My Personal Take on the Keyboard
The Corsair K60 and K90 are the first attempt from the company at releasing mechanical keyboards but were given the level of design attention not present from even the ancients of that industry.
My two major divergences with the keyboard were: the seemingly willy-nilly process of deciding which key should be mechanical as well as the poorly documented key combinations baked into hardware itself. You may notice that the only issues that I have noticed are intentional and by design. Corsair jumped out of the gate with two completely unique – and very difficult to properly manufacture – products for their company and they did not make any accidental mistakes that I could detect.
The Corsair K60, with single-palm rest and no backlighting.
Those disagreements are also offset by the numerous innovative design choices that I loved. The shaped WSAD keycaps on the K60 are simply genius; each wrist rest makes perfect sense for what each keyboard is designed for; and there is no reason why the volume roller is not ubiquitous from this point on.
I personally prefer the Cherry MX Blue key switches for how they feel while typing. I do not think that I would be comfortable using a Cherry MX Red keyboard as my primary input device. I find that the blue switches are sufficient for my usage in gaming.
The switch used in many other mechanical keyboards, unlike the Red switches in the Corsair.
(Go back and see the first page of the review again for the MX Red switch)
If I were designing an arcade cabinet I would obviously use Cherry MX Red switches as the base for the buttons. For a keyboard, I just cannot get into it – but I know there are many others who would disagree.
If you have the luxury of testing out the various Cherry MX switches and you decide that Cherry MX Red feels right for you – then you will not be disappointed with the Corsair K60 or K90 unless you fundamentally disagree with some of their design choices.
The Corsair K90, with full-length wrist rest and full backlighting.
I personally disagree with giving awards for peripherals which are so wrapped up in personal choice and as such I am not giving the Corsair K60 or K90 an Editor’s Choice award. It will always be up to you to decide whether a keyboard is for you or whether it should be left for someone else.
But, if you agree with Corsair’s design and switch choices, this keyboard should not disappoint.
For less money, I’d strongly
For less money, I’d strongly advise considering a Leopold Tenkeyless. Best of all, they don’t have all those crappy “media buttons” that have plagued keyboards for more than a decade. They’re about $99, designed by the same guy who designed the beloved Filco keyboards, and have tended to be a popular new replacement for Filco.
Even better, they are solid robust keyboard that don’t have the gimmicks of the current mainstay keyboards (ie, the keyboards from companies that are trying to cater to “leet gam0rz lol” like Coolermaster, Razr, etc).
Don’t get me wrong, you could do worse than these Corsairs, but I wouldn’t spend $100+ on a first-out product filled with all the superfluous crap they jam into them.
I’v had this keyboard and
I’v had this keyboard and mouse combo for almost a year, pre-ordered them months in advance and I will tell u this is the best mouse and keyboard I’v ever used. This Cherry Reds are god-like.
I have a K90 for gaming and I
I have a K90 for gaming and I love it. I wish some of the extra keys were mechanical, but about 99.9% of your keypresses will be on the mechanical keys so its kind of a moot point. I like the feel of the keycaps and the way that the whole thing is raised off the surface rather than being recessed in it to make it much, much easier to clean. As far as typing, the Cherry Reds aren’t known for their tactile feedback, but if you’re used to typing on a membrane keyboard you’re used to bottoming out your keys. I’ve found that the continuous weighting of the reds combined with the solid feedback from bottoming out makes the typing experience much better than any membrane keyboard available. The blues may be better if you don’t bottom out, but that takes even more adjustment time and somewhere along the way you’ll lose your sanity from the clicking. I own keyboards with blacks, reds and blues and I wouldn’t bother with any but the reds again (still need to try browns though!)
Bottom line: the K90 checks all the right boxes for me: mechanical, backlit, full wrist rest and num-pad. There really isn’t any other product that fills all those criteria. The build quality is gravy.
My feelings exactly, I’ve had
My feelings exactly, I’ve had my K90 when they first came out and love it! Great Keyboard…
I’ve had the K90 keyboard
I’ve had the K90 keyboard with a RAT 7 for gaming on two 27inches monitors and it’s awsome. If you are thinking about getting this keyboard go get it …
Althout the W key didn’t have it’s led working… That is the sort of thing you are not expecting when you pay that price…