Patriot Viper V770 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Full RGB/Dedicated Media Controls/Macro Enabled

I have been working with computers for a long time now. Since 1994 or so on a regular basis for work and pleasure. I have been through an absurd number of keyboards for any huge number of reasons and when the last el-cheap-o keyboard I had scavenged from an old Asus system finally gave up the ghost on my personal use / gaming machine (three different keys were broken, two caps and one stopped responding) I figured I would bite the bullet and purchase a keyboard.I really wanted to spend far less than I did on a keyboard. A peripheral is a peripheral, after all. They are designed with eventual failure in mind to get you to buy more hardware. You usually look forward to replacing a keyboard every two years or so and therefore look for a lower priced product to keep from spending an arm and a leg on an inferior product.Well. I checked the reviews on a number of sites I use to keep in touch with various hardware items as I love building my own PC's and weighed the pros and cons of a lot of keyboards. I didn't even have this one in mind when I got down to ordering. Then I figured maybe I should be looking for something that has a slightly longer expected life span and higher use out of it.The biggest thing with keyboards is: Membrane vs Mechanical. Membrane are cheap. Really cheap. They lack all of the tactile feedback of a mechanical keyboard however and are far far quieter. They are also essentially disposable and a pain and four-fifths to clean. Why not keep your desk neater and cleaner then? Its not about how fastidious you think you are or are going to be at your desk, there is still the eventual hair and dust that get beneath the keys that has to be cleaned out. A herculean task with a membrane keyboard as the keycaps are not really meant to be removed on most. With a mechanical board, the caps come off easily and in fact the key-switches can be replaced frequently.So, I decided on mechanical. Then you have to consider the switches.On a keyboard, the switches are the lifespan and the comfort and use of the board. Having a switch with the right amount of travel, the right tactile feel, and the "clicky-ness" is difficult to judge online. This product contains the "white" series switches which are just the right amount of tactile, clicky, and not nearly as loud as many other mechanical boards. You get nice solid feedback with each keypress, a small "click" and the key springs back wonderfully under each press.None of that touches on any of the other great features of this board. I'm not a huge fan of the RGB craze that means that everything has to rainbow sparkle under your fingers, your palm, and from the case beside you, but when the letter on the keyboard glows and the backlight is behind it makes finding a particular key when you are not as sure so much easier. The keycaps feel strong and show no sign of chipping or peeling like some other cheap painted keycaps.The aluminum body feels solid and rigid. Strong enough to type in the lap if you feel the need instead of having to be placed on a desk all the time. The long braided cord reminds me of cables for my other items of a similar manufacture which resist tangling, twisting, and early breakage due to flexing or being kept coiled up.The only issues I had stemmed from the drivers for the board. It contains a roller switch which is programmable but when I plugged it in out of the box it kept triggering the system volume and keeping it moving in the last direction it did move so that it was hard to adjust or deal with. A quick driver install later and the board is functioning exceptionally. The included software with the driver allows for quite a few light and pattern changes which I have not even begun to explore.I have definitely fallen for this keyboard more than I thought I would. It is a most excellent addition to my pc set up.

So I purchased this keyboard roughly 9 months ago, back in June of 2018, and I loved it. I still really do; it is by far the best mid-market option for a gaming keyboard. Really if your looking at getting a Cosair or Razer keyboard, don't. This has everything that you need with a really good build quality, which is 75% air-grade brushed aluminum and 25% matte black plastic, and tons of great features. There is no flex in the chassis which is nice especially when playing aggressively, the switches are red kailh switches, which are pretty much the same as mx cherry red switches except a little bit quieter. The macro keys are fun for binding an auto clicker to or certain chat lines, as I don't have much of a professional use for them. The task bar at the top is amazing with the giant volume wheel that can click in along with the 3 smaller switch dials for stop, play, pause, skip, fast forward, back, rewind. The RGB is very nice and vibrant because of the fact that it is located on the top side of the switch instead of under it and is very easy to customize and change with their software, or your could use the like 30+ pre-programmed ones instead. Main keys are pretty close together which is good for typing and gaming (in my opinion) but does collect dust over time which will need to be cleaned with a air canister or PC cleaner. Something that you have to keep in mind is that a few of the more larger main keys are additionally held in place with a metal band/clasp which makes it super tactile and responsive, but might be an issue if your looking to change the key caps. Palm rest is good for typing and is a nice smooth texture, however if you have tiny hands like me you'll find yourself reaching for some of the farther keys (number keys and top row of letters) so I'd recommend taking it off if you experience that. The palm rest RGB can be kinda weird if you don't connect the rest correctly via the magnets, but once you do connect it properly it doesn't budge or disconnect at all while playing. The USB and headphone jack on the sides are very nice for using you headset with or charging you phone but I don't use them that often. All in all, one of the best keyboards on the market and I would highly recommend purchasing it.