i-rocks KR-6230 $90 at Newegg

[Viett]

The i-rocks KR-6230 keyboard now joins the ABS M1 and the SteelSeries 7G on Newegg.



This is definitely a great leap for mechanical keyboards. Newegg is a great place for main-stream consumers to get their hands on premium mechanical boards. Newegg also has a great RMA process, consumer protections, and more.


Other discussions about the board:

keyboard evaluation

i-rocks KR-6230 with brown Cherry MX

On another note, I discovered a SteelSeries 7G Open Box for $90 while searching. Looks like a bargain.

[zwmalone]

Really nice.  I'm glad to see Americans are finally getting distributors for mechanical keyboards...  Between Newegg and EliteKeyboards we have almost all the bases covered now...

[jeffrey]

Thanks for your attentions. I noticed that ABS M1 does not support N-Key (see comments from newegg below); I am wondering how many of you consider N-Key as key factor when buying $100 keyboard?

[from newegg]
Cons: Will only respond to one keypress at a time. If you are holding down CTRL and press S, it will ignore the S. Of course, this makes this keyboard absolutely 100% worthless.

Manufacturer Response:Dear Valued Customer,
We are sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused you. We try to provide the most reliable products to our customers. We did not know about this problem with the keyboard until they were sold. We have gone ahead and worked out this issue on the new units and this will not happen. We would be more than happy to replace this unit for you at our cost. Please give us a call at 800-876-8088 for your replacement. We look forward to hear from you soon.
Thanks,
ABS Customer Care

[loofa]

Thanks for your attentions. I noticed that ABS M1 does not support N-Key (see comments from newegg below); I am wondering how many of you consider N-Key as key factor when buying $100 keyboard?

[from newegg]
Cons: Will only respond to one keypress at a time. If you are holding down CTRL and press S, it will ignore the S. Of course, this makes this keyboard absolutely 100% worthless.

For completeness, you may want to also post the manufacturers reply, which states that it's a firmware issue that has since been resolved.

[jeffrey]

For completeness, you may want to also post the manufacturers reply, which states that it's a firmware issue that has since been resolved.

added; tks Loofa

[zwmalone]

Yep, that was a bad batch and has since been rectified.  And let it be noted the M1 is only $55, not $100.

[ch_123]

I am wondering how many of you consider N-Key as key factor when buying $100 keyboard?

I used a Unicomp board for gaming for about a year. Despite having only 2-3 key rollover, I only ever had a single problem with one game in all that time (I couldn't remember what it was I did, so I was never able to replicate it). It's a nice feature to have, but it wouldn't be one of my main criteria for selecting a board. I think designing a controller that doesn't screw up (eg. the problems with the Das) is far more important.

[Viett]

Thanks for your attentions. I noticed that ABS M1 does not support N-Key (see comments from newegg below); I am wondering how many of you consider N-Key as key factor when buying $100 keyboard?

I would say it's important. I had the bad luck of getting one of the ABS with rollover issues, and I was pretty upset. I returned it which, I'm sure, was at the manufacturer's expense.

Then again, the Customizer certainly does well without having rollover and it's in the same price range.

But I'm not going to argue whether or not NKRO is actually practical-- that's a whole different story.

[IBI]

Thanks for your attentions. I noticed that ABS M1 does not support N-Key (see comments from newegg below); I am wondering how many of you consider N-Key as key factor when buying $100 keyboard?

For me it's the third most important factor after layout and key feel. It's not as important as having one row or less of keys to the right of the enter key (for that is the domain of the sidewinder) but I'd value it over any useful extras like volume keys and go for it even if I had to have things like overbright LEDs or redundant extra buttons (I can already undo stuff with the keyboard, I don't need an extra button for it).

I'd only want it for gaming, I don't have any use for it when programming or doing anything else I do at the computer.

Can anybody else think of any other over $100 keyboards that don't support at least 6-Key?  (Vintage Model Ms don't count).

I can think of lots around £70 that don't have it such as the G80-3000, and there aren't many general keyboards that are significantly more expensive.