Mechanical keyboard £60ish budget?

casper_uk

casper_uk

casper_uk

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Hi all, my keyboard (an old g15) is giving up the ghost so I need a replacement. I have never tried a mechanical keyboard before, but a lot of people seem to recommend them. Am looking at a £60-70 budget. Can anyone recommend anything decent in this price range, or is it just not worth getting a mechanical one, unless you are willing to spend more? Some of them seem to command a premium and i am out of touch on which brands make decent keyboards....

Am just looking for a nice keyboard for a bit of light gaming and typing on. I would like backlit keys so you can see them in the dark. RGB and a mute button etc would be nice, but not essential.

Cheers all, stay safe out there :)
 
I currently own the Anne pro 2 which i believe i got around the 70 pound mark a year ago from banggood. Its a good mechanical keyboard which comes with backlights in a 60% form factor (Removes FN Keys, Numpad etc) this makes it a lot smaller. It has bluetooth functionality meaning you can change from desktop to phone to laptop if you like. As for media keys, you can create your own keybindings in their software which allows you to have 3 pages of keybinds on one keyboard making it useful for a lot of different things, but in your case, media keys. Hope this recommendation helped.
 
It depends on what you want really, switch type? Full keyboard or 60%? Wrist wrest?

I'm running a Patriot Viper V730 that was well priced, it's been an excellent piece of kit and I'm extremely happy with it, I've had it since December and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

I was also considering the Fnatic Gear Rush which many think highly of and meets your criteria.

I'd look into what switches you think you'd prefer though, I personally find brown to be the best middle ground for gaming and typing.

You could always check the clearance line for the store and put in an offer on something, you might get a bargain if you do.

Failing that there's some deals on 60% keyboards at the moment that would be within your price range:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £284.74 (includes shipping: £9.90)​
​

Included the Das X50Q as it's the only b-grade available at the moment and you could probably get a good reduction if you asked for a better price on it.
 
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I currently have Kailh Box Browns, good switches however, can produce an issue where they make a clicking sound due to lack of switch lube. So most browns should be good, just be weary of box brown switches.
 
Thank you for all the info so far, please keep it coming! I just looked at the Das... holy crap do they all sound like that???


Maybe i should re-think the whole mechanical idea :eek:
 
Mechs are louder and that video also shows the amplification effect you get when they're sat on a hard desk. I mitigate that by having mine on the OCUK desk sized mouse mats. I switched years ago (a gigabyte osmium on my home/gaming PC and a Das 3 on work laptop) and would never go back. Your budget is a bit low though looking at current prices.
 
You can also get silent red switches which are significantly quieter but unfortunately they're usually only found on more expensive boards. I like red switches for gaming as they're linear and not too loud but some people prefer tactile feedback
 
Yes have come to realise they are certainly not cheap! Would a budget of £100 get me a much better board? Have even started looking second hand, but there doesn't seem to be a lot out there, probably due to the amount of people working from home.
 
It opens up more options but that's not to say you can't get a decent board for around £60 - the xtrfy k4 posted above looks good. As long as it has decent switches i.e gateron/cherry mx/kalih (outemu are also ok) and not 'memchanical' types which are actually rubber domes I don't think you can go too far wrong.
 
bagel said:
It opens up more options but that's not to say you can't get a decent board for around £60 - the xtrfy k4 posted above looks good. As long as it has decent switches i.e gateron/cherry mx/kalih (outemu are also ok) and not 'memchanical' types which are actually rubber domes I don't think you can go too far wrong.
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Kailh Reds from the looks of it.
 
I have an Ajazz AK60 which you can pick up for just under £50 with postage and I find as my fist mechanical keyboard it is quite excellent. I'm sure I've seen some reviews say it's a copy of another well known keyboard (Das I think)

I did find that as a newby to mechanical the bottoming out can be a bit noisy and thus installed some silicone damping rings which helps keep it quiet for the night time.
 
That actually looks like a good keyboard! Not sure how I would get on with the blank keycaps though. Have you got used to them? Are the damping rings expensive?
 
casper_uk said:
That actually looks like a good keyboard! Not sure how I would get on with the blank keycaps though. Have you got used to them? Are the damping rings expensive?
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Only the top is blank, the characters are on the front face of the keycap which light up with the RGB lights. You can turn the lights off and then it's all black which is nice. I rarely need to look at the keys but late at night a little RGB lighting helps locate a lost key.

I think I got the dampeners off the 'Bay for a couple £.
 
Well have gone for one, thanks for the heads-up! £41... I couldn't say no at the price compared to others. Don't suppose you have a link to the damping rings do you? Still not got a clue what I am looking for :D
 
You might not need them. Depends on your environment I guess. I bought some because my computer room was right up against the babies bedroom so typing at night seemed a bit loud.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ocuk...-mx-keyboards-clear-125-pieces-kb-002-tl.html


I didn't need a full 125 so found a smaller pack elsewhere. Perhaps someone on the board has some spare? I know there's members market subforum although don't have access so perhaps you can ask there if anyone has some to spare.
 
I can't access the marketplace either, think it requires 1000 posts so i should get access sometime in the next few decades at the rate i post :) Looks like overclockers have none in stock, but at least i know what i am looking for now so thanks.
 
For the price right now, I'd honestly recommend trying this.

Full size, multimedia keys and cherry red switches. Therefore light key switches and linear, which are what most are used to. Great starter into the mech world and I can't see any glaring issues, as you would with similarly priced Chinese boards. :)
 
Ryan-3 said:
For the price right now, I'd honestly recommend trying this.

Full size, multimedia keys and cherry red switches. Therefore light key switches and linear, which are what most are used to. Great starter into the mech world and I can't see any glaring issues, as you would with similarly priced Chinese boards. :)
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Thanks for the heads up on this - ordered! Will be my first mechanical keyboard... hopefully its not insanely noisy
 
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