I want to buy a new mech board but not looking to drop a lot of money on it. What’s the best pre-built budget mech keyboard you’ve ever tried? ~$100 or less.
Can’t go wrong with Keychron: https://www.keychron.com/collections/normal-profile-keyboards
But it does depend on what you’re after
I love Keychron. I have a K2. Was thinking about a C1 Pro Custom. Only $80.
The first board that made me fall into this rabbit hole was a K2, it’s a great budget board! My friend has a C2 and is quite happy with it.
This is a personal choice. I’ve had Keychron and theyr’e very good entry level … but I DESPISE the fact that they have bluetooth only. The fact that you have to press a key to wake the keeb up and then wait 2-3 seconds for bluetooth to pair before you stop typing bothers me to no end.
I ended up selling mine to buy a RoyalKludge one which is an amazon clone … it’s pretty much the same thing but it has a 2.5GHZ dongle that doesn’t have that same delay.
It also has RGB LEDs programmable software, hot swappable switches and it costs under a hundo …
Been using it for 2 years now, very happy with it.
I really think those Amazon brands would see noticeable sales improvement if they paid a native English speaker $10 to come up with a better name than “Royal Kludge”.
I agree, my current daily driver is a Keychron and so far I haven’t had a problem with the Bluetooth when I use it. I use it wired most of the time but a 2.5Ghz dongle would be fantastic.
I just saw the Royal Kludge RK918 today and it looks just like the out of production Anker keyboard I have. It is solidly built and looks great. The only drawback I see is it appears to be like the Anker in that it is a hardwired cable, no customizing with aviator cable or such. Not all RK keyboard are like this and many have the dongle like yours.
Keychron Keychron Keychron Keychron Keychron Keychron Keychron Keychron Keychron Keychron Keychron Keychron Keychron Keychron Keychron Keychron Keychron Keychron Keychron Keychron.
Yep! I’m going to go with the C1 Pro for $80!
If you do not mind 60% keyboards, some of the Dierya products might be the way to go, e.g.:
- Dierya DK61SE, available for $25.99
- Dierya DK61E available for $49.99
Both are available with brown, red or blue switches. Comes in nice packaging for budget keyboard (here some unpacking, testing and review).
I have the Dierya DK61SE. It is nicely built, and I can take in my work laptop case, if I am traveling and working away from office, but wanna use a mechanical keyboard instead of my laptop built-in keyboard.
I looked into getting these, too! I ended up being gifted a keychron C1. I really like it. Then I got GSA caps and Fekker switches, and now I love it.
If you’re not against buying chinese products, Redragon has a good reputation and I’m satisfied with my keyboard from them
Have a redragon myself, not too shabby. I’d also look at nuphy
Keychron and nothing else. None of the gaming branded keyboards even come close, the value is insane.
Keychrons are nice at the US$100 budget, but if you go really cheap there are some bargains to be had. Akko makes some nice stuff, and the Chinese ecommerce sites are swamped with decent stuff that goes on sale at various times.
Akko boards are nice too, but keychron has consistently been better at the same price for all the ones I tried.
It depends on where you live. A quick rerview with local seller to get what in stock first. I live in third world country, the entry level usually is: Akko, Keychron, NJ
I am a big TLK fan so I opted to get a Keychron K8 - it’s got bluetooth, solderless replaceable switches, VIA keymapping, RGB LED lighting etc.
Overall I’m very pleased with the keyboard for the price
If you want ULTRA budget, I’ve used this cheap ass keyboard daily for 4 years now: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CLYNW78/
I’ve beat the crap out of it, but it’s still good as new. Some of the switches I’ve swapped out for Silent Black since my newborn was sleeping next to me at the time, but the original switches all work fine. It’s got all the RGB bells and whistles, but I leave it on white.
I’m super happy with my keychain c1, though it is my first so I’ve got nothing to compare to. dunno how much I paid, wasn’t much tho
You mean Keychron right? Your autocorrect kinda messed it up for you.
lol yea
ducking autocorrect
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Take a look at the 8bitdo keyboard.
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I thought it had Gateron Browns.
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We have 2 Tecware Phantom RGB at home that have been great. They have a decent number of options and we’ll under $100.
I just use the RGB for backlighting, but SO had the pudding caps and they look great if you’re into that. The software hasn’t been too bad for us either.
