Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Why is EVERYONE Buying this $35 Gaming Keyboard? – Redragon K552 Kumara”.
On a budget Trouble typing in the dark, Is there some other reason that you need a cheap keyboard and fast Well odds are that you bought this one, or rather one of these ones., And I know what you’re thinking. It’s’cause it’s cheap right, You’re, only half right., Which also means that you’re half wrong., So why the ( beep ), is everyone buying this gaming keyboard To find out? We bought it actually them and poured through the over 30,000 Amazon reviews to see if popular equals, good. Spoiler alert., It does not., Sometimes y’all really goof it up, but I would never goof up this segue to our sponsor Crucial. Step up your game with Crucial’s P5 Plus NVMe SSD., You can easily upgrade your new PS5 or your gaming PC with up to two terabytes of additional storage that comes with a five-year warranty. Get yours today, using the link down below.
(, upbeat, music ), The number one best seller in the gaming keyboard Category stood out for one obvious, reason., It’s technically a combo pack. I mean who doesn’t wan na free mouse right. So it only felt fair to also have a look at the runner-up in the category. A standalone mechanical keyboard for around the same price., Starting with the Redragon S101, the title kind of says it all.
You get a centrophorus, centrophorus mouse and a basic membrane gaming keyboard., Both of them wired and both with RGB.. That’S how you know it’s gaming.. The keyboard has multimedia keys if you’re into those the backlight cycles through a variety of colors and modes, and it includes a wrist rest. More on that later..
As for the mouse, it’s got six buttons, five of which are programmable, a nearly ambidextrous design and a sensor that can change DPI from 400, all the way to 3200, with four adjustable presets for whatever you want in between., And they can even be tuned via software.. But that’s about it., It’s cheap and it works mostly., While reviews for the S101 are generally positive, 75 % of you gave it five whole stars. Most of the praise for the combo seems to be.
How do I put this kind of basic.? It’S the more critical reviews that really hit the nail on the head for why we don’t think that you guys should keep buying this thing. First up. The keyboard is membrane, which, for starters, means that if any key starts to fail, you’re, probably gon na need to throw the entire thing away rather than performing surgery on a single switch like we did in a recent video.. It also means that typing feels characteristically mushy. And, as for the keycaps, while you might like the soft touch right out of the box, don’t be surprised when they start to wear out in a matter of hours, making the legend much harder to read..
And this is particularly true if you have more acidic skin oils. The flip-up feet are a nice inclusion, giving you two different angles, but while the wrist rest I mentioned before is technically included, that is it.. The best thing I can say about it is that it’s so small that you’re unlikely to actually end up resting your wrists on it, because the textured plastic, especially under the right palm area, is as uncomfortable as it is: tacky looking., What’s never tacky those the merch From lttstore.com. Make sure to check out our new RGB diodes T-shirt..
On that note, the tiny print manual includes simple instructions for how to cycle between RGB, colors and modes, but from some angles the keys near the bottom seem to shine much brighter than the ones near. The top. To be clear, if you get a working one you’ll, be able to hone newbs with it just fine., But many of the critical reviews mentioned keys, either outright failing after a few months or registering extra characters when pressed.. These complaints could be due to Dorito dust.
That’S on you, but given that the product description boasts that the keyboard is built to withstand the average liquid spill, I think it’s fair to expect more.. As for the mouse, it’s fine. Onboard weights were a pleasant surprise at this price point. But the other glaring issues overshadowed any joy that we could have felt. Both Plouffe and I found it extremely uncomfortable and for different reasons. And even if we had tiny hands shaped. Like this, the sensor just plain, isn’t good enough for serious gamer.. Another issue, many of the low-star reviews bring up, is how easy it is to hit the side buttons by accident., And we agree, though at least it does have them.. The bottom line is, while many of our complaints might feel like we’re just hating on budget products.. That’S not the case.. In fact, we’ve got a review coming on the GMX-7, the cheapest gaming mouse on Amazon., So get subscribed for that.. The issue is just that gamers who are on this tight of a budget, guys you’d be better off with a basic combo from a reputable brand like Logitech, rather than spending twice as much for some tacky RGB..
But what if you did have a little more to spend? That’S where our runner-up gets really interesting.? The K552 Kumara is a tenkeyless mechanical gaming keyboard for just 35 U.S. dollars.. It even supports hot-swapping the key switches sort of. More on that later..
It’S got 19 different lighting modes with per key illumination. As long as you get the actually RGB version, your choice of clicky, tactile or linear switches and much nicer keycaps than the S101.. The positive reviews for this one are pretty accurate and mostly focus on things like value, the backlight and compatibility with Mac.. It’S still absolutely nowhere near the build quality of a mid-tier mechanical keyboard, but compared to its membrane, brother and for $ 35. Had I mentioned that yet there’s just no contest. By spending the same amount of money but ditching the mouse from the combo pack.
We get a sturdier board right, outta, the gate and maybe more importantly, we get options people., Don’t like the keycaps Put on something else.. Don’T like the switches, The Kumara’s hot-swap PCB means that there is no soldering required if you wan na, replace a broken, switch or try something new altogether.. So then, why don’t they list that as a feature, The Outemu switches that it comes with, feel and sound about like we’d for a Blue-alike switch, but they have thinner pins than your average Cherry clone or Enthusiast switch.. So, unless you’re, using something else, also from Outemu you’ll, actually need to file down the pins one by one in order to fit them through the holes..
Please don’t spend your time doing that unless you really want to., The keycaps are double shot and the RGB shines through quite nicely, though you might not like the font., And while the casing is plastic, it’s got way more heft than the S101 at almost two pounds. Thanks to the higher quality switches and the metal plate., It’s not as easy to take apart as a DIY Mechanical Keyboard, but the K552 can be torn down and upgraded, mostly through lubing. The switches and the stabilizers. “ Switch and Click” actually made a video doing exactly this almost a year ago.
So, if you’re looking for some help, getting the most out of your Kumara 552 make sure you check that out. Our main issues with this keyboard. Aside from being stuck with Outemu switches, mostly revolve around the non-detachable cable, the attempt at rubber feet, and it hardly helps with sliding and the overall look and feel compared to a more expensive, DIY tenkeyless.. But there’s one argument that wipes out all of those nitpicks.. It’S $ 35.. There are competitors in this price range on Amazon, but they’re, typically either not hot-swappable or the low-star reviews mention some pretty rough quality control.
Problems., Though the Kumara isn’t entirely free of those either.. Most of our low-star reviews. Mention chatter: that’s when the keystroke registers multiple times or the keyboard just dying after a month or two.. Ours has been perfectly fine so far, but you should note that your mileage may vary.. If you’re looking for other options, we haven’t actually tried these other keyboards. So we can’t fully vouch for them, but while they have significantly fewer ratings, we have at least a couple competitor picks for four and a half stars or higher..
First up is this mechanical keyboard and mouse combo pack from Havit, which sports 6500 reviews, with 76 % of them being five-star., It’s the same price, but the mouse and keyboard both look a little nicer. There’s not as much branding being thrown in your face. And the Keyboard is mechanical., So you give up your dedicated multimedia keys, but I think that’s a worthwhile trade-off to get away from membrane. As for finding an alternative mechanical keyboard at this price, it’s pretty tough. YoChic has a full-size board for $ 30 and it’s got a perfect Five outta five stars, but there are only 18 reviews., So that could easily just be the CEO of the company and all their friends and family.. If you’re willing to up your budget a little bit and you don’t mind a smaller layout, the RK61 from Royal Kludge is just $ 53..
It’S hot-swap uses a detachable cable and has a solid rating with over 7,000 reviews., But that’s a much higher budget.. So I’m gon na say it screw. It go for the Kumara. If you wan na, find it or any of the other items that we’ve been talking about today.
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Out., Don’t wait. We’re gon na have them linked in the video description.. If you guys are looking for another video to watch right now, why not check out our mouse version of “? Why is Everybody Buying This Thing” about the G502 HERO really great gaming mouse. One of those and this keyboard for like 70 freaking dollars, 80 duck bucks. You’Re like loaded for bear., I love it. .