Gaming keyboards on sale: are they worth it?

[davkol]

Where I live, almost all stores sell just gaming mechanical keyboards (and plenty of rubber domes, of course): Corsair K60/K90, SteelSeries 6Gv2/7G, Razer BlackWidow, CM Storm QuickFire Trigger/Pro, Tt eSports Meka G1 etc. Most of them cost more than 100 EUR, and have Cherry MX Black switches. In the end, only acceptable options are eBay/Taobao/whatever or expensive import from the rest of EU (probably The Keyboard Company?). And yeah, one guy imports Filco.

However, I occassionally come across some NIB gaming keyboard for less than 80 EUR. Recently, it's been CM Storm QF Trigger with blacks, Corsair K90 and now CM Storm QF Pro with reds for ca. 50 EUR (65 USD?). I wouldn't use any of these myself, because I hate right-handed mousing with anything bigger than tenkeyless, those keyboards probably have ****ty keycaps, and if I really wanted a new keyboard, it'd be Kinesis Advantage.

But when I think of it... that's about $0.65 per switch + a bit of work, right? It doesn't sound that bad, now. Especially because I want to mod one matrix keyboard to (ghetto) reds...

Would you buy such keyboard?

[metalliqaz]

I would buy theQFR w/reds.  The rest: definitely no.

[Skull_Angel]

The only boards I'd definitely drop from that list are the Corsair, Razer, and CMStorm Quickfire Pro boards as they have documented issues, the rest are decent to my knowledge.

[davkol]

The only boards I'd definitely drop from that list are the Corsair, Razer, and CMStorm Quickfire Pro boards as they have documented issues, the rest are decent to my knowledge.

The thing is: if I get the keyboard for 50 % of usual price, and with 2-year warranty, I don't really care it's made by iOne. If something goes wrong with the PCB, I can still desolder switches, and get ~100 Cherry MX Reds for $0.65 each (I'm afraid I wouldn't get them for less than $1.40 from WASD Keyboards, including shipping & tax).

[Skull_Angel]

The thing is: if I get the keyboard for 50 % of usual price, and with 2-year warranty, I don't really care it's made by iOne. If something goes wrong with the PCB, I can still desolder switches, and get ~100 Cherry MX Reds for $0.65 each (I'm afraid I wouldn't get them for less than $1.40 from WASD Keyboards, including shipping & tax).

Understood, the CMQF Pro and Razer are somewhat noteworty then, the Corsair boards are still out though; they have a more unique problem that causes key repeating (exact cause unknown, but most are attributing it to the odd mech.+membrane hybirdization).

[wetto]

The Thermaltake Meka G1 and G-Unit are nice keyboards, if you don't mind Cherry MX Black (some people really hate them).

Now, the Quickfire Rapid and the Trigger (only if you like backlit and macros) are nice boards.


Corsair and Razer? Send them to hell. Good for taking switches though, but the Corsair is half-membrane.

[TotalChaos]

What is the documented issue with the CM QFR?

[wetto]

What is the documented issue with the CM QFR?

He said Quickfire Pro, which is an iOne board and has had lots of RMA cases.

[TotalChaos]

Sorry, my mistake.  I shouldn't try to read and post when I haven't slept for 24 hours straight.       G'nite folks 

[rowdy]

The QFR is great, cheap and still good (very good?) quality.  Mine is fantastic, apart from the excess branding, but then the new ones have considerably less branding.

I also do not like the font on the keycaps (and the branding on the keycaps), but some replacement keycaps are easy to fit.