A Few Questions About the Corsair K55 RGB vs Other Models

[PraetorianPCs]

I've been on the look-out for a Corsair keyboard lately since I'm finally in the position to get one. I've been wanting an all Corsair peripheral setup (yeah, I'm that guy sorry) for a while now, especially when I first saw the Corsair RGB keyboards on the LTT Youtube channel a couple of years ago. However.. After having a look online here in the UK it seems like Corsair have struggled to sort their act out lately regarding their keyboards. The ones I remember seeing on the LTT channel when they weren't even/barely out yet looked really lovely but now.. I see pictures of them on Amazon and they don't look all that appealing. From the awful LUX font to the shameful Corsair gaming logo..

 

Anyway, sorry for rambling on too much..

 

I came across the K55 and apart from the fact that it doesn't have Cherry MX keys I was wondering what are the other major differences?

 

• It has 6 macro keys
• Numpad
• Palm rest
• RGB
• Media control buttons
• Windows lock
• The new Corsair logo (no, seriously, I consider that a good aspect)

etc.

 

Overall, it looks really nice! So I'm really wondering why it's around £100 cheaper than the K70/K95 models.

 

Is the RGB lighting not as good as the K70/K95 models? (This is a key one that I'm worried about - what does "Three-zone dynamic backlighting" mean exactly?)

Is the build quality worse? 

 

The Corsair website doesn't offer a huge amount of help, with Youtube and Google not returning any results at all about the board.

 

The only two main disadvantages I see are no Cherry MX keys and only multi-key anti-ghosting but does that really cost £100 more to have those features?

 

Sorry for the long, rambling post it's quite late at the time of writing. I know people will only have just the same amount of information as me but I'm just hoping some people may have a bit more knowledge about keyboards and give me even a slight answer to my question, thank you!

 

[iBabySlapper]

6 minutes ago, PraetorianPCs said:

I've been on the look-out for a Corsair keyboard lately since I'm finally in the position to get one. I've been wanting an all Corsair peripheral setup (yeah, I'm that guy sorry) for a while now, especially when I first saw the Corsair RGB keyboards on the LTT Youtube channel a couple of years ago. However.. After having a look online here in the UK it seems like Corsair have struggled to sort their act out lately regarding their keyboards. The ones I remember seeing on the LTT channel when they weren't even/barely out yet looked really lovely but now.. I see pictures of them on Amazon and they don't look all that appealing. From the awful LUX font to the shameful Corsair gaming logo..

 

Anyway, sorry for rambling on too much..

 

I came across the K55 and apart from the fact that it doesn't have Cherry MX keys I was wondering what are the other major differences?

 

• It has 6 macro keys
• Numpad
• Palm rest
• RGB
• Media control buttons
• Windows lock
• The new Corsair logo (no, seriously, I consider that a good aspect)

etc.

 

Overall, it looks really nice! So I'm really wondering why it's around £100 cheaper than the K70/K95 models.

 

Is the RGB lighting not as good as the K70/K95 models? (This is a key one that I'm worried about - what does "Three-zone dynamic backlighting" mean exactly?)

Is the build quality worse? 

 

The Corsair website doesn't offer a huge amount of help, with Youtube and Google not returning any results at all about the board.

 

The only two main disadvantages I see are no Cherry MX keys and only multi-key anti-ghosting but does that really cost £100 more to have those features?

 

Sorry for the long, rambling post it's quite late at the time of writing. I know people will only have just the same amount of information as me but I'm just hoping some people may have a bit more knowledge about keyboards and give me even a slight answer to my question, thank you!

 

The K55s are not mechanical, so are cheap.

[iBabySlapper]

Also, three zone means that there are three configurable "zones" of lighting that you can change indipendently. Ones with "per key" (or similar) have more granular, (you guessed it!) per key customisation.

[Techicolors]

5 minutes ago, PraetorianPCs said:

From the awful LUX font to the shameful Corsair gaming logo..

I thought the k70 lux RGB has the old logo? 

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/k70-lux-rgb-mechanical-gaming-keyboard-cherry-mx-red-na

 

Just now, ibabyslapper said:

The K55s are not mechanical, so are cheap.

that can't be the reason because cherry mx red switches in batches are actually quite cheap. Corsair is marking up for the RGB LEDs with the cherry switches, manufacturing the PCB etc. 

 

8 minutes ago, PraetorianPCs said:

Is the RGB lighting not as good as the K70/K95 models? (This is a key one that I'm worried about - what does "Three-zone dynamic backlighting" mean exactly?)

the three-zone dynamic backlighting is most likely the wave effect. or customized zones with a specific color or color cycle

 

10 minutes ago, PraetorianPCs said:

The only two main disadvantages I see are no Cherry MX keys and only multi-key anti-ghosting but does that really cost £100 more to have those features?

 

Honestly if you're not too bothered with not having mech switches, i don't see the K55 as a bad purchase. 

[PraetorianPCs]

18 hours ago, ibabyslapper said:

Also, three zone means that there are three configurable "zones" of lighting that you can change indipendently. Ones with "per key" (or similar) have more granular, (you guessed it!) per key customisation.

So is the fact that they're not mechanical the reason why they're so cheap? Also, thanks for the clarification regarding the three zones!

 

18 hours ago, Technicolors said:

I thought the k70 lux RGB has the old logo? 

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/k70-lux-rgb-mechanical-gaming-keyboard-cherry-mx-red-na

The K70 LUX RGB does have the new/old logo (I say new/old because yeah it's Corsair's original logo but they've recently improved it since they got rid of the Corsair Gaming logo.

 

18 hours ago, Technicolors said:

the three-zone dynamic backlighting is most likely the wave effect. or customized zones with a specific color or color cycle

Thanks for the explanation about the three zones! But does it mean that it's exactly the same as what would be on the K70 RGB? Do you think that the RGB quality won't be as good, or won't cover as many colours?

 

18 hours ago, Technicolors said:

Honestly if you're not too bothered with not having mech switches, i don't see the K55 as a bad purchase. 

Having mechanical switches would be really nice, but the Corsair keyboards that are out just seem like such a mess. The only one that I've found is a Corsair K70 RGB with the normal font and one that doesn't look, physically, odd but it's just not worth paying an extra £180-£200 over the K55. So long as the RGB lighting is the same as what you would find on the K70/K95 and it's just as good quality, I am more than happy buying the K55. I just wish there was a Youtuber *cough* LTT *cough* that will do a video on this, even a quick showcase, just to calm my nerves!

 

 

Thank you both for the replies!

[iBabySlapper]

2 hours ago, PraetorianPCs said:

So is the fact that they're not mechanical the reason why they're so cheap? Also, thanks for the clarification regarding the three zones!

 

The K70 LUX RGB does have the new/old logo (I say new/old because yeah it's Corsair's original logo but they've recently improved it since they got rid of the Corsair Gaming logo.

 

Thanks for the explanation about the three zones! But does it mean that it's exactly the same as what would be on the K70 RGB? Do you think that the RGB quality won't be as good, or won't cover as many colours?

 

Having mechanical switches would be really nice, but the Corsair keyboards that are out just seem like such a mess. The only one that I've found is a Corsair K70 RGB with the normal font and one that doesn't look, physically, odd but it's just not worth paying an extra £180-£200 over the K55. So long as the RGB lighting is the same as what you would find on the K70/K95 and it's just as good quality, I am more than happy buying the K55. I just wish there was a Youtuber *cough* LTT *cough* that will do a video on this, even a quick showcase, just to calm my nerves!

 

 

Thank you both for the replies!

Well, looking at the product page, what you're going to get is a membrane keyboard with not as good RGB backlighting. You can find per-key RGB mechanical boards from about £80 (Kailh Switches) but they're not Corsair. Mechanical switches aren't really a must if all you're going to do is game, but if you're going to do any sort of work or creative stuff that requires lots of typing, a mechanical would be more than worth-it.

[PraetorianPCs]

On 11/30/2016 at 10:01 PM, ibabyslapper said:

Well, looking at the product page, what you're going to get is a membrane keyboard with not as good RGB backlighting. You can find per-key RGB mechanical boards from about £80 (Kailh Switches) but they're not Corsair. Mechanical switches aren't really a must if all you're going to do is game, but if you're going to do any sort of work or creative stuff that requires lots of typing, a mechanical would be more than worth-it.

Ah thank you for the clarification. I might see if I can get a refurbished K70 or K95! Thanks for the reply!