RK ROYAL KLUDGE RK100 Wireless Mechanical Keyboard RGB Backlit Bluetooth5.1/2.4G/Wired 96% Full Size 100-Key Hot Swappable Gaming Keyboard Red Switch Classic

Compact and great product.

This is a really nice and heavy keyboard. However, mine arrived with a broken stabilizer housing. I have reached out to Royal Kludge to get a replacement. Will update the review if I hear back and issue is resolved. Update 1: Amazon has Royal Kludge listed as the manufacturer for this item and links you to their website (rkgamingstore.com) for warranty/part replacement/other customer service assistance. When I reached out, Royal Kludge stated they are the "authorized distributor" not the "manufacturer" of Royal Kludge products so they cannot help with part replacement. Royal Kludge suggested I reach out to the seller, which is "XUYANG ERA US"... will update when I hear from them. Update 2: Heard back from XUYANG ERA US, they cannot just sed/replace the broken part. They offered a partial refund. I gave up and returned the keyboard. Will be placing another order of it to give it another shot. I really liked the keyboard. Bummer customer service is not customer centric for amazon, Royal Kludge, and XUYANG ERA US. Update 3: The second one I ordered arrived and some of the switches didn’t register clicks. Was about 7 switches that didn’t work all the time so the 4 spare switches the board came with weren’t enough. I reached out to XUYANG ERA US and they sent a new keyboard. The new one is perfect, works great. I noticed this one came with completely different switches from the first two I received. In the photo, the left switch is the original that came with the first two boards and the switch on the right is the new switch that came in the most recent keyboard. The switches feel the same for the most part not sure what this means for quality but the annoying part is that the switch opener in the photo doesn’t work with the new version of their red switches. Had to open with tweezers- which I’m only doing because these switches benefit heavily from being lubed. Changed from 3 stars to 5 because the last interaction with customer service was pleasant and actually resolved my problem.

I bought this keyboard back in November 2022 and ran into some issues with a non-functioning key in July 2024. Loved the keyboard and was hoping for an easy fix. I contacted RK customer service asking for assistance on fixing my key. We troubleshooted the issue but they were ultimately unable to help me repair it. But instead of just having me deal with the non-functioning key, RK sent me a whole new keyboard (almost 2 years after I bought the item)! They went above and beyond what I expected. The keyboard itself is great and 10/10 would recommend based on customer service alone.

Note, im a mech kb (budget) enthusiast, so my use case may differ from yours. Tl;dr- this is a solid choice if you just want a mech keyboard and little to no modding, or if you just desperately need a <$100 mech keyboard with a usb hub. If you dont need the hub, definitely go with something like a Keychron K4 or similar. Got this for a work keyboard to declutter my desk. The built-in USB hub works well for a wireless mouse. Note, hub only works in wired mode, which I intended to use just wired and turn off the LEDs. Do not buy this intending to disassemble, some people may not be able to swap all the switches easily, and even with patience it's very difficult for a hotswap board. Keycaps: Feel light and thin. The backlight unintentionally shines through the keycaps. They are high pitched and rattle, would recommend upgrading, though they're usable. 2/5 Stabilizers: Wire is straight. Tolerances are bad. Lots of wiggle on the plate. The clearance between the part of the housing that holds the wire, and the part that pops into the plate was pretty wide, adding to the wiggle and rattle. As a whole, would be improved with bandaid modding, but the wide space in the stabilizer housing would still rattle. 1/5, absolutely replace if possible. Plate/case: Plate seems to be metal, likely aluminum. Paint scratches easily with the included switch puller or any switch puller. Clearance between the side of the case and the outer switches IS TIGHT. I have a green switch puller that works fantastic, except on the top and bottom rows, to remove switches. As a hotswap board, there should be more clearance to actually make removing switches easier. The space between the 2u numpad stabilizers and switches meant i had to use a screwdriver to dislodge the switches there. Additionally, this case is impossible to disassemble without destruction- there are a few posts that the plate secures to that look like they have a sticker covering the screw. As far as I can tell, thats actually metal or soldering of some kind, so you can't get at that from the plate side, and there are NO screw holes on the bottom. Forget about adding case foam or spray painting the case/plate. On the plus side, it is a very sturdy case with no flex whatsoever. Still, would have been nice to be able to mod since there are similarly priced boards with easy disassembly that are also hotswap. A sturdy plastic case is not valuable enough to me to warrant being mod-proof without destroying support posts in some way. 0/5. PCB: You can't disassemble this without power tools, so I can't check the soldering Qual or look at any internal components, or add case foam. Switches popped in just fine. IF YOU WANT TO SWAP SWITCHES, Beware: these are northfaceing SMD LEDs that are RAISED. You can only use switches with a large enough hole on the bottom for a raised LED. Durock Silent Linears and Zeal switches will NOT work with their bottom housings. I bought Durocks for this and had to open the switches and swap the bottom housing for the Gateron Red bottom housings for them to work with this board. 2?/5 Usb hub: It works in wired mode. I needed this feature, so thats why I got this. If you don't need the built in hub, you should probably avoid this. 3/5 Wireless/Bluetooth/backlight: I did not buy this to use any of those features. Comes with a 2.4ghz dongle which is nice if you don't want Bluetooth. The backlight is okay, but only ice blue, and will have an ugly silhouette effect on the stock keycaps. I leave it off. N/A /5 If you need hotswap AND the built in usb hub, and DO NOT WANT/NEED/INTEND TO mod the case, AND your intended switches are compatible with raised SMD LEDs, this may work for you. If you DO NOT need the hub and are able to save up slightly more for a Keychron K2 hotswap, that would almost CERTAINLY be a better choice. Ultimately, this feels like a bad attempt at a budget customizable option with bad execution of hotswap and limiting the ability to do anything besides swap switches and keycaps, and even the ability to remove some switches is near impossible without deft fingers and patience. The bad hotswap execution and lack of ability to disassemble and add foam or paint the case is odd, considering that people interested in Hot-Swaping will likely also want to mod, as well as the very mediocre keycaps and stabilizers practically begging to be replaced. You can't use wireless and the hub at the same time. The keycaps look bad with the LEDs on. The case cannot be disassembled. Its a weird contradiction of features and lack thereof. Would be 10x better if it were cheaper barebones without switches, stabs, or caps, or seem more consistent to remove hotswap and drop the price. At the current price point, unless you NEED the hub, go with something better.

I bought the RK100 with red switches and classic colored keycaps. I've only had the keyboard for one day but so far it is absolutely perfect and everything I was hoping for. Currently I have it connected wirelessly via 2.4ghz. I have not tried the bluetooth yet. I have found 0 lag/latency with this keyboard under the wireless setting, bear in mind I do not play any competitive type gaming but the games I do play, the connection is flawless. You do not need to press a button to wake the keyboard up before it starts to work on a wireless connection. The backlight turns off automatically after several seconds and will turn back on once you hit a key. I'm not sure if there is a setting to keep the backlight on when you're not typing, but not sure why you would want that as it would likely kill the battery. Only had it a day so I can't speak to the battery life just yet. I'll update this review after a few weeks to indicate my experience after some time. I'm a pretty heavy PC user so this keyboard will get beat up after just a few weeks. I owned a similar keyboard, priced at $300, prior to this one. I am a fan of the 96% layouts and they are not easy to come by, especially not with the features of this keyboard. This keyboard may not have the customization possibilities of more expensive keyboards, but it hits every aspect that I need. 1. 96% 2. Backlit 3. Hot swappable 4. Wireless capability 5. Passthrough