Backlit gaming keyboard - or a mechanical

[Octopuss]

I'm in the process of looking for decent but not overpriced gaming or "gaming" keyboard. Not interested in mechanical, and also no need for a ton of special keys (which might or might not useful, though).
What it absolutely must have is backlight, large left shift, and large enter (the middle size is acceptable too, but not the small one). I also need it to have czech characters on it, but for the purpose of this thread it's irrelevant and I'd check on that later.
I managed to find some (very few...) stuff, but there are no useful reviews and no long-term experiences available either, so it's a bit difficult to make the right choice.

Anyone has an opinion about:
Genius Manticore
Genius KB-G265
Zalman ZM-K400G
?

Of course, any tips are welcome. Maximum I'm willing to pay for a damn keyboard is about €50.

 

[Syntaxzy]

The TTesports Challenger ultimate gaming keyboard is nice... I am using now and its amazing... There are over 250 different colors. The price would cost you around $100 on amazon including shipping.

 

[erocker]

Corsair K70 in that price range? Great keyboard, I'm really liking mine.

 

[Octopuss]

Oh that's a mechanical, no way in hell. I'm not touching that crap with 10 meters long pole!
Besides, it's more thant twice as expensive as the maximum I'm willing to pay. I'm retarded to not waste that much on a damn keyboard.

 

[micropage7]

what about ARMAGGEDDON Sentinel KAI-9 or CORSAIR Raptor K30

 

[RCoon]

Oh that's a mechanical, no way in hell. I'm not touching that crap with 10 meters long pole!
Besides, it's more thant twice as expensive as the maximum I'm willing to pay. I'm not retarded to waste that much on a damn keyboard.

Roccat Isku?
My favourite non-mechanical keyboard is my Dell QuietKey hybrid keyboard from the 1980/90's. I'm typing on it right now.

 

[erocker]

Oh that's a mechanical, no way in hell. I'm not touching that crap with 10 meters long pole!
Besides, it's more thant twice as expensive as the maximum I'm willing to pay. I'm not retarded to waste that much on a damn keyboard.

Okay, cool. I never thought you were "retarded" to begin with. Good luck with your search.

 

[Octopuss]

I didn't imply you thought that.

Now to address the rest of the replies:
Roccat makes fine hardware, but their keyboards have short Shift key (at least the czech version does, WTF...). Too bad.

I also tend to stay away from brands noone ever heard of. No idea what Armageddon or Tesports is, but I don't intend to find out.

I ended up buying Genius Manticore for a test and returned it the same day. Those side macro keys are horrible, I couldn't even press Alt+Tab. The font on the keys is retarded, they are really weirdly and uncomfortably sized, and the whole thing is simply overpriced as hell.
Then I bought the KB-G265 which I am typing on right now, and am considering returning it as well. It's not bad, keys are of the size I am used to, it feels sturdy enough, but:
- the legs are too short and you basically type on flat keyboard which is not exactly awesome
- the backglight is pretty lousy, and the upper side of keys is not lit properly, and this gets even worse with the angle (it's basically the worst from the moment you place it on a table)
- the keys are a little quieter than my original keyboard, but produce a weird sound (space is a bit worse), and sometimes they don't move as smoothly as I expect them, and that's probably the deal breaker here.

Basically, I find it difficult to justify 2,5x higher price (€25 vs €9) by having backlit keys and USB hub when the original keyboard (Chicony 2971, probably the cheapest and the most simple keyboard ever) feels more or less the same.

I never thought buying keyboard would be so difficult.


P.S. Please don't recommend me anything if you can't even be bothered reading the first post!!! I specifically said I don't want small Enter key, for example.

 

[RCoon]

I never thought buying keyboard would be so difficult.

It isn't, you are
As for the keyboard layout, I suppose it will be very hard to recommend, as we're all used to UK/US layouts, and on the UK one the enter keys are full size, as are the shift keys. Honestly, WASD make excellent keyboards for picky people, however they are quite expensive.

 

[Octopuss]

But I DO want full or large size Enter and Shift! The touble is there are multiple variables, and manufacturers love to fuck it all up.

 

[micropage7]

i guess you need custom keyboard, every keyboard has + and -
you may not get 100% like what you want, sometimes you need to compromise with some aspect.
suggestion is kinda tend to subjective, now return to you

 

[Octopuss]

Yea I know, but basically large or full sized Enter and Shift aren't that unreasonable requirements.
Of course, the lack of regional variants from some manufacturers make the matter even worse. Guess I am basically screwed.

 

[cheesy999]

Yea I know, but basically large or full sized Enter and Shift aren't that unreasonable requirements.
Of course, the lack of regional variants from some manufacturers make the matter even worse. Guess I am basically screwed.

Could you not buy a uk keyboard and just use the czech layout?

 

[Devon68]

I use the Genius KB-G255. It's not the best thing in the world but is was 20 euros.

The blue LED's are annoying in the night.

 

[Octopuss]

Could you not buy a uk keyboard and just use the czech layout?

I don't think so. I still haven't managed to memorize the special chars keys in 20 years, lol.

 

[Octopuss]

Let's change the topic slightly.

I was told there were companies that make custom keycaps for mechanical keyboards for end users.
That would mean I could buy a keyboard with english layout and simply have keys with czech characters made.

Any recommendations for a mechanical keyboard in the €70-€90 range, with large left shift and enter keys? Like STEELSeries 6Gv2 for example (the enter key doesn't have to be _that_ big).

 

[micropage7]

like
http://www.wasdkeyboards.com/index.php/products/printed-keycap-singles.html

 

[Octopuss]

Yeah, something like that, only not as expensive. For this I'd have to find a local company if I don't want to pay half the keyboard's worth extra.

 

[Octopuss]

Just tried the praised Steelseries 6Gv2 and in 10 minutes packed it back in its box in disgust.
The damn thing is like 3mm taller than anything I've seen, making typing or gaming really unpleasant for the wrists.
It slides on a table like a ninja despite having rather large rubber pads on the bottom.

I've also realized black switches are totally not for me. I am not a 40kg emo looser who can barely raise his hands to cut himself, but within 2 minutes of trying to play a game my fingers hurt like a fucker.
I also think the linear switches are not very good.

Any ideas what to try next? Let's stick to mechanicals.
No need for backlight.
No need for czech layout, I can buy stickers (or possibly have the caps made).
Long left shift is still required.
Price range: under €90 (because it would most probably be over 100 in this shit country)

 

[Guitar]

I like my Razer Black Widow...first mechanical keyboard and I really like how it types. The backlight is nice to have too, I do like that. Has a set of macro keys on the side, 5 total I think. I don't use the software though because it conflicts with my headset software..stupid Logitech/Razer and Razer software is kinda garbage.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

Oh that's a mechanical, no way in hell. I'm not touching that crap with 10 meters long pole!
Besides, it's more thant twice as expensive as the maximum I'm willing to pay. I'm retarded to not waste that much on a damn keyboard.

your hate for mechanical keyboards seems to be out of place. Have you ever actually typed on one?

You will understand in time.

 

[Frick]

Wow you're touchy man. What you want is just a keyboard with backlight, right?

http://www.aerocool.com.tw/keyboard/templarius/665.html
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4565#ov
http://www.ozonegaming.com/product/blade/

If you want something non fancy you might have to look up cheap alternatives. Deltaco, Trust, A4Tech and Speedlink are names here, dunno what you have where you live.

 

[Octopuss]

FFS did you even read my last post?!

 

[AsRock]

OMG i am totally surprised that anyone is trying to help you sheesh.

Anyways Razers BW is nice to use although as some one else said the software sucks ( there is a offline mode for it too ).

 

[Octopuss]

Yeah? Ignoring posts is really helpful, I agree, I should be grateful for getting answers for something I didn't ask. What the hell? (I edit-highlighted the relevant part of my latest post which was completely ignored)