RK ROYAL KLUDGERK100 Wireless Mechanical Keyboard RGB Backlit Bluetooth5.1/2.4G/Wired 96% Full Size 100-Key Hot Swappable Gaming Keyboard Red Switch Classic

I originally am coming from a Logitech G613 that I got for ~$85 when it was still relatively new. I had that keyboard for nearly 4 years and it still is working totally fine today. Zero problems with that keyboard, and I highly recommend it.HOWEVER, my desk space had always been really small and the lack of backlighting still kind of bothered me. So I needed an upgrade with small form factor, still had a 10key pad, and had backlighting.After doing a lot of comparison and research (Keychron, Epomaker, Vortex, etc), I settled on this Royal Kludge RK100. Here's a breakdown of my review.PROs:+ Switches. I chose the hot-swappable Browns, as I'm one of the people who don't like the ultra clicky sound of the blues, but want a good balance over the Reds. I love the feeling of these Browns, especially after using the Romer G switches on the G613. These switches have a great sound that isn't loud, but the feedback and actuation feels satisfying with every click. A nice "thocciness" as the keyboard enthusiasts say. The fact that you can choose your own base switch, and then switch it entirely with customization is nice, although I myself will never do any customization. I don't have the patience haha.+ Backlighting. Full RGB with multiple lighting modes and even lighting recording! I haven't even tried the lighting recording, and I probably never will, but the fact that you can do that is pretty damn cool. The keycaps also allow the light to come through the letter itself so its not just background lighting. I like switching up the lighting modes just based on what Im doing or my mood. Theres a "Christmas-y" mode that I definitely will use come holiday time!!+ Num10 keypad. I wasn't going to give up my 10keypad anytime soon, and I still don't plan on it. Number entry for me is a necessity and I love having the numberpad while still having a much smaller form factor than the G613. More on this later though...........+ Battery life/charging. I like being able to just unplug my phone and plug the keyboard in for a quick charge. I've only had to charge this once in the month that I've had this. I turn it off everytime I walk away from it to conserve battery life. Those of you who will want to keep it on at all times will probably get closer to the ~7 to 9 day battery life if you keep the backlight on all the time, and if you don't use it, you can probably get up to a 25+ days. USB-C charging is really nice though. And the battery light indicator is helpful.+ Build quality. This keyboard is very sturdy with no creaking or flex. The rubber feet stay put nicely and the riser feet are also rubberized and are not flimsy at all.+ Connections. I like the ability to connect via dongle, Bluetooth, or wired. I only use the dongle. Its been perfect. No lag. No drops. Connects instantly as soon as I turn it on. Zero complaints here. Just as good as my G613 that NEVER had any drops in connection. But we'll see if this can last years.+ PRICE. All the features of this keyboard and its only $75 and wireless????? Sign me up.CONs:These aren't necessarily BAD things about this keyboard, its more of things that I am not exactly thrilled about.- Height. The height of the keyboard can be quite uncomfortable if you don't have a wrist rest. The G613 had a built in wrist rest that made it very comfortable to use, but it wasn't removable which made the keyboard SO much heavier and bigger than I wanted it to be in a small desk area. Though the riser feet are nice, there's no way I'm using them. I don't need to have an even higher angle. And that's WITH the wrist rest. Its a pretty high keyboard. So keep that in mind.- USB passthrough. Has anyone been able to get this to work? For some reason. It doesn't work for me. Maybe I'm using it wrong. Is it just for charging? It can charge my phone which is nice, but its very slow. But in terms of connecting a mouse....I never got that to work. I don't mind that much because I wasn't planning on using it anyway, but if you're buying it for the extra passthrough, hopefully you have better luck than me.- ARROW KEYS and ZERO on keypad. I get that its due to unfamiliarity and I totally understand this is the compromise of the small form factor with keypad. But I guess I just have long fingers. When I press shift, I tend to press farther on the right side of the right shift key. And because of the shortened key and the UP arrow replacing that area, I am pressing that up arrow way too much, its pretty annoying. I've gotten better at it and writing this review hasn't been the biggest pain, but it does get annoying. Hopefully in 3 months I wont even have to think about it right now. The single key size ZERO on the numpad is also a jarring difference for me. As an avid numpad user, I still have yet to get used to this. It may just take time, but I really do miss my full size zero.....BOTTOM LINE:Despite those complaints (they are just complaints, not really negatives about this keyboard), I freaking love this keyboard. The switches feel and sound great. Theyre so satisfying to press. I love typing on this thing. I go out of my way to write longer comments just because typing on this is so enjoyable. The back lighting is fun and extremely helpful. The small form factor is much more suitable for my desk size, and all I need is a long adjustment period to the shortened zero and shift keys.I highly recommend this keyboard. Both for the enthusiast who wants to customize everything, and for the average person who just wants a good keyboard of this size and doesn't want to give up the numpad. Anyone who gets this as their first mechanical keyboard is opening the golden door to world of keyboards. And you may not need to go any further!! 5/5

I wish I could give this item 7 stars.Five for the product and 2 for the company.I needed a keyboard that was smaller, and multi-connection capable, and also wanted something a bit 'retro'This keyboard has hit all the marks. It types great, just the right click and loudness.I recently had surgery, and while using this keyboard to do some work from the bed, dropped it against my nightstand. HARD. I found that my accident had caused the numkey2 key to break.I reached out to RK to try to purchase an exact replacement as the color is ivory/cream white and I could not source it.They sent a replacement, FREE OF CHARGE including the shipping!FLOORED does not describe my feelings for the level of commitment this company is striving for and I hope more companies follow suite!!!

I have had a history of real bad luck with this company, mostly the sellers. This time they were perfect, so... good on whomever sold this. I got the right color and key switches. Currently using this to type on. I went with Brown, I vaguely remember liking them. Now, I'm very new to the whole "MECHANICAL" keyboard thing. I can easily type on membrane, scissor switches, and what not. I'm not a snob.Pros:-Have this wired, not because I game, I don't, but because my little NUC from Asrock has like the worst bluetooth connection ever. SO... why bother with pairing or the dongle and just run this wired. Seems to work just fine.-Like that the dongle not only stores, pretty well via a magnet, on the underside. Also, love that they silkscreened their brand on it, since without it, it looks like every other 2.5GHz dongle from a chinese company. WHICH I HAVE like a dozen of and yet none of the dongles that use that protocol seem to work with any of the devices. So frustrating.-Layout: I use the numpad to log into my pc and I also use it since I do a lot of maths since I'm a nerd, and heavily rely on it. This was the best compromise to a full 108 key and this 100 key since. I can also fit this on my keyboard drawer under the table I use in my living room, while also being able to use my mouse on the same tray/drawer.-No obnoxious branding anywhere. Not like on the spacebar or on the surface. It's a very nice, no nonsense, minimal keyboard.-Heavy, this I believe is all plastic on the outside, meaning they artificially added weights to the inside. Feels nice. won't move when typing, increases rigidity, and doesn't feel cheap.-Apparently RK, is doing this awesome thing where they decide, why sacrifice a USB port when we can turn your keyboard into a mini hub with 2 full A sized ports. Which I now use for my Unifying Receiver for my mouse.-Arrow keys; So many keyboards handle these keys in weird ways. Some put it in front of the shift like a monster, or the smart ones do what RK do and put it to the right of the right-shift, slightly shrinking the right shift, but not so much that it messes with muscle memory.Cons:-Backlighting seems dull even at max brightness.-BULKY, while it's nice and compact on the X and Y, that Z axis is thick. I thought this would be a thinner keyboard. Seems like, and this is a rough estimate: thickest part is 1.25in and the thinnest is 1in.CONFUSING:-not normally a section I would include, but this warrants it. This feels great to type on and also hurts. On the one hand, I like the switches, but it also seems like it really requires a deliberate jab, leading to typing fatigue pretty easily and I already have some sort of nerve damage in my right hand from something or other, could be carpal tunnel, but I feel the fatigue.Conclusion:I like this keyboard a lot, but I might try the RED switches instead. OTHER THAN THAT, it's a really really good keyboard that has everything I'd want on a keyboard and a bonus mini usb hub. I recommend it. BUT THE BROWN does feel like it needs a lot of pressure to press. SO... Might want to go with Red. I like blue, but blue is obnoxiously loud and clicky, which I like the sound of.Update:HOLY COW this is important, the software for this keyboard is AMAZING. It adds like 2 dozen extra animations, gives you individual per key RGB control and the LED blending doesn't cause that weird PRISM effect that cheaper keyboards suffer from. Like when you have a cheaper keyboard do "YELLOW" it's combining Red and Green, but it's in a way that head on, you kind of get the "YELLOW" but then if you tilt your head left you get Yellow with a red aura, and right gives you yellow with a green aura. And for my eyes it hurts. Usually why I stick with a CYAN option on cheap keyboards with the 7 color backlighting. This has less of that issue, since it also goes through a diffusing layer.The only critique with the software is that the custom color changing is kind of annoying, since I can't see a way to save a custom color you make, so you kind of have to remember its RGB value. Then you pick the keys that get that color. BUT if you wanted to make a multi-color pattern or draw something in the blockiest of pixel art. Best to have it layed out and colored before hand. So let's say you want Navy Blue, Crimson Red, Hunter Green; you would be best to lay out the blues wherever they're to go, then switch the custom color to RED, lay them out everywhere, THEN switch the values to green. That part is clunky and not great. BUT it is amazing how much more the software opens up this keyboard. The fact that this is an $80 product that gives you that kind of control is kind of amazing, and then the ability to pull out the switches and then put your own in, also amazing. YEAH YEAH, you could buy a DIY kit but then that will literally usually be around the $100 mark. So you start with the key color you like, then go from there. It's a great BEGINNER'S journey into the world of Mechanical Keyboards and the 100s of different switches. MAN this has been a deeper rabbit hole than I suspected it was. Since I liked the linearity of REDS, but the actuation was too low that resting my fat ring finger on the key caused the "L" to activate and create a long string of "Ls" .