RK ROYAL KLUDGE RK61 Wireless 60% Triple Mode BT5.0/2.4G/USB-C Mechanical Keyboard, 61 Keys Bluetooth Mechanical Keyboard, Compact Gaming Keyboard with Software (Hot Swappable Red Switch, White)

After much searching, I finally decided to pull the trigger on and RK61. I had trouble finding anything for the price, wired or not. Those devices that were close in price, were wired, didnt have comparable features, or were simply ugly. Given the price point, I was skeptical, but after several weeks, I can happily report a happy purchase. The only issue I encountered was mentioned in the reviews, there was a very noticeable wobble, as one of the four rubber pads on the underside, was slightly more recessed than the other three. The quick and easy fix was prying up the pad with a knife point, removing the adhesive pad (shown in picture) and adding a couple dabs of hot glue, before pressing the rubber pad back in. I then flipped the keyboard over and pressed gently to make sure it leveled with the other three. Presto, no more wobble, I hope this helps if anyone was on the fence for that reason. Bluetooth range is good, I can easily use the keyboard across the room. Bluetooth compatibility in windows and a recent linux distro has been great, no pairing issues. One quick hotkey swaps between wired and wireless modes. You can easily cycle through the backlight modes, or turn them off entirely. I tend to use a constant glow on lowest brightness, and at least for me its not overpowering in a dark room. The swapping between number keys/ arrow key, and their default functions takes a bit of getting used to, but after you adapt its not a problem. Check images in customer reviews for the hotkey settings that allow you to swap between. I had an odd issue where Num Lock was enabled by default on delivery. It took me a few minutes to figure out what the issue was, and that there is no way to toggle this setting from the RK61 at least from what Ive found. Solution for me was a backup keyboard used to deselect the lock. It hasnt re-occurred, just make sure you have another keyboard handy when youre setting up. Havent used the keyboard for gaming as of yet, but I will update the review once Ive tested the keyboard for rollover. 5-key is what was advertised, I can attest to at least three, by nature of several hotkey functions built into the firmware.

Keyboard is great. Love the feel and love the sound. Love the solid thonk when i type. Its a great portable keyboard and i am dissapointed they dont make a full size version of this. I know they make full size keyboards but its not the same as this one. Was skeptical about their own brand of red switches but they actually compare pretty well to cherrys. I dont really notice a difference. I just hope they last as long. The main issue is that the wireless is buggy. I cant type to fast because the computer wont pick up every letter or it will get stuck on one letter and repeatedly input thay character. The key isnt pressed. It just seems to be an issue with the wireless because it works fine when connected via usb. Both the bluetooth and the 2.4Ghz have the same issue so Im at a loss. I tried downloading some software from the website and its all in chinese, which really doesnt matter because the program crashes anytime i try to click on anything. Summary: Great keyboard to type on just as long as you dont need the software and dont need to use it wirelessly

The keyboard is functionally great. But it was a little uncomfortable for me since it doesn’t have a wrist rest. The size was also too small to be comfortable. I ended up returning it and buying a different keyboard from the same manufacturer

This keyboard is great for typing, looks great, and, if just a couple issues were fixed I would highly recommend it. First, the bluetooth. The range is only 4.5 feet (yes, I measured). This largely defeats the point of a bluetooth keyboard - I would just get a wired one at these distances so I dont have to deal with a battery, or, God forbid, you go 5 feet away. The second is the lack of programmability/the weird predefined programming settings. Basically, there are three toggles - one that toggles about 15 keys to do their primary or secondary or tertiary functionality, one that toggles your alt/menu/ctrl// key or arrow keys, and one that toggles Windows/Mac modes. The Windows/Mac toggle is fine, but the other ones are horrendous. - The toggle button is fn-left ctrl. The issue, I frequently run into is that it is triggered inadvertently when I have to use shortcuts (e.g. left ctrl, left alt, up key [which is fn + /]) - you can see that that key combo triggers the program change. - I want some of the keys that are in one set, and some that are in another. Most notably, I want my numbers to be numbers, and my esc key to be `/~, but these are unable to be on together, either I get esc+numbers, or `/~+fn keys. Those are not the combos I want. - There are some keys I never use (looking at you caps lock) that I wish I could switch to something else (e.g., caps lock becomes esc, and esc permanently stays `/~). All of these issues could be solved via the keys being programmable. Alas, they are not. This keyboard has great typing capability that could be improved immensely with a BT upgrade and better programming.

It’s actually a really good keyboard I have this thing for almost 2 years and it still works amazing at least for me I have no complaints.

It is a good keyboard but after a year or so they will stop working. I bought 2 and it happened to both. its a software/firmware issue. if you want a long lasting keyboard go namebrand with regular driver updates. theres also virtually no customer support

Today I am reviewing the Royal Kludge 61. This keyboard seems to have a lot going for it. An entry level price at forty-five dollars, mechanical switches, backlighting, and Bluetooth. Let’s see how it holds up in real world use though. Initial Impressions: Things I noticed right off the bat. First, it is much heavier and more premium feeling than I expected. Second, the leds are brighter than I expected. Third, the switches feel okay for a keyboard of this price. I would say that they are more tactile than my Dell AT101W’s black alps, but not as smooth as my IBM Model F. Something that I noticed, but do not like, are the keycaps. They are really trying to push the “gamer” aesthetic. I would just like some plain keycaps, black with standard font. I also noticed that most of the caps were not fully depressed onto the stem of the switch. It wasn’t an issue to fix and took me only seconds, but that shouldn’t be an issue with a new keyboard. First typing: I would say here is where the keyboard begins to fail. The first thing I noticed was that it wobbles when you type on it. This is unforgivable with a keyboard. The wobble makes me feel less confident with each keystroke. I was able to correct this by putting eight sticky notes underneath one of the offending feet. Secondly, the layout is terrible! If it could be reprogrammed it would be very usable since it is a stock ANSI format. Here are some things that I see wrong with it initially. First, the escape key is the primary key on the top left corner. This makes it very hard to access the ` and ~. To get to these keys, you need to press the function key then it acts like it should. I would prefer to press function to get escape. Speaking of the function keys, F1-10 are in a line. Then it is interrupted by the led brightness buttons. F11 and F12 are in the next row down. I am a combination of confused and disappointed. First, why would your breakup something that has the perfect amount of space to complete? Secondly, why would you put the led control buttons in the function row? It really doesn’t make sense. Another major issue I see is the up arrow, the / key, and the ? key. This key is, by default, the up arrow. This makes typing questions a much more finicky process as you now must press 3 different keys! That’s an inexcusable error. Arrow keys should always take lower priority to main punctuation. Other than the outrageously horrible examples I provided above the rest of the layout is all but standard and is simple to use. Design thoughts: I have already discussed my dislike of the keycaps, that’s personal though. Things I would have like to have seen that wouldn’t have been too expensive to implement. Charge indicator leds! I would love to know when I need to charge my keyboard. The caps lock key not illuminating when it caps lock is not on is a good idea. It sort of takes away from the generally nice lighting though. I like the idea of having higher edges on the case. Many keyboards in this price range are not including a case that comes up to the bottom of the keycaps. Since this is a keyboard that people may carry around, I think that this was a smart move to protect the switches. Since the keycap layout is standard layout getting new keycaps for it would be a breeze. The spacebar is even standard size, something that is often not the case with smaller keyboards. The keycaps are a standard profile, no issues there. A few gripes with the keycaps. First, they don’t really have much texture. I sort of felt like my fingers slid a bit too much. Still very usable though. The keycaps also have glossy black plastic on the sides. This causes them to collect fingerprints and dirt easily. The glossy plastic does create a cool shining effect though. The tops of the caps aren’t glossy so I wouldn’t count this against them, just understand that you might be cleaning your keyboard more than you expected to. Switches: The keyboard comes with blue Jixian switches. They have a satisfying click and tactile bump. The pitch is much higher than my buckling spring keyboard, but also much lighter. I would say that they are smooth enough for general use. If you are an enthusiast you might not be completely happy with them, but if you are coming from rubber domes you will be very satisfied. Comparing them to my Outemu browns they are significantly more tactile, to the point where my browns feel linear. This was very good. I was able to type on this keyboard without bottoming out, something I was unable to do on my Outemu browns. The wobble in the switch is acceptable for the price range. None of the stabilized keys seem to bind or have issues with off center keypresses. Off center keypresses are not an issue with these switches. I think this key switch works great for typing! It felt very similar to my Cherry MX Blues in a Das Keyboard. However, the click sound was higher pitched and the switch didn’t feel quite as stable, but still very usable. I had a few family, friends, and coworkers test this keyboard and tell me their opinions. Some have used mechanical keyboards some haven’t. Generally, they liked it and said it felt and sounded good. Bluetooth: Setting up Bluetooth the first time was a pain. The directions didn’t seem to help. When I contacted the seller, they said to press FN + Tab to enter Bluetooth mode. That would have been nice to see in the manual. After doing so pairing was much easier, but still took a few tries to get it right. I initially paired it with my Samsung S8+ and that was a nightmare. It seemed to send the function layers instead of the actual letters. This made it unusable. Pairing it with my Surface Pro 4 was the same as a wired connection. Summary: For $45 dollars I think this keyboard makes an interesting option. It does a lot right. The case feels solid, the switches sound and feel nice, and Bluetooth is a huge plus. However, the keymapping is the worst I have ever used. I think it is absurd that anyone thinks that I should use a function key, on top of my shift, to type a question mark! If they changed this, or allowed end users to remap the keyboard, I would have very little to complain about. Some nitpicky things that I have to say about it include the use of glossy plastic on the sides of the keycaps and how the manual should be rewritten to better explain the Bluetooth pairing process. In the end, I would recommend this keyboard, if and only if, they change the keymap. That was the part of the keyboard that I could not stand.

The keys are really close together. If this was more staggered or tiered, it would have been a great competitor for gaming. As it is, I was constantly hitting multiple keys.

I bought this board as a budget 60% to switch off of my Anne Pro II with Kailh Box Reds if I was in the mood for some clicky goodness. The product page I think is intentionally vague about blue switches because they likely ship with whatever switch is cheapest at the time. I think some have Kailh branded switches, others have their own RK switches, and mine came shipped with Outemu switches. Its clicky and noisy enough for my needs for when I want to have it. Unfortunately, the single light version, as far as I can tell, does not have software to allow for key remapping. This was my fault for not doing my homework, but the default layout has some interesting thought put into it that I may be copying over to my AP2. A quick search on google finds that there is in fact software for the RGB version of this RK61, so if budget allows, I would recommend springing for that one. Fn+Enter can trigger the arrows to function as the primary layer and pressing the combo again will make the arrows secondary so you can easily access /?, alt, menu, and ctrl and hold down fn with your pinky to operate arrows as a second layer. Although it is only a single light, there are some lighting animations available and accessible with the keys on the right as a second function layer. I personally just use the static orange, however. Stabilizers are pretty garbage on space, enter and shift. Im relatively new to the mech hobby and did not understand what wobbly stabilizers were until I felt and heard this board. Although what I have to comapare it to (AP2) is known for having some decent stabilizers. All in all, despite my gripes with it, its a decent budget board that gets the job done. And again, if you can afford, I would bump up to the RGB version to allow for more customization with key remapping.

Keyboard is very nice. Got it as an inexpensive upgradable keyboard. I cant tell the sound of the keys as well as a keyboard hobbyist but to the untrained ear I think it makes a decently nice noise. LED backlighting is nice and smooth. Overall id recommend.