Should you buy refurbished mech keyboard?

[averagetobes]

I’m looking for christmas for my first mech keyboard. I really like the K68 RGB, which is retailing at £120.

 

The virtually identical (and highly commended) Strafe RGB is on sale from scan “refurbished” for £75. 
 

Any body have any advice on buying second hand? Or if there are any other better value boards out there? I’m not 100% sure on how to go about picking one, I just fished around on rtings.

 

heres a link to the one - https://www.scan.co.uk/products/corsair-gaming-strafe-rgb-silent-mechanical-gaming-keyboard-backlit-multicolor-led-cherry-mx-silent-

[CommanderAlex]

I've thought about purchasing a mechanical keyboard used after breaking my Corsair Strafe RGB MX Silent actually...I went with the Logitech G513 Carbon with their Clicky switches for around $130 US and I love it over my broken corsair (the diode for the spacebar broke and I can't fix it due to the placement of the metal plate and of course...just outside of the warranty window). 

[averagetobes]

4 minutes ago, CommanderAlex said:

I've thought about purchasing a mechanical keyboard used after breaking my Corsair Strafe RGB MX Silent actually...I went with the Logitech G513 Carbon with their Clicky switches for around $130 US and I love it over my broken corsair (the diode for the spacebar broke and I can't fix it due to the placement of the metal plate and of course...just outside of the warranty window). 

With the whole clicky thing, are the super loud? I’m not sure I want something dead loud as I’ll be working/gaming 12hrs+ a day.

I don’t have any experience in this field so I’d be happy to go off a recommendation such as that - black friday offer on amazon for £100 atm for the “GX Brown”. There is another at £110 that is just advertised as “Clicky” 

 

[CommanderAlex]

3 minutes ago, averagetobes said:

With the whole clicky thing, are the super loud? I’m not sure I want something dead loud as I’ll be working/gaming 12hrs+ a day.

I don’t have any experience in this field so I’d be happy to go off a recommendation such as that - black friday offer on amazon for £100 atm for the “GX Brown”. There is another at £110 that is just advertised as “Clicky” 

 

I actually went from those Cherry MX Silent switches to the GX + Romer G Blue and I love the sound they make. Its all subjective really if you want a clicky sounding keyboard or a silent one. The one reason I did not want to buy another silent keyboard was I felt like it was an overpriced membrane keyboard.

 

The only thing I can suggest about the different types of keyboard switches is to test them out at your local electronics store if available and if you are willing to touch keyboards with COVID (unless an employee can wipe them down before you test the keyboards out). 

[RAM555789]

I haven't gotten any keyboards refurbished, but I've bought a lot of my PC parts 2nd hand or refurbished and I've never had any major issues or complaints. Usually if something is refurbished its in pretty decent quality, or  they would not have accepted the return.

[averagetobes]

1 minute ago, CommanderAlex said:

I actually went from those Cherry MX Silent switches to the GX + Romer G Blue and I love the sound they make. Its all subjective really if you want a clicky sounding keyboard or a silent one. The one reason I did not want to buy another silent keyboard was I felt like it was an overpriced membrane keyboard.

 

The only thing I can suggest about the different types of keyboard switches is to test them out at your local electronics store if available and if you are willing to touch keyboards with COVID (unless an employee can wipe them down before you test the keyboards out). 

Yeah we locked down and I don’t see us getting out anytime soon.

 

I guess I can return it if I don’t like it right. 
 

What do/don’t you like about the keyboard?

[CommanderAlex]

1 minute ago, RAM555789 said:

I haven't gotten any keyboards refurbished, but I've bought a lot of my PC parts 2nd hand or refurbished and I've never had any major issues or complaints. Usually if something is refurbished its in pretty decent quality, or  they would not have accepted the return.

That is usually the case, refurbished items tend to be the same quality of their new counterparts, just the only downside would be they would have a shorter warranty period. I've had good luck buying my PC parts on the used market/opened box. For example, my MSI RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio I bought in Sept 2019 was an opened box item on clearance and was sent back to the manufacturer for testing and then sent back to the store. The graphics card still had the OEM warranty of new and works great. 

[CommanderAlex]

1 minute ago, averagetobes said:

Yeah we locked down and I don’t see us getting out anytime soon.

 

I guess I can return it if I don’t like it right. 
 

What do/don’t you like about the keyboard?

Which keyboard? The Corsair Strafe RGB MX Silent or the current keyboard I'm using, the Logitech G513 Carbon w/ GX Blue switches? 

[averagetobes]

1 hour ago, CommanderAlex said:

Which keyboard? The Corsair Strafe RGB MX Silent or the current keyboard I'm using, the Logitech G513 Carbon w/ GX Blue switches? 

The Logitech one

[CommanderAlex]

13 minutes ago, averagetobes said:

The Logitech one

I love the quality and materials of the keyboard. Keys hold up well and customer service response is great. Their RGB control software is decent and stable. The only downside I can think of is the low amount of preconfigured RGB combos for the games out there, not like Corsair's (which had more when I used it), but Corsair's seemed less stable when I had that keyboard.