Magicforce 68 keys mechanical keyboard (OUTEMU Black switches, not backlit, £30)

[Mr.Meerkat]

To start off this review, please ignore the horrible camera quality...couldn't be bothered getting my DSLR so my z3c was up to the job...with the worst lighting possible...also, the pricing stated here are correct for UK customers but US...I just directly converted it so the actual price may be more or less for you.(Also, Logitech, Steelseries and Razer are NOT sponsoring me...just couldnae be bothered clearing my desk...)

 

I got this keyboard as it was cheap for a start with me always wanting a 60%~ keyboard as I travel a lot and taking my blackwidow every where is just heavy and troublesome. (BTW. this is a 2013 blackwidow with cherry's blues and it was on sale new...).

 

Packaging:

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I would say it was pretty well packed, it has a sleeve which has all of the information on with a plain brown box keeping the keyboard safe.

 

Everything out of the box...

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Accessories:

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Comes with a key cap puller, a nice and long mini usb cable (yes, the cable is detachable ), a OTG adapter and some instructions.

 

Actual keyboard:

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The build quality is very good for the price, the front plate is metal with the back being a decent quality plastic. There's plenty of rubber on the bottom of the keyboard to prevent it from moving around with a fully...almost rubberised angle stands. The cable is detachable which is a nice touch and with the routing, it's not possible to accidentally pull out the cable (or damage it at the connectors).

 

As stated in the title, I got the non-backlit with OUTEMU blacks...

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The typing experience on the keyboard is good. All of the keys feels consistent and smooth but I can't really compare it to cherry keys as I've only used cherry's blues and browns so there's no reference for me to compare it to. (My first linear keyboard ). 

 

Size comparason between my blackwidow and the magicforce keyboard...

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So yeah, much smaller and it's quite a bit lighter but as stated before, the rubber feet it has are very nice which means that during normal gaming and typing conditions, it will not move.

 

Conclusion:

I'm impressed with the good build quality and smooth feeling switches. My blackwidow will still be my daily driver as it has blues (Ahhhhh after feeling the weight of the blacks, I want clears even more now ). For the price of £30 (or $45, with the back-lit versions costing £50/$75 ), you really can't go wrong with the price especially if you're on a budget or looking for a cheap second mechanical keyboard (like I was). 

 

7/10 for Packaging

7/10 for Build Quality

8/10 for The switches (this is only my personal opinion on it as this is my first linear keyboard I've used...)

5/10 for Keycaps...pretty nasty but for the price, I'm going to let them off as it's usable...

8/10 for Features, didn't need the backlighting.

9/10 for Value as it's so cheap for a decently built keyboard and very smooth switches.

 

In the end, I do recommend it as from my experience I've had so far.

 

Link for it on Amazon UK:

 http://amzn.to/1TbtHGt (non backlit, my version)

http://amzn.to/21lfAoe (backlit with kalih switches)

 

[GregButcher]

Very nice review, I considered buying it for a mere second after reading it, but I just can't make the change from ISO layout to ANSI :\

[Mr.Meerkat]

1 minute ago, GregButcher said:

Very nice review, I considered buying it for a mere second after reading it, but I just can't make the change from ISO layout to ANSI :\

Thanks , fair enough, I don't care what keyboard layout I'm using...as long as it's qwerty then I'm happy.

[GregButcher]

Just now, Mr.Meerkat said:

Thanks , fair enough, I don't care what keyboard layout I'm using...as long as it's qwerty then I'm happy.

yeh my problem stems from using ISO literally from birth, plus I can't apply a proper hungarian layout in software to ANSI, so there's that as well

[Mr.Meerkat]

3 minutes ago, GregButcher said:

yeh my problem stems from using ISO literally from birth, plus I can't apply a proper hungarian layout in software to ANSI, so there's that as well

Used both (actually ANSI more) since I was born so apart from taking 1 second for me to realise I'm on a ISO layout, I can type as fast on both layouts