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Best Budget RGB Keyboard: Rii RK908

Rii RK908 RGB Mechanical Keyboard

RGB has become all the craze over the last few years. From light strips to wall art, everything just seems better with RGB built-in right? Keyboards are no different. To complete your desk or gaming setup an RGB keyboard appears to be a must-have. A quick search on google and you will see some gaming keyboards cost in excess of £100/$100. If you are like and don’t want to spend this time of money on a keyboard it leaves you looking for a cheaper alternative. This search led me to the Rii RK908 keyboard on Amazon. At the time I bought it, it was on sale for £17.99/$25. When this review was written the Rii RK908 was selling for £24.99/$29.99. Continue reading if you want to see if the Rii RK908 is a good budget RGB keyboard.

Here is a link to the Rii RK908 keyboard on Amazon

Should You Buy It?

Rating:
4.5/5

Pros

  • Great Price
  • Simple to Use
  • Bright RGB Lights

Cons

  • Can’t Customize Individual Keys
Rii RK908 on top of the shipping box

Rii RK908 Design

Packaging

The Rii RK908 comes in pretty basic packaging. A brown box with faint pictures of the keyboard and company logo is used to ship the keyboard. When you open it up the keyboard is wrapped in tissue paper so not the most secure of shipping methods. Lets put it this way Rii won’t be giving Apple a run for their money when it comes to unboxings any time soon but it is a budget keyboard so you get what you pay for I guess. 

Build Quality

The Rii RK908 is a compact keyboard with a plastic outer casing and a metal sheet underneath the keys. It appears to only come in a sprayed black colour with a red Rii logo above the directional keys. The Rii RK908 is not wireless. It connects via USB-A through a braided cable which has more than enough length to stretch across most desk setups. There are also 4 rubber stoppers on the bottom of the keyboard to stop it from slipping around your desk as well as your typical elevation tabs.

Rii RK908 overhead angle

Keys

The keys themselves are Blue switch keys. Blue switch keys are quite popular switches that are used in cheaper keyboards. A Blue switch provides a louder clicking noise than Red or Brown switches to provide additional feedback to the user. Blue switches are popular with people who do a lot of typing, like journalists, because of that audible click feedback you receive. You can also switch these keycaps out quite easy. They pop off with little force applied and it’s easy to push new ones on. So if you want to customize the look of the Rii RK908 you can do. 

Rii RK908 keyboard with blue switches exposed

Rii RK908 Features & RGB

When it comes to features there isn’t too much to say on the Rii RK908. There is no software, it’s just plug and play.

The RGB lights underneath the keys are the selling point on the Rii RK908. There are 22 backlit effects you can have on the keyboard but you cannot control the colour of individual keys. Each row is assigned a colour and this used across all keys on it. If you are looking to customize the colour of individual keys you will have to look at other RGB keyboards but be prepared to pay a bit extra for this luxury. 

The function keys on the right of the keyboard are used in combination with the Fn key to cycle between the lighting effects. There are various effects like rippling or pulsing. See the video further down of all the lighting effects. 

When it comes to brightness the RGB lights are more than bright enough for most environments. I use this keyboard during the day in front of a bright window and you can’t miss that the lights are on. If you don’t the lights to be too bright you can control this using the up and down arrows to adjust it.

You can also use the 5 number keys from 1 to 5 for macros. This isn’t a feature I have personally used but it is a nice touch for people who use them.

Rii RK908 keyboard view from the side

Rii RK908 Performance & Typing

As mentioned the keyboard’s Blue switches provide a clicky and tactile typing experience. You will notice the clicking noise as a result of this especially if you haven’t used a Blue switch keyboard before. If you are looking to type without disturbing other people then I would look for a Membrane keyboard instead.

The keys have a nice concave build to them to match your finger. That additional feedback from the Blue switch lets you know when you have completed a click. However, I would say there is a slight stickiness to the keys. They appear to push down quicker than they come back up. This can sometimes throw you off your rhythm but to be honest after a few days with the Rii RK908 this isn’t so much of an issue as you adapt to it.

Typing on the Rii RK908 doesn’t pose any problems really. If you have used mechanical keyboards before you will feel right at home.

Final Thoughts

Overall the Rii RK908 is a great budget keyboard at less that £30/$30 you really can’t go wrong. If you are heavy into the customisation of your RGB lights then this won’t work for you but if you just want a well-built keyboard with the added feature of different RGB effects then this is perfect for you. It’s a great addition to any budget gaming or desk setup.

Here is a link to the Rii RK908 keyboard on Amazon

I hope you found this review helpful.
Until next time