Redragon K552-N KUMARA Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Black Black

I am not a gamer, I just wanted an inexpensive first-timer mechanical keyboard for typing for work. This one works well and is a great value, but for being incredibly loud, even over noise cancelling headphones! Still, compared to much more expensive mechanical keyboards with fancy lights and switches, this one gives you 90% of the functionality for 20% of the price. That’s a score in my book.Pros:—inexpensive—great for typists, positive feedback with audible clicks on blue switches—easy to remove key caps and switches if modifying—surprisingly heavy, gives a nice, solid, quality feeling vs membrane plastic keyboards. Ideal for desktop vs mobile use.Cons:—very loud!—some kind of “ringing” noise when typing fast, possibly springs or something reverberating against metal base plate?Conclusion: basically the best value in mechanical keyboards, sans lights.Update: after installing two 1.5mm silicone o-rings per key, the noise is somewhat improved, but still quite loud for extended typing sessions. Will update after I install more quiet switches.Update 2: with silent brown switches, the sound is much improved, great for typing!

The audible and tactile feedback the K552-N is a resounding improvement over most membrane keyboards. The ambient noise level at my office desk is 60 dB (due to the HVAC) so I don't mind the keys clicking at all. Hitting a single key, such as Enter, hard causes a clack from the solid base plate inside the keyboard. It's quite satisfying that the keyboard doesn't flex on the desk.The keys have a very light feel despite the clicking and clacking. The keys indeed offer less resistance than HP and IBM vintage, membrane-backed, workstation keyboards that I still use and like. I miss the startup resistance of those keyboards, yet I suspect the light feel of the K552 promotes faster typing. The overall sensation has the lightness of a laptop keyboard, coupled with much longer travel, a light click on the way down, a solid clack at the bottom of the stroke, and immensely better key spacing and shape.The 87-key layout is perfect for me. For a long time, I had been struggling with the standard 101-key layout because I always wanted to put the mouse where the number pad resided. The tenkeyless design finally allows the mouse to sit comfortably on my keyboard tray with room to move around within arms reach. With my particular seating position and body geometry, my shoulder feels better, and I feel more productive already.A little more than two weeks after my keyboard was delivered, I am enjoying its audible tactile feedback, tenkeyless ergonomics, and appreciating its light touch. The keyboard is not perfect, however. When the two front legs are not extended, the front left plastic foot (bump) does not touch the desk like the other three, or the keyboard rocks. This problem persists when I move the keyboard to a different surface and does not affect other keyboards placed on the same surfaces. Extending the keyboard legs eliminates the issue, but I like keeping the keyboard flat. The plastic bumps appear identical so I think the bottom of the keyboard has a slight twist. I fixed the problem by covering the left front foot with a tiny strip of duct tape.I like having no lights on this K552-N version of the keyboard. Minor improvements in other areas would still be welcome though. When I type and make mistakes, I feel the edges of the key tops are a little sharp compared to some keyboards which are more forgiving. I am convinced the keyboard would have a more premium feel if the key tops were more rounded on the edges.Despite being a tenkeyless design, the keyboard can be a direct replacement for a 101-key office keyboard. My muscle memory only fumbled reaching for the non-typing cluster of arrow keys and the control keys above them (Insert, Home, Page Up, etc). The distance of the non-typing keys from the rightmost edge of the typing key tops is barely 12mm compared to almost 15.5mm on an office keyboard. Increasing that gap would make the keyboard feel roomier like a "work" keyboard.I have mostly used old school keyboards without the Windows and Menu keys. It's nice the K552 can disable Windows by pressing it with the Fn key. I wish it could do the same for Menu. Fortunately, I can nullify Menu by software so this is no big deal.To nitpick a bit more, the key tops do wiggle around. Many keyboards have less wiggle, but I don't mind the K552-N as it is. The white lettering on the frequently used A, S, E, I, and N keys has become less bright. Redragon evidently inks the key tops and assembles the double shot keys using translucent and black plastic. While ink may wear off, I expect the two kinds of plastic in the keys to always be discernible.Apart from little issues with balance without legs extended, somewhat sharp key edges, the non-typing key cluster being closer than usual to the typing keys, the K552-N is an excellent mechanical keyboard in other respects that matter. I recommend it if the feedback and feel of a keyboard are important to you and you want to reclaim desktop space from a number pad.Update 2018-05-23: My Linux PC was showing USB disconnect messages for the keyboard after I placed the keyboard cable near others under my desk. Wrapping and shortening the cable with the provided cable tie resolved the issue.Update 2019-07-10: All keys are working perfectly, no USB disconnection issues have occurred since tying up the cables. Despite white keytop ink having worn off the most used keys, the underlying letter injections are still easily readable. The keyboard continues to give 5-star performance in daily office use.

Especially for the price it's great!

The Keyboard is pretty well built and the keys are really satisfying and clicky. I personally prefer keyboards without LEDs, so this was perfect for me. Also, when buying this I was considering a different Keyboard(for desk space) which is 60%, while this is 80% . But when the product arrived that its nice and compact and is actually about a 73% percentish keyboard imo. One very slight critic I found is that the keys are a little bit wobly for the larger keys like shift or tab, but it really doesn't affect usage and is hard to notice usually, and the amazing £30 price kept it at 5 star

Para gente que no sabemos si lo de los teclados mecánicos es una moda o de verdad se notan y se agradecen, es un muy buen producto y una oportunidad para probar un mecánico real sin dejarnos 80 o 100€ de una vez. La construcción es muy buena.