k70 rbg - how is it?

hey guys!

I've been using a keyboard for the llast 12months and a lot of the time I get the doublee tap/key chatter. I've used the program switch hitter and it has detected no problems. But I got my mind set on a new keyboard!

I'm torn between the k70 rbg or "some other one"

Whats the state of the k70 now? I've read a lot of people had problems/nightmares

Even tho reading a lot of hate, I'm still learning towards the k70.

Any thoughts / suggestions?

Would you recommend it?

I guess the software will be fine once they have fixed/tweaked it.

Would you recommend it?

 

I guess the software will be fine once they have fixed/tweaked it.

It's a board I would recommend to everyone. The software has its bugs, yes, and sometimes things can go awry, but even without the software it's still an insanely good board.

I purchased the keyboard before researching and on the box is boasts 16 million colors which was a huge draw for me. Once I figured out this drawback and then read the dozens of posts about this issue (which is now 7 months old) I am deciding on whether to send the keyboard back and go with another brand or hold onto it for another few weeks and see if a fix comes out.

It has some great features but I am not too sure the software is at fault rather the hardware. if it was software it would have been fixed many months ago, but I think they are programming software tricks to over come hardware problems.

In any case, if I knew a week ago what I know now, I would not have purchased it because of the 16M color issue.

Good luck with your decision.

Would you recommend it?

 

I guess the software will be fine once they have fixed/tweaked it.

I'm enjoying it as-is, and will enjoy it more in the future, but if you run into keyboard freezing issues or Steam crashing issues you might enjoy it a lot less than me (I haven't had problems with these issues thankfully).

Would reccomend aswell owned it since release, all bugs will be resolved eventually.

ran into some bugs i managed to solve.

If you want to buy it do yourself a favor and buy a powered USB HUB/Pci-e USB controller along with the keyboard - this way you will avoid most of the problems (unless you have a very good motherboard) and you experience will be smoother.

My main gripes with it were the problems that were remedied by plugging it into the USB card.

Would I buy it again? I am not sure. When it works - it works, however the half year until I bought the PCI USB card were hell. Constant freezing, crashing, long boot times. I do not think this was to be expected from a 180$ keyboard - this should have been a much better experience. And it could have been. Corsair should have put more work into Q&A and testing.

Also the falsely advertised 16.8m colors are still not here. It does not bother me that much so the keyboard will remain with me, however it is really noticeable when making gradients.

Honestly I think Corsair should give everybody the cost of PCI card/USB hub back.

If you want to buy it do yourself a favor and buy a powered USB HUB/Pci-e USB controller along with the keyboard - this way you will avoid most of the problems (unless you have a very good motherboard) and you experience will be smoother.

 

My main gripes with it were the problems that were remedied by plugging it into the USB card.

 

Would I buy it again? I am not sure. When it works - it works, however the half year until I bought the PCI USB card were hell. Constant freezing, crashing, long boot times. I do not think this was to be expected from a 180$ keyboard - this should have been a much better experience. And it could have been. Corsair should have put more work into Q&A and testing.

 

Also the falsely advertised 16.8m colors are still not here. It does not bother me that much so the keyboard will remain with me, however it is really noticeable when making gradients.

 

Honestly I think Corsair should give everybody the cost of PCI card/USB hub back.

No, Corsair shouldn't, because the next firmware update within the next few weeks will solve all of those issues aside from the 16.8m color issue as far as I know. Once the next firmware update comes, the keyboard won't freeze anymore, although I'm not entirely sure about the boot times because I never had that problem to begin with. The USB hub won't be necessary once the new FW patch comes.

The firmware update that we have been waiting for since release day? Yeah, it might help and it might arrive on time. Or maybe not. I do not have a crystal ball and you do not have it too. The point is none of the previous updates helped, there are different hardware configurations (as all technicians, customer reps and engineers everywhere like to point out) so it is still a thing to consider when buying this keyboard now. If the update works - it will be a different matter.

If OP wants to buy it and use it out of the box - chances are he may need an additional third party accessory. If he is willing to wait and bet on the firmware fixing all the issues - its his choice but he should be his conscious decision.

The product was faulty for the last 6 months and the fix that actually worked during that time was spending more money and getting the USB thingy (inb4 you should have waited two more months to get the firmware patch. No. I should not. It should work OOB).

Actually those things are not that expensive anyway, so I do not mind, however it effectively rises the not-so-cheap price of the keyboard by 15 bucks, to have it working without worries. So yeah, Corsair does not have to refund anything for the product. I like the lights, I like the build quality, I moderately dislike the software design choices, hate the firmware/mobo compatibility, but overall, if you disregard all the problems, it is a pretty solid product.

Too bad the experience it delivered during those six months and the need to spend more money to get it working were not worth the total effective of almost 200$ for me. I have a Corsair case, a PSU with a nice set of Corsair cables, Corsair RAM sticks and now a working Corsair keyboard, but I doubt I will be getting anything else next time I upgrade.

Not because of the product itself, but because it was a really bad experience for the money. People like to pay premium for getting a good treatment and user experience alongside their products (vide fruit based IT brands). Perhaps I am getting old but I like fiddling with things myself less and less.

I hope whoever made the decision to rush and release the keyboard in its state at least will give it a thought with future products.

One thing that made me stick here and wait instead of returning this keyboard was the contact from Corsair_James - this guy should get the credit due for handling those issues with the community as well as he did with as little means that he had at hand.

Anyway - tl;dr:

good product,

bad software/firmware leading to bad experience,

wait for a patch before buying or get a USB PCI card/hub,

Corsair_James is awesome