought the Halo Clear keycaps which were really tiring on my hands when typing. I eventually bought new switches and replaced the letters and they feel much better. Some cons (that aren’t dealbreakers for me): I agree with a lot of other people, the keyboard stabilizer gives off a significantly different feel than pressing the other keys.

I’ve looked into other stabilizers but not experienced enough to replace it on my own yet. Taking out the switches at first were brutal. I suppose this goes into build quality, but it felt like I was about to break the included tweezers when trying to take out the switch (they eventually do come out and subsequent attempts are a lot easier) There seems to be a high-pitched whine when shifting to certain colors on the keyboard that I hear when using headphones; this also happens when I activate the “pulse” feature.

I use the white, static lighting mode which doesn’t emit a high pitch for whatever reason. The keyboard feet are magnetic which a lot of people have voiced issues about. I never move my keyboard so this is not an issue for me, but I can see people who move their keyboard a lot be concerned about losing the feet since they come off if you nudge them in the right spot.

Overall, despite the cons, I’m very happy with my purchase and I don’t feel a need to ever get a new mechanical keyboard.

The pros below I think overall outweigh the cons, as they are overall more important. But the cons are quite a few and I think compound to a bit of disappointment, especially given the price. Pros: Beautiful keyboard all round – I have the low edge version with visible keycaps and it really looks the part.

Good heft to it (you won’t want to carry it around, but on a desk it feels really nice) and nice metal build quality. Love the customisability and the fact that it is fully programmable (for now through a custom program, but full QMK support might be coming soon?).

Extra USB port is great! Cons: RGB other than white cause the keyboard to make an audible whine sound which is quite annoying (white actually does that too but it’s too high pitched to be heard at more than a centimetre from the keyboard).

Some forums suggest it may be a power issue, but I’ve tried several ways to connect the keyboard (including to a desktop) and it’s still present. RGB options are not many. The keys have slightly different sounds, and the space bar in particular is quite noisy.

This may improve with use, but for the price point I would expect a bit more uniformity with better lubing and care. The side LEDs are not very uniform – the diffusing plastic bar works somewhat, but the single light points are still visible.

I bought the huntsman elite while it was 159. 99 in-store and so far I am really liking it. I first considered trying a hot-swappable keyboard but could not let the $40 sale price go. about 3 weeks later and I love using this keyboard and it works perfectly for not just gaming, but for my school work as well.

The RBG and control from Razer Synapse are fairly easy to learn and look good. The media and volume control in the top right corner is a huge plus for me as I listen to music often while working and gaming.

The purple opto-mecha switches feel crisp and feel very satisfying to type on (do note I am coming from a laptop membrane keyboard). The wrist rest is also very plush and a lot better than the Blackwidow plastic wrist rest.

The wrist rest also has RGB lights and syncs to the keyboard via the magnetic connection point. I recommend this to anyone who isn’t too into the “build your own keyboard” trend, is looking for a good-looking sturdy keyboard, and is willing to spend a couple of extra dollars for quality.

I have enjoyed my time with this keyboard so far and have enjoyed the rich feature set of this board. Razer nailed the looks. It can be loud if you want that or quiet if you adjust how far you push the keys down without any performance hit.

The only downside I could forsee is that it needs two available USB ports. One for the keyboard and one for the underglow. Not necessary to function but be advised. The palm rest attaches via magnet on the front making it extremely modular to give a user options.

The palm ready also has underglow as a nice bonus.

This is my first mechanical or gaming keyboard. I’ve been using my laptop keyboard or, when I use my desk top set up, I use a regular keyboard. This keyboard has made gaming (and typing in general) more enjoyable than ever before.

It looks incredibly sleek on its own, but when you add the wrist rest and the RGB lights it looks phenomenal. I really love the Chroma lighting on the keys, and especially how it goes all the way around the keyboard as well as the wrist rest when you have that attached.

I have an entertainment area set up with my Philips Hue light bulbs and the Huntsman Elite works perfectly with the Hue bulbs for totally immersive gaming, and when I’m not gaming, just chilling, it makes my room look really cool.

Installing the Synapse software and setting up the keyboard was super easy. With the Synapse software you can completely customize your keyboard – reprogram keys, customize your lighting and lighting zones.

The dedicated digital dial and media keys are a fantastic addition, I wish all keyboards had these. I especially love how the dial sticks out over the side just a bit, it’s easy to find by touch instead of having to look away from your screen to find it when you want to adjust the volume.

The keyboard itself is outstanding – the keys are delightfully clicky and only a very light key press is needed. The clicking is a little loud but I don’t mind it, I find the sound to be soothing. The keys are extremely fast and responsive, typing is flawless whether gaming or using for everyday internet browsing, school, or work.

I haven’t noticed any input lag at all. There are feet on the keyboard bottom that allow you to adjust the height – you have 2 height options to choose from with the feet. It’s got a little wright to it, and there are rubber bumpers on the bottom to keep it from easily sliding around on your desk.

The USB cables are thick and braided, which seems to add to the durability as well as making them look nice. There are 2 USB cables – 1 for the keyboard and 1 for the wrist rest, so that means using 2 of your computer’s USB ports, unless you choose not to use the wrist rest, or to use the wrist rest without plugging it in.

There’s no USB port on the keyboard itself, but that’s not a dealbreaker for me, I have a USB hub that I’d use instead anyway. The wrist rest is plush and comfortable, and it looks great with the Chroma lighting running around it.

It’s magnetic so connecting it and removing it is quick and easy. It’s genuinely hard to find anything that I DON’T like about this keyboard, but if I have to find something to pick on it’s that the keys are so easily smudged with oils from my fingers.

I’m a bit obsessive about fingerprints and smudges on my electronics so I find myself wiping the keys off with a sanitizing wipe once a day at least. I might be the only person that notices this kind of thing though! It’s not a huge deal and certainly doesn’t change my opinion of how NICE this keyboard is.

It’s honestly a well thought out, extremely well made keyboard. I’m tremendously proud to own it and to show it off to all of my friends.

I bought this keyboard to use with my workstation. I do a lot of work in product design and prototyping, from 3D modeling, to graphic design and simple animations, to programming microcontrollers. I had completely worn out my 2013 Black Widow and decided to try the optical switch technology included in the Huntsman Elite.

BUT, I absolutely have to have a lighted keyboard and need a single color displayed all of the time. My 2013 Black Widow used green LEDs and I was hoping I could get the Huntsman Elite to look similar.

AND THEN I RAN INTO THE BRICK WALL OF THE RAZER SYNAPSE SOFTWARE! What a bloated, intrusive bunch of code that is! There is no way to set the color on the keyboard to a single color without using Synapse.

I absolutely will not run that software on my workstation. After two days of trying to live with it I uninstalled it. Come on Razer, surely you can build a simple option that allows a user to set a single color and not have eight different sets of code running in the background! As far as the keyboard is concerned, out of the box it’s pretty disappointing.

The keys lack the type of lubrication they ought to have to allow them to function as well as they might. Look online and see what some of the keyboard hackers have done to make the keys perform to their potential.

I don’t have the time, or desire, to pull this thing apart and do what Razer should have done in the first place, especially when I can’t get the lighting set the way I want it without the bloat and intrusion of Synapse.

There are some open source work arounds that I could download and use to achieve the lighting that I want. And then I could run a small script at startup to boot a lighting profile developed with one of the open source methods.

That would get the job done, maybe. But I am not impressed enough with the keyboard to go to that kind of trouble. I’ll give this one away to someone who wants to tinker with it. I think I’ll just pick up a Logitech 845 with blue cherry switches and be done with this one.

The Huntsman Elite was a total disappointment for me.

I wasn’t planning to get this keyboard; however it was on sale, and I can honestly say I’ve never had a keyboard this good before. It’s ridiculously responsive, clicky-in-all-the-right ways (I get a tingle down my spine after typing some things), and yet it doesn’t feel like I am hammering away at some old mechanical switches.

It feels like typing on air, each key moving with the lightest touch, but not in a spongy way like some other keyboards. It’s like the button moves down just enough to match your finger, and it knows just when you mean to click, and when you don’t.

At first it was a little oversensitive, but I’ve honestly adjusted super quickly because of how fantastic it is. Plus, again, the audio feedback is very nice. Also, while I wasn’t sold on the wrist rest at first, it is honestly nice to have.

All in all, this keyboard is so good that my work keyboard is starting to become unbearable in comparison. Build quality is excellent and durable, with no obvious defects. Lighting is gorgeous, vibrant, and easily tweaked in Razer Synapse.

The only cons I can see are that some of the key symbols (like those accessed by hitting the shift key) are not backlit, which can make more complex typing difficult in low-light conditions. Also, there is no USB passthrough, which would be nice given that this takes two USB ports on your computer.

All that said, it’s a fantastic keyboard, and I love it to death.

Used these switches to replace the Lynx switches that came with my Glorious GMMK2 keyboard. Didn’t like the linear, non-tactile switches, since i sometimes found myself pressing a key when i didn’t intend to due to their lightweight spring and no resistance from a tactile bump.

These feel so much better to me.

My brother wanted very loud keys with a higher activation to avoid accidental key presses. These did the job very well. The included cap remover is very flimsy and difficult to use, so I would advise getting a more substantial one.

I ended up not using these switches because they were too light to lift up my spacebar with its crappy stabilizers. However, that’s not a product fault. For normal keys these would work fine

Let’s get this out of the way, the Corsair K70 RGB TKL with Corsair Opx linear switches have the best key cap quality feel, travel, actuation and consistency of any keyboard I have ever used. I have had access to a lot of gaming keyboards over the years both purchased and provided for review and this keyboard has exceeded all of them.

Only a few months ago I purchased a TKL wireless with Linear switches and this K70 with OPX and PBT double shot keycaps far surpasses it. Let’s cover the major highlights while also giving commentary on their more expensive competitor option: + The switches and keys are elevated from the keyboard body, which makes it much easier to clean with pressured air or a brush to clean the keyboard.

Cheaper keyboards have a well that will accumulate gunk in that depresses area. + These OPX linear switches are amazing, fast, no resistance and CONSISTENT across all keys. The expensive competitor version uses some scissor springs in the big keys like shift, enter, tab, space bar that make the key press on those buttons on inconsistent.

Even more frustrating was the feel was different among keyboards on the same SKU. I finally settled on a keyboard that didn’t feel as sticky on the SHIFT key. This K70 TKL had none of these issues, every key feels the same and the key travel is also deeper.

+ The RGB was brighter since this was wired and it uses USB-C. Competitor still uses micro-USB which is a joke. Corsair moved all their peripherals to USB-A to USB-C years ago which makes connecting and charging their devices much cleaner and easier.

Also, Corsair iCUE has improved greatly and I already use it for my case fans and AIO cooler. Also since these are linear optical switches, you can adjust actuation point via software. + These switches are not as loud as springy blue type switches or even tactile/tooth clicky switches, but if you are a fast and avid typer they do make quite a bit more noise than their competitors with shorter keystrokes, as you bottom out the key it makes a decent amount of noise.

In summary this is easily the best feeling keycap and switch I have ever used on a keyboard. The only negatives compared to what I am using from their major competitor is a wireless functionality and also BT connectivity which is the main reason I use it, for my work laptop when I work at home.

If Corsair can step it up on the next K70 wireless they really got a winning product. Side note, the only difference I saw with previous K70 TKL was the switches, they changed from Cherry MX to Corsair OPX, but this version does not have key cap removers or extra key caps.

It only comes with the braided USB-C cable.

Corsair’s K70 RGB TKL Champion Series mechanical keyboard offers excellent build quality in a form factor meant to reduce the amount of space it takes up on your desk. The TKL stands for tenkeyless, meaning the usual number pad on the right side of a standard keyboard is not there.

This results in more space for mouse movement. Anyone that plays games such as first person shooters will immediately understand the benefit here. Having plenty of space for mouse movement is crucial, and the K70 does a good job in increasing the amount of desk space available.

Despite its small footprint, the K70 still maintains reasonable functionality outside of gaming thanks to the additional dedicated keys and full media controls. The Corsair K70 RGB TKL Champion Series offers 50 onboard profiles, and a profile lock button to disable macros, etc.

Overall, I find the K70 to be a premium and well-built keyboard with no obvious quality control issues. The K70 comes with MX Cherry Red Speed switches. I’m not sure what I think of them as while the travel seems somewhat long, actuation is very short.

A keypress registers at the top of its travel, making for very quick and light actuation. The performance is more than acceptable, but the “feel” may be loved by some and not so much by others. One caveat is that the switches are not hot-swappable, but that’s not unreasonable by any means at the K70’s pricepoint.

Doubleshot PBT keycaps are used and they feel very solid and thicker than most keycaps, and offer more resistance to wearing out. The K70 features up to an 8000Hz polling rate — how many times the computer checks for key inputs.

Most keyboards offer 1000Hz, but the actual benefits of these features is arguable. In order to set it greater than 1000Hz, you’ll need to install Corsair’s iCue software, which will also give you additional RGB customization features.

Keep in mind this will also use more CPU resources to attain higher polling rates, not to mention the overhead the software will add. RGB does not require the iCue software; the K70 This has full RGB backlighting with individually lit keys.

You can change the built-in lighting effects by pressing Fn and cycling through the numbers row. In conclusion, I found that the Corsair K70 RGB TKL is a very good gaming keyboard. The Cherry MX Speed switches are very light and responsive.

Its latency is also very low for a responsive gaming experience. All keys are macro-programmable, it has full RGB lighting, and it’s very well-made.

The Corsair K70 RGB TKL Champion series is Corsair’s latest iteration of this keyboard. Being labeled as TKL or tenkeyless, this keyboard dispenses with the numeric keypad found in most full sized keyboards.

Think laptop style keyboard. This of course has the advantage of being smaller and more portable. And being RGB means having custom colors for this keyboard which gamers like. This keyboard which is roughly 70% the size of a regular keyboard is made of metal (aluminum) and plastic making is a durable keyboard.

It also boasts of PBT (polybutylene terephthalate) keycaps which is reportedly better than ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) keycaps. While the company boasts that it can handle millions of keystrokes, there is no way for me to verify that claim.

But it is generally accepted by the gaming industry that PBT keycaps are much more durable than ABS keycaps. So I’ll just take the company’s for it. As mentioned in earlier, it is an RGB lit keyboard.

There are controls on top of the keyboard to toggle the lights. Likewise there is software available to download should you want further customization. And you are not limited to the lights but also you are able to program macros for this keyboard if you use this software.

One thing I like about his keyboard is that it doesn’t automatically download the software unlike competing brands. Do note this keyboard comes in various Cherry MX configurations namely Cherry MX Speed, MX Red, MX Blue and MX Silent.

And there is nothing on the box that indicates which keyboard type you have. You have to remove a keycap and check the exposed keyswitch. My unit “seems” to be the Cherry Silent MX meaning this is suited for gaming and timing.

And while I am no expert on keyboards, the unit I have is more quite than my son’s other branded keyboard but still louder compared to laptop keyboards. Also notice on top of the keyboard are multimedia controls and even a scroll bar for volume.

These controls can also be configured via software. Again I am a casual user/gamer so I prefer not to. But to emphasize the other strengths of this keyboard, there is a toggle switch to disable macros and even the lights.

This is beneficial for serious gamers who go on competing so as to level the playing field. Overall this is a very capable keyboard and IMO worth its price. I would definitely recommend this if you are in the market for a gaming keyboard.

The Corsair K70 RGB Pro is my first Corsair product with RGB lighting – but not my first Corsair product! In fact, Corsair can blame themselves for it taking so long for me to try out their RGB – my PSU and CPU cooler have proven to be exceptionally well made and I haven’t needed to replace them! Anyway, as a result I haven’t used iCue before so I have now installed RGB lighting software from seemingly every major brand on my PC at some point.

Physically, the K70 RGB Pro is a solid feeling keyboard with a brushed aluminum deck, PBT double-shot keys, and a pretty neat little volume roller on the upper right side (and actual media control keys below the volume roller).

Build quality is very favorable vs some other major keyboard brands I have used over the last few years – in particular the PBT keys are a big upgrade from keyboards I’ve used that are priced much higher than this Corsair.

Maybe Corsair is taking a look at the aftermarket and hobbyist keyboards because this is something so many people do to customize keyboards which come with ABS keys. My K70 RGB Pro has the MX Speed Silvers which are very clearly a “gaming” keyswitch – a reasonable amount of activation force but very minimal activation travel.

I found this to be a very good balance even for regular productivity use – while it’s not as pleasant to type on as a clicky “Blue” key, the Speed Silvers in the K70 RGB Pro are better than I expected for regular typing.

For gaming, they are incredible! The low travel shaves time off each keypress allowing you to react very quickly in-game. Coupled with the insane polling rate (up to 8000 hz) you are getting the fastest reaction time possible out of a keyboard.

I was concerned that the 8000 hz USB polling rate would be a CPU burden, but on a gaming PC with 5800H CPU the iCue software is using less CPU than a major competitor’s software is for their RGB mouse mat.

The RGB lighting of the K70 RGB Pro is absolutely insane and incredibly customizable. The built in effects are super cool (I suggest turning off the initial “scenes” and taking a look at the lighting tab to see some more effects) – the effects on offer are easily the best I’ve seen from any of the major gaming brands.

For customization, you can create layers of different keys (like WASD or the numpad) which will have different lighting effects. My initial theme is using the “water color” effect as the bottom layer and the typing effect on top – when sitting there doing nothing, the water color effect plays.

I might use the numpad for my audio visualizer, but I’m not sure yet – there are so many choices! Corsair certainly isn’t alone in this kind of customizability, but I found iCue to be especially easy to use, and the keyboard itself must have some reasonable processing power under the hood because the per-key lighting animations seem to have a higher framerate than other keyboards I’ve used.

It should really say something that when trying to record a video for this review, I was genuinely concerned that I needed to use 60 FPS recording to capture the effects properly – it really is impressive! Overall, definitely incredibly happy with this keyboard.