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Mechanical Keyboard

Royal Kludge RK61 vs Royal Kludge RK84

Royal Kludge RK61

Budget Pick

in Mechanical Keyboard

Royal Kludge RK61

95 reviews

View Product Details

Royal Kludge RK84

Royal Kludge RK84

66 reviews

View Product Details

#2 most mentioned

Reddit · r/keyboards

Best Cheap 60% Keyboard

RTINGS · The 5 Best 60% Keyboards

#30 most mentioned

Reddit · r/keyboards

#44 most mentioned

Reddit · r/MechanicalKeyboards

Great price point for an entry-level mechanical keyboard with Bluetooth connectivity and backlighting

Decent typing experience compared to a membrane keyboard

Compact and portable design

RGB LED options available

Good for gaming and typing on a budget

Great backlighting with RGB

Compact size

Hot-swappable switches

Various connectivity options and ports

Customizable features

Not the highest quality keycaps and stabilizers

Connectivity issues and latency when used wirelessly

Blue light LED's and clicky switches may not be for everyone

Not consistent quality control

Poor customer service

Some users have experienced connectivity and software issues

Verdict

Overall, the Royal Kludge RK61 seems to be a decent entry-level mechanical keyboard with Bluetooth connectivity and backlighting. While it may not offer the same level of performance and features as more expensive keyboards, it is a good upgrade from a membrane keyboard. However, there are some usability issues and the quality of the keycaps and stabilizers may need to be improved. The blue light LED's and clicky switches may not be for everyone, but there are other switch options available. The keyboard is also prone to connectivity issues and latency when used wirelessly. Overall, the Royal Kludge RK61 is a solid choice for those on a budget or looking for a travel keyboard.

Verdict

The Royal Kludge RK84 keyboard has received mixed reviews, with some praising its compact size, hot-swappable switches, and RGB backlighting, while others have experienced issues with connectivity and software. The keyboard offers a variety of connectivity options and ports, making it appealing to some users. However, there have been reports of poor customer service and quality control issues. Overall, the Royal Kludge RK84 may be a good option for those looking for a budget-friendly, compact keyboard with customizable features, but it may not be the best choice for everyone.

Reviews by Topic

Our analysis shows how reviewers feel about different topics. Please note these are not full reviews.

Quality

youtube

Royal Kludge RK61 60% Mechanical Keyboard - YouTube

The lights shine brighter than my N-Pro and are on par with most high quality keyboards. You can control the animation, color, speed and brightness wi...

Positive

Not a bad board but opted for another.

That attention to detail is important. The wireless dongle, again while present does have a very short range. The Royal is smaller than the K2 and I have big hands, so I felt a bit cramped when typing. No issues at all with that on the K2

Software

youtube

Royal Kludge RK61 Review 2021 - Is it worth it?? - YouTube

There is a link to download software and I did download and install it but it is literally just a program that has nothing more than a picture of the ...

Neutral

Great keyboard, not without work

Fix: (downloading the latest software that correlates with your product should automatically update the firmware, so this section is if your keyboard continues to have issues) 1. Turn off keyboard and plug it into your computer 2. From the software, Reset factory data 3. Restore factory settings 4

Keycaps

Royal Kludge RK100, Durock Daybreak Silent Linears, KAT PBT

I picked my Royal Kludge RK100 up for $80, it's usually $90 but there was a coupon that popped up on amazon. For $80, I couldn't be *too* upset about the lack of dissasembly options and the raised LEDs, but had I known that was the situation, I likely would have just gotten a Keychron K4 instead for a little bit more.

Positive

reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards

A budget hot-swappable keyboard with not so great switches.....

.), but probably due to the ABS keycaps. Anyway, I replaced the switches with kailh speed Bronze and some PBT keycaps and everything feels right afterward

Design

A Keyboard Enthusiast's Opinion:

Other than the outrageously horrible examples I provided above the rest of the layout is all but standard and is simple to use.

I installed the firmware, and it quit working

I liked the all white design and that you can remove the outer frame to give the keycaps "floating" appearance. I *really* appreciate the fact that it is BOTH dongle and bluetooth wireless. I work on a macbook by day, and game on a PC by night, so this is a feature I've been looking for in a keyboard for awhile. (I have a mouse that does it and it's amazing

Build Quality

youtube

The Best Budget 60% RGB Keyboard - RK61 Review - YouTube

So the back plate is made out of plastic with minimal flex, and the keycaps don't experience a lot of wobbling, except for the space bar and the shift...

Negative

For those planing to use the 2.4 ghz dongle

pros: keyboard looks great -decent customization -good feel to it -no deck flex -small and compact cons: 2.4 ghz dongle has absolutely no range unless you plug it into a usb extender( i don’t know why but it worked once i plugged it in to a usb 3.0 or 2.0 extender no i can go a couple feet from it ) -software is well pretty useless the keyboard has all the short cuts that do everything the software does - i have yet to try the bluetooth but if the dongle doesn’t work well i can imagine the bluetooth will -i have gotten a replacement with the same issues so it’s not that i just got a bad keyboard or something like that because it had the exact same issue (not a con but just something i felt should be noted) -customer service is non existent(sent an message to them through amazon and got no response so i went though amazon’s support) - also weirdly enough the replacement worked even worse (now i have to send the replacement back and i’ll probably just deal with the usb extension even though that’s really not what i wanted to have to do)

Weight

A Keyboard Enthusiast's Opinion:

Initial Impressions: Things I noticed right off the bat. First, it is much heavier and more premium feeling than I expected. Second, the leds are brighter than I expected. Third, the switches feel okay for a keyboard of this price

/r/MechanicalKeyboards Ask ANY question, get an answer (September 10, 2021)

I just bought the Royal Kludge RK84 (80%) with hot swappable brown switches. Not sure how to explain it well, but the keys are much heavier than my Keychron K2 w/ Gateron Browns. It's kind of tiring to type quickly for extended periods of time.

Neutral

reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards

Ergonomics

/r/MechanicalKeyboards Ask ANY question, get an answer

Hey guys, I'm new to mechanical keyboards. I purchased around a year ago the Royal Kludge RK61 for a cheap price and I'm looking to replace it for a keyboard with better quality, the RK61 has quite the horrible layout for developers in my opinion and wobbly keycaps which are my main issues. I am a software developer so I'm mainly looking for a keyboard that is good for typing, don't really care about gaming, or RGB colors and stuff like that.

Negative

reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards

Had to get a wrist rest to keep from pressing keys on the edge inadvertently. It is not a low profile keyboard.

Price Point

It’s not terrible for the price, but far from great.

Personally, looking back I would recommend that people thinking about buying this spend a few more bucks and get one of the bigger names out there. I’m currently using a HyperX Alloy Origins wired keyboard and I love it. This keyboard is fine as a starter or something like that, but if you spend an extra 15-25 dollars you can get a (much) better quality keyboard that will likely last you for many years to come.

Works on Mac! Way more than a budget mech.

I also wanted it to show up the next day, so keep in mind that these thoughts also include that I searched primarily on Amazon (which may or may not have limited me here, although I didn’t feel that it did based on the options I found on YouTube and other forums as well). The selection on Amazon is quite decent for boards in this price range.

Backlight

I just bought my first mechanical keyboard Royal Kludge RK61 RGB and it's great especially for it price. However in wireless mode via Bluetooth backlight turns off after 60 seconds. I already searched internet a lot for a solution and it seems like there is no solution for this stupid issue. I just can't understand why they made such a good product with full RGB customization and decided to turn lightnings off after minute and don't give customers chance to disable or change that setting

Negative

reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards

Epic board, epic price - if you don't use the wireless modes. (updated 03/2021)

Looks just fine in the dark however, which is when the lighting is really needed. Tiny nitpick - the Mac toggle would be better if the WIN/ALT keys also had command and option labels underneath, no extra caps came with the board to help with this either. Also there's no INSERT key shortcut anywhere that I can find. If you aren't going to make use of the two wireless modes and don't mind the slightly dim backlighting, get this board

Layout

Current version is fully hot swappable. 2.4ghz performance is pretty good too

4ghz receiver works fine for the price and latency is fine. Bluetooth and wired modes work fine. Really my biggest gripe is that the manual doesn't properly explain how the keyboard is laid out well, which is pretty essential on any board smaller than 65%, which is why I docked a star. Still recommend the board, but I really hope the manual and documentation can get an improvement in the future

Great keyboard with useless software

I tend to only use a little backlighting when it's dark and the dimmest settings on bright keyboards are usually too bright for me. As of this review, the software is unusable (crashes on load) so you can't rebind keys or change the color presets(update: reaching out to customer support they sent me a firmware patch and the software works now!). The key layout is XD84, which seems to have limited custom keycap sets (you can use a standard set if it has a 1.75u right shift key and 1u alt, fn and ctlr keys included

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