BloodyB930 TKL Tenkeyless Optical Switch Gaming Keyboard Gaming | Fastest Keyboard Switches in Gaming |Ultra-Compact Form Factor | RGB LED Backlit Keyboard | Quiet & Linear

The media could not be loaded. Bloody is a relatively new, certainly lesser known name in comparison to the big names like Corsair, Razer and Logitech; but I’d argue that Bloody’s bloody good quality matches or maybe even tops the highest end keyboards from all of the aforementioned big names. To hit a home run even further, Bloody’s in-house optical keyswitches use lasers rather than traditional copper based metal switches. The difference isn’t exactly immediately noticeable, but in going back to my Razer Blackwidow; I could feel the difference was there. LinusTechTips once described the older version of this keyboard’s keyswitch speed as the difference between 144hz and 240hz monitors; the difference is there, but it’s not nearly as pronounced as the difference between 30hz to 60hz, or even 60hz to 120hz. And if you’ve gotten used to 240hz (in this case, Bloody’s optical keyswitches), 144hz just feels off and a little strange (traditional Cherry MX keys).If you’ve seen the pictures of the optical keyswitches, you’ve probably noticed they look pretty strange. I myself was wondering whether or not a (normal) custom keycap set would work with them – and let me answer that question: they will. The keycaps themselves, and the little ‘+’ that slots the keycap onto the switch, are identical to the keycaps of other mechanical keyboards. As a bonus, Bloody includes in the box TWO sets of extra keys for Q,W,E,R,A,S,D,F (the gamer layout) and even a little keycap puller tool. One set is clear with black text and similar plastic to the normal keycaps, the other is red with a noticeable slightly rubbery feel and an indent similar to what Logitech puts on some of their gamer-oriented keyboards. Strangely, each type of keycap has a different font; which is certainly interesting. While personally I’m not a fan of the strange keycap shape, I really appreciate that Bloody includes them with the keyboard; I bet quite a few people would be very happy to have them. I have no room to complain here, but I would have liked an extra set of keycaps for the arrow keys; though you can easily use any third-party set if you care about it that much (I certainly don’t).My keyboard is the “orange switch” model which is described as “tactile and clicky”. If you’re a fan of MX-blues, I think you’ll be happy here. If you’re a fan of Razer’s Razer Green keyswitches, I think you’ll be even happier. I was very, very surprised with how similar the switches felt and sound to my Blackwidow. I can’t speak on behalf of the “brown switch” model, but I really, really love how these switches feel. Before buying, I was worried I wouldn’t like how they felt; a problem I had when testing other keyboards with Cherry MX-Reds, Browns and even Speeds. At least to me, these switches feel as fast as the speeds, as tactile and clicky as blues, without being quite as loud (though they are still plenty loud, which I like).As for the rest of the keyboard, it feels very high quality. Bloody states that they use a “weapons-grade anodized aluminum” and I certainly believe that they do. I felt very little if any keyboard flex with a reasonable amount of force given to it, and I truly believe this keyboard could hold up to a lot of abuse. The plastic in the keycaps is very nice, I have no complaints about the feel of any part of this keyboard. As for design; unlike older models, Bloody has dialed back a bit on the gamer aesthetic. If the corners were in a perfect rectangle and not the hexagon/octagon-esque shape and the lights on the sides of the keyboard turned off, I don’t think anyone would give the keyboard a second glance in an office environment. With that said, I’m glad they didn’t give up on the gamer aesthetic altogether; I like my keyboards to have a little bit of flair without going overboard. The hexagon/octagon-eqsue corners are very subtle and don’t affect my placement of the keyboard at all. I’m especially fond of the lights on the side of the keyboard which read “Light Strike Gaming Keyboard”, while the words aren’t customizable; the lights behind the text are! The little feet on the rear of the keyboard, for those who choose to use them, are very rubbery and do not slip at all on my desk. Nor do the pads on the bottom (as I don’t typically use the feet).This brings me to the software and LED customizability, which isn’t perfect, but is very easy to use and I personally found the tool just as easy to use as Razer’s Chroma configurator. I use a 4K monitor, and it would seem that Bloody’s “KeyDominator2” software has a little bit of a scaling issue, but it’s minor and I imagine wouldn’t be difficult to fix in a future update. With that said, like any keyboard configurator you’ll likely only use it once in a great while; so the scaling issue I experienced is extremely minor in the grand scheme of things. I’m not entirely sure how capable the software is to do really advanced animations and the like – but I was able to recreate my custom keyboard animation that I had on my Blackwidow in about 10 minutes; I’m very happy here. If macros are your thing, I don’t think you’ll have any trouble making those either.There are two ways to change the LED effects on the keyboard; FN + F12 cycles through 6 defined/preloaded animations, and FN + any of the number keys can pick a specific animation you have defined/preloaded. Custom animations you make can be saved directly to the keyboard and used on another computer without installing any specific drivers or extra software. When I plugged in the keyboard for the very first time, it was on and ready to go seemingly instantaneously without needing to install a driver; much like how a lot of Logitech products are.The last thing that I want to touch on is the packaging that the keyboard comes in. Soft but sturdy white foam surrounds the keyboard inside the box and the keyboard is wrapped in bubble wrap in the middle. It would take a lot of effort to damage this keyboard in shipping, and the extra effort Bloody put into assuring the keyboard would be safe makes me respect Bloody just that much more. The box is also quite sturdy, easy to open and I would recommend hanging on to it if you ever intend to travel with your keyboard. I mention this only because the packaging for my Blackwidow was really bad in comparison.I really, really love this keyboard and I don’t think my money could have been better spent elsewhere. Bloody, I really hope you keep up the good work and make more gems like you have here. I’m very happy, and I think this keyboard will serve me for a very long time. I’m going to have to look into making the ‘optical’ switch to a Bloody mouse.

I'm not a gamer (unless occasional FreeCell counts), and I couldn't care less about RGB (as long as I can turn it all OFF). I only care about actual function and reliability.It's frustrating to see people misuse the phrase, "tactile feedback." It means that the mechanical feel is tied to the signal sent to the computer. In a proper tactile feedback keyboard like Model-F and Model-M, there's no way to separate the electrical signal and the mechanical click. With these keyboards, the tactile feedback works both ways, on the down stroke as well as on the up stroke. Note, Cherry MX Brown is NOT a tactile feedback switch at all. I've never tried the Cherry MX Blue, so I can't say anything about it, but it's irrelevant to me because their mechanism cannot be reliable long term due to its reliance on sliding copper contacts.I recently discovered optical keyboard switch, so I ordered one to see. To my surprise, the orange optical key switches do have proper tactile feedback, but only on the down stroke. No matter how you mess with it, you can't make it send the signal without the click, nor can you make it click without sending the signal. However, there is no feedback on the up stroke. In fact, with careful manipulation, I can make it send ON and OFF signals without any click if I don't let the key come back up far enough to reset. So in that sense, it's inferior to Model-F and Model-M. However, in real use, the up stroke feedback isn't terribly important.Frankly, there's still nothing that can even come close to Model-F, but availability and cost is a problem (yes I know about the revival project). I already have a bunch of Model-M, but only two are tenkeyless (quite rare). There's no way I'd let any of these keyboards leave my home.So given the choices, Model-F is still my top pick. Between Model-M and B930, it's a close call. Model-M has the edge in tactile feedback, but B930 keys are much lighter to use, so it becomes a preference thing. It's still nice to know that there is a modern keyboard (relatively cheap and abundant) that actually works quite well. Well, I suppose I'll have to run it through its paces (at least a year of daily work use), but from what I understand about its mechanism, I'm confident it will be reliable (unlike Cherry MX). Of course, there's the noise problem depending on your work environment, but hey, they can all wear headphones LOL. Isn't everyone working from home these days anyway?Lastly, I love tenkeyless keyboards. I never use the keypad, so not having it allows for MUCH MORE comfortable mouse positioning.UPDATE after only a couple of days of use: I bought ANOTHER ONE! This is a fantastic work keyboard for people who can work with light weight keyboards. It's marketed as a gaming keyboard, but don't overlook this as a work keyboard. I just turn the lighting off (Func+DownArrow until it goes off).Update: down rated to 4.I now own 4 of these, and got two friends of mine to buy one each also.As I mentioned in the original review, the keyboard does NOT have proper tactile feedback on upstroke, and I said it's not important. That turned out to be wrong. If I'm typing something like "fix_n," it can sometimes show up as fix_xn or fix_xxn. After experimenting some, I learned that I'm not releasing the x key completely while trying to press the left-shift to type _. Because the key switches don't have proper upstroke feedback, nor do they have debouncing circuit, x can register while I've half released it and then put some downward pressure on it (while pressing left-shift). This causes the keyboard to register one or more rapid x presses.I still like the keyboard, overall, but the lack of upstroke tactile feedback is definitely an issue. How bad it is, will depend on your typing style. I might have to hunt down a tenkeyless Model-F at some point.

It is fast, as low as 1ms, if you can press that fast, basically no input delay like the best gaming mouse has 3ms, and this keyboard has 1ms, just great.It is comfy for me, I can write and play games without a single problem. I can adjust color of each individual key. I didn't care about the RGB, until I map the keys, now I know which key is which without even reading them, just looking at the direction of the keyboard, specially during a game, gives me enough information so I don't second guess which key I'm on or going to press next.I used many gaming gears, monitors, pcs, mouses, chairs, this is the best quality product I've used for what it is made for, performance, durability, consistency, usability all 5 out 5.I like how each press feels like, the actuation point, the sound of the keys and the feedback, the force that pushes back all 5 out of 5.I maybe would want the keys' surfaces to be a little more smoother to the touch, the smoothness is probably 4 out 5, but I'm sure it would have been much harder to achieve this gripping feeling and robustness with a more smoother surface on the keys.Overall it is definitely 5 out 5, and very few items I've ever given 5 stars to.Definitely recommend it, I need better opponents on the battle field guys, I'm just too good with this keyboard. :)It is both a good value and a great product.The software is okay, it could be better, but good enough if you are not tinkering with it everyday.I've been using it for a year now.Thank you for reading, wish you the best!