Best Budget 10-Keyless Mechanical Keyboard

Computernaut · March 28, 2021

I wanted to get a mechanical keyboard a while back, but didn't do my research and I guess my budget was too small because I ended up with a board that is passable, except for the fact that the key-switches kind of suck; they are "Jixian blues" which I learned is a really bad Cherry clone. I had wanted blues because I tried browns one time and didn't like them much. I wanted the tactile feedback of blues and the extra mouse space of a 10-keyless design. Anyway, I should have returned the piece of junk I got, but I didn't really understand just how sub-par it was and so I didn't. At the time, by budget was $45 CAD as that was as much as I felt I could reasonably justify spending on a keyboard. Apparently that's not enough though, so I'm now asking for good advice first and I've expanded my budget to $60 CAD. I still want 10-keyless, though if a normal board is REALLY good, then I might be able to drop that rule. As for switches, I'm still partial to blues, but if the only blues in my price-range are terrible, brown or clear switches would be okay too, I suppose. I do slightly more typing than gaming, so no reds please.

Dr0y · March 29, 2021

in your budget I can only think of the redragon k552 (there's probably some other tho) ... last time I checked it used outemu switches that are also a cherry clone ... those are ok at best ... really loud with metallic spring ping that is reverberated by the case. It's not a bad board but not a premium product either.

If you want the best clicky experience you should try to find a board with kailh box white, kailh box jade or kailh box navy. I don't know if there's much prebuilt offering them tho ...

Another thing you could do is try to way to have a bit more budget and get the gmmk tkl with some good clicky switches and the keycaps you like. That board is hotswappable so you can change the switches with any compatible cherry switches without soldering.

Computernaut · March 29, 2021

20 hours ago, Dr0y said:

in your budget I can only think of the redragon k552 (there's probably some other tho) ... last time I checked it used outemu switches that are also a cherry clone ... those are ok at best ... really loud with metallic spring ping that is reverberated by the case. It's not a bad board but not a premium product either.

If you want the best clicky experience you should try to find a board with kailh box white, kailh box jade or kailh box navy. I don't know if there's much prebuilt offering them tho ...

Another thing you could do is try to way to have a bit more budget and get the gmmk tkl with some good clicky switches and the keycaps you like. That board is hotswappable so you can change the switches with any compatible cherry switches without soldering.

I found this other board too, what do you think? https://www.amazon.ca/MechanicalEagle-Multicolor-Mechanical-Keyboard-Tenkeyless/dp/B01DBVH16U/ref=sr_1_29?dchild=1&keywords=gmmk%2Btkl&qid=1617050683&sr=8-29&th=1

Dr0y · April 2, 2021

On 3/29/2021 at 5:01 PM, Computernaut said:

I found this other board too, what do you think? https://www.amazon.ca/MechanicalEagle-Multicolor-Mechanical-Keyboard-Tenkeyless/dp/B01DBVH16U/ref=sr_1_29?dchild=1&keywords=gmmk%2Btkl&qid=1617050683&sr=8-29&th=1

It looks ok ... I've never tried it so it's hard to judge from picture alone ... I'm pretty sure that the switches are outemu or something along those lines. The sad thing about that is the you will have to try it to find out.

Computernaut · April 2, 2021

8 hours ago, Dr0y said:

It looks ok ... I've never tried it so it's hard to judge from picture alone ... I'm pretty sure that the switches are outemu or something along those lines. The sad thing about that is the you will have to try it to find out.

I've decided to go with the K552, as it's from a larger brand and I don't think I would ever take advantage of the hot-swappable key-switches on the other board.