INTRODUCTION

   Membrane based keyboards may not be as popular today as their mechanical based counterparts but due to their far longer life in the market they do have some advantages including lower noise levels coming from their keys (depends of course on whether or not audible feedback is important to you), reduced weight (not a rule however) and in some cases even resistance to dust and liquids (from time to time we have seen such models). Certainly mechanical switches are far more durable (not written in stone however since we have seen mechanical switches fail much faster than membrane ones) but dust and water resistance is something we've always wanted to see more with mechanical keyboards. Well it seems that our good friends over at CORSAIR feel the exact same way as we do since they recently released the dust and spill resistant K68 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard.

   Founded in 1994, CORSAIR supplies high-performance products purchased primarily by PC gaming enthusiasts who build their own PCs or buy pre-assembled customized systems. The company's award-winning products include DDR3 and DDR4 memory upgrades, computer cases, PC cooling products, gaming headsets, gaming keyboards, gaming mice, power supply units, USB flash drives, solid-state drives and system monitoring and control devices.

   The K68 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard by CORSAIR (updated version of the single LED color K68 mechanical gaming keyboard released a while back) is fitted with gold plated Cherry MX Red switches (linear, smooth) and features per-key RGB illumination for its keys (13 available effects with 4 brightness levels), 100% anti-ghosting with full N-key rollover, 32-bit ARM Cortex processor, 1000Hz polling rate, dedicated media keys, detachable wrist-rest and support for CORSAIR's Utility Engine (CUE) software. Still it's strongest selling point (at least for us) is its IP32 certification which means it’s somewhat resistant against water (CORSAIR also claims it's dust resistant and although that might be true still it's not included in the IP32 certification). Unfortunately the K68 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard is far from waterproof (now that would be something) but having rendered useless quite a few keyboards in my life (mechanical and membrane ones) by dropping water and/or soda on them (as I’m sure many have) even this IP32 certification means a lot.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

A large product picture is placed at the front of the box right beneath the company logo, above the main product features and next to a sticker showcasing the Cherry MX Red mechanical switches.

Both the technical specifications of the keyboard and the contents of the package are printed at the base of the box in 6 languages.

The main product features are printed at the top of the box again in 6 languages.

A large product picture located at the rear of the box is used to showcase its features and specifications.

Typically the keyboard is wrapped inside a plastic bag and held in place with a cardboard extension of the box.

CORSAIR just packs the quick start guide and warranty guide with the K68 RGB and its detachable rubber coated palm/wrist rest.

THE K68 RGB

The exterior of the 1.37Kg heavy K68 RGB is primarily made out of plastic and measures 455mm in length, 170mm in width and 29mm in height.

Just like with most mechanical keyboards coming our lately the K68 RGB features a floating keys design for easier cleaning.

You can control the 4 brightness levels (low/mid/high/off) and turn on/off the windows key from these two buttons placed at the front end of the keyboard.

Dedicated media buttons for the volume (mute/decrease/increase) and playback (stop/previous/play-pause/next) are located just over the keypad.

CORSAIR has used a textured space bar with the K68 RGB ideal for gaming use.

Here you can see the Cherry MX Red mechanical switches used and the surrounding silicon covers which basically are the dust and spill resistant feature of the K68 RGB.

At the base of the keyboard we see 5 thin rubber feet and two height adjusters.

These height adjusters push the keyboard roughly 7mm from the desk.

The detachable palm/wrist rest attaches onto the keyboard with clips as seen above.

With the rubber coated palm/wrist rest attached the width of the K68 RGB goes up to 222mm and weighs 1.41Kg.

The 2.2 meter long tangle-free rubber cable features a regular (not gold plated) USB connector at the end.

Here you can see the 1st and 3rd brightness levels for the keys of the K68 RGB.

CORSAIR UTILITY ENGINE

As usual you will need to visit CORSAIR's support page to download the latest version of their Utility Engine unified software (CUE).

The first thing this software will do once installed is to check and see if your keyboard has the latest firmware version installed and if not it will ask to update it (the process takes less than a minute to complete).

As many of you know the CUE software has two modes basic and advanced so this time we'll be covering both.

From the actions menu you can assign actions to each of the available keys (the advanced mode offers a few extra settings not available in the basic mode).

Inside the lighting effects menu you can choose one of the 13 available effects (basic mode - you can also use more than one at the same time) or choose your very own color with one of the 5 available effects (advanced mode - for each or all of the keys).

Not many settings available under the performance menu since from here you can just disable certain keys and assign LED colors to when you do (same settings in the advanced page).

Here we've placed several of the available RGB effects possible via the CORSAIR Utility Engine.

AUDIBLE FEEDBACK

Many people ask my opinion on what keyboard they should get for their needs. Some want a “silent” model for use in their living room or even in their bedroom while others ask for a model with good audible feedback for use in the office or for gaming. Because of this I decided to test keyboards by placing our ExTech HD600 vertically over each keyboard (5cm distance) and typing NikKTech a total of 6 times with each (after that the max recorded number - max hold - is placed in the graph). I have to admit that this may not be 100% accurate but it does give a good idea on what you can expect from each model since aside the type of switches used keycaps and keyboard material also matter.

CONCLUSION

   It’s always nice to see a spill resistant keyboard and although in the past that was the case only with membrane models now it seems that mechanical models are heading that way as well. Unfortunately we may never get to see a completely waterproof model but honestly even spill resistant should suffice for most accidents of the sort (at least as long as that also applies to soda drinks - we did test with water but not very open to the idea of spilling soda on it). Still the surrounding rubber covers CORSAIR has used for the Cherry MX Red mechanical switches of the K68 RGB have but a single drawback and that’s the somewhat “washed-out” brightness levels. This isn’t a huge drawback honestly (not like you’ll be throwing a party with the RGB LEDs of your keyboard) but we’ve seen numerous models lately with stronger LED intensity so yes the K68 RGB somewhat stands out because of that. The lack of a USB passthrough is not something I care much about (never have never will honestly) but there are many people who find that convenient and so I expect this will be a drawback in their books.

   So how much are you required to spend in order to get your hands on the K68 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard by CORSAIR? Well currently you can find it for just USD119.99 inside the USA (Best Buy) and for 136Euros inside the EU (Amazon UK) a price tag which is quite balanced for a dust and spill resistant RGB mechanical keyboard (and from CORSAIR at that). Overall we may have liked the looks of the K70 RGB more (largely thanks to the top aluminum plate) but there’s no doubt that having an IP32 certified keyboard is far more useful. That being said the K68 RGB is certainly not the perfect mechanical gaming keyboard but it’s very durable (Cherry MX Red switches and IP32 certified), comes with per-key RGB illumination (13 modes and 4 brightness levels), has dedicated media keys (volume and playback), features a detachable palm/wrist rest (rubber coated) and it’s made by CORSAIR so it’s definitely worth our Golden Award.

PROS

- Very Good Build Quality (IP32 Certified)
- Cherry MX Red Mechanical Switches (50 Million Actuations)
- Full RGB Illumination (13 Modes / 4 Brightness Levels / Per Key Illumination)
- Detachable Rubber Coated Palm / Wrist Rest
- Corsair Utility Engine Control Software (Available Settings)
- Dedicated Media Controls

CONS

- No Dedicated Macro Keys
- No USB Pass Through
- LED Intensity (Due To The IP32 Feature)