Product: Rosewill RGB80 Mechanical Keyboard
Provided By: Rosewill
Price: ~$99 Online at time of publication

 

Introduction:

Things have been pretty busy around here at BCCHardware and I’ve been doing a lot of typing and a little gaming. A couple of weeks ago, I was given the opportunity to review a new keyboard from Rosewill that showed up at BCCHardware and was on the fence as to whether I wanted to review it or not. Once I read the feature list of the RGB80 and saw the box, I was sold!

We have met Rosewill for the past three or more years at CES and taken a look at their line of products. Rosewill is the “house brand” from Newegg and they make and sell a little bit of everything. Rosewill’s goal is to be the best brand for customers as they aim to produce good quality and affordable products. They care for their customers because they want to give them the best. Ultimately, the goal of Rosewill is to become the leading brand in computer hardware and peripherals. More about Rosewill here. 

We’ve taken a look at a few Rosewill items in the past including the Rosewill Apollo Mechanical Keyboard, Rosewill Legacy V3 Plus-B Mini-ITX Case, a fanless PSU, and more. The RGB80 is sibling to the Apollo Mechanical as it is smaller and has a few different features.

The keyboard looks very simple and has a smooth black finish that feels like it has a rubber texture to it. It’s heavier than most keyboards I’ve used even though it is quite a bit smaller as it is missing the number pad. At 2.2lbs (1Kg), it’s no light-weight. As stated before, this is a mechanical keyboard and the model we received has CherryMX Blue switches. It has a thick, braided cable that has a standard mini-USB end on the keyboard side and can be removed if desired. The other end of the cable is a standard USB connection that has been gold plated to ensure that it has good contact with your PC.

 

As I mentioned before, the keyboard sweet and short! Rosewill dropped the number pad on this “Tenkeyless” unit. The customizable RGB80 backlit keyboard that allows you to customize you lighting effects with 16.8 million color choices! This keyboard epitomizes Robot Unicorn Attack. There are six backlight modes to change the lighting effects and there are variations of modes that range from all the lights off or on, to key groups that are lit up. Also you can adjust the brightness of the backlights as well. The RGB80 comes with five profiles that have quick switch keys for swapping gaming profiles on the fly. You also have your multimedia keys including the speaker mute button.

The keyboard also has a PC/Game mode that enables or disables the Windows key, custom programmable macro keys, six-key or full n-key rollover and all of these keys are backed by high-quality mechanical switches with individual LEDs and 512KB of on-board memory to save your settings.

 

Specifications:

Rosewill is often pretty light on the details on their site when it comes to specifications, but we've still included the details here for your convenience. If you have any questions or want more information, please feel free to post in the forum at the comment link on the last page, or check the manufacturers site for the latest information and downloads.

Features:

• Customizable RGB LED Backlighting
• 6Backlighting modes
• 5 Profiles with quick Switch Keys
• Multimedia Keys
• Gaming Mode
• 6 or Full-N Key modes
• 100% Mechanical Key Switches
• 512KB Onboard Memory

 

Detailed Specifications:

 

On the next page we'll cover installation and testing.

Installation:

When it comes to installing things, things couldn’t be much simpler. It was quick and easy to install, and even though I’m a nerdy girl, anyone can install this keyboard. Physical installation is as simple as plugging it in, but you’ll have to head on to the Rosewill site and download the drivers if you want to be able to set up macros and adjust the colors on your keyboard.

 

The keyboard includes a software CD, but it's always best to make sure you're running the latest version of the drivers and software.

Macro Programming

 

Testing:

At BCCHardware, we work hard and play harder – in this case, we test hard. We haven’t figured out a way to do “performance” charts in a keyboard review, but we will share our experience. As I mentioned earlier, I was excited to give this keyboard a try and play around with a mechanical keyboard. I’ve never used one before – nor have I played around with a keyboard that has quite so many color options.

 

When I type it reminds me of digging around in a bin of Lego as the mechanical switches are not quiet at all. This is pretty much the same as any other CherryMX Blue keyboard though. The keyboard lights up to any set of colors that you choose during customization in the software. You can set it almost any color of your choice. If you want just one color, you can pick one. If you want it to cycle through colors, you can do that as well. The keyboard will fade in and out as it’s switching between colors, and this gives it a feeling that it is “breathing” and quite frankly, it looks pretty cool. You can change the brightness level from off, really dim, and “where did I put my sunglasses”.

 

To chance the brightness, you press the “FN” (function) button on the keyboard while you press either the up and down arrow keys. The “FN” key also allows you to use the multimedia, profile, Gamer/PC, and rollover modes. I love the fact that the RGB80 can disable the Windows Key. Occasionally, I have gaming moments that are so intense that I scramble for the last kill or the game winning move and then suddenly – Desktop. If you hit the “FN” key while tapping “Pause / Break”, you’ll kill the Windows key so you can kill your enemy instead of your monitor in frustration.

Like most gaming keyboards on the market, the RBG80 comes with a program that lets you program macros as well as change the lighting effects of the keyboard. You can’t make macros on-the-fly as we saw with some other keyboards, you’ll have to set these up on your desktop. The macro program is easy to use and has a very simple and effective layout. When setting up a macro, you see the keyboard layout in the software and then you pick which keys you want to set up. Click on the macro button, record and save. It’s that simple.

 

The keyboard claims to be anti-ghosting and responsive. I’ve been “testing” it out on Titanfall and of course Call of Duty: Ghosts as well as a few others and it seems to be fairly responsive for the most part. I do have on issue with the keyboard though and we’ll talk about that later.

When it comes to standard typing, it takes a bit to get used to as the keys sit much higher than my other keyboard and the keystrokes are longer. It reminds me of the keyboards we have back in school. The keys themselves are actually removable and the RGB80 comes with a key removal tool that allows you to change up the keys and replace them with some clear keys for your WASD and Arrow keys as well. If you like pranking people, I’m sure you could have fun with this as well. Not only can you customize the keyboard in software by way of macros, you can also physically customize the keys as well.

 

When I did get the product I thought that I would be able to change different parts of the keyboard to different colors at the same time, but I soon realized that I was mistaken and this graphic was meant to show that you can change the keyboard to be a bunch of different colors – but not at the same time. I do like the smaller “tenkeyless” design and it fits well on my table. The sheer heft of it surprised me though and I guess I expected it to feel light as it is smaller than my previous keyboard.

The downside to this keyboard is that our sample blinks randomly every now and then. I’m not exactly sure if this is a glitch or a “feature” but when it blinks the keyboard doesn’t respond for about a second. It feels like there is a sticky key and I’ve tried various modes of rollover, but no matter what I do, the issue periodically pops up. It seems to happen more when you’re game and this is a big deal. It seems to be tied to the lighting though as it doesn’t glitch when the LED backlights are off, but what's the fun of that if you can’t experience the lights too?

On the last page, we'll wrap things up with our final thoughts.

 

Final Thoughts:

When it comes to products being stable and durable, the RGB80 certainly gets a “thumbs up”. Just make sure that when you’re changing keys, you snap them into place really well or else you might find your key falling off. The W key was having a hard time staying in place as it did wobble off when I was playing after from changing the regular keys to the clear replacements. Don’t be afraid to snap it securely in place and you’ll be good to go. This keyboard feels like it could withstand a drop from a tall building and it is heavy enough to be used for self-defense. The texture and feel of it give you confidence that it won’t fall apart in a couple weeks. The braided cord is great and sturdy and doesn't give any connectivity problems. The bottom of the keyboard has some nice little grooves in it for the cable tor run and this is a nice touch. Even if you didn’t place the cord in the grooves, Rosewill made the RGB80 Mechanical Keyboard slip resistant! The quality of this product certainly surprised and amazed me!

When it comes to performance, you can’t really go wrong here. I haven’t played around with other mechanical keyboards, but overall, it is a very positive experience. The Anti-Ghosting won’t bugger up your gaming experience and the keyboard works very well with the LEDs turned off (hopefully addressed in a software update). This issue does need to be fixed and hopefully will be soon.

You don’t normally get a ton of accessories with a keyboard, but the RGB80 delivers a few little nuggets. Without little bits of cool stuff, a product can be just a little too plain. Think of it like fries without ketchup, or a burger without bacon. It can get you by, but the accessories make all the difference. When I opened the RGB80, I was greeted with a removable cable, extra keys and a key-puller. There is also a manual to walk you through basic setup.

 

Installation is easy and macro recording is simple. The most difficult part of installation is finding the right keyboard model on the Rosewill site to grab the right driver. Again, this could be solved with an included software CD. If plug-and-play is too complicated, there is a manual as I stated before, but I’m sure it will be easy enough you won’t have to RT(Frigging)M. 

At ~$100, this keyboard is pretty solid it terms of value. It compares with a lot of portable non-mechanical keyboards and in this regard Rosewill is reaching their goal of putting great hardware into the hands of consumers for a good price.

 

• Good value
• LED customization looks great
• Easy to set up macros
• Smart layout for “FN” keys
• Small and portable for LAN gaming

 

• Keyboard pauses randomly when LED backlight is enabled

 

All in all the RGB80 Mechanical Keyboard is unique and it works well. From the LED colors to the feel of the keys and the ease of setting up macros, this keyboard is a winner. If every mechanical keyboard is this nice, I think I’ve switched. I like tweaking this to my personal taste and this keyboard lets you do just that! It’s great!

If you have any questions or comments regarding the RGB80, please feel free to post at the link below.