Hardware Corsair K60 Vengeance Review

Just thrown in an order for a Ducky Shine, with brown switches, to replace my Sidewinder X8 as the backlight appears to have died after spilling some cider on it

 

Where did you buy it from? tell me how you like it when you get it, I'm thinking of ordering one soon

 

Will do, same cost as the Razer Black Widow Ultimate Stealth I was going to get but supposedly in stock so we will see.

 

Would also like some details, since I nearly got one, but decided to go tenkeyless, but am still tempted to pick one up

 

How is the tenkeyless? Which switch did you go for? How loud is it?

 

Me?

I went for the Ducky 1087 with blue switches, I really like it, it's certainly not quiet (don't have any other mechanical keyboards to compare it to noise wise) I think I'm bottoming out all of the time while typing atm, which probably doesn't help with the noise levels.
So pleased I went tenkeyless though, extra desk space with very little downsides for me (made me realise how little I used the numpad!)

 

You can buy foam rubber "Landing Pads" that will make it much quieter and soften the bottoming out. It does dim the lights though.

http://elitekeyboards.com/products.php?sub=access,slpads

I put them on my BW Ultimate, it helped a bit, I went with soft, but I would recommend going for hard to avoid feeling spongy (and still bottom out hard) and hard will probably give more benefit on sound and impact. Beware, you may void you warranty putting them on, not to mention a hassle, Cherry key caps need to pulled straight up to avoid damage and there are a lot of key caps to pull. Be especially careful on the large keys due to the torsion bars.

On the other hand, on the Das w/browns they made the system feel spongy and cheap, almost like a cheap rubber domed keyboard. I took them off after a few minutes, luckily I had only done a few keys.

I think they were okay on the blues because of the solid click, but they also are partly (not entirely) responsible for the "float" sensation I feel with the blues.

The blues are almost as quiet as the browns once you put soft landing pads on. Still audible, but no longer a loud sharp clack.


I went without the ten keys before, and almost went nuts. At least newer ones come with home and end, and are a standard format, that helps a lot. I use home and end too often to have to hunt or hit a shift or function key to use.

 

Is this your first non-rubber keyboard?

 

Indeed

 

So what do you guys think of this MX Blue Cherry G80? It seems like a good price to me, no n-key rollover and no media keys, but good reviews. Better value perhaps?

I am tempted I admit!

 

Reviewers state that the build quality isn't very good on those.

Only a few USB models will have more than 2kro, and then only allow 6 on a few select keys, most need ps2 connections to get more than two. Honestly, I think this more of a marketing gimmick as most will never need it or have noticed it lacking despite using usb keyboards in the past, but why limit yourself. I have NKRO and yes, I do occasionally see it as beneficial, but it's not like my gaming would suffer drastically without.


Start here and find the keyboard you want, these aren't cheap, and can last a very long time, so you want to get what you are looking for the first time. Don't buy because it's cheap or you may be buying another or be disappointing. You don't rush into buying most other parts, why rush into the second most touched part of a computer and one that can benefit you a lot?
http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?ti...+Keyboard+Guide+-+Includes+Glossary+and+Links

 

not keen on the K60 or the ducky either tbh, I much prefer my keyboard that i have now, the logitech k800

 

I'm sorry but in the Back widdow review you slag it off because of its price (£110) and this is £15 less yet isnt Fully mechanical or illuminated... *Dusts his hands* I can't vist this site anymore.

 

But it's made of aluminium with more expensive switches, adding substantially to the cost.

It's still a weak board though, you got that sentiment right.

 

I recently bought the K60. Expensive. Yet another PC component which now has reached "enthusiast/professional" status with prices to match. Who would have ever thought that PC cases could be sold for £500 or PC PSUs for £200. Now we have keyboards for £100!

I was disappointed to find that the key top markings were transfer. At this price point I would have liked to see moulded markings. Keyboard preferences are clearly very personal - but the slope of the keyboard doesn't work for me, I need to prop the back up further, possibly to match the slope of my older keyboard. The USB cable(s) are chunky and the cable doesn't bend easily and it takes up 2 USB ports. There is a USB socket on the back of the keyboard, however for me I've never needed this feature in the past, so it is no use to me now - YMMV.

 

In the grand scheme of things it's a mediocre keyboard for the money. I always find with anything in life, if you want the best possible options open to you then you have to research the topic, research it some more, and only then will you be ready to begin the serious research on the topic.

Cheap mechanical keyboards use pad printed legends, which at this sort of price point is totally unacceptable. Laser engraving is better as long as it's done properly. Black keys with white infilled laser engraving tend to get very grubby very quickly, and they're not always possible to clean. The Razer Blackwidow (non-ultimate) is a particularly good example of this. However, done as dark laser on to lighter keycaps or properly costed this is the most cost effective acceptable solution.

Much rarer are dye sublimation and doubleshot legends. Dyesub involves using a dye to permeate deep into the plactic, which gives much more durability to the legend. Double shot keycaps are made up of two (or more) parts, each a different colour. The keycap is first injected with the primary colour, and a cutout for the legend. The second colour is then injection moulded into the back, which gives the most durable keycap possible. These options are much more expensive and therefore generally only available to the industrial/enthusiast market.

A quick comparison from left to right (pad printed, laser engraved, double-shot):



I don't have a dyesub at work but you get the idea.

There's a whole other series of posts about keycap materials, profiles, widths before we even get away from just the keycaps and start talking about the other bits, but that's for another day...