Specs:

Item Weight - 1.3 pounds

Switches - Outemu brown switches

Full Metal Body Construction

Wired Connector - Gold-plated USB 2.0,3.0

The first thing you will notice when you get this keyboard at home is its weight.  It will be immediately clear that this keyboard is no toy.  The body of this keyboard is sharp.  It is matte black in finish with angular, polished edges that stand out, making the lines of the keyboard edges pop.

The key caps are what really make this keyboard unique.  They are rounded in shape and only extend halfway down to the keyboard surface. This leaves about a ¼ gap that stays illuminated.  The keys themselves, like all RGB keycaps, allow light to come through the top of the key showing what numerical / letter assignment it has.

When lit, this gap lets the keyboard come to life.  All of the lighting effects are shown with great clarity and emphasis.  It may seem trivial, but the shape of the keys and the fact that they are more like a key cover than a full key like on a traditional keyboard, makes them a little different to get used to.  It just didn’t “feel” like a familiar keyboard at first.  There is some slight optical illusion that you have to overcome as it seems like you have to press the keys down further to make them work because you can see that they aren’t resting on the base.  It is hard to explain, but thankfully this is not a major issue.  

Just in reviewing this keyboard, I found myself needing to get familiar with it even though I type on traditional keyboards all the time.  It isn’t the spacing of the keys, or any one characteristic of this keyboard, but rather all of it together just feels different.  Dare I say though, it feels better?

The brown keys included with the keyboard are responsive and relatively quiet.  Tap a key and it springs back up as quick as you’d expect, but it still has a satisfying click sound. I am old school and love hearing the rapid typing sounds when I am writing or working on a project.  Now, on gaming I appreciate quiet keys.  This keyboard satisfies both of my needs.

The brown keys in a gaming experience are plenty quiet when casually playing.  If you are in an MMO group chat, then you get the clicking while typing, but gameplay you barely notice the click of the keys.  For fellow gaming nerds, there is zero input lag from keystrokes on this keyboard.  It is rapid, responsive, and being wired only, has no chance to disconnect mid session.

The lighting on this keyboard is awesome.  No qualms about it, the amount of built-in options alone will provide you with more than enough variety of lighting patterns that it is likely you wouldn't even need to load software to configure it.   Nestled in between the all and menu key on the bottom right side of the main key body is the function key (Fn).  

While holding this button down, if you press any of the six navigation keys (INS, HOME, PgUP, PgDn, Del, End) then you will alter the display pattern of the lighting. Don’t stop at just one press though, each key pressed multiple times will yield different color patterns in that GROUP of patterns, Meaning, if you depress Fn and INS multiple times, you will get different patterns each time.  

There are simply too many patterns built in to the keyboard to list them all, but some fan favs are here. Patterns like ripple, wave, fade, chase, all are present.  To further customize your experience, while still depressing the Fn key, go ahead and press the right arrow key.  Pressing this inside any of the color patterns will change the root color of that pattern.  So if you choose RIPPLE as your lighting pattern, you can use function-right arrow to switch between a solid color ripple with many choices, or rainbow.  If you select a chase or wave pattern,. It will allow you to cycle colors and back to rainbow.

Lastly, if you depress Fn again and hold it while pressing the UP and DOWN arrow keys, you can adjust the lighting brightness or even turn it off. Using the software will only expand your experience with the customization options.  You will get the full range of colors, 16.7 million at your fingertips.  With Windows 10 and the software, the keyboard can have a “gamer mode” setup.  This allows the WASD keys to be permanently lit while other keys can be adjusted.  Neat feature, but not necessary to enjoy the keyboard. I won’t go into the software as it is fairly straightforward and just allows more acute options on colorization.

FInal Words

Yet another quality product from Redragon.com, the Redragon K556-RK keyboard. With its retro style keys, amazing lighting options and solid construction (seriously, this thing is meaty), this is a solid keyboard that will last you a long time.  The keys are easily replaced if they fail, or if you simply want to modify them to another click style and the durable metal body means you don’t have to worry about breaking, or even sliding around on the desk while gaming.  Apart from having to get used to the feel of the rounded keys, this keyboard has become my goto keyboard at home, assuming I can keep it out of my wife’s hands!  Just do yourself a favor and buy this keyboard, or if you prefer the squared off traditional style, then the Redragon K556 (minus the RK - round key) is for you. You will not be disappointed.

By Rob Manning