26.11.2016

I have always used Membrane keyboards, why? No sound when clicking keys, or little to no sound, so why I have chosen to move to this new Keyboard the K65 RGB from Corsair? At EGX 2016 they were showcasing this little baby with the game ‘Unreal Tournament Alpha release’ and the keyboard was the only thing that stood out, along with their new MM800 RGB Polaris Mouse mat and I think it was the M65 Pro RGB mouse, all showing off a great light show. Both I and my partner fell in love with the keyboard straight way.Now before we go into the sales patter, some basic facts about the keyboard, first, there is a total of three versions The Rapidfire,LUX and STDFor information on the STD version head here – [...]For the LUX version head here –[...]For this review, we are checking out the Rapidfire, and here are the boring tech specs.Now let’s see how they sell the product off the shelve, in the box, front of the box showcases the keyboard and the all NEW ultrafast switch designed for gaming with an actuation of 1.2mm which is 0.8 mm faster, as the average switch as an average actuation of 2mm. Other sales patter is the Multicolour per-key backlighting, Cherry MX Mechanical Switch, which this keyboard only uses MX RED and each other revision also uses only MX RED, may put off some gamers, for me, though, it’s not going to affect anything.Turning to the back you get to see and read more technical information, which includes the likes of lighting modes suitable for different genre of games, for example, FPS and MOBA, now let’s go through all the rest and bullet pointsFully programmable – assign macros to any key,Study, Ridged Brushed aluminium platform,100% Anti-Ghosting with Full Key Rollover on USB,Detachable soft touch wrist rest,10 keyless design for additional space and mouse movement,USB pass-through and bios mode + polling rate selector,Multi-gaming devices full spectrum colour, one amazing showSpectro syncing: shift colours with the rhythm of your play,Triple rainbow: Three devices, three rainbows, shifting in perfect sync,Ride the wave: Release vector lighting for brilliant light shows,Reactive Ripple: Blast stunning colour ripples over your entire gaming setup,One more bit of information this is as follows,‘Not only German-built CHERRY MX switches rated for an industry-leading – 50 million operations… they guarantee a lifetime of consistent, comfortable response as well’.That’s the sales banter over and done with, what you think, impressed? I am, but for the newcomers, let’s look at some of the technical information provided and give you more of an idea of what they mean.ANTI-GHOSTING.Full key rollover and 100% anti-ghosting technology means that no matter how fast you’re in game actions, the RAPIDFIRE can keep up, registering every keypress correctly, every time.USB PASS-THROUGH.Pass through implies that the keyboard itself uses two USB ports with one of them functioning as a USB extension that has the input side of the keyboard which is different than a hub.POLLING RATE.Polling Rate refers to how frequent the computer checks the USB for data.BIOS MODE.The BIOS switch both adjusts the polling rate and allows you to turn off advanced keyboard features for compatibility with certain legacy motherboards. Settings of 1, 2, 4, and 8 millisecond polling rates (1ms = 1000hz). Switching to BIOS reduces the polling rate and turns off other features for maximum compatibility. By default we ship at 1ms (1000Hz) and most gamers will prefer to just use the setting.So what is driving this keyboard? A mouse in a ball running after some cheese? Nope guesses we not that lucky, what drives all Corsair gaming peripherals is their Utility Engine also known as CUE.I am going to look at the Lighting page, which is the fun page here you can choose from a number of pre-assigned lighting effects, or click the advanced tab and assign each key its own colour yourself, and if you feeling, even more, pro assign a game to that selection.Under action, you can create pre-assigned functions for a game or program which include the followingMacro,Text,Keystroke,Shortcut,DPI,Timer,Mouse,Media Control.Now on to the keyboard, what’s in the box?Keyboard obviously, Detachable soft-touch wrist rest, Warranty guide, and quick start guide, contoured keys to replace the original ones for FPS (WSAD) and MOBA (QWERDF) along with a key-puller.The keyboard itself is the same size as my full MSI GS70 keyboard on my laptop, which also has a number pad, the K65 does not have a number pad. The size of the keyboard is 35.6cm in length, width with palm-rest is 21cm, width without palm-rest is 16.2cm, depth at the back of the keyboard is 2.5cm, and the front of the keyboard is 1cm, compared to a full-size keyboard say the K70 you have more room to enjoy moving your mouse around. The keyboard has 4 rubber feet to stand upon, so it will not move around, and two feet at the back to adjust the height a little.The keyboard has one of the thickest cables I have ever seen on a peripheral so far, it’s a braided cord which is also 0.8cm in diameter, has two USB 2.0 plugs one to power the keyboard and the other to power the USB input.Let look closer at the keyboard, yep it’s nice, move on, joking, from the top right, two led light caps lock and scroll lock, windows lock button that disables the windows key, volume keys, mute volume and brightness control.On the back of the keyboard, you get a pass-through USB 2.0 port, which I wish was 3.0, but it is very handy for wiring up a mouse, but rubbish for the SteelSeries Sentry (Tobii Eye Tracking) that requires USB 3.0. Next to that is the switch to control the polling rate 1, 2, 4 and 8ms and this so called bios mode, which I doubt many will be using. Bios mode is for gamers using an older computer, WTF what gamer uses an old computer, PC Gamers are skint for a reason, we spend too much bloody money on gaming shiz.Now let’s take a look at these MX Switches, with LED’s mounted to them, the actually LEDs are called SMD LED an abbreviation for Surface-Mounted-Device Light-Emitting Diode. By using these types of LED’s are directly printed onto the circuit board which helps protect them from physical damage. Instead of a whiteboard behind the switches to help with illumination they are using a black background, but the clear housing surround thing switch and LED does a good just to distribute the light across each key.Now I am no tech person that can tell you an in-depth guide on switches, but after some homework online and can discuss the MX Switch within this keyboard. Cherry MX Speed, same as the MX Red both switches have the same actuation force of 45g. The cherry switch is not red instead its grey, with a travel distance of 4mm, the biggest difference in the actuation point MX Red has a 2mm actuation compared to the MX Speed which has only a 1.2mm actuation.Think that’s all the technical tat out of the way, now for GAMING, so I played some awesome games in my eyes, The Division, DOOM, Fallout 4 and HITMAN episode 5, I love these games, but I just remembered while typing this, I also played my game of the year, Witcher 3 Blood & Wine. I originally said, I have never liked a Mechanical keyboard due to the sound of the keys, and it has taken me some time to get used to these as well, not only can you hear me clicking when streaming, but they are very audible when typing out this review.But I was well impressed with this keyboard, Small, unique and powerful I love it, controlling the characters in game felt perfect, felt more real and faster, than a membrane, not sure if that was just me, but in all honesty it felt bloody great, it felt great when using the keyboard over at EGX, it just looks and feel AWESOME.So overall the LED’s are vibrant, the keyboard looks bloody awesome with its large bold letters etched into each key all attached to a beautiful brushed aluminium frame. The added extra USB is a nice touch and so are the added keys on the top right, with a comprehensive program that allows you to control every key, create macros and a shed load more, this is a bang for the buck, snazzy small, keyboard.I only have a few issues, I still think the sound of the keys is rather intrusive and would not recommend using them if streaming, the braided cable is super thick for some reason as well, bit nothing to complain about… much.Oh yeah, after reading and doing some calculation I found out that the switches are about 40% faster than standard Cherry MX Red Switches if that means anything to you.

18.3.2018

I have previously used the corsair k65 vengence for two years as my first mechanical keyboard, and the experience with using and typing with it was light years ahead of my low profile membrane laptop keyboard. However, while the keyboard overall was fantastic, it did have a couple issues such as a very rattly spacebar, wobbly feet that were not the same hight, and the red switches themselves felt quite scratchy, while some of them felt smoother. These are still minor complaints and I still think that the vengence is a fantastic first mechanical keyboard option. But I recently saw that this keyboard was on sale for only about £100, I thought it would be a good upgrade over the vengence.And I am very glad I did, as there are a lot of improvements in the rapidfire that I really love, although there are some small things that are worth mentioning.The feet that lift the keyboard to a incline are now the same hight, which is appreciated, even though I don't use them, because I actually keep the keyboard on top of a towel to absorb some of the noise that goes into the table. One of the most important things, however is the speed switches are a lot smoother and less scratchy that the red switches on the vengence. presumably because the speed switches are a bit newer than the red switches, but that might not be the case. If you want really smooth switches, you should probably go with gateron switches instead, which have a reputation of being much smoother versions of cherry switches, although I personally have not tried them. The spacebar is also very smooth and so much quieter and less rattly feeling than the vengence. I actually took the spacebar off to see what they had done to it to get rid of the rattly feeling, and they have not seamed to have put any stabilisers under the spacebar, so I don't really know what corsair have done, but the spacebar feels really good anyway. Here are some pros and cons for this keyboard.Pros:The speed switches are fantastic. Not only are they less scratchy than the cherry mx reds, but the short actuation distance makes them a lot faster then reds, although having a nearly identical feeling to the red switches.The rgb lighting, while it may be a gimmick, It looks stunning. The lights are bold, saturated and vibrant, and the clear housing of the switches really lets the lights pop. I have no clue how to use cosairs cue software, but it is easy enough to import lighting profiles made by other users, which all look fantastic. The large blocky font, while looks gamery, really does allow the light to shine though the keycaps.The keyboards build quality is amazing, just like the vengence. The brushed aluminium finish on the body of the keyboard looks amazing, although does attract dust.The keyboard also has volume up, down and mute keys which I simply cannot live without. The keyboard also has media keys which are accessible with the function and F keys.Cons:The switches may not be suitable for typists because they are just so sensitive. If you are used to blue or brown switches then I think you may have issues with accidentally hitting keys while you are typing. I am used to red switches so this isn't much of an issue for me.The cue software is not easy to use and is not intuitive, and while if you learn it you can make some of the most advanced lighting effects available on a keyboard, I just don't think I have the time or patience to learn it, which is another reason the ability to download lighting effects is so great.The included wrist rest I find to be too short for my hands. It is have of a nice soft touch material, but is just quite short.The keyboard is only available in red or silver/speed switches. If that's what you are looking for, then great, but if not then you may need to look elsewhere.The rgb lighting can lag games and your computer if you are using advanced lighting effects. This is probably just because my computer is slow.And finally, the biggest issue I find with the keyboard is the keycaps. I actually prefer the keycaps on the vengence because, while they may be made of abs plastic, there is a texture to the keys that makes them easy to grip, and even on my most used keys that have turned shiny, there is still a bit of grip there on the keys. The keycaps on the rapidfire however, feel quite cheap with a matte coating causing the keys to be slippery. The keys overall construction is good, but that matte coating just makes the keys uncomfortable to use. I have for the most part gotten used to it, but I just wish that corsair used more high quality keycaps in the keyboard that have more texture. The worst thing is that the keyboard uses a non standard bottom row which makes it near impossible for find good keycaps for this keyboard. Corair does sell a doubleshot injection set of pbt keycaps, but that would run you another £38 for the black keycaps and £45 for the white keycaps, on top of £190, If you pay full price for this keyboard. Even though I was lucky enough to get this keyboard on sale, Its still a very high asking price for a tenkeyless keyboard.Overall, the cons are very nitpicky things that you could love or hate. For example some people may love smooth matte coated keycaps, and if that's you than this is a solid option. If you are in the market for a new keyboard and don't mind only having the option for sliver/speed switches or reds, Then I would highly recommend this keyboard. The construction and overall feel of the keyboard is excellent, the switches are great and the rgb lighting looks amazing. Overall, I am very happy with my purchase, and will keep this review updated on how the keyboard holds up after I've had it for a while longer.

30.5.2019

Quite simply the best keyboard I've ever owned. I work off a Macbook Pro, and lately the 'e' key has jammed to the point where I need to slam it several times (hard) before it knows who's boss. Having to re-write every sentence three times got old fast, but writing code was especially tedious, where every character counts.Rather than suffer the downtime of a Mac repair (the keyboard issue is a known and unfortunately common problem), I decided to hook up an external keyboard and monitor and use the laptop more as a desktop. At first, I used an old wireless keyboard I had lying around from years back, that I bought in a kit with a mouse for about £20. The keys were flimsy and my typing accuracy left a lot to be desired.Apparently the test for a good keyboard is pressing the edge of the 'space bar' and if it only dips at the end you press, it's naff. This one was very much naff.Seeking a bit of nostalgia for the old days where keyboards sounded like keyboards, I decided to punt for a mechanical one, and settled on the K63 due to both the Corsair brand and the right balance of price. There's a ton of different models available and I wasn't totally sure what the difference was (I'm still not, to be honest.) So I went for something that wasn't totally the cheapest, but also wasn't an insanely high-end model intended for gaming. This keyboard would solely be used for bashing out heavy-duty code for 8-10+ hours a day, so I wanted something 'pro' that wouldn't light up all the colours of the rainbow or that I could play 'snake' on (apparently you can get ones that do!)In short, this keyboard is simply awesome. Every keystroke connects, and gives a deeply satisfying 'thud' and finger feedback. I can FLY through sentences like they're nothing, and when I look back at the screen, I'm amazed at the accuracy I've been able to achieve. Very rarely have I plugged in and a keyboard before and immediately felt right at home with it, but I did with this. Literally within 5 mins of opening the box, my productivity went up. No joke.I was also happy to find that the keyboard is WIRED. Call me eager, but I obviously didn't read the description, and based on YouTube reviews on keyboards I'd watched, I only saw the wireless K63 available. I wasn't looking forward to having to change batteries every day or two, so I was very pleasantly surprised when I opened the box to find it wired! Probably obvious to anyone that bothers to read the description, but for an eager skimmer like me it was a nice surprise.There are only two minor issues with this keyboard that aren't really issued at all, more like features:1. Keystrokes are LOUD. Unpacking it and using it in the living room on the first night was enough to cause a barney with my better half. Apparently it got in the way of her telly after a hard day of slaving away! That was quickly rectified by being 'moved on' to an outside garage to use as my office. Fine by me! Now I can type as loud as I want. Seriously though, if you're thinking of using this in an office or any type of shared space, make sure you either have a door separating you and other humans, or colleagues with less sensitive dispositions. It is a mechanical keyboard, after all.2. It's intended for use with Windows, so expect a Windows key. This might be obvious, but as a Mac user, the layout is ever so slightly different. Setting the Mac to 'British - PC' in System Preferences kind of worked. The Windows key is now a Mac Command key, but it and a couple of other keys are slightly out of place and don't map quite perfectly to the assigned keys. This hasn't gotten in the way of using the keyboard and can probably be tweaked further, but just a heads-up for Mac users.Overall, a pretty perfect keyboard. Oh yeah, I also wrote this review using it and (get me!) without looking down at the keys once. If I've made a bunch of spelling errors, you can blame me and my poor spelling. If I happen to have got the words mostly right, then consider that my best testimony. Great keyboard-- I'll make the £70 I spent on it back in productivity gains 100x over, I'm sure of it.

19.5.2015

Keyboards are difficult to review early on as only time will really tell how this holds up to continued heavy use. Regardless, my first impressions of this keyboard are very high. This is my first time using a linear key switch, having come from using blues and browns in the past and I have to say, I think I may actually prefer the linear switch despite this keyboard being used primarily for typing (for which blues are browns are more typically recommended).The build quality is great, if the keyboard is a little lighter that I might have guessed. The brushed metal top gives the board a sense of resilience that I haven't felt in other, strong, but ultimately still plastic boards.

7.4.2015

Best keyboard ever. Hands down.This is the first mechanical keyboard that I have ever owned and I have already taken a liking to it. Coming from a MacBook user which, of course, the sound from that laptop's keyboard is nonexistent, these are loud enough to annoy my parents when I use it. But that's not a big deal. The keyboard itself is a marvelous piece of kit for ~£70. The quality really rivals the high ends one (and yes I have had a look at those).This, as you should already know, is a Ten Key Less keyboard meaning it doesn't have the number pad which is a big plus for me. I put this directly on my MacBook unibody and it works wonders.

5.7.2019

This keyboard is amazing compered to my old keyboard which was to small and the mechinal switches where to load as they where black switches, i love the fact its has a usb pass through which i didn't know it had and helps that my mac only has three usb ports and the keyboard requires two one to power the RGB and usb Port and the other to power the keyboard.I lover that RGB colours are nice a vivid and at full brightness it looks even better, the other thing i like about the keyboard is the wrist rest on it for when it comes to playing games and typing other my wrists are on the desk which leaves marks after a while of use.The Switches are nice as it has a better auaction point compered to my old keyboard which you had to press hard on,

24.10.2019

By far the best keyboard I've ever owned, spacing on the keys are great, it feels responsive, they keys have a nice rubbery grip to them , it's hard to explain but it has a rubber coating and it feels great.Over the past 10 years I've owned 5 keyboards (This one included), i had a wireless dell one as my first, a Mad Catz Cyborg V.7, a red dragon keyboard (Only had it for a day) a Corsair Raptor K40, and now this one, so this is my, let's just say first, mechanical keyboard (I only say this because the red dragon is technically my first but i only had it for a day)Typing and gaming on it feels great, as i've mentioned the keys have a nice rubbery grip to them and also the texture on the spacebar feels really nice,

11.10.2016

It's simply gorgeous.The CUE 2 software is extremely unintuitive but forgivable.Plenty of custom profiles out there (Circuit Breaker being my favourite) to try and you can mess around making your own along with the extremely vibrant defaults that come with it.I still can't get the cUE2 software to default to the profile I want on start up but it's a quick fix when my PC has fully booted.The keys being Cherry MX Reds are a delight to both type on and game with, my previous keyboard a CM Quickfire TK also had Cherry MX Reds but they didn't feel as nice as the way Corsair have implemented theirs. There is no mechanical click with the keys but they are still clacky when they bottom out.

11.3.2015

The build quality of this keyboard is excellent, all the extra details add up to make the K65 really enjoyable to use on an everyday basis:The aluminium chassis gives it a premium feel despite it's relatively low cost for a mechanical keyboard - you can tell the quality is amazing when you use it, the aluminium makes the K65 sturdy yet lightweight, which is good if you plan on taking it around. The detachable USB cable also helps in this regard, so you don't have to bend the cable when fitting it into a bag and risk damaging it.The low weight doesn't mean it slips when using it though, as the rubber feet on the underside have really good grip. The foldable feet that adjust the height of the keyboard are also quite chunky,

7.12.2019

This keyboard puts a lot of it's eggs into it's official Cherry MX Red switches and media keys and slim profile, which are great and all, but there are a few downsides that even budget keyboards have remedied. For example, the cables are not braided and could be susceptible to damage if constantly being rubbed against a harsh surface.It's also great to have the lighting, but the brightness options are redundant as there is no reason not to use the brightest option over the 2 lesser ones. Also, the lighting is red only, which is a big benefit if you have a red themed set up and want to save on having to buy a full colour keyboard, but it may stand out like an eyesore amongst a more diverse setup.The keys are ideal for gaming if you like red switches,

12.4.2014

This being my first mechanical keybourd I can only compare the experiance with standard keybourds. Well the difference is huge. Whilest I primarily notice the difference whilest playing games, where the loud and tactile keys help improve my accuracy and speed, typing is now also more smooth and enjoyable.I should say, typing is loud, which for me is an advantage as it helps my brain registar what my hands are doing. Several times on skype calls people have commented about the noise my keybourd makes, so if thats the kind of thing that bothers you then this probably isn't the best keybourd.The keybourd is certainly compact, a feat achieved by ommitting the num pad, whilest keeping all other keys the standard size.

15.11.2019

Bought this to replace the K63 (which uses the same switches and has near enough the exact same layout - being tenkeyless), mainly just for the RGB factor and just because I fancied a little change.I actually bought mine refurbed from Scan, so not sure how many of my views should be taken with a pinch of salt because of that, as I have never had a brand new one. I have noticed that the keys on this K65 feel pretty different compared to the K63, the best way I can describe it is that they feel a bit more stiff, not that that’s a bad thing!I was slightly disappointed with the lighting not being as vivid as the K63, but again I’m not sure if that’s due to my model being a refurb.

17.11.2019

Made even more perfect if you pair it with the Corsair lapboard that I also bought with it. I suspect that's a question a lot of people ask as I know I did. As already stated here, I just thought I'd cement that statement - this works flawlessly with the Corsair lapboard. The rear clips on the lapboard can be removed as the front clips where the writs-wrest would normally go are plenty strong enough to hold it in place. Failing that you could drill holes into the keyboard at the rear for the clips if you really wanted for that little bit of extra lateral support.As for the keyboard itself, it's a gaming keyboard by Corsair and so by default it's going to be great...depending on if you like Cherry Red switches or not.

16.1.2016

Although the K65 can be seen as the 'little brother' to Corsair's much loved K70, it is a very good product itself.Packaging:The K65 came in attractive, protective packaging that had little waste material. Included was the keyboard itself, the braided usb-to micro usb cable, and instruction manuals.Setup/First Impressions:The K65 was incredibly easy to set up, with little more than just plugging in the micro usb cable required to begin use. The brushed gunmetal of the K65 is very aesthetically pleasing, and looks high quality. The keys are Cherry MX Red switches, and provide the distinctive sound of mechanical keyboards whilst also being easy to type on. The WASD and arrow keys are grey coloured,

2.5.2014

It took three of these before I got one I was happy with. The first one developed a fault with the Fn key and had to go back, while the second one had been dropped in the factory, and had a ding in the metal corner. This third one works well, and has a nice action, courtesy of the Cherry red Mx switches. The media controls aren't mechanical, but I don't find that an issue, and I'm just glad they're there, so I don't have to faff to change the volume or mute it.A few of my keys hadn't been pushed down firmly onto their pegs, but other than that I have no complaints. There are no feet on the bottom of the keyboard to adjust your typing angle, but this suits me anyway,

Corsair K65 LUX RGB Compact - Reviews

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