Best gaming keyboard?

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MrCoffee

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My old keyboard died a death of tea spillage so I'm looking out for a new keyboard, its a nightmare because the keyboard is a vital piece of gaming kit and yet its pretty much overlooked in reviews as such.

So, what, for a reasonable price, is the best gaming keyboard?

And by gaming keyboard I don't mean it has to be all wacky colours and strange media keys, it can be a 90p standard 105 for all I care but it has to have good tactile keys, I prefer light rubber sheet for a very light press with a soft impact yet fast popup.

I have some basic criteria:

1) Standard layout, preferably with with English rather than American mappings
2) Decent tactile keys as illustrated above
3) keys must be responsive over the whole surface of the key - i.e. space bar etc must have same response and performance if you're using the far edge or the middle.
4) Must be able to handle multiple key press
5) Is preferably backlit, but this may be stretching it a bit.
6) Wired, none of your wireless nonsense, we're talking serious gaming not pansying around on wow.
7) Should preferably disassemble easily for cleaning.
8) if it comes with a wrist rest it must be removable, I pivot my wrists on the table so that my arms are supported, a wrist rest actually CREATES rsi by putting more strain on your arm.
9) a decent amount of travel, so traditional or close to traditional keys, not the thin laptop style keys.

I have tried:
Cherry :- fails criteria 3, 2, and 5
Nexos :- the most horrible keypress in the history of keyboards - fails 2
Saitek :- keys are just a bit naff, backlight weak, otherwise meets criteria but i'm not bowled over by it.
OCZ Alchemy Elixir II :- Fails 3
Razer :- Fails 1 (American only)

Any thoughts on the ultimate uber keyboard for the most discerning of gamers?:D
 
You're not gonna get all that for a reasonable price... Since your a "serious" gamer why not try the logitech g15? It's completely over-rated and no where near what everyone hypes it up to be. It's got the old annoying traditional key style, so lots of tactile feedback. 18x3 macro keys, some computer to gaming switch that I have yet to figure out what it does.. Nice bright keys, nice bright LCD screen, nice and large, wrist wrest is an actual rest, although the bottom of palms rest on it more than my wrists.

Not sure on the mapping, thought a QWERTY keyboard was a QWERTY keyboard everywhere...

Not sure how much they are now, but I got mine for 129.99 the year it came out at futureshop. I'm gonna get rid of it though, the whole "lots of travel + tactile feedback makes you type better" is not my thing. To me, less travel would make you type faster and better, cause you're gonna remember where all the keys are eventually. It's got two USB 1.1s on it as well, not sure what that latest versions have, but I imagine they've gone to 2.0.

I guess what I wrote makes it seem like a rather bad keyboard, but it is really good. Just not my thing. I hate anything traditional, always gotta have new or interesting things. Which it was, 3 years ago. But now there's the logitech illuminated keyboard, sleek, small, no macro keys, quiet, laptop like keys, seem perfect for me. Just gotta wait till it gets here :D.
 
G15 meets all your requirements. Not sure about 1, i have only ever known the QWERTY US type...
 
Yeah, G15 or G11 if you want to save money. They are the same except the G11 has more macro keys instead of the screen and is backlit blue instead of orange.
 
OK well with regard to keyboard layouts:

US keyboard, which you will be familiar with:

uskeyboardlayout.png


UK Keyboard, notice the \| key is between the Z and LShift, this is important for gaming as it is an extra key near the wsad cluster:

ukkeyboardlayout400x133.png


The G11 sounds interesting but looking at it it is huge! Same goes for the G15.

Now I like the look of the Razer Lycosa but i'm not sure that I can get it in UK layout, I know I can get the Eclipse II in UK layout :-/

Edit: It seems the Razer Lycosa is availiable in UK layout, so this keyboard has just moved to the top of my list, can anyone who has one describe the keys to me? is it nice to type/game on?

Hmmm, this is putting me off a bit:

Google Image Result for http://bowdownbefore.us/wp-content/gallery/lycosa/keys_closeup.jpg

I read that the saitek Eclipse II also has "painted" keys... *Sigh*
 
Edit: It seems the Razer Lycosa is availiable in UK layout, so this keyboard has just moved to the top of my list, can anyone who has one describe the keys to me? is it nice to type/game on?
I like the feel of the keys on the Lycosa better than my G15 v1 (Exactly same as the G11 but with an LCD)

Hmmm, this is putting me off a bit:

Google Image Result for http://bowdownbefore.us/wp-content/gallery/lycosa/keys_closeup.jpg

I read that the saitek Eclipse II also has "painted" keys... *Sigh*
So does the G11/G15.

I know early G15's had a problem with the black coming off the keys. But they fixed it (made it much more durable).
I haven't seen this issue on my Lycosa (I've had it for at least a few months). So maybe they fixed the issue, like on the G15.
 
I have the G15 v1 since release and have no problems with colour fading. On the other hand, the OP could go with the G11, which is a very good keyboard and can be found quite cheap nowadays.
 
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