New Keyboard Rosewill Helios RK-9200

[file_id]

Saw this on Engadget. Not my cup of tea though, but someone might be excited.

Rosewill® will debut a world first, Rosewill® Helios RK-9200 Dual LED Backlit Mechanical Gaming Keyboard with Cherry MX Switches in Blue, Red, Brown, and Black. It supports Red or Green Backlit LEDs and allows independent color control of the vital WASD and 4 directional arrow gaming keys while allowing you to choose between 5 global brightness modes.

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[daerid]

Looks like Costar based on modifier size. One can hope...

[uJalled]

Case design looks almost identical to Filco... Another Rosewill joins the lineup 

[IvanIvanovich]

Same Filco style casebody as 9000, most likely it is costar. Seems kind of odd that they even bothered with that other backlight board with the stupid keysizes if they had this one in the works.

[rootwyrm]

That's a Costar for sure. But again, Costar can build complete crap. Stop pretending they can't. If NewEgg says "cut corners" then corners will be cut. If NewEgg says "make it flawless" then it will be flawless.

[Melchior]

Most Intriguing !

Anyone know if this is PS/2 or USB?

What about 'Orange' Mode (Red + Green LED's both on at same time) ?

[FoxWolf1]

Is that a detachable USB cable I see? If so, this can only end one way.

[jamdox]

Costar is doing backlit now? I heard the 9100 was iRocks... all I know is it had dust inside the case.  Maybe this explains why Newegg is listing the 9100 as discontinued.

[alaricljs]

The RK-9200 is a fairly direct copy of a floor demo from Costar at some trade show.  Forget where I saw the pics.  You cannot get both red and green at the same time on any single switch.  It's a trick with anode and cathode on both leads, so current flows one way and you get red, the other you get green.

[Melchior]

IIRC There were rumors of EXACTLY this (A back-lit costar) board.

The white RK-9000 has a PS/2 or USB detachable cable... I remain hopeful. (Although most PS/2 ports have PTC's and I'm not sure of the current limit for those PS/2 pins)

Also about the 'Orange' mode - that is true, simply that the power supplied to the LED's is high frequency AC instead of DC. [Slightly more complex electronics...]

[KangarooZombies]

More Rosewill? I haven't tried their boards yet, but people seem to be standing on the fence a bit about them. Hopefully this brings people off, one way or another.

[rootwyrm]

The RK-9200 is a fairly direct copy of a floor demo from Costar at some trade show.  Forget where I saw the pics.  You cannot get both red and green at the same time on any single switch.  It's a trick with anode and cathode on both leads, so current flows one way and you get red, the other you get green.

Ugh. Seriously? They used that kind, instead of multi-lead or voltage select LEDs even? Already hating the hell out of the design. Not like multi-lead or voltage select parts are more expensive, and the voltage bias types are easier to work with.

And yes. That is definitely a detachable USB cable. Again. Also I'd rate PS/2 as unlikely just because of changing the LED colors.

[m_enanos]

Looks cool though. Lets see if the decide to release them in europe.

[Aardwolf]

Just out of curiosity, to me this looks awesome, with colored LEDS!! Where does the negativity in this thread come from? Are there better alternatives to this? Are there any known problems with this one?

[TotalChaos]

I donno where their negativity comes from.

Rosewill has been selling cherry switch keyboards for over a year and getting thousands of complaints about them breaking.  Rosewill designed the keyboard to break on purpose.  Why do ppl get negative about that?

I waited a whole year to give them time to fix any accidental problems.  After 1 year of waiting I bought a Rosewill RK-9000RE for $70.00.  It was a wonderful keyboard!  Cherry Red Bliss.  For 25 days.  On day 26 it broke.  What is to be negative about?

[wetto]

It's Costar. Same colors and everything as their prototype from half a year ago

[jabar]

I would consider getting one if they'd drop the logo off the case.

[quake4mhg]

Most Intriguing !

Anyone know if this is PS/2 or USB?

What about 'Orange' Mode (Red + Green LED's both on at same time) ?

Yeah, why they don't mix the color? Sorry for the noobie question 

[Hyde]

Most Intriguing !

Anyone know if this is PS/2 or USB?

What about 'Orange' Mode (Red + Green LED's both on at same time) ?

Yeah, why they don't mix the color? Sorry for the noobie question 

Uh reason being that it only has 1 LED per switch.  The way it achieves red is by running current one direction, and when it runs in reverse direction it turns green.  So you can only have red OR or green on at a time.

Personally I think if they can fix the mini b plug issue, I'd actually prefer this over Ducky.  Like they should've just done RK-9100 with this design and blue LED, then I would've bought one already.

[quake4mhg]

Except Cherry Corp redesign MX switches, our led color still control by manufacturers? That's sad 

[missalaire]

Some more info on this keyboard:

[CES 2013] New Rosewill backlit keyboard feature a more durable USB connector and dual color WASD/Arrow Key/Win

http://techreport.com/news/24195/backlit-gaming-keyboards-on-the-way-from-rosewill

[tp4tissue]

I donno where their negativity comes from.

Rosewill has been selling cherry switch keyboards for over a year and getting thousands of complaints about them breaking.  Rosewill designed the keyboard to break on purpose.  Why do ppl get negative about that?

I waited a whole year to give them time to fix any accidental problems.  After 1 year of waiting I bought a Rosewill RK-9000RE for $70.00.  It was a wonderful keyboard!  Cherry Red Bliss.  For 25 days.  On day 26 it broke.  What is to be negative about?

was it the cable?

[Hyde]

I donno where their negativity comes from.

Rosewill has been selling cherry switch keyboards for over a year and getting thousands of complaints about them breaking.  Rosewill designed the keyboard to break on purpose.  Why do ppl get negative about that?

I waited a whole year to give them time to fix any accidental problems.  After 1 year of waiting I bought a Rosewill RK-9000RE for $70.00.  It was a wonderful keyboard!  Cherry Red Bliss.  For 25 days.  On day 26 it broke.  What is to be negative about?

was it the cable?

I read his other thread and yupe still the cable issue even though it's suppose to be "fixed".  I really really really hope it's really "fixed" this time on the RK-9200 models.

But I'm not big on red and green, hopefully they'll release another color combinations.  Maybe blue and white?  (since they both use the same voltage)

[davkol]

But I'm not big on red and green, hopefully they'll release another color combinations.  Maybe blue and white?  (since they both use the same voltage)

It would be called The Eye Strainer (TM).