G’day fellas,
I have been looking for a good budget keyboard containing Mx Blues or another brand of clicky keys for under $150 AUD.
Does anyone have any recommendations to go with?
Cheers
What sort of specifics do you like. Localised layout, full size/tenkey less/60%, media keys, macros, LEDs…
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Hey mate,
Mainly looking for a full sized RGB keyboard, I don’t mind if there is media keys or macros. Just looking for a good keyboard with Clicky / MX Blue switches, With RGB.
Cheers,
Do you have the big enter key like UK boards (ISO) or the slim one like American (ANSI)?
I use the slim American one 
PC Gaming Race is an option, they seem to have good reviews and you can select the switches and bits you like, it is also swappable switches should you want to try something else later with no desoldering.
Ducky do solid boards, there are quite a few so you will have to have a look for your preference but the stuff you want is covered.
I see the RedDragon K556 show up as a good solid board that is considerably cheaper than most, might be worth a look.
I have seen good reviews of the cooler master boards, though this specific one is not currently available with blues, though it is probably the wrong amazon store anyway so look around your preferred stores.
There is a whole load more though now as well so beyond these few it will be looking at reviews and availability locally for you. And at this stage mechanical keyboards are all to the same reasonable standard all things being equal and above board. So have a look at others like this and you won’t go far wrong.
There is also the Mechanical Keyboard Corner thread where people have gotten all sorts and offered their opinions on their stuff.
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Cheers mate appreciate it, I’ll see how i go with these boards. Once again appreciate it
I can speak about the Red Dragon K556 quality. It has a full metal chassis, next to no deck flex, uses Outemu switches, and for its price is a great mechanical keyboard. Do not get the slightly cheaper white version with red LEDs; the LEDs are way too bright for low light use from my experience having purchased it for a friend who wanted a white mech.
ETA I was mistaken on the switch type, edited to correct.
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Sounds good thanks, I will buy it within a few days / weeks and let you know how i go. Cheers
I have both and either of these are great keyboards, Patriot Viper V765 Mechanical RGB Keyboard or Logitech G710+.
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I could endorse Ducky myself (as a Ducky User).
@n3tizen are you sure those are not Kaihls on the Red Dragons?
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I could be mistaken.
Ok on investigation I fell victim to the dreaded marketing spin 
The switches on the K556, and the model I have, the K585, are Outemu MX Clones.
For more info I dug these links, and factoids, up
The actuation point comes a little bit sooner on the Cherry at 1.5mm, actuates at 37g, and has a bottom-out force of 54g. Outemu actuates at 2.1mm (47g) and bottoms out at 61g. They’re very similar, with the Outemu Reds being just slightly heavier.
From what I can find the Outemu blues are, in some mech scenes, more prefered than the MX Blues. While the Outemu Reds are, again by some, found to be scratchy or wobbly.
I have not encountered either issue with my Redragon.
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Cheers to everyone for responding everyone has been a great help. I’ll look into this further before purchasing the product, I think i will go with the RedDragon due to the amount of good work people have provided for the product - From what i can understand from your messages the Red Dragons comes with Cherry MX Reds or Outemu Red Switches. Is that correct?
They come with Outemu switches, which are MX clones. If you’re picky or sensitive to the type of switches it might make a difference.
Red Dragon markets these switches as MX equivalent. Some Etailers will spin that as “MX Switches” which is how I got mixed up about it. My Bad.
For the price, it is a good product. If you want to spend more you definitely can, but I am not a mechanical keyboard aficionado. I got one that fit my budget, and I have yet to find any problems with the switches or construction.
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Riightio sounds good thanks, The switches on the keyboard are replaceable correct? If the switches dont match the feel i like I would be happy to spend some extra money on a size of Blues
AFAIK, yes. You should get a few extra switches in the box with your KB. It won’t be a lot, 8 or maybe 10 extras.
However, and again, I am not a mechanical keyboard aficionado, some forums state that Outemus cannot be replaced with MXs, some say they can. Some say that Outemu can be replaced with Gaterons.
Worse comes to worse you can replace them with Outemu Blues if the switches it ships with are not to your liking.
Yes they are replaceable, which is a huge surprise to me that’s quite a nice feature. Word of warning though, I would not replace them regularly, I don’t have a board with this feature but I have heard over time the contacts will loosen and lose connection. A few times sure but just because it is is there don’t do it every few days or weeks for the novelty.
Just make sure the metal pins on the switches you want to put in are straight and lined up correctly before pushing them in.
“MX” switches are all the same size and pin layout so they are all compatible with each other for replacing. I got an Anne Pro that came with Outemu Blues which I desoldered and replaced with ZealPC (Gateron) Zilents.
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This is my Red Dragon. I really like it. It is a solid sturdy built keyboard. You have a full 10 key with RGB and software customizable key layout. There are 5 programmable macro keys. I love the volume wheel. It is much more convenient than reaching over to the speakers or using software control.
Note: The Red Dragon software is difficult to find. I have no idea why they make it this hard, but it does involved a google search to various forum posts until you find the right link.
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