Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “The Best Budget 60% RGB Keyboard just got better! – RK71 Review”.
So if you guys remember, I reviewed the RK 61 on the channel a while back. This is a 60 %, while this RGB mechanical keyboard and a lot of you guys actually ended up picking this up. It’S a really great alternative. Over the other premium, 60 % keyboards out there, like the an pro 2 and the ducky 1 2 mini.
But then I found out a few weeks later that RK actually made a newer version of that keyboard. This year is the RK 71, and it’s going for five dollars more, so I decided to pick it up and see if it’s any better. The castle 360 e^x offers the ultimate cooling experience with lots of improvements, including a more powerful motor, anti leak technology and three specifically tuned 120 millimeter fans with patented two layer fan blades that improves noise, canceling and air flow.
You can also customize the RGB pump by positioning the logo any way you want or replace it completely with your own creation click the link below to learn more. So the first thing I noticed is the size. This is a 65 % keyboard, so it’s slightly bigger than the RK 61 because they did shift over the dedicated arrow and cursor control keys. However, the keyboard has the same thin bezels all around. Unfortunately, this keyboard is only available in black with to switch options either. Kale blues or Browns kale blues are slightly heavier requiring 60 grams of actuation force compared to 50 from cherry blues. One of my biggest complaints from the RK 61 was not having the dedicated arrow key. So I’m glad to see they included him in the RK 71. Even if it does mean extending the keyboard by like an inch and a half, the keyboard has a plastic base, but it’s built really well and the key caps don’t have any noticeable wobble.
I do like the font on the key caps this time around over the previous keyboard, but I don’t like the coding on the key caps. It has this very flat matte anti-slip coating, which doesn’t feel as smooth as the RK 61, and they do pickup finger oils. Really easily that’s mostly because this keyboard is a first generation product and the key caps are a single shot injection using white abs plastic and it pretty much just painted over it with black oil paint. That’S why it feels different than the RK 61. However, the customer service rep told me that they’re shipping out generation 2 boards at the end of September, which is the exact same keyboard, but they will have double shot injection key caps instead and a white version of the keyboard as well.
Either way you can always swap the key caps with any PB T or equivalent key caps. If you like, when improvements over the RK 61, is the addition of the multimedia buttons, which was also another thing. I complained about so it’s nice to see that the added support for these also you can now connect up to five devices via bluetooth, instead of three by holding down the function and pressing either of the QW ERT Keys typing on this is just as comfortable due To the ergonomic design of the keyboard, which eliminates the need for a kickstand, however, they did include two magnetic rubber feet. If you need that extra lift, I had no issues whatsoever reaching any of the keys, and my overall typing efficiency has increased due to the extra keys on the side, you’re pretty much getting a tkl experience in a smaller form factor.
The detachable cable is USB. This time around instead of micro, but for some reason they decided to shorten the length by an inch coming from the RK 61, instead of increasing it. So if your PC is pretty far from your keyboard, then you might want to pick up an extension cable.
Just like the RK 61, the RGB lighting is one of the best features of the keyboard. You can fully customize each individual key using a software or select a wide variety of effects from a drop-down menu. Now, in order to use this software, you will need to download and install the firmware first and I’ll drop a link to that below for your convenience.
Speaking of RGB, the keyboard has this pretty cool accent: lighting on the sides, which is only controllable by holding down the function and the insert key. You have the option of setting one of six static, colors or two effects. The first one is an RGB effect and the other is a breathing effect that cycles through all the colors. Of course, you can also choose to turn it off. If you like. One thing I don’t like about this keyboard is the red accent on the sides over here.
It kind of throws off the aesthetic of the keyboard. In my opinion, I wish they would have just kept it black. The battery life is pretty good.
It has a one thousand milliamp hour battery built in which lasted me a full week with on and off use the lights do shut off after a minute of an activity to save battery life, which does help out. However, if you’re using the keyboard constantly with the RGB feature, you can get up to 5 days of use for my full charge, gaming on the keyboard is fun. However, I do recommend playing wired because Bluetooth does have noticeable latency. It’S basically like playing with a 500 millisecond ping, so if you’re playing casually or just typing, then it’s fine. However, for competitive gameplay, I do recommend plugging in the cable one small thing that kind of annoyed me was the LED charging indicator on the space bar.
It’S always gon na be red, while charging a keyboard which will throw off the rest of the colors, but the light will shut off once the keyboard is fully charged. Your case 71 took an already awesome budget 60 % keyboard and made it even better, with dedicated navigation, keys, Multimedia support and an overall, better build quality. The only things I don’t like about the keyboard are the coating on the key caps, the short USBC cable, and I wish they made these available in Cale red switches, since I don’t like using Browns or blues, but that pretty much does it for my review on The RK 71, just like last time, I will be doing a giveaway on this, so if you guys want to enter all you have to do is leave a like on the video and comment below what your thoughts are on the keyboard I’ll announce the winner is A week later on my Instagram story so make sure you guys check back then also Congrats to the previous winner of the arcade 61 keyboard. The first person I chose didn’t respond for some reason, so I was forced to pick another winner and guys there’s been so many times where I’ve selected winners and they don’t claim their prize. So I’m basically forced to pick another winner. So please, if you’re entering a giveaway, make sure you guys follow up on that, because you’re pretty much just giving up your prize, that’s pretty much! It I’ll drop a link to the keyboard below.
If you guys want to check it out thanks again so much for watching, I love your faces. I’Ll see you in the next one .