Mechanical Keyboards

I bought a redragon k556 while I was traveling and had a need for a keyboard. It was good bang for the buck and can be flashed with QMK, but I don't think the Kitava RGB is supported yet. The supported models are here https://github.com/SonixQMK/qmk_firmware/tree/sn32_develop/keyboards/redragon

I have an E-Yooso Z-19, which has a literally identical layout. The E-Yooso is a simple steel plate with a minimal plastic case. I barely had room for a tape mod (and then I went with green switches, so there wasn't much point anyway). I do suspect the PCBs are from the same factory. Key layout, indicator LED placement, USB-C port placement, all are exactly the same. EDIT: I downloaded the RedDragon Pro software, and whaddaya know! It recognized my E-Yooso as a Kitava Lite K636. I have remapped PrtSc to Delete and fixed one of the three issues I had with this layout. :-)

The E-Yooso is pretty nice to use, for what it is, which is a low end commodity board. Outemu hotswap compatible, meaning only Outemu and a few other narrow-pin 3-pin switches work, but selection in that space is better than it used to be. Looking at the US Amazon page, the Reddragon is likely the same. You will NOT get a high end sound, but the low case should mean it's not too terribly hollow, which IMHO helps a lot in this price range. For instance, I also have a "Sky 98" low-end 1800, and it just looks and feels a lot cheaper (more so before I spent WAY too much time messing with it and glueing stuff inside it) because it's got so much more plastic and so much more room inside. A steel plate is not trendy of course, but it is solid and weighty, which is nicer than cheap plastic. Mine has been reliable, and given price-point expectations it was not disappointing in terms of build, typing experience, etc. Reddragon is in that same category, probably a bit better regarded, in fact, though individual models can vary quite a lot in this price range. The biggest unique thing to consider with this board is the layout.

This 94 key layout is interesting. It's probably the most usable of all the attempts to cram a full numpad into the exact space of a compact TKL. Moving plus and minus to the top row isn't too bad, and while it's on the "wrong" side, the Enter key is close enough to hit without moving your hand much. There will be muscle memory to retrain if you do touch ten-key data entry, but overall it's usable. Unfortunately, the whole design philosophy also means you only save "1u" versus a 96% and maybe 1.5u-2.5u versus an 1800 (depends on the exact model). It's hard to say if it's worth it, but if you like Numpads, this one is weird but not bad.

Surprisingly, the bigger issue I ran into is that I really wanted Delete and the Nav keys to be more accessible without turning off numlock and more intuitive regardless, and the E-Yooso was not re-mappable (EDIT: See above. It has some basic remapping now, via the Kitava's software). I'm not expecting QMK/VIA on a board in this space, but an app that could "flash" remapping would have been the one thing that would have kept it on my desk longer. I had a pretty nice AutoHotkey script that switched PrintScreen out for Delete and set Shift+Numpad Add and Subtract to Page Up and Page Down. It actually worked really well, but it's Windows only and and I can't install it on my work PC.

I got the E-Yooso for under USD25. At that price, I think it's a good deal, though there are still the limitations. People in the hobby forget that even 10-20 dollars/pounds/Euros can feel like a lot when the whole endeavor is kind of a luxury anyway, but ultimately I'd probably recommend you "pick a side" and find a TKL or a 96%/1800 layout in roughly the same price range.

Update: If anyone is curious, ultimately went with the Keychron V3-C1.