The ever-generous people at Redragon have very kindly sent me one of their K617 Fizz Magnetic keyboards to try out.
The K617 is a 61-key / 60% keyboard. It had no Del key (which you know I always feel like I need), but Fn+] = Del, and it’s not too hard to get used to. It’s a wired board, so there’s no battery – it’s plug and play (or type). It’s PC only (not compatible with Mac or non-PC platforms such as PS5/NS), and the free-to-use software is Windows only with a web-based option for non-Windows machines.
The K617 is all black. The keycaps black, with transparent characters and white secondary characters (F-keys etc). The K617 has RGB LEDs backlights with 18 onboard presets. It weighs just 547 grams, so it’s an ultra-lightweight board. It has a pair of flip-down single-position feet for angle adjustment.
The K617 costs just £31.00 GBP and this, combined with the pretty standard list of features I’ve listed above, might make you think that what we’re looking at here is your basic, budget keyboard. But that’s not the whole story.
I’ve reviewed magnetic keyboards before and the simplified version is this: Whereas a typical switch basically acts like a tiny hammer, actually pressing down to physically “hit”, a magnetic switch is a proximity sensor without parts which strike each other. This means that magnetic switches are much more durable, accurate, and much more sensitive.
The K617 comes fitted with Hall Effect Magnetic switches. To quote Redragon themselves, “REDRAGON’s most advanced gaming keyboard gears the native 8,000Hz hyper-polling response. Quickly connected with a detachable USB-A to USB-C cable to transmit inputs up to 8x faster (0.125ms lowest latency)“. The latency can be set at 1khz, 2khz, 4khz, or 8khz, giving the user total control over the keystroke speed. A rapid trigger function can be turned on via the software/web interface, allowing the user to set the actuation point (the distance at which the key press is detected) between 0.1 and 3.4 mm.
Now, this is all gaming stuff. The K617 is a gaming keyboard. That’s what it is designed and built to be. However, like the HE75 Mag, it is an incredibly fast and responsive keyboard. If you were a fast typist (which I’m definitely not, sadly), looking for an inexpensive, lightweight, compact, portable board, then the K617 is definitely an option worth considering. No need to worry about charging or pairing, just plug it into your laptop, and away you go.
The K617 Fizz Magnetic keyboard is available to order from Redragon for just £31.00 GBP/$39.99 USD