keyboard 100% Keyboard Recommendations?

[LiteGem]

Im looking for a good/decent 100%/fullsized wired keyboard as i play games that require things like the tenkeys. My price range is anywhere from 0 to around 100~, preferably about 60-80 but as said can do like 100 to 120 (UK Pounds). I would like relatively customizable RGB but im not to fussed about rgb or how they keys sound. Any recommendations?

[GarlicDeliverySystem]

ISO layout required? Or is ANSI ok as well?

 

My usual recommendations for full-size keyboards would be one of the many Keychrons, probably the newer V6 Max or K10 Max, although the regular K10 or V6 are also good candidates. They do come in ISO layouts, not always in stock though.

 

Alternatives could be Monsgeek M5 or MG5, but they might be a bit out of budget and not available in ISO (I can find some models in ISO, but not the 100% ones). Otherwise there a plenty of "gamer brands", like Royal Kludge or Red Dragon; no personal experience with those however.

 

 

 

[LiteGem]

5 minutes ago, GarlicDeliverySystem said:

ISO layout required? Or is ANSI ok as well?

 

My usual recommendations for full-size keyboards would be one of the many Keychrons, probably the newer V6 Max or K10 Max, although the regular K10 or V6 are also good candidates. They do come in ISO layouts, not always in stock though.

 

Alternatives could be Monsgeek M5 or MG5, but they might be a bit out of budget and not available in ISO (I can find some models in ISO, but not the 100% ones). Otherwise there a plenty of "gamer brands", like Royal Kludge or Red Dragon; no personal experience with those however.

 

 

 

Sorry but im unsure what ANSI and ISO is, and dont know wether the one i have now is ISO or ANSI. Are they layouts for keyboard? ICL i barely know anything about keyboards, hence why i hafto ask others for recommendations

[venomtail]

7 minutes ago, LiteGem said:

Sorry but im unsure what ANSI and ISO is, and dont know wether the one i have now is ISO or ANSI. Are they layouts for keyboard? ICL i barely know anything about keyboards, hence why i hafto ask others for recommendations

 

There's more nuance to this but in a nutshell US or UK one.

[Monkey Dust]

If you want a proper UK ISO layout, Keychron is usually the best bet. I'd suggest the Keychron K10 Pro https://www.amazon.co.uk/Keychron-ISO-UK-Layout-Mechanical-Hot-swappable-Programmable/dp/B0BVHPRPPZ

 

ANSI is the US & Canadian layout, and I think the Dutch use it too? Identified by the enter key, only being on the third row from the bottom. ISO is the one use in most of Europe, though the key layout is different in each one, and has the large inverted L enter key that goes over two rows.

[LiteGem]

Just now, venomtail said:

Even more nuance but basically US or UK one.

Appreciate it, mine would be ISO

[LiteGem]

23 minutes ago, Monkey Dust said:

If you want a proper UK ISO layout, Keychron is usually the best bet. I'd suggest the Keychron K10 Pro https://www.amazon.co.uk/Keychron-ISO-UK-Layout-Mechanical-Hot-swappable-Programmable/dp/B0BVHPRPPZ

 

ANSI is the US & Canadian layout, and I think the Dutch use it too? Identified by the enter key, only being on the third row from the bottom. ISO is the one use in most of Europe, though the key layout is different in each one, and has the large inverted L enter key that goes over two rows.

Yeah im UK ISO, have you got any other recommendations? im looking at this one for now, however i play in the dark and although i said i dont care about RGB to much, the RGB on that keyboard from what i've seen doesnt allow you to see the letters/keys in dark and barely visible even in dark

[LiteGem]

10 minutes ago, LiteGem said:

Yeah im UK ISO, have you got any other recommendations? im looking at this one for now, however i play in the dark and although i said i dont care about RGB to much, the RGB on that keyboard from what i've seen doesnt allow you to see the letters/keys in dark and barely visible even in dark

Maybe the one i looked at was just the camera, cus im watching a different review and they RGB is really good, idk now XD - however, would still love to know of any more recommendations

[venomtail]

I've had my Corsair K70 for 10+ years. Very solid OG Corsair product, one before the rebrand and then reversal back and ngl still makes me appreciate it. I clean it a few times a year completely and after looks borderline brand new still. Apart from the wrist rest. That's all sticky now from age but also need to check if moisture isn't the cause and if it's just an age thing. After they've gone public, I've heard Corsair quality has fallen a bit but their keyboards I think are a vital bloodline so they can't screw them up.

 

That being said, my model was £140 in 2013/4 so with inflation alone price has risen of your budget, they do have a new entry model not made out of aluminum, K70 Core. I think still a solid buy if even a fraction of standard K70.

I dunno, reading reviews I'm having doubt about recommending Corsair. This one's good. I'll still look for alternatives.

 

Anyway, here's a quick list on PCPP, it just can't filter layout sadly, have to check that yourself.

[GarlicDeliverySystem]

51 minutes ago, LiteGem said:

Yeah im UK ISO, have you got any other recommendations? im looking at this one for now, however i play in the dark and although i said i dont care about RGB to much, the RGB on that keyboard from what i've seen doesnt allow you to see the letters/keys in dark and barely visible even in dark

You can just replace the keycaps with shine-throughs, the LEDs are on the PCB anyway. AFAIK the regular K10 comes with shine-through keycaps and north-facing LEDs, so for pure light that should be the best.

 

The latter models are overall superior imho (in particular the MAX series), though not as optimized for RGB.

[LiteGem]

32 minutes ago, GarlicDeliverySystem said:

You can just replace the keycaps with shine-throughs, the LEDs are on the PCB anyway. AFAIK the regular K10 comes with shine-through keycaps and north-facing LEDs, so for pure light that should be the best.

 

The latter models are overall superior imho (in particular the MAX series), though not as optimized for RGB.

do you know what these keys are? i've never seen these icons before 

         Where these are i have (in order of left to right) PrtSc, Scroll Lock, and Pause Break. Are these the same but with different icons? also no idea why it has playstation controller symbols on it ;_;
Edit: Im guessing the symbols are like f13, 14, 15 and 16

[GarlicDeliverySystem]

The right four are macro keys, you can map them to whatever in VIA. The other three are for other controls, such as RGB.

Keychron has the manuals for their products on their website, along with all the keymaps etc. However, as long as it is VIA/QMK compatible, you can just remap all of that easily without even installing extra software; VIA just runs in a browser.

[LiteGem]

23 minutes ago, GarlicDeliverySystem said:

The right four are macro keys, you can map them to whatever in VIA. The other three are for other controls, such as RGB.

Keychron has the manuals for their products on their website, along with all the keymaps etc. However, as long as it is VIA/QMK compatible, you can just remap all of that easily without even installing extra software; VIA just runs in a browser.

Ok, appreciate it. Also would you recommend the K10 over V6 Max or the other way around? Also do you know any keyboards that keep the PrtSc, ScrollLock, and pause break? If this mean sacrificing RGB options i dont mind

[GarlicDeliverySystem]

Personally, I would go with either the V6 MAX. Cheaper than the K10, Gasket mounted and VIA/QMK support.

 

To give you a bit of historical perspective on where all of these V, K, MAX, Pro etc. come from. Just a rough idea, I haven't followed their product roster that closely and they keep pushing new "numbers" in multiple series all the time. I write this with the Q/V 6 and K10 in mind, the skews were slightly different

• K series was the original top end, with BT and wired mode. Tray mounted and mostly plastic. Hotswap sockets optional.
• Q series comes along, wired only with full Aluminum chassis and gasket mount. First true 'custom' level of board.
• V series is introduced, cheapest 'custom' board with full plastic tray mount.
• K Pro, combines some aspects of V series with wireless and some nicer keycaps
• Q Pro. Q series with BT.
• Q MAX: current flagship, BT, 2.4 GHz and more foam as standard.
• K MAX: Fancy K series, still tray mount but more foam.
• V MAX: basically a plastic Q MAX as far as I can tell, with less foam.

So unless you really like the K10 non-Pro/MAX or really need stock shine-through keycaps, I would go with the V6 MAX and get a set of cheap shine-through keycaps as a backup.

[LiteGem]

3 minutes ago, GarlicDeliverySystem said:

Personally, I would go with either the V6 MAX. Cheaper than the K10, Gasket mounted and VIA/QMK support.

 

To give you a bit of historical perspective on where all of these V, K, MAX, Pro etc. come from. Just a rough idea, I haven't followed their product roster that closely and they keep pushing new "numbers" in multiple series all the time. I write this with the Q/V 6 and K10 in mind, the skews were slightly different

• K series was the original top end, with BT and wired mode. Tray mounted and mostly plastic. Hotswap sockets optional.
• Q series comes along, wired only with full Aluminum chassis and gasket mount. First true 'custom' level of board.
• V series is introduced, cheapest 'custom' board with full plastic tray mount.
• K Pro, combines some aspects of V series with wireless and some nicer keycaps
• Q Pro. Q series with BT.
• Q MAX: current flagship, BT, 2.4 GHz and more foam as standard.
• K MAX: Fancy K series, still tray mount but more foam.
• V MAX: basically a plastic Q MAX as far as I can tell, with less foam.

So unless you really like the K10 non-Pro/MAX or really need stock shine-through keycaps, I would go with the V6 MAX and get a set of cheap shine-through keycaps as a backup.

Ok, and btw havent said this yet, but i appreciate the help alot

[LiteGem]

21 hours ago, GarlicDeliverySystem said:

Personally, I would go with either the V6 MAX. Cheaper than the K10, Gasket mounted and VIA/QMK support.

 

To give you a bit of historical perspective on where all of these V, K, MAX, Pro etc. come from. Just a rough idea, I haven't followed their product roster that closely and they keep pushing new "numbers" in multiple series all the time. I write this with the Q/V 6 and K10 in mind, the skews were slightly different

• K series was the original top end, with BT and wired mode. Tray mounted and mostly plastic. Hotswap sockets optional.
• Q series comes along, wired only with full Aluminum chassis and gasket mount. First true 'custom' level of board.
• V series is introduced, cheapest 'custom' board with full plastic tray mount.
• K Pro, combines some aspects of V series with wireless and some nicer keycaps
• Q Pro. Q series with BT.
• Q MAX: current flagship, BT, 2.4 GHz and more foam as standard.
• K MAX: Fancy K series, still tray mount but more foam.
• V MAX: basically a plastic Q MAX as far as I can tell, with less foam.

So unless you really like the K10 non-Pro/MAX or really need stock shine-through keycaps, I would go with the V6 MAX and get a set of cheap shine-through keycaps as a backup.

Whats the difference between the v6 max and regular v6?

[GarlicDeliverySystem]

23 minutes ago, LiteGem said:

Whats the difference between the v6 max and regular v6?

V6 is quite a lot simpler compared to the V6 MAX

 

V6 is:

• Tray-mounted aka the plate and PCB are screwed into the bottom case.
• little foam to change acoustics, silicone dampener in the lower case
• wired only

V6 max:

• wireless with bluetooth and 2.4GHz dongle
• Gasket mount, meaning the plate/pcb sandwhich is mounted to the case non-rigidly via foam cushions on the edges; helps to soften out the bottom-out feel of switches and often improves acoustics
• more foam
• knob option.

Probably a few smaller changes as well, but that are the big ones.

[LiteGem]

14 minutes ago, GarlicDeliverySystem said:

V6 is quite a lot simpler compared to the V6 MAX

 

V6 is:

• Tray-mounted aka the plate and PCB are screwed into the bottom case.
• little foam to change acoustics, silicone dampener in the lower case
• wired only

V6 max:

• wireless with bluetooth and 2.4GHz dongle
• Gasket mount, meaning the plate/pcb sandwhich is mounted to the case non-rigidly via foam cushions on the edges; helps to soften out the bottom-out feel of switches and often improves acoustics
• more foam
• knob option.

Probably a few smaller changes as well, but that are the big ones.

Ah ok thank you, if i do decide to want to change the keycaps to shine through ones is there any you would recommend that aren't going to cost TO much?

[GarlicDeliverySystem]

22 minutes ago, LiteGem said:

Ah ok thank you, if i do decide to want to change the keycaps to shine through ones is there any you would recommend that aren't going to cost TO much?

I don't really care about shine-through, so I have no experience with these other than the stock ones that came with the K10 way back then.

 

Honestly, look on amazon and see what comes up. 20-25 EUR is what I would invest. You are not guaranteed good quality, but at that potential loss isn't too bad.

[LiteGem]

16 hours ago, GarlicDeliverySystem said:

I don't really care about shine-through, so I have no experience with these other than the stock ones that came with the K10 way back then.

 

Honestly, look on amazon and see what comes up. 20-25 EUR is what I would invest. You are not guaranteed good quality, but at that potential loss isn't too bad.

Hey just a quick question about where would be best to buy it as i have heared Keychron have pretty bad customer service/support

[GarlicDeliverySystem]

I usually just bought them off their main website, never had any issue with that. But I also never had to contact support.

[saintlouisbagels]

11 hours ago, LiteGem said:

Hey just a quick question about where would be best to buy it as i have heared Keychron have pretty bad customer service/support

I would just buy from Amazon since it's convenient.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Keychron-Mechanical-Programmable-Bluetooth-Hot-swappable/dp/B0DBH2J7RZ/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Keychron-Mechanical-Hot-swappable-ISO-UK-Layout-Programmable/dp/B0CD44FKZL/

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Keycaps-Gradient-Switches-Mechanical-Keyboards/dp/B0CC8ZPQGD/