Royal Kludge - RK84 V2

Oh man I’ve been all over with keyboards. Logitech, Razer Blackwidow, Red dragon, Highground and Royal Kludge. IMO the best all around keyboard for the value is Royal Kludge. I think I payed $45 for my RK84 and it’s my daily driver at this point and was certainly the best value of them all.

HE keyboards are not exponentially better than your good value mechanical keeb mostly because their benefits are, from my point of view, marginal in nature. I bought myself an HE keyboard (Aula Hero 68HE) a few days ago and have been using it over my mech keeb (Royal Kludge RK84). Valorant/CS2 wise? I can feel the difference between the two thanks to the rapid trigger & custom deadzone setting of the Aula. I "feel" like I have more control over my movement compared to my RK84. But mind you that the RK84 is the least of what the hobby has to offer and there is significantly more variety and capability compared to HE keyboards, even more do TMR as they are both new entrants to the market. So overall, if you are casual and want to stay casual in games like CS2 & Valorant, you can still with mechanical keyboards and have more freedom with customization. But if you think or plan to become competitive in some way, you could get an HE keyboard from Mchose or Aula (Mchose has better web driver support compared to Aula, I think) though you will have less switch options.

Tbh, for a budget upgrade that lasts, I'd lean towards the AK820 Pro you mentioned. The hot-swap sockets mean if a switch fails in a few years, you can just pop in a new one instead of replacing the whole board. I've had a similar budget board for about three years now with no issues. You can check the [AK820 Pro](https://metadoraffi-eng.github.io/shopit?search_keywords=AK820+Pro+keyboard) for current pricing and reviews. If you want absolute simplicity, the Royal Kludge RK84 is another reliable option around that price that's built pretty solid. The foam and lubed switches in the AK820 will feel and sound much better than the Logitech, honestly.

Interesting. No love lost then on my RK84. Gotta look up ZMK. Thank you

If you want a wooting but can't afford it, the mad 60HE is honestly pretty fucking dope for how inexpensive it is. It does feel cheap, it will 100% break at some point. But can't knock it for the price If you're not specifically wanting hall effect, epomaker pretty decent build quality. If you've got a bit more to spend, I recently picked up a royal kludge rk84 and although not very satisfied with the switches and key caps, the build quality is phenomenal and I'll definitely be modding.

I would suggest the Royal Kludge RK84 keyboard. I have it and i love it.

Save up for some time and buy an RK84 V2. It’s great for its price and is hot swappable, so you can experiment on it in the future

I had similar thoughts when I built my PC, ended up with a royal kludge and haven't looked back, first one died on me, drink spilled on it not by me. Immediately ordered a second one it is worth the $80 and I don't see any reason to spend more for a full mechanical keyboard

I had a rk years ago and it was fine, until a key failed. I have a keychron now and love it. But I'm also not a small keyboard person. For the price it will probably work fine for a few years, but also probably good for someone who wanted to try 60% and see how they like it.

Razer keyboards hot trash. RK royal kludge is a much better option.