Mechanical Keyboards: BlackWidow, Osmium, G710+

[boulbox]

Well... I'll just stick to a ducky, das, or steelseries. Been working forever and has great design while being simple. Guess it doesn't have G keys and some other functionality but it works.

 

[yay]

I bought a ducky for significantly less, and couldn't be happier about it.

 

[HavoQ]

I'm surprised they did not include the new corsair keyboards (K70 and K95) the K70 is arguably the best mechanical keyboard at the moment. Cherry MX Red Switches, full Aluminum design, laser itched letters, and at less than 150$ its pretty good. (the GB Keyboard is actually comparable to it but I have more faith in Corsair from a production and quality control point of view)

 

[HavoQ]

Edit: The silver version of the K70 is at 109.99 at amazon so that's actually a steal.

 

[nocturnal7x]

Mechanical keyboards, let me make this easy for you. They are all meh, what makes one great is the software they come with. IMO the CM storm trigger is the best board, you can get it it any key switch and it has the best keyboard software ive used. I currently have a blackwidow ultimate 2013, software is garbage, settings like to not be applied often when waking from sleep. Settings are not saved on the keyboard, so if you do somthing like disable a key, if you hit that key before your computer boots up, if one of the disabled keys is numlock or capslock (both keys I disabled), they will be stuck ON or OFF. Unfortunatly I don't think CM makes the trigger anymore, at least when I tried to get a new one with different switches it was unavailable.

 

[Adroid]

I went Filco and never went back. If you want the best money can buy that's where it's at.

Enough said.

 

[rantoc]

Razer lost my business with the Synapse "cloud driver" garbage. It should be optional, not forced!

 

[Novuake]

The Giganyte has an MX Brown version too. Which would be my choice if you could not decide between the Logitech and Gigabyte...

 

[beta212]

I use a ducky shine, cherry brown. Feels amazing.

 

[cRACKmONKEY421]

Was thinking about the Osmium because it's one of the shorter mechanical boards. USB port and audio ports right next to where the mouse typically goes seems like bad design though. Good thing hardly anyone uses that stuff.

 

[Nuck Chorris]

LOL! Gigabyte won because of 60+ key rollover?
Who uses / presses 60 keys at a time? LOL.

Should've included Corsair KBs too.
'M-Y O-P-I-N-I-O-N'
Looks: Razer (Green backlight, I'm a fan of the colour green)
Feel: Gigabyte (Red switches)
Noise: Logitech (Brown switches with included O-rings)

 

[demonhorde665]

I actually own a Logitech G710+, I've had it for about 4 months now. After 4 months of use I can say the keys have gotten a lot quieter than they were brand new. Yet their actuation has stayed about the same as they were when new. All in all I'd say the Logitech is a very good choice if you can get it at the price of the gigabyte board.

 

[Novuake]

I actually own a Logitech G710+, I've had it for about 4 months now. After 4 months of use I can say the keys have gotten a lot quieter than they were brand new. Yet their actuation has stayed about the same as they were when new. All in all I'd say the Logitech is a very good choice if you can get it at the price of the gigabyte board.

Thanks! That is actually good to know!
I am in the market for a new keyboard...

My current membrane keyboard is dying, overuse...

 

[demonhorde665]

as for razor products failing fast id say no kidding. my razor naga hex mouse has already had its scroll press stop working. (I got it 4 months ago to) , really every mouse I have owned in the past 3 years have had their scroll press buttons fail. I don't think I'm laying on them that heavy (in games I use that button for reload) at least the naga hex had enough buttons on it that I swapped that function to different button on the mouse. but still miss my old Logitech 518 MX optical mouse, sure it wasn't laser only offered 2 extra side buttons no extra top buttons but at least its scroll press worked up to the day my freind's kid killed the whole mouse with a soda (I had that mouse for 4 years). today companies just don't make scroll press buttons as durable as they used to be.

 

[Novuake]

as for razor products failing fast id say no kidding. my razor naga hex mouse has already had its scroll press stop working. (I got it 4 months ago to) , really every mouse I have owned in the past 3 years have had their scroll press buttons fail. I don't think I'm laying on them that heavy (in games I use that button for reload) at least the naga hex had enough buttons on it that I swapped that function to different button on the mouse. but still miss my old Logitech 518 MX optical mouse, sure it wasn't laser only offered 2 extra side buttons no extra top buttons but at least its scroll press worked up to the day my freind's kid killed the whole mouse with a soda (I had that mouse for 4 years). today companies just don't make scroll press buttons as durable as they used to be.

LOL tell me about it, my M90 Corsair scroll wheel failed too. At least RMA was successful..

 

[airborn824]

I have never used anything but Logitech for anything so i cant say much for the others, but all i, family, or friends use is logitech and i never hear a complaint, and with my rigorous play of SC2, WoW, D3 and other games that demand consistent button slamming, i have never had a peripheral fail from Logitch.

 

[bigshootr8]

why would this matter "Unfortunately, the G710+ doesn’t have any audio jacks on the board" If you had a mechanical keyboard like the G710+ you wouldn't waste your time placing a 3.5mm headphone into a POS integrated keyboard jack you'd have it connected to a decent audio solution whether a good high end onboard or even a basic xonar card DX for example.
Furthermore, its hard to include the g710+ when its more business like then the flashy light shows you get from the razer and gigabyte offering. And razer and logitech as well have probably a couple of the best flushed out software suites for their software out their.

 

[vmem]

as for razor products failing fast id say no kidding. my razor naga hex mouse has already had its scroll press stop working. (I got it 4 months ago to) , really every mouse I have owned in the past 3 years have had their scroll press buttons fail. I don't think I'm laying on them that heavy (in games I use that button for reload) at least the naga hex had enough buttons on it that I swapped that function to different button on the mouse. but still miss my old Logitech 518 MX optical mouse, sure it wasn't laser only offered 2 extra side buttons no extra top buttons but at least its scroll press worked up to the day my freind's kid killed the whole mouse with a soda (I had that mouse for 4 years). today companies just don't make scroll press buttons as durable as they used to be.

It seems I am just uber lucky with my razer products...

again, I'm not trying to be biased, and I'm fully aware that my one data point might be a far outlier vs the majority. but I've had my black widow for nearly 2 years now, and my deathadder mouse for far longer. neither has any type of significant damage, and functions like new... which as made me into a pretty big razer fan. I guess that'll only last until I hit a defective product

 

[WinJunkie]

My G15v2 has never died and been through multiple coke spills, Most higher end logitech products are real quality. Razor I hate there software however i've only owned 2 of there products the deathadder original and the mac version which is exactly like the original but white led. I like the deathadder but on the first one, one of the buttons kept double clicking. So i bought the mac version because it used the same sensor and i couldn't find the original anywhere and heard but things about the second version. Lucky that i don't have to use there new internet connected drivers because there's old ones for my device. I don't see why any keyboard of mouse drivers need to be connected to the net. I much prefer logitech software. Just bought a ducky and it's a good keyboard but miss the G keys on the logitech

 

[MfastPrincess]

I have a Rosewill RK-9100 with cmx blues. It was less expensive that all of the ones listed, and it has a great feel to it, is really responsive, and is a good weight. Just my 2 cents. Ohh also, each key has its own LED in a lovely blue.

 

[John Bauer]

I have a Razer Blackwidow Ultimate 2013. I wish the name was shorter... Other then that, I like that Gigabyte... I wish I knew about it 4 months ago when I bought this.

 

[titansnow]

One major thing your article didn't discuss was the software for each. The Logitech software only allows you to program the macro keys. The Razer software allows you to reprogram almost every key on the keyboard. This was huge for me. I have the Razer and love it for the most part. My biggest complaint would be is that I don't like the the alternate

 

[themellowtiger]

ive owned all three of these keyboards but the Corsair K95 destroys them all in both efficiency and kickassedness. bit out of the price range though..

 

[bigshootr8]

ive owned all three of these keyboards but the Corsair K95 destroys them all in both efficiency and kickassedness. bit out of the price range though..

The corsair keyboard is nice. I tried it out in a store however its not a very comfortable keyboard without something external wrist wise for me so I passed on it. The G710+ was fairly comfortable no strain what so ever over long use.

 

[eidol]

"Keyboard selection was skewed, as it pitted consumer-grade pieces against gaming boards."

When did "gaming" automatically come to mean "better than consumer grade"? I thought that gaming often meant putting some slick black paint and fancy graphics on something cheap, and then selling it for twice the price.

After buying a Razer product, and trying some of their others, I concluded that 'gaming' is just a tax for people who fall for slick marketing.

(Writing this as the owner of a a 1986 IBM Model M keyboard and a similar vintage Northgate Omnikey 101)