Redragon K551 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard RGB LED Backlit Wired Keyboard with Blue Switches for Windows Gaming PC (104…

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 This is a simple, no-frills keyboard. For the price, you get keyboard with good construction. Under the keycaps, there is a metal board that gives the keyboard more rigidity and makes it feel more durable. Still, being a cheap keyboard, there may be minor manufacturing defects.The blue switches are clicky and tactile, but slightly inconsistent. Some keys have varying levels of clickiness and tactile feel, but it’s barely noticeable when you are typing. They keycaps themselves get shiny pretty quickly. I’ve owned the keyboard for a bit over a month and you can already see a lot of shine on the most-used keycaps.There are, of course, some flaws with this keyboard. If you prefer to lay your keyboard flat on the desk, rather than raising up at an angle using the tabs, there are two main concerns:1: Only the bottom half of the keyboard get rubber feet. This means your keyboard will gradually slide out of place if you use something like a keyboard drawer.2: The keyboard doesn’t lay perfectly flat on the table, so it wobbles a bit. I have attached a video that shows the wobble, and it can get loud and annoying. I’m assuming that this is a manufacturing defect.Another little gripe I have is that the USB plug is quite long compared to other USB plugs for mice and keyboards. This could be an issue for some people.

This keyboard is positioned as a replacement for the 

Gigabyte K83

. It isn’t.Start with the keycaps. The keycap plastics are similar to the K83, but the printing is cartoony. Instead of small subtle printing, it looks like the Easy Reader edition, with chunky letters and muddled symbols. The arrow keys have WASD printed on them, and the WASD keys have arrows printed on them. Um… thanks? This keyboard has the Windows Menu key and Fn, where the K83 opted for Fn and WinLock. The Fn keys encoded in the Function row use difficult-to-read iconography, and are in a somewhat unexpected layout.The keyswitches claim to be Cherry Blue-equivalent. The stems, indeed, are blue. However, that’s about the only thing that compares them. They are mushy and quieter. They have none of the tactile excitement of either a real Cherry Blue or the clones that the K83 went with. They *are* legitimate mechanical keyswitches, though, which puts them way up on the actually-terrible 

Amazon “Mechanical Feel” Keyboard

.The case is heavier, but is formed into a sort of tub, providing a tall rim around the entire keyboard. This means that, if you do spill something in this keyboard, very little of it will run down the plate to your desk. Instead it will get funneled down into the keyboard, where generous drain holes will finally let most of it out all over your desk. I’m not sure if it is a plus or a minus, but the board has been designed to pass liquids with full intention. Maybe you can rinse this thing off?Speaking of the bottom, while this board wins with drain holes, it loses with rubber feet. Although there’s a little more meat on the legs when extended, when the board is flat, it only has a few sq cm of rubber holding it to the desk.The cable is nothing special, not sheathed or anything. The USB plug is obnoxiously long, adding to the risk of port damage.I don’t hate this keyboard. I’ve spent more on worse keyboards. But I feel it is trying really hard to follow in the footsteps of the K83, and I think you’d do better to just get one of those instead.

Great for the PriceThis is one solid keyboard. If you like what you see, for the price it is hard to beat. There are pros and cons, some subjective, others objective. Here we go:Pros:* Solid back plate, with no discernible flex. All one’s typing energy goes into the key and not a flimsy flexing frame.* Solid weight, tends to keep it in place (see below about rubber feet)* Real key switches that are Cherry MX clones that I would liken to MX Blue* The switches are Outemu Dongguan Gaote with clear bodies and blue stems* The clear switch bodies allow for a pleasant glow around the key on the back plate* The keys are cylindrical tops (i.e., The keys curve up on the left and right edges in order to cradle your fingertips. The surface is a section of a cylinder.)* The keys are double shot allowing for legend backlighting* It is an ANSI 104 layout* Has a nice array of customizable lighting effects (I have the RGB version)* I have pulled off a few keys and the key stems appear to have the same depth (or length) at least on the few keys I examined. They also mimic the Cherry stems. This would allow one to add o-ring dampeners. With dampeners the “clack” sound of the key bottoming out on the back plate would be reduced, which in turn would allow one to hear the switch click. Dampeners also reduce the downward key travel a small amount depending on the particular o-ring used. Having all the stems the same length would standardized the reduced key travel across all the keys. I will be installing dampeners on all the keys, so I’ll soon know if they all dimension the same.* Key travel is non-linear with a gentle over center bumpCons:* The font is awkward (to my eye ugly – Ohs and Zeros look like two brackets face to face.) Reminds me of fonts used on old computer games* Keys with shift functions have the two characters side by side rather than vertically stacked* I would like it to be slightly brighter at full brightness* After a month of use, some keys are starting to show a shine* The Function Key row has a non standard (ref: IBM Model M) spacing from the numeric row. I am a fast touch typist and that non standard spacing requires me to look when using the F-Key row. However, the tighter spacing does reduce the front to back foot print.* The cable is attached, and there is no cable channel on the under side limiting the exit to center back.* The back lifters have a rubber like surface which is useful, but the front feet offer no stickiness* There is a perimeter ridge that would damn in any spilled liquids making it harder to clean. It could use a few openings on the down or front side to allow liquids to quickly drain off.* It could use a better manual with clear instructions for the lighting effects* Since the key switches sit on an exposed back plate (a nice feature) when one sits back a bit from the keyboard the tally lights are hidden behind the numeric pad. They need to be brought up to the same level as the key tops.So for the moment, that is about it. There are better keyboards, but not at this price point. It is a terrific buy.UPDATE:With more time on the keyboard, here are some additional thoughts:* Key tops get shiny very quickly, but since the key legends are double shot molded they will not wear off.* There is a bit more wobble to the keys caps than I would like, but given the price, it is not bad.* In spite of the keyboard weight, it moves around a bit too much. This is because the front two feet are hard without any stickyness. The back lifters have a rubber coating which helps, but not enough to keep the board in place.* I have applied o-ring dampeners to the key caps, and I have found that the distance between the end of the key-shaft and the ridge of the injected molding is not the same on all the keys. (This is where one would install the o-ring dampeners.) Since that dimension is not the same from key to key, then the reduction of key travel is not the same between keys. This mostly is between the alpha keys and the larger key caps and the nav keys. It is a slight variance, and might be annoying to some, but for the price this is not deal killer.So all and all I am happy with it.

So since the included instructions for lighting are more than a bit vague and I can’t seem to find instructions anywhere else, I guess I’ll post what I’ve discovered.FN+INS,Home,PgUp,Del,End,PgDn all each have 3 different lighting settings that can be cycled by pressing the INS,Home,PgUp, ect. key again.Withing these lighting settings you can speed up or slow down the animation or how fast the color transition is. To do this push FN+- will slow down and FN+= will speed it up. You can also change the colors of the animation or switch to a single color by pressing FN+Right Arrow, It will cycle through the colors the same as the animations.The brightness can be adjusted by FN+Down arrow to darken and FN+Up arrow to brighten the LEDs. My one critique of the key board is that the keys are a bit dark in full lighting.There is also a mode to custom change the color of each key separately. To go into this mode you must hit FN+~ When this comes up the “gamer” Keys will be lit (wasd, ect.)To change the lighting on the keys you have to press FN+~ again and then the Num,Caps,Scroll lights will all start flashing. While they are flashing you can press the buttons and it will clear the keys you press. To change the color you wish each key to be you have to hit FN+Right Arrow while the lights are flashing. Each press of the arrrow will change the color, so you’ll have to remember how many clicks it is for whatever color you want.And lastly if you wish to reset all the settings and make it like you just plugged the keyboard into the computer, press FN+PrtSc. This will do the little blue chaser/spiral thingy that it does the first time its plugged in. So I guess its a keyboard reset button.If anyone else knows any other shortcuts I may have missed please comment and add them. 

I got the Redragon K551 keyboard for my new PC with Windows 10. I wanted something with back lighting. As I did my research, I discovered that mechanical keyboards existed, and seem popular. So I write this review as someone who had never heard of such a thing until just before buying it. I’ve been using this keyboard for a week without any trouble. Windows 10 recognized it instantly when I plugged it in. The keyboard came in a box with a small information sheet and key puller, neither of which were needed to connect it to my PC. The keyboard is heavy, much heavier than my previous keyboard that came with my HP desktop. The cord on this keyboard is not braided, but I don’t really understand why that matters, having never seen a keyboard in person that had a braided cord.Keys: The buttons are easy to press. They make a loud click, which can be good or bad, depending on whether you enjoy loud clicks. It is certainly good for letting people in other rooms know you are typing. As for the “mechanical keys”, it seems like a gimmick. I can feel each click and I get plenty of audible feedback, even with headphones. I can’t really say they make typing a better experience than do membrane keyboards, but they are no worse. There is a lot of travel when pressing the keys, and you can repress them without letting them reset.This keyboard has a 10-key number pad, which was an important feature for me. The key layout seems pretty standard. The function keys (F1-F12 using the FN key) are a nice way to get those functions and save space, although I could see some users preferring the dedicated volume and media buttons. Being able to lock out the Windows key is also a good idea.Lighting: It’s great. I paid a little extra for RGB, and I’m glad I did. I like the different lighting settings, although I only use a couple of them. They seem plenty bright with and without room lighting, and I like having the ability to pick from a selection of colors, or have multiple colors spread across the keys. I was slightly disappointed because I saw a video review where it was possible to set different colors for individual keys, for example, having the arrow keys stand out with yellow lighting while the rest of the keys are green. That feature does not seem available in the current version. (See edit below!)Gaming: I mostly play flight simulators and driving games. For driving, I prefer a controller. For flying, I prefer the keyboard, and this one does well. I tried using the keyboard for GTA: San Andreas, but I was not so impressed, mostly because of the long travel of the keys that led to inconsistent resets when pressing the same key multiple times.EDIT: I randomly found the answer to the customization per key issue. To enter the customization mode, you use FN plus the ~ key (actually `, but that could be mistaken for ‘ if I didn’t explain). Once there you can use FN plus right arrow to select a color and then each key you press will be that color. As for the key travel and reset issue, I am adjusting to it.EDIT 2: I have not only adjusted to the mechanical keys, I am loving them. Membrane keyboards annoy me now. I never would have expected that to happen. The clicking is a little loud, but I can live with it. In fact, I’ve edited the rating to 5 stars.