Those of us who dedicate ourselves to writing daily we usually be quite uncompromising with the keyboardssince after all we literally spend hours and hours pounding keys. For this reason, we also usually take the durability of keyboards to the limit, which generally do not last for us, and we are forced to change them every so often. It has been my recent case, and I decided to try a 98% format keyboardbut in less than a week I had to return it because I couldn’t with him. In this article, I tell you my Personal experience In this regard.
Let’s be honest: it is not the same to be a normal user, or one who uses its PC almost exclusively for gaming, that one that is generally spent 10-12 hours a day, almost all the time writing texts. As much as a keyboard is quality and has great durability, in the end when you perform hundreds of thousands of pulsations per month, wear is inevitable and plays to change the keyboard.
Why did I choose a 98%format?
Since I had to change the keyboard, let’s say I wanted to change. In my professional career (and not professional) I have had dozens of different keyboards, but I had never had any that would get out of the standards, that is, keyboards in complete format or as much tkl. For this reason, I wanted to try something new, and something that had some “chuminada” as an additional incentive was possible. For these reasons, I decided to try a 98%keyboard, specifically with a Royal Kludge RKS98.
This is a keyboard simply a little more compact than the traditional ones, because as you can see in the central area (above the directional arrows) some keys have been suppressed. In addition, it incorporates a small screw that although it is not a big deal (it gives you the time, you can put an image or gif, or it shows you the battery status and the connection mode … little more), it was funny. That additional incentive that I commented a moment ago, and I was also attracted to the idea that it was a completely independent keyboard in the sense that you do not need to install any software to use all its functions.
Aesthetics also caught my attention, a little retro style, and that is when you have had dozens of keyboards, you already get bored of the traditional. This keyboard is wireless, with a connection mode through a 2.4 GHz, Bluetooth or cable, and its 3,750 mAh battery promised a lot of autonomy. The model I bought came with Viridian Brown switches, equivalent to the Cherry MX Brown With linear functioning, 50 million pulsations of life expectancy and tactile feedback, with the addition that they are Hot-Swap, so I could change them if I wanted.
The truth is that the keyboard looked incredible, and I also found it with ISO-ES distribution, so a priori was perfect for a person like me who spends the day “pounding” keys.
But when I started using it, my perception about it changed a lot …
If it is so good, why did I return it?
The truth is that the keyboard is a pass, it works in luxury and the sensation when typing is very pleasant. However, I ran into many other things that I not only did not like, but they prevented me from doing my job properly. Many will say that they are inherent things to a 98%format keyboard, others will think that it is a matter of getting used to and you are probably right, but things, that is what I found:
- The space bar made a lot of noise. Only the space bar, for some reason. It was a much higher noise than that of the other keys and that honestly produced to me, especially because the space is one of the keys that is most used, if not the one that most. Fortunately, as the switches are interchangeable and I had a Razer Yellow switch box, I changed that switch and the problem was corrected.
- The Supr key is located where the impr is normally. Pant. And where is the Supr key, there is the one on Av. The problem is that, despite having already located the key, when I wanted to press it, it was too far and had to move the whole right hand to do it, causing me to deconcentrate me and lose the thread of what I was writing.
- There is a start key but no end key. Well, you can use the end key by clicking fn + re. Pag. But that’s everything but User Friendly. And believe me that in my work, you use this key a lot.
- The battery lasted approximately one day and a half, and that with 20%backlit. With a 3,750 mah battery I expected at least one week of autonomy, but in the end it turned out to be well below my expectations.
- Retroilumination is of type Underglowthat is, the keys are not illuminated per se, they are completely opaque, and the lighting only goes below the keys, creating some environmental lighting but very different than normal. This ended not to like me at all, although I understand that there will be many people who are (this is purely aesthetic and for pleasure, since after all I do not look at the keyboard when writing, I do not need to see the keys).
I am aware that all this in the end are things of personal preferences and nothing more, and that we dedicate ourselves to this we are quite “Tiquismiquis” with keyboards, our main work tool. But in the end, if you are not comfortable you are not comfortable, and in the case of your main work tool I consider that it is something of the utmost importance.
Maybe I should have taken into account all these things in the 98%keyboard format, but it was obviously something that I could not know until I had tried it with my own hands, and in the end these reasons have made me use my right of withdrawal and return it.
Anyway, in case you are interested in trying it yourself, that you know that you have it available in Coolmodit is the only store in which I have found it with ISO-ES distribution (in Amazon it is but not in Spanish, with Eñe and with the Enter Grande key).
Do you think just like me? Have you ever tried a 98%format keyboard?
