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

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.

At the moment I write this review Im pretty sure this is the most popular budget mechanical keyboard, and with good reason. Since everyone is telling you about the pros, Ill only bother to bring out the cons Ive found. 1. The software, if youve seen any review on yt of this keyboard youll definitely hear this, the software is pretty bad, but functional for changing light modes I guess. 2. Mine came with a scartches crtl key, not really noticable tbh since its not deep and its in the side of the key, but still there regardless. 3. Metal rattling, Ive seen some reviews talk about it already, but still worth mentioning, def not a deal breaker but slightly annoying, since I wear headphones I dont notice it at all, but if you arent wearing headphones you might hear that damn metal rattling which isnt that bad but its annoying long period for people with relatively sensitive ears in a quiet ambient, what I find weird about it is that I do not always hear it, just now I tried to hear it to kinda describe it in the review but heard no metal rattling, almost like it magically fixes itself and the randomly decides when to make that noise. Conclusion: Amazing keyboard, with some small flaws expected at the price.

I am a big fan of Redragon. I have their M901-k-2 mouse, and the gaming keypad too. For a mechanical keyboard, its been rock solid. No ghosting, no random key presses, nothing like that. Unlike the many Razor mice and keyboards that Ive had in the past. Had this for I think close to a year now, and its been rock solid and not failed me once. Would definitely recommend.

Grabbed the board (brown key) cause my old one was wearing out. Was using the one that came with my computer. Uncle recommended this and it was on sale. Until today Ive never realized that pc keyboards could feel nice. If youve just been using oem keyboards that come with the pc you bought, you owe it to yourself to try this thing. It feels like trading in a rusty 99 ford focus and and upgrading to a new base model camry. Hopefully that makes sense. Never knew what I was missing out on

The build quality is nice. I accidentally spilled water on it and it still works perfectly. It seems pretty tough, could probably handle falling off the average desk height. Its really easy to clean. Some reviews criticized the font choice on the keys themselves. It is kind of weird looking but I like it, not for everyone though.

EDIT - 4/21/20: I have owned this keyboard for about a month and a half. My overall impressions are extremely favorable, and I GREATLY prefer this keyboard to my other Redragon board with Outemu blues. However, I have noticed that the Up arrow key developed a springy noise that the other keys didnt. The keys are hot-swappable, so I exchanged the switch for one of the the extra brown switches included in the box. The up arrow key no longer has the noise, but one of the extra brown switches in the box did, so I am now out of usable brown replacement switches. Im not going to change my review, but be aware that the longevity of these Redragon-branded switches may not be up to par with name-brand switches. I will update this review if I experience any more of this. TL;DR: If you hate glossy keycaps and/or metallic pinging sounds while typing, the great features of this board wont be worth it to you. This keyboard has a lot of excellent qualities. It excels in a few categories, but it falls short in others, and the shortcomings are non-trivial. All of the positive things Ive read in reviews about this keyboard are true, but unfortunately, so are all the negatives. Pros: 1. Extremely heavy and well-built. I also own the K551 Vara from Redragon, and this seems even more solid than that beast. No flex or rattle to be found. 2. Very flexible RGB implementation. Im not all that concerned about RGB, but its here if you need it. There are on-board and software controls available. 3. Switches feel nice and there is a tactile bump with little noise. There is less tactility than I expected, but I am coming from blues and Im also a bit heavy-handed when it comes to typing, so this may be an irrelevant complaint for many. 4. Redragon offers an 18-month warranty, which is quite long for a Chinese brand that uses many of the same components as the competition. 5. Redragon includes 8 spare switches in the box, along with a switch-puller and keycap-puller. There are 2 browns, 2 blues, 2 reds, and 2 blacks. Cons: 1. The keycaps are nice and matte on the top, but the sides are glossy and appear quite cheap. The included keycap puller seems to use harder plastic than the keys, and IT WILL SCRATCH THE SIDES. If I end up keeping this keyboard, I will probably switch out the caps down the line. They are noticeably worse than the keycaps on my K551 Vara, which had a very nice matte texture on the sides as well as the top. 2. The metallic ping rumors are true. I feel like this is a result of the shape and metal construction of the keyboard case. It doesnt happen upon pressing down the key, but if you release a key and let it rebound with no pressure on it, you will hear it quite loudly. This will be especially obvious when typing quickly, as you will hear many pings together. Its slightly annoying and I could get used to it, but I dont feel I should have to. This is my main issue with the keyboard. As previously mentioned, I own another Redragon mechanical keyboard with blue Outemu switches, and the ping is present but MUCH less obvious. I think its an issue thats inherent with mechanical keyboards in general, but the switch choice and case design can exacerbate the problem. 3. The switches are NOT Outemu branded. Many reviews and Q&A responses on this listing mention Outemu switches. Because of previous positive experiences with Outemu switches, I was happy to hear that this keyboard uses them. It does not. The switches used, including the spares, are Redragon branded. They must have used Outemu in the past and recently started using their own. With that said, the switches look identical to actual Outemu browns Ive seen in video reviews of this and other keyboards, so its entirely possible that Redragon sources the switches from Outemu/Gaote and rebrands them. They do feel good, and though I have limited experience typing on browns, Im enjoying it so far. Im also changing the keycaps, so that may enhance the feel further. Overall Comments: With all things considered, the keyboard is excellent value, but has some flaws. The build, RGB, and overall feel are very impressive, as is the warranty, but the whole package feels less premium due to the cheap keycaps and the metallic ping. For 10-15 dollars less, there are options like the E-Element Z-88 that use similar brown Outemu switches and seem to have an identical layout and even probably use the same PCB judging by the RGB options. The Redragon K556 Devarajas seems to offer the best experience that can be had with brown switches at this price range, so for many buyers it will be worth the compromise. To get a significant upgrade in features or quality, Id expect to spend twice as much.

I have been using this keyboard since 2017, so I think its fitting that I leave a review for it. This review is for the original listing with standard OTEMU Brown switches. I am aware of the fact that they now come with OTEMU BOX Browns, but the experience is basically identical. Lets go over the basic parameters first: Unboxing Experience: So the box itself is alright, it serves its purpose of holding the keyboard itself. In the box, it comes with the keyboard itself, a keycap puller, a keyswitch puller, and ten extra key switches in a different variant. Since my keyboard used gateron browns, they gave me gateron blues to try out. Box itself doesn’t come with very much, other than these items. The most useful to me were the extra switches in the box. Both the keycap and key switch puller broke after a few uses. the key switch puller in particular broke the clips on some of my key switches. Serviceable, but I would rather buy my own toll in this case. Looks: This keyboard is so damn sturdy. Up until that point, I was used to cheap plastic keyboards. So the mostly metal construction is excellent! I couldn’t feel very much flexing while typing. The keycaps are okay. they are double shot, so they won’t wear out as much as ABS. The font itself is much more of the “gamer” aesthetic. I used them for about two years before replacing them for better looking keycaps. the lighting itself is good, though controls are basic. Changing color profiles without software is a nice touch, though some savvy hackers have found a way to change colors without official software. The all black design makes it fit in with most builds, though it does stand out on a lighter colored desk. the only real downside is the the secondary function keys have their labels printed on as opposed to part of the injection mold. So eventually those legends will wear away, which I have somewhat done in those two years of using the keyboard. There is a Small Red Dragon Logo above the Arrow keys and a sticker on the back detailing the keyboard information. Its very minimal, and actually decent all things considered. Feel: This keyboard won’t win any rewards for being different. The keys themselves are fine for typing, better than membrane keyboards in all regards. There is rattle and wobble on both the key switches and stabilizers, but they are not deal-breakers at this price point. The metal reinforced backplate and metal frontplate do a good job of keeping the board stable while typing, though there is no padding behind the keyboard so it does sound a bit hollow. No lube anywhere, so scratching noises will be common. Features: So this board has hotswap capabilities, but only for OTEMU Switches. Do not try to use Gateron, Cherry, Kalih, or other brands. The pins wont fit the post mounts. This is good for interoperability between different OTEMU brand switches, but you have to desolder the pins if you want anything else. This WAS a selling point back in 2017, however they recently removed it since its only really applicable to OTEMU brand switches. Again, the RGB is a nice touch, including the preset profiles. The design is held in by multiple screws, which makes dis-assembly for modding a breeze. The USB cable itself is connected to the board using a 5-pin header, so if you break the cable, you can easily replace it using a soldering iron. The keycaps are OEM profile, so you can buy an aftermarket set and put them on the keyboard no problem. the stabilizers are plate mounted, so you can replace them with cherry OEMs once they break. Honestly, if you want to use this board as a cheap base for your next keyboard, then this might be for you. Even still, this is a surprisingly reparable keyboard. Downsides: Honestly, I only have two downside for this board. That being a non-removable USB cable. If they had just added a removable port, either USB-Micro B or USB Type-C, it would make this keyboard so much better. Like, they could’ve done it so easily too. The piece that holds the wire in place is not a through hole permanently attached to the chassis, its a rubber piece that holds the cable in place. there is enough clearance to put in a female USB Type C Header in there. The other reason is the OTEMU-only hotswap sockets. I know that kalih brand switches (or similar) are more expensive to implement, but this would allow you to use ANY switch possible. Right now, you can only use OTEMU switches. Yes, they have good variants such as the reds and blacks, but it sucks that its only these brand switches and nothing else. There is also the minor downside of some of the screws losing their paint over time, though, you won’t be able to see them from the top of the keyboard. Verdict: Overall, a good keyboard for the time. Back in 2017, when there were not very many cheap mechanical keyboards on the market, this would have been the no-brainer choice. But nowadays, there is a lot of competition in this market. I would hope that Redragon would be keen to revise this board, with the possibility of a removable cable. Its still a good keyboard, but its becoming harder to stand out with so many competitors.

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.

I had gotten another keyboard from another company that was more expensive than this one. It was struggling to work with my Imac even though it said it supported Apple. I returned it, and got this one instead. I am so glad that I got this keyboard instead! it works well with my Imac. Its satisfying to type with, is extremely sturdy with the metal frame, and has the best color schemes. The only tiny complaint I have is the spring feedback while typing. When some of the buttons (most annoyingly the spacebar) come back up, there is a resonating spring echo. For me it is something minor, and the rest of the features of the keyboard outweigh this small detail. This would be more for individuals with a sound sensitivity to small sounds like that. Overall, Im happy with my purchase, and would recommend this keyboard to anyone in the market for one.

After having gone through a few ultra cheap mechanical keyboards I can definitively vouch for this keyboard as very much worth the step up to lower mid-rage. It is thee one to get. It hits everything I want. Obviously price is reasonable for the average person. The look is crisp, clean, and neat. I cannot stand gaudy PC peripherals so it was nice to get something so solid and clean. Even the logo is minimalist and not obnoxious. It has some decent heft to it. The base is heavy and not going to move on you. Easily the heaviest keyboard I have owned. It has backlighting that can be controlled with variety and can even be turned off completely. And it has the choice between brown and red switches. I went with brown as I like the tactile feedback but was going deaf from ultra cheap blue switches I had on previous keyboards. They are lovely. Ive had mine over a year now and it still works. But. I did lose some response accuracy in a couple switches over the year. These are cheaper switches and I guess you do get a little of what you pay for. Left CTRL was the first to go and I chalked that up to the angle of my pinky pressing it. I thought perhaps it was getting too much horizontal lateral pressure being pushed away from the keyboard to the left rather than a precision up and down strike. I replaced the switch with one of the extras. The keyboard comes with a keycap removal tool, a switch extraction tool, as well as a row of sample/extra switches. These include two blue, two brown, two red, and two black. Havent had an issue with the Left CTRL since. Unfortunately my C switch ended up with the same issue months later. Which killed the lateral contact theory. Another quick replacement and Ive been good to go. I am just all but certain another key/switch will peter out eventually. End of the day it has been a wonderful daily driver of a keyboard for over a year now. I type an above average amount daily during the week and game with it on the weekends. Ive put in some good miles on it and having to replace two switches on it doesnt sour my opinion at all. If I had paid hundreds for it, I might be upset. But I paid a reasonable price and got a more than reasonable keyboard. I would happily buy this fella again.