Massdrop CTRL mechanical keyboard

[Mad Maxx]

Massdrop began shipping their new CTRL keyboard, last week. Got mine, yesterday. On the positive side, the build quality is very solid. Keyboard has a good weight to it. I love the magnetic feet. Nice touch!

Sadly, things go downhill from there. The aluminum body is a very light shade of silver, similar to the silver MacBook Pro. Not anything close to the dark gray in the renders. The white LEDs look more like a dull pink or purple than white. Very disappointing. After cycling through all the colors, the all yellow looks best to me. I prefer all white, though. I got the Kaihua Silver switches. They feel stiffer than the Cherry Silvers on my Corsair K65.

Overall, I give the keyboard a 6.5/10. I really thought I'd like it better. I wanted to, believe me. I planned on replacing my Corsair with this, but I'm going to stick with my Corsair. Several MD members are looking to buy from others since they missed out on the drop, so I should be able to sell mine.

This is how the CTRL keyboard is pictured on Massdrop:

 

[entropism]

I'm actually digging the look a lot. If I had seen it earlier (and it was full size) I probably would have ordered one.

 

[ZeqOBpf6]

That thing looks fantastic, but I could see how someone would prefer the carbon colored aluminum. Especially bad is when you're expecting it and get an unwanted surprise.

How much did you pay? What are the magnetic feet all about?

 

[Mad Maxx]

$175 was the price tag. Kinda steep, no doubt.

Those two little feet I circled attach magnetically to the underside of the board. They serve to raise the board, same as the flip-open tabs on other boards. It's just cool that you can pop them off if you don't want them.