Introduction

Redragon is a brand I first came across when exploring the exhibition halls at Computex last year, and I noted with interest their various peripheral offerings at the time. The brand is an offshoot of a large keyboard and mouse manufacturer in China and was established as a result of its interest in expanding to the west. You may have already read our recent review of one of their mice, which was the result of them reaching out to us. Simultaneously, we were approached about keyboard reviews, and so here we are. Thanks again to Redragon for sending TechPowerUp a review sample!


As with their mice and just about every other product they sell, the Redragon K530 Draconic—henceforth only "Redragon K530" for ease of use—aims to offer good bang for your buck. There are plenty of companies that would claim to do so, which means Redragon has to do more to distinguish themselves in an extremely crowded market. As such, we see a combination of features here that might interest the keyboard enthusiast community more than usual. Take that 60% form factor, for example, which is paired with a hybrid wired/wireless connection mode to make for an extremely portable keyboard. RGB backlighting is still on offer here, and swappable switches help round off a promising feature set. We will examine all this and more, beginning with a look at the specifications in the table below.

Specifications

Packaging and Accessories

International travel limitations and lockdowns due to COVID-19 meant I was residing in Taiwan temporarily and had no access to my usual photography setup. Packaging for the Redragon K530 keyboard is about par for the course for gaming-branded keyboards. The cardboard box has an aesthetic wrap with the company and product name on the front, along with the logo and a large illustration of the keyboard all lit up. We also see that the keyboard comes with "dust-proof Brown" switches, but more on that later. On the back are marketing features and specifications in multiple languages, which go with more images of the keyboard, as well as seals on either side to keep the contents inside in place during transit.


We see now that Redragon employs a two-piece packaging with an inner box, and this is simpler in design with just the logo in the middle. A double flap on the side further keeps the contents from spilling out. Opening the box, we immediately see the keyboard inside a thin foam wrap, and other accessories are found to the top and underneath the keyboard itself.


The functionality of the packaging here is thus above average, with the two-piece design in addition to a foam wrap and thick foam pieces on either side of the keyboard. The accessories from Redragon include a sticker of the logo itself and another smaller cardboard box. It houses four spare switches, which come individually packaged in more foam. Redragon wants the customer to know that the keyboard is compatible with different types of mechanical switches for a variety of typing experiences even though the stock switches are all the same. We have here a red, black, brown, and blue switch—all marked "Redragon" and no doubt respectively based on the Cherry MX switches for light linear, heavy linear, tactile, and tactile+clicky feedback.


To aid in switch replacement, the company also throws in a tool that is nearly identical to those we have seen before for other CIY socket keyboards. This metal tool simply goes into notches on the switch housing and helps pull them out. To access the switches themselves, we also get a keycap puller. This is a nice metal-wire type puller, which is better than the plastic-ring pullers in that you are less likely to scratch the sides of keycaps. Lastly, we have an L-type, detachable keyboard cable that goes from a male USB Type-C connector to a male USB Type-A connector, which hints towards the adoption of a Type-C port on the keyboard itself.