HK GAMING GK61 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard - 61 Keys Multi Color RGB Illuminated LED Backlit Wired Programmable for PC/Mac Gamer Tactile (Gateron Optical Brown)

I wanted to get into the world of keyboard modding and wanted to start out with something cheap and simple. I opted for mechanical Gateron Yellow switches because a lot the modding community praise those switches. Initial thoughts were that these switches were the right move. It is linear with a good amount of force needed, good for typing and gaming. I am coming from Corsair K95 with Cherry MX speed switches and these Gaterons feel a bit nicer for typing. The mods I incorporated includes: Car sound dampening foam (dynamat), PE foam between PCB and casing, PE foam between plate and PCB, HOLEE mod, and G205 G0 lubed switches. All of this combined, equates to a superb typing experience. The space bar is smooth and thocky. The default key caps leaves a tingy feedback sound and doesn’t thock as I had intended, so I’m looking to upgrade to double-shot PBT switches in the near future. The weight of the keyboard barebones out of the box is slightly on the heavy side already. This is probably due to the steel metal plate is uses. A surprise to me for how cheap this keyboard is. It is slightly heavier now, which is what I want, in order to achieve a more thocky sound. The additional weight comes from the car sound dampening foam. If you’re on the fence about grabbing a 60% keyboard for cheap and want to mod it, this is a good move for beginners not wanting to break the bank.

Good kb for its price. recommended

If you are new to mechanical keyboards, like I am, I would suggest asking yourself a couple questions before buying. For example, my main problem with this keyboard and why I am returning it is because they have no dedicated arrow keys. Actually, I knew they didnt, but I thought they would at least give you the option to toggle the fn key for your arrow keys. Its a great keyboard over all, and if you want something cheap, rgb, and you dont really use the arrow keys, then this one is a good buy

My grandson loves that it’s small and lights up.

This keyboard has made me want to EXCLUSIVELY use Gateron Silent Brown switches. Its astonishing how quiet they are and still feel so tactile. The keyboard was just quiet enough out the box to bring to the office. Its a joy to type on and fully utilize my desk space with the 60% layout. All I need to do now to make it just 10% better is lube and band-aid mod. Spacebar sounds a little too loud in comparison to everything else and it would feel more consistent if this was done out the box. Still, doesnt take away from how good this keyboard is.

I bought the Gateron Optical Red keyboard with a black frame for the outside. The keyboard I got is good for gaming but its pretty loud at night when playing your games. It has a good variety of the colors and modes. It also has a good reaction time. I would reamend this keyboard.

Bought for my step son for his birthday and he loves it

I received a US variant, and because of that I cant use the software to program my own layers. This is not a massive deal breaker, but its annoying because Im unable to use some hot key combinations because the arrows keys are on a Fn layer but the CTRL/WIN/ALT keys are not. There supposedly used to be software available on the companys website, but the companys website no longer exists. Theres one in Chinese, but the software doesnt recognize the US products. If you plan to buy this as an intro keyboard, its great. You can replace the plate, PCB, switches, case, etc. Id probably recommend replacing the PCB first if you want to go step by step simply because the included PCB isnt programmable. Overall, youre better off just getting a DIY kit and just doing your assembly up front, but if youre short on cash and just want to get a 60% keyboard that you can slowly upgrade, then by all means get this. If you want a portable keyboard, by all means get this. But if you want a programmable keyboard to fully replace a larger keyboard, this might not be your best shot.

The GK61 was my first 60% mechanical keyboard, after about 19 months of using the HyperX Alloy Elite with linear switches. I decided to make the jump to this form factor really because I wanted more space for my mouse movements (I mainly play first-person shooters like Counter-Strike and Call of Duty) and the fact that I rarely used the number pad and keys like Home, Delete, and Page Up/Down. When I found this keyboard, I was surprised that it was this cheap for a 60% with Gateron switches. Upon receiving the keyboard, I immediately tried to customize the lighting on the keyboard, and just like how the reviews I watched on YouTube said - the keyboards software wasnt good. I couldnt put custom hex codes, even though there were places in the software to do so. In the end, I stuck with just a plain white backlight. Another thing that I did was pull out a keycap and switch to figure out how both the keycaps were and how to replace switches. When I pulled out the keycap, I ended up chipping a part of it off and putting a black mark on the white keycap, which is okay because i dont really look at my keyboard a lot. Would I recommend this keyboard? Well it depends. If youre someone who wants to customize your RGB lighting settings a lot, then this keyboard isnt it. If you just want a small form factor keyboard that works for what it is, then yes- I would definitely recommend this.

I had never bought a ~60% keyboard before since I work in a pharmacy and the software we use makes heavy use of the nav keys and number pad, so usually I wouldnt have even considered such a board. In fact I came across this board as I was buying the parts to build a 96 key keyboard because I do game a fair bit so I wanted something smaller to give me more desk space while still have the Numpad and arrow keys so I can lug it to work and be as efficient and quick as I am with a full size or enter alt-codes or do taxes at home. This board caught my eyes for two reasons: Hot-swappable and Optical switches. The very small form factor is kind of a turn off for me because I can only comfortably use it for gaming, but I figures the hot-swappableness would make it a good test board the packs of switches Id just bought (more on that later). The packaging was not impressive, not that I care, I just thought Id mention it. I was very surprised by the build and even the fit and finish at this price point, however. The keycaps are the cheap double shots with the stenciled lettering so Im not a fan of the look, but its not too gamer-y and they can easily be replaced if it really starts to bother me. Its a plastic case, but the keys are mounted in a metal plate, and its a minuscule form-factor, so it feels very sturdy; it doesnt flex /at all/ and is heavier than I thought itd be. Thats impressive to me for this price, but what prompted me to write this review was the fact that it sounds /incredible/ because all the stabilizers are lubed /out of the box/ and they dont budge /at all/. That astonished me as I have bought several mechanical keyboards at various price points: An MK Typist with box whites, a Logitech G Pro with GX Blues, A James Donkey 007 with Gat Browns (smoothest cherry brown clones on the market), a Logi G613, a logi 610 Orion with cherry reds, and a few cheap mechs on top of that. None of them came with lubed anything straight out of the box and the result, combined with the Optical Gateron Blacks I opted for making this one of the smoothest, best-sounding and most satisfying keyboards I have ever typed on and Im usually a tactile-switch guy. Really nice bang for the buck if youre into smaller keebs like this. --Side note: I get the impression the switches are less complex and therefore, cheaper, which allows more attention to be paid to fit and finish. HOWEVER. The Board /is/ hot-swappable, but /only/ with other optical switches, which means no traditional mechanical keyswitches, whether theyre cherry, gateron, khail, or a boutique switch can be used at all. Period. The switches are basically just little plastic boxes with a spring that when pressed, block an infrared(?) laser to signal actuation, which is why I think the switches are very cheap to manufacture, and its also why they are so unbelievably smooth, even compared to a lubed cherry red. -- The software was confusing and not that great but I personally didnt feel the need to use it since I dont care all that much about RGB or macros so it didnt bother me too much, though your mileage may vary in that regard. In conclusion, if you are a fan of the form factor and want to try optical switches, buy it. The build is solid and (assuming all boards have pre-lubed stabs like mine did) its lubed! For $50! I personally cant use it for more than just gaming or typing up this review, so its not optimal for me, but if you just need a small board with enough keys for gaming or chatting on discord this will be plenty for you.