Redragon K556 RGB LED Backlit Wired Mechanical Gaming Keyboard, 104 Keys Hot-Swap Mechanical Keyboard w/Aluminum Base, Upgraded Socket and Noise Absorbing Foams, Quiet Linear Red Switch

[Original Review: April 2, 2019 - 1 Star] The Redragon K556 RGB arrived yesterday and I eagerly connected it to my computer. Unfortunately my Win 10 computer (HP Pavilion p6710f) doesnt recognize it as being connected. Ive tried connecting to several different USB ports, rebooting each time, but the keyboard stays dead. My old keyboard works in all of these ports. Installing their driver made no difference. Ive contacted Redragon via their website, as the red card in the package told me to do, so well see what sort of response I get. Meanwhile, it gets one star since you cant give zero. [Update, April 5 - 5 stars] Shortly after writing my initial review, I revisited my Amazon order and clicked the Get Product Support button. The Amazon agent responding to the chat gave me my choice of replacement keyboard or refund. With all the glowing reviews I was seeing here, I just figured I got a defective unit and asked for a replacement. It arrived today, and the instant I plugged it into a USB port on my desktop, it sprang to life, and Im using it to type this update. Im a touch typist and have no problem with the key feel and spacing. The laser-etched keytops let the backlighting shine through nicely and will serve me well for those evening/night computer sessions, and besides they just look cool. Im bumping my rating of the hardware up to 5 stars. Meanwhile, yesterday I received an email from Redragon in response to the message I had left on their website, apologizing for my problem and asking for a video. I replied asking a video of what -- there was nothing to show because the keyboard was dead. They responded asking for my order number and address so they could send me a MOUSE. I replied with the requested information, but pointed out that I had purchased a keyboard, not a mouse, and that Amazon was already sending me a replacement keyboard. Maybe theyre sending me a mouse to compensate me for my trouble (?). I feel they really want to stand behind their product, but there might be a communication problem. Anyhow, well see what ensues. [Added later] Never received a mouse ...

I wasnt too sure about this keyboard. I wanted a lit keyboard as I prefer to do my gaming with the lights off. I suppose I delayed for years getting one due to the price. I read all the reviews concerning the Redragon keyboard. Although I was somewhat skeptical, I pushed the key to purchase. The lights (or, why were here): Prior to this keyboard I was using a really nice wireless one from Logitech. It still is nice, but it doesnt lite up the keys. The Redragon does...spectacularly! I dont know that I have a reason to use all the light shows it will perform, however, if you are reading this and you want a keyboard that does...this is the one! Now, when it comes to lighting, I wanted one that I could program the color and intensity of the keys. More importantly I wanted to be able to program each individual key according to the key controls for games. There are many expensive ones that caught my eye but didnt have this capability. This keyboard hits a grand slam when it comes to programming individual keys! Everything I wanted. For me that is enough to validate the five stars I gave it. Tactile feel/feedback from the keys: At first I wasnt sure I liked the feel of the keyboard. I used it in a few games and loved it. But I wasnt sure I was going to enjoy typing on it...until I typed out my first email. My fingers were dancing around on the keys making clickity click sounds like Reindeer on the roof. I was afraid I would end up with a lot of typos on this keyboard and the opposite is true. If you want a keyboard with tactile feel and feedback, then Redragon is your buttercup. In regards to the instructions: They arent that great. The good news is that the operation/programming of the keyboard and downloaded software is very intuitive. Seriously, it aint rocket science. I was up and programming in less than ten minutes. Would have been less except I was enjoying all the light shows. Time to sum it up and move on: Truthfully, $49.89 is outstanding for a keyboard of this caliber. Its a great gamer board and also great for typing (even in the dark). I highly recommended this keyboard! On a side note; this aint no plastic keyboard! Whack somebody with it and youll likely get charged with manslaughter (or womanslaughter, kidslaughter, petslaughter or coleslawder). Nice because it doesnt slide around.

It took a friend of mine a long time to convert me to mechanical, and now I can never go back. It takes a bit of adjustment due to the height difference in keys between this and say, a membrane keyboard, but typing is amazingly smooth and I feel like my WPM has improved. Actual construction of the product is fantastic; very solid. The brushed metal and trim top-down profile look great. Also of note, but not worth taking a star off the actual product rating: Amazon sent this to me by simply slapping a shipping label onto the original packaging. I count myself lucky that the item was in fine working order, and that it wasnt swiftly stolen from my doorstep, as a result. Please do better! My only teensy nitpick is that the color settings, while attractive, dont fare well if youre aiming for an all-white effect; it sort of fires off all colors at once to maintain it, and it makes for a subtle but noticeable flickering, almost strobe effect that was pretty distracting in my peripheral vision. Nothing wrong with sticking to the default solid rainbow lighting, though!

I love the keyboard. Nowhere in the description did it mention that the used condition would mean the key-puller and extra caps would be missing. A small detail, all things considered.

Pros: The keyboard is proper. It has a brushed aluminum look in black and feels great. It is made from some kind of metal and my favorite part is that its very lowkey. What I mean is that a lot of keyboards have their branding on display front and center where as this one has a very nice logo with matching color inserted into a very tiny space above the up arrow key. Its hardly noticeable and I like that. Ive been playing a few games here and there and all the keys are very responsive. The colors are awesome, so many options. From the top of my head I can remember maybe 10 or so options for lighting cycles and the entire RGB spectrum available. I dont mess around with that part much but its very nice to have in case I want to change the asthetic. The keys are superb, to be fair Ive never had a mechanical keyboard but my typing for work feels much faster and I make very few mistakes when typing in one go cause I feel like I hardly ever miss the correct key. Cons: Some very light dings on the corners where it seems the black paint was slightly scratched showing the bare silver metal under. For me, not a big deal cause after inspecting it, its only the paint itself, not the metal that was damaged. The keyboard is not light. Although I like the heaviness of it, I put it in the cons section cause that might not be for everyone. I personally like it because the weight keeps it from moving around. Conclusion: 10/10 honestly. I would buy a RedDragon again. Best price I could find for the full key arrangement I wanted which includes the numlock number keys for this price. I would probably get a different key setup as these browns are slightly louder than I had anticipated. But thats not a con, I just didnt do proper research into keys when I purchased. Still VERY happy with mine and wont be returning or exchanging. The noise is growing on me and kind of ASMR if Im being honest (weird as that sounds).

The keyboard is great, types really well and doesn’t make an extraneous amount of sound. But if you want to keep the LEDs always on and not some ridiculous pattern that’s distracting, you have to download their software. Included in it is a file called HidServ.DLL. Normally that’s included by Windows, but the DLL included with the ZIP file downloaded has extreme anti reverse engineering tactics applied like encrypted strings and checking if a debugger is attached. If you download the software, delete HidServ.DLL as it’s not even needed by the EXE to run at all.

If you want to get into a mechanical on the discount, this could be a good choice. Knock off cherry MX brown hall effect switches. Lots of LED, not full array-full zone, but ok. The unit performs well and is largely quiet except for the over travel by the switches. If you want a mechanical for work or games, you could do far worse

My kiddo who is very picky (we went through like 3 keyboards) loves this product. Responsive, cool lighting and easy to clean.

Husband wanted a new gaming keyboard since his was older and not fully working anymore. I found him this one as a gift since he has a Redragon gaming mouse and likes it. After I then used it on my husbands computer one day, I ended up getting one for myself when I saw it come up as a lightening deal for prime day. I couldnt pass it up. Husband keeps joking that Im a copy cat since not only did I steal his keyboard I also set it to the same light feature that he had (I just picked what I liked the best so far, which is that it starts as a light shade of the color you pick and as you type faster/longer the light on the keys turn darker and darker). It has a seemingly endless combination of light feature/colors that Im sure Ill never get close to getting through. This keyboard has the brown switches that give you a tactical feel, are light, but are not super annoyingly loud (like I find the blue switches to be). These are the perfect middle ground for having the tactile clackly feel of a mechanical keyboard but not the super loud typewriter sound that you can hear from across the house. Its still decently loud if you do like the sound, but not so loud that you cant hear yourself think. I had a razer gaming mechanical keyboard myself a few years ago (that eventually broke) and I like this one better than that one even thought the razer was a bit more expensive. For anyone reading this that hasnt used a mechanical keyboard before, it really is much faster and comfortable for typing or gaming. I also personally find the tactile feel and sound satisfying as I type. The quality so far seems great (havent had it long, but my Husband has had it about half a year and no issues at all) and the design is very sleek. This is a slim keyboard and the edges sit very close to the keys so I actually saved some desk space switching to this keyboard since my previous one was very bulky with a large and unnecessarily thick border around the keys. So, all in all, husband and I both love this keyboard and it gives us all the features that we want at a fraction of the price of some of the other gaming keyboard brands.

Its been just a good keyboard. Its also unexpectedly heavy, so be ready for that. Also get a wrist pad if you dont float your wrists when typing. The software is primitive and the RGB spectrum isnt great. The color you select on screen often doesnt match what shows up on the keyboard unless you are close to a standard color, example, white is light purple, and the lighter you go on any color slowly turns into light purple. Has a twang that sounds like a spring being flicked in a metal box if you press the keys with normal typing force, so I constantly hear it. I hear people say its because the switches are seated in a metal frame, but I understand a common theme among higher quality mechanical keyboards is they are mostly metal, so Ill chalk this experience up to low build quality. Would be interesting to hear the switches in a plastic frame. They are also starting to develop a slight squeak. I havent tried lubing or isolation rings so not sure if that would help. I dont think the actuation force feels uniform across all keys. These brown switches have a barely noticeable ridge when pressed, my opinion is that they are just alright in terms of mechanical feel. It comes with other samples of switches, the blacks take more force but dont have a noticeable ridge when pressed, the reds just feel light and mushy, and the blue have a nice click that sounds similar to a mouse click but add in the twang and squeak issue I mentioned earlier and I dont think I could handle that... The caps lock indicator light will sometimes switch indication. Meaning when you press the caps lock key and the light turns on, youll be typing lowercase. It switches back on its own. I have no idea whats going on with that. This is my first mechanical keyboard, so I didnt want to spend a lot. You get what you pay for so thats why I rated 4 stars instead of 3, because a lot of this doesnt necessarily mean the keyboard is junky it just means it was constructed as a cheap mechanical keyboard. I went from low profile membrane to this and it definitely required a learning curve, but regardless of all of this I dont think Ill go back to membrane. In the future Ill just get something higher quality that has switches with more actuation force, less travel, and an ever so slight click if something like that exists.