Corsair K60 Keyboard Review

know there's another thread, but I figured I'd list my impressions here, too.

I was debating between a WASD keyboard and the corsair. The red switches really intrigued me, and like I thought, I love them.

Initial Impressions

The design of the packaging looks like it was made as a tron movie prop. I guess that's just corsair trying to appeal to 15 year old gamers when they see it at frys or best buy. But I would've liked to seen a more sophisticated design on the packaging. It's not a big deal, but still. Seriously, though, it reminds me of packaging I'd see power ranger toys in back when I was 5 or 6 years old in the 90s. Gotta step it up there, Corsair.

Otherwise, the packaging is good. I guess it protects the keyboard...

Build Quality and Aesthetics

This thing has tremendous build quality. Just tremendous. It's better than any razer or logitech keyboard I've dealt with. It's about on par with the deck, though I'd give the edge to the k60 because of the aluminum. I would have loved for the bottom to have been aluminum, too, but maybe that is not so practical. The keycaps are of very high quality, and I don't think you'll need to worry about the lettering rubbing off.

Just like I thought, I wasn't impressed with the provided wrist-rest. It's cheap, and I can't imagine anyone but the hardcore FPSer wanting to keep it on their keyboard.

Now, on to aesthetics. The board looks great. And in my opinion, better than the K90 (though I've never seen the K90 in person). The red key-caps they provide give the keyboard some extra pop. If there is one thing I am to nag about, it's the screws that show next to all the top row of rubber dome keys. Kind of ridiculous to have a screw showing right next to these keys, and I feel like it kind of detracts from the aesthetic value of the board. They should have not put the screws there or figured out a better way to hide them. The apple keyboard is made out of aluminum too, and I can't find a single screw on it.

Typing experience

As far as the typing experience is, I'm loving the red switches. I've dealt with black and blue switches prior, and I can say that the red switches are my favorite. This is highly subjective.

Now, as far as Corsair using a mix of red switches and rubber dome. After using this keyboard, I agree with their decision. They are insanely light, and a simple feather-like tap of them can trigger the actuation point. I really could've seen a lot of accidental taps around the keyboard had they not use the rubber-dome on the other keys. It was a great design decision by Corsair. And no, it does not detract from the typing experience. Anyone who thinks that is full of it.

I'm using the K60 on my Mac Pro. And all of the media keys work on it, which is AWESOME. The media keys are definitely a welcome addition. The volume knob is pretty awesome, too. It's made out of aluminum, too, and it feels great.

The ergonomic options on this keyboard are pretty solid, too. There's 4 feet on the back of it that you can use to elevate the keyboard in a couple ways, depending what feels comfortable to you.

Conclusion

I've owned many keyboards over the years. Probably too many to count. I owned the blackwidow ultimate, deck, logitech g19 and g15. A whole bunch of logitech keyboards, including their backlit and solar keyboard. I owned 3 razer keyboards. And I've owned a whole bunch of other keyboards.

The Corsair is without a doubt my favorite.

That's not to say there can't be improvements. I'd add backlighting to it at this price. But not some ugly blue gamer backlighting. Give it some white backlighting that looks more grown-up. They should also add the symbols to the red number key-caps. There's probably regional issues as to why they did this, but I still think they should have figured it out. They should also hide these screws, but otherwise, I think they have a winner.

Overall if I had to give it a 1 through 10 score, with 1 being absolute shit and 10 being perfect, I'd give it an 8. This is my new keyboard.

I noticed that it is not recognized when my machine is booting. I can't use 'Delete' to get into the BIOS if needed. What's up with that? I'm also not sure I like the feel. I've been using soft dome style keyboards for so long that it's a bit strange.

gman said:

I noticed that it is not recognized when my machine is booting. I can't use 'Delete' to get into the BIOS if needed. What's up with that? I'm also not sure I like the feel. I've been using soft dome style keyboards for so long that it's a bit strange.

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It's definitely a transition between dome keyboards and mechanical keyboards. Don't feel forced to use a mechanical keyboard if you don't like it, though. I know some people prefer rubber dome keyboards. I'd hold on to it for a week, and if you don't like it, return it.

I currently don't have a PC to test to see if it'd work in bios.

The BIOS detection is based on your motherboard - most modern boards have USB keyboard detection capabilities, and our K60 / K90 boards work as standard USB keyboards as far as the BIOS is concerned. On the multiple systems I have at work and at home, the K60 / K90 works fine on getting into the BIOS on each of them.

You might want to check with your motherboard's BIOS options to see if there's a "USB Keyboard" setting or something.

The MX switches are the same on any keyboard so the experience will be the same.
It's not the typing experience itself that the issue, it's what you're paying for.

I can see one of the main reasons why you went the the Corsair board is because the silver aluminum matches your Mac Pro.
There are casual and hardcore mech users and this board was unacceptable from a design point of view for people who are mech lovers. The experience of course will still be great.

I still recommend the CM Quick Fire Rapid w/ MX Cherry Reds over this for those of you that don't have silver cases.
WASD has MX Cherry Red now also.

WorldExclusive said:

The MX switches are the same on any keyboard so the experience will be the same.
It's not the typing experience itself that the issue, it's what you're paying for.

I can see one of the main reasons why you went the the Corsair board is because the silver aluminum matches your Mac Pro.
There are casual and hardcore mech users and this board was unacceptable from a design point of view for people who are mech lovers. The experience of course will still be great.

I still recommend the CM Quick Fire Rapid w/ MX Cherry Reds over this for those of you that don't have silver cases.
WASD has MX Cherry Red now also.

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Yeah, I was heavily considering the WASD board, but it was quicker to get the corsair board and try out the reds on it. I know you really like the browns, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought I'd like the reds more.


Those "hardcore mech" users are an unusual bunch. They've for years settled with gimped boards without basic media keys. Their keyboards look like they were out of the 80s. And maybe they like that for nostalgic reasons, but it's not something I'm attracted to.

The mix between mechanical switches and rubber domes was the right choice. You know how easy reds actuate. A simple accidental brush of our palm or the tip of your finger, if you have longer fingers, hitting the F keys might have been a problem. It would have been an even bigger problem on the k90 with the macro keys.

I think the corsair keyboard would look great with any setup, regardless of the color of your case or monitors. Aluminum will always look better than black plastic, IMO. My mac pro is under my desk, so that did not have much to do with it.

As for why I chose the Corsair over the WASD. There's a few reason. For one, it looked to me that the corsair keyboard would be of higher quality. I liked the design of the corsair board more, functionally and aesthetically. The WASD keyboard looks like it's using a basic generic design that's been around for ages, and one in which anyone can utilize. And I thought the customization feature WASD had really wasn't worthwhile unless you wanted to add media symbols to one of the key caps. The corsair boards already have that and they already have great keys. One of wasd's engraving methods looked like complete trash, despite the fact it'd hold up really well. And I really wasn't sure what my key caps would really look like with their other etching method.

I found Reds to unbearable after the initial "awe" of them wore off for typing. Too easy to actuate keys.
I just needed a basic looking keyboard of high quality. WASD keyboards are hand assembled and I could tell right off that it's better than a Filco.
Also they have the grown up packaging you crave, but it doesn't matter really.

I know Corsair can and will do better, I'm just keeping the pressure on before everyone who buys the board starts to give them a pass.
Maybe they'll release a fully mech, black aluminum, backlit, tenkeyless model with Red Switches and I'll keep it as a game board.

WorldExclusive said:

I found Reds to unbearable after the initial "awe" of them wore off for typing. Too easy to actuate keys.
I just needed a basic looking keyboard of high quality. WASD keyboards are hand assembled and I could tell right off that it's better than a Filco.

I know Corsair can and will do better. Maybe they'll release a fully mech black aluminum tenkeyless model with Red Switches and I'll keep it as a game board.

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I'm probably going to buy Corsair's next revision if they do better. But I feel like they made these boards in order to attract gamers. In order for them to give us what we really want, they're going to have to create different boards with a different moniker outside their vengeance name.

I'd like a tenkeyless version of the K60 with white backlighting. As far as it being fully mechanical, I don't care. It'd obviously be more popular with the blow-hard hardcore mech users if they used all mechanical keys. But yeah, if they did make a tenyless version of the K60 that is fully mechanical and white backlit with either red or brown switches, I think a lot more people here and on OCN will be much more interested. But I'm not sure how this overall market works, TBH. They'd be catering to a very niche market by doing so I'd imagine, and I'm not sure it's worth it for them.

Moved to a USB 2.0 and it now works at post and BIOS. I guess it doesn't like USB 3.0.

Omerta said:

I'm probably going to buy Corsair's next revision if they do better. But I feel like they made these boards in order to attract gamers. In order for them to give us what we really want, they're going to have to create different boards with a different moniker outside their vengeance name.

I'd like a tenkeyless version of the K60 with white backlighting. As far as it being fully mechanical, I don't care. It'd obviously be more popular with the blow-hard hardcore mech users if they used all mechanical keys. But yeah, if they did make a tenyless version of the K60 that is fully mechanical and white backlit with either red or brown switches, I think a lot more people here and on OCN will be much more interested. But I'm not sure how this overall market works, TBH. They'd be catering to a very niche market by doing so I'd imagine, and I'm not sure it's worth it for them.

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Since it has the Corsair name, with service and quality backing it up, people who don't usually spend more than $40 for a keyboard will give them a try.
I think many people find it risky to purchase a $100+ keyboard from small companies here in the US and overseas. Unlike many "gamer products", mech boards aren't a fad and are built to last many years.

Just received mine (Amazon sent out a late shipping email but it still arrived early). The first item i noticed is the build quality. Corsair really does come correct with this product and most of everything they put out. The aluminum back plate and raised keys are very nice, the cord is braided and two usb connections ( I assume the usb port on the device as well as some media controls).

I am a MS natural 4000 keyboard user for most everything. I wanted a tactile response from keys for gaming so gonna give this a try. I do feel cramped due to the way a natural lays out from a normal keyboard but during games i am only normally using one hand on the keyboard.

I will repost after my gaming experience. Great quality product at what I consider a reasonable price for a mechanical. I already love the sound when typing.

OLBaID said:

The aluminum back plate and raised keys are very nice, the cord is braided and two usb connections ( I assume the usb port on the device as well as some media controls).

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Actually, I would assume the 2 connectors would be for that ridiculous N-key rollover that they claim it can do.

Thought I'd chime in with a few observations after a couple of weeks of use with my K60.

This is not my first mechanical - I also have a Das Professional S, and own a IBM Model M and an older Dell mechanical, in addition to some non mechanicals (G15 and a Tarantula). I also have played with Rosewill, Filco, Ducky, Leopold keyboards at friends places and local LANs.

Appearance

This is bound to be a personal thing, but as far as some things in professional pictures looking less impressive in person, this is quite the opposite. Very solid, and on close inspection, there is nothing to complain about (no sharp edges or tacky manufacturing artifacts that scream indifference). For a gaming keyboard, this is quite a nice industrial design and aesthetic, for my tastes. The media keys are great and the silver-on-brushed-metal logo is much less objectionable than a lot of other company logos that ruin some products' looks, IMHO (Rosewill, et al). Media keys look great, overall I give it an A in this category (for my personal prefs).

Layout and Performance

This keyboard has a solid layout with nothing in particular to complain about, and much to like. I know some people love the newer compact 'Tenkeyless' designs, but for my purposes, this is the layout I prefer, with a full complement of keys. The media keys are completely separate and would be impossible to hit accidentally. Yet, if you are looking for the volume / mute buttons by feel alone (i.e. without taking your eyes off the screen), after some use, this will be second nature.
Rotary volume controls are great, and something I really miss on my DAS Professional S.
Usual num, caps, scroll LEDs look good, I'm not a fan of bright, non-defeatable backlighting, so I appreciate that this thing is not blinged out per-force.
I don't yet have a K90, but I will make a peremptory comment, having used a gaming keyboard with a row of macro keys to the left - I tend to hit them a lot instead of the Shift / Control keys, even after years of use. If you are not totally sold on macro keys, or think you could use a software solution like Keytweak, there is something to be said for a macro-less design.
I tested the n-key rollover doing some of the usual online tests - this thing does seem to register a lot of keypresses at once, without doing weird things like out of order registering.
The curved flanges on the supplied red WASD and number keys are interesting. I have, on balance, replaced them with the standard keys. They feel good while gaming, but distract when typing. For pure gaming, they are an interesting choice.
I like the extra feet at the base, I may buy a Filco wrist wrest and use them.

Keys

In gaming sessions, I have not had any issues, and if anything, I really like the reds (Cherry MX Red switches). They are my new favorites for gaming. There is a difference in feel between the rubber-domes on the F keys and escape key compared to the full mechanical regular keys, but if anything, it makes it easier to detect false presses (i.e. accidentally hitting esc instead of ~). In practice, this is not an issue for me, because: a) these keys are used 100x less than the main keys, and b) the performance is not bad anyways (I know this is blasphemy to some, but I am a big keyboard mouse nut, have several mechs already, and I still think these are not bad, so read into this what you will.)
Would I think this keyboard worth $10 more with all mechanical keys? Sure, but I'm not that price sensitive. Overall, for the price, this feels higher quality than the usual DAS, Leopold, Rosewill, Steelseries, etc.) in every way except for the rubber dome function keys, because of the superior aesthetic and aluminum backing, IMHO.
I'm not going to review the MX reds in isolation - as you know they are linear actuation switches with lower actuation force than blacks, but in this application, the mounting feels slightly different compared to other PCB mounted keyboards (in a good way, IMHO). There is a definite bottoming out sound, and it is not an quiet as I expected. Overall, I like the "strike on Aluminum" sound, but again, this would be a personal preference. I may test out O-ring dampeners.
Spacebar stabilization is quite good, IMHO, and I like the subtle texture on the spacebar key.

I may buy a K90 as well, just to see how it goes with extra keys on the left, and to test out my theory and macro-keyless keyboards (on the left) are better for gaming, generally speaking. Also curious to see how injurious the back-lighting is to a dimly lit evening gaming session - I generally don't like bright lights on my equipment, but I still think a very dim light setting might work for me.

Wrist Pad

Saved the worst for last - this is not a wrist rest, it is just a container for the extra keys and puller (which are nice, BTW). It is, in a word, useless as a wrist rest - my one big recommendation to Corsair is to make the next revision ship with a regular soft-touch wrist rest. Yes, even over the rubber dome keys, this is the one area that is a big miss. Just think of it as a case, though, and it is fine and does not detract from the keyboard in any other way.

Overall

Overall I give this a between a B+ to A-, which means I like it a lot, but don't think it is absolutely perfect. In a way, it moves the game on from the usual staid designs for mech. keyboards, in a non-gaudy direction, which is a very good thing even if you never buy this keyboard.
I'm sure this keyboard will be on sale for those waiting in the sidelines, and I'm sure in time there will be revisions, but it is worth full price in its current form IMHO, if none of the caveats bother you and the price is within your budget.

Omerta said:

Those "hardcore mech" users are an unusual bunch. They've for years settled with gimped boards without basic media keys. Their keyboards look like they were out of the 80s. And maybe they like that for nostalgic reasons, but it's not something I'm attracted to.

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Some of us just want a no frills, high quality, FULL MECHANICAL keyboard.

I just got mine and I'm really enjoying this keyboard. The key response is great.

I wont go onto the positives too much because everyone else seems to have touched on those nicely enough. I will like to voice my concerns over the negatives, which seem nitpicky compared to the rest of the board:

I am in agreeance with the above reviewers that the left hand only wrist rest is, imo, completely worthless. It makes typing more uncomfortable, and whatever benefit it provides in gaming isnt worth the un-comfortableness of typing. I'm going to get an after-market palm rest to make up for this.

Also, I'm not a fan of the red WASD/number add on keys that are provided with the board. Although aesthetically a nice touch, they are more slippery than the standard keys provided and I just dont like the different consistency whenever I'm typing.
Maybe in the future offer the option to purchase normal, red colored keys? I would buy them.

Other than that, everything about this board is awesome, especially considering the price that you can find them at now. The build quality is also very high. It's a quality product.
Overall, this keyboard reminds me why I have so many Corsair products.

Valshistixol said:

Some of us just want a no frills, high quality, FULL MECHANICAL keyboard.

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Agreed, Surprised no one has mentioned sharpkeys for setting up Function keys as Media keys. Works great on our no frills, high quality FULL MECHANICAL keyboards I am surprised no one has mentioned Corsairs track record with "Quality Control". Not saying thier keyboards are bad but I had zero intrest in thier KB's. Making a KB look the way I want and feel the way I want was so much more appealing. WASD for me!

I just setup a k90 keyboard here for work and I have another on my way to use at home. So far I love it, the reason I went with the K90 over the K60 was mainly the wrist guard and the backlit keyboard.

I just bought a K60, and while it seems to be a nice keyboard, it absolutely will not work with a KVM-- I've tried both Belkin and IOGear USB/DVI KVMs with the same results.

I have keyboards ranging from a 1984 vintage IBM Model M (via USB adapters) to the latest Microsoft and Logitech keyboards; none has ever had this problem.

When I asked Corsair about it, they gave me this reply:

"The keyboard will not work. Most KVM switches are 8bit and the keyboard is 16bit."

I have no idea what "8 bit" and "16 bit" mean when applied to keyboards. Surely, pressing the "A" key simply sends the ASCII bit stream for an "A" down the serial line of the USB, wrapped in whatever protocol USB puts on top...

If this were a real issue, surely KVMs, which can be quite expensive, would identify themselves as "16 bit" somehow. Nothing I can find on this, though.

Does this make any sense to someone? I can't help but feel Corsair's blowing smoke.

Why don't they include a normal palm rest? We don't all play games 24/7 and need more than a palm rest for just the WASD keys

I just picked up the K60 from Frys today, surprised to see it in stock and finally here. I was about to buy the K90 but after the pricing increase and the extra width decided upon the slightly smaller K60. Also I'm not a big MMO player and the extra buttons would have just been wasted.

I've been thinking about buying another WASD keyboard, I have a Cherry Brown semi-custom that I really enjoy. When WASD had the Reds as an option I was interested on buying another keyboard, leaving the Browns keyboard for work duties. But I really didn't want to spend $100+ on a switch that I may not like. My only experience with Reds would be the Blacks and from using a Deck keyboard, they didn't feel comfortable to type with.

So I bought this K60 and right out of the box, I felt the difference between the keys and the F keys. For most people you wouldn't access the F keys as much as you would with the other keys so it's no a big deal but it's not hard to feel the difference. The F keys just feel very mushy over the lower keys, a good example to show friends why you like mechanical vs dome keyboards.

The metal plate seems nice but comparing it to my WASD, it's lighter and doesn't feel as solid. I'm not sure why, I haven't taken apart the WAD to tell, but I assume the WASD has a better board or mounting platform compared to the Corsair. The big plus on the K60 is the media buttons, which I find are handy. Not sure why there's hate for media buttons on mechanical keyboards but I really love them.

I'm not really sold on this K60 to be honest. It's offering more options than other Cherry Red boards but for the price, I still like the build of the WASD boards better. Also add in the options that I can get my color keys as I want, it's a nice plus I'm willing to pay for.

I haven't tested the optional WASD keycaps or wrist rest, since I'm not a big gamer I don't think I would offer good view points on it.

Couple of questions for both the K60 AND K90 owners.

On the K60 can the (useless) wrist rest be positioned anywhere or just where its shown in pics? I am an arrow key gamer (ack I know!)

On the K90 it looks like the G keys are detachable, are they?

Returned mine. I know I am in the monority here, but prefer dome to mechinical. I just can not get use to it. Back to my g110.

On the K60 I saw a video review where the guy flipped over the keyboard and showed the two spots where the latches for the wrist rest connect. So no, it doesn't look like you can move it around. Your only option is to either connect it in that one spot or remove it.

I also thought that the palm rest was stupid. Probably just to differentiate from the k90.

Gazoozles said:

I also thought that the palm rest was stupid. Probably just to differentiate from the k90.

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I personally did not like the feel at first but I like it a lot now after playing a good bit of BF3 using it. And, it's also a great place to store the key caps and removal tool.

After about a month of use, I can say the K60 has worked quite well for me. Actually the only problem I've had with it are some rare cases when the keyboard has gotten stuck to a key, so it registers even though I'm not pressing the key, and only goes away when I press the key again. This has happened only a couple times so far though, but still something that might prove a problem in the long run. Otherwise the build quality and the red switches are great.

Have any of your keys worn or faded?

Some of the newegg reviews complain about that on the K60

ecmaster76 said:

Have any of your keys worn or faded?

Some of the newegg reviews complain about that on the K60

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Certainly not. That would be quite bad after just under a month of use.