No longer shall the bourgeoisie own the means of… mechanical keyboards.
Howdy howdy guys ponchato here and today we’ll be looking at probably the least expensive
mechanical keyboard available: The E-Element K-9999.
They need to work on the name a bit but thanks to E-Element for sending this over for review.
Normally, medium to high end mechanical keyboards start at around $80 or so.
In fact, just a few years ago, there pretty much weren’t any options below $100.
But as mechanical keyboards rose in popularity, so too did supply, and today you can get one
for under $50.
This one, however, is only $30.
That’s barely more expensive than a plain rubber dome keyboard from your local electronics
store.
And this is an actual mechanical keyboard, using cheap Chinese switches, but mechanical
nonetheless.
A lot of other boards branded as “mechanical” in this price range are actually just rubber
domes with a bit of extra plastic to make it feel like one.
This model is only available with blue switches and, fortunately, they follow Cherry’s naming
scheme; these are tactile and quite clicky.
In fact, if you’re a fan of Cherry MX Blues this keyboard can definitely fill your need
for clicky keys.
Here’s what it sounds like compared to Cherry MX Browns.
[Sound test]
In terms of typing feel these are, to me, almost the same as Cherry MX switches.
The tactile bump is noticeable, they have the same key travel, but they are quite a
bit easier to press.
What that means is if you’re already using another mechanical keyboard, this one will
likely feel very light to you, but if you’re using a rubber dome it’ll be a very easy
transition.
Since the K-9 is branded as a gaming keyboard, N-Key rollover is a very important metric.
Without N-Key rollover, the keyboard may only register 6 keys pressed at the same time,
or 8 or some other number.
With NKRO, any number of keys can be pressed simultaneously and every one will be registered.
Indeed, you can mash this entire keyboard and every single key will be read properly.
Big bonus points for that.
Onto what some of you probably care most about: the LEDs.
It comes with a good number of lighting schemes to pick from; the standard wave, a variation
on that with staggered lines, a couple more effects and a few reactive ones like this
[hurricane] or this [Sudoku].
You can set the brightness and speed of the effects, and you can set the direction of
effects like the wave using the function key and arrows or plus and minus keys.
You can also select from a variety of preset profiles which light up various keys, or you
can create your own by pressing Function + the End key.
Then you just tap all the keys you want lit up and press Function + End to save it.
The keyboard will remember your profile and you can bring it up again with Function +
any of the number keys, depending on which one you saved it to.
As for brightness, even at full strength the LEDs aren’t all that bright.
In a well-lit room they’re not fantastic, but at night they do look pretty good.
And to be completely fair that’s a problem I experience with a lot of RGB products at
both ends of the price spectrum.
And you probably also noticed this isn’t a true RGB keyboard; each row is only one
color.
But, then again, it is only $30.
I will say I do like the entirely on-keyboard LED controls, since keyboard manufacturers
very, very rarely know how to make good software.
With this one, you don’t have to deal with any software at all.
The keyboard also includes shortcuts for some of the standard media keys; play/pause, volume
up, down, and mute, skip or reverse track, plus a few others like opening your web browser
or email client.
Personally I much prefer dedicated media keys, but these are the next best thing.
Now is this keyboard going to turn heads at your next LAN party?
Probably not.
But if you want to try out a mechanical keyboard on a really tight budget or you just don’t
want to drop 80 bucks on something you might not even like, this keyboard is a great way
to test the waters.
Follow the link in the description to pick one up for yourself.
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and if you have any questions on K-9999, leave them in the comments below.
Thanks for watching, I hope I helped, and I’ll see you in the next video.