Mechanical Keyboards have proven themselves when it comes to superior usability. But what about a budget one?

There is a new breed of keyboards popping up all over the place, and serious PC users and gamers think they are a waste of money. So I decided to grab one for £16 from Aria PC here in the UK to see for myself what these Mechanical Feel Keyboards are all about.

Value.

Most serious gamers will specifically use an expensive Mechanical keyboard with Cherry switches. Some of these keyboards also come with built in RGB to add a touch of colour to the users setup, and a good portion of those can be controlled via software to create custom colours and effects.
Yes there are cheaper mechanical keyboards, but what about those that have a very tight budget?
At £16 I was not expecting much in the way it can be comparable to what it is trying to be. Yet at that price point you actually get a lot of engineering research and design to make a product that does offer more than most other keyboards at this same price point and the quality is surprisingly good too.

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Out of the Box.

The box has a Mech printed on it, and resembles the Mechs that can be seen in the Mech Warrior games, and being a huge fan, I kind of liked it.
The Keyboard actually reminds me of a Dell keyboard I used to use with the E-commerce tills from work. Very minimalistic with a very minimal foot print, taking up less desk space. The key layout is very typical of most other keyboards with the exception of a slightly bulbous space bar, which when using the keyboard, actually feels very comfortable. That is offset by the backspace button being relegated down to the same size of the other keys. This has the issue of me constantly hitting the hash (#) key instead of the backspace. I suppose after some time I could get use to it. But it is a point off for out of the box performance.
The keys have a very nice, rubberised coating which feels awesome to type on. Each key has an LED light that shines through the letter on the keys and gives them a nice under glow. There is only 7 colours to choose from and there are only 4 levels of brightness. No other lighting effects possible, but I suppose for those that just want to add a touch of colour to there setup, it will do the job nicely.
The USB cable is plenty long enough to stretch from the tower to the top of the desk with plenty of slack left over, and it is also braided which continues into the keyboard, wrapped in rubber at the insertion point, so no more frayed cables.
The entire base of the keyboard is solid steel, and the overall keyboard has very little in the way of flex. And finally it has 2 riser legs which raises the back of the keyboard to a more comfortable position for those who slouch, like me, and need to be able to see and press the keys.

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The Keys.

Mechanical keys have a physical connection that is connected when the key is pressed and is spring loaded. A conventional keyboard is a combination of conductive layers that are connected when the key is pressed, also known as a membrane connection, and are mostly rubber dome/diaphragm sprung, but some also use a steel spring. These have the bad reputation of feeling soft and unstable, and in some cases, have been the cause of repetitive strain injury and finger fatigue in those that use a keyboard for prolonged periods of time.
The keys on this 'Mechanical Feel keyboard still use that conventional method, but with an added twist.
At its core, the keyboard is still a membrane based keyboard like most other budget ones, but the individually encapsulated keys and larger rubber diaphragm springs give a very similar tactile feel and audible sound that mechanical ones are known for. But it still lacks that mechanical connection so it is not mechanical in any sense of the word, it is just the look, feel and sound that is similar.
With each key being individually encapsulated, it eliminates most of that mushy feel found on standard keyboards, making them feel more direct when typing, and should alleviate that fatigue.
Even though the keyboard uses rubber domes for the keys, they don't feel any less than there mechanical counterparts, with the exception that the mechanical has a much more noticeable progressive feel and this one feels more linear. What I mean is the progressive spring slows down gradually where as the rubber doesn't and comes to a more abrupt stop.
Having the rubber domes, the disadvantage is over time, they will loose that spring and become soft, making the keyboard feel more like its cheaper cousin.

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Conclusion.

If you are on a very tight budget, but want something that is marginally better than a standard keyboard, then this new breed of half mechanical keyboards are not all that bad. Although it has its down sides, everything else more than makes up for it. The build quality on the one I received is fantastic, better than some high end keyboards in fact.
Don't expect these to have the same feel as a mechanical as they don't. But in saying that, after using one to type this entire review, you do get used to them quick enough.
The colour options could have been better, and that danb### damn backspace being so small are the only real big bad points this has.

So if you need a new keyboard, but only have £20 available, if you can't wait to get a mechanical, this is a good alternative that won't break the bank. Just be cautious when buying one, as there are a fair few unheard of companies selling these, so only buy from reputable shops.

Thanks for reading.

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