Been wanting to make the switch to Hall effect for a while now. Currently i have a roccat pyro and I absolutely love the volume knob and number pad.

My question comes down to, what is there for HE keyboards that are full sized, OR would it be a good idea to get a 68%/75% keyboard, like the aula or monsgeek, and also get a numberpad macropad?

Hello circle clickers. Today is like day 2 of amazon prime day and I meant to make this post yesterday but oops... anyway

Preface

Amazon day has some pretty blessed deals on some products that I own and dont own. I will be giving some very chill opinion/review on the ones that I own and making reccomendations based off of stuff like pricing, quality, and performance. I collect keyboards (bad hobby) and my rapid trigger collection is slowly growing. I also happen to be a tapping and ar11 player so playing the game with rapid trigger/hall effect switches is no longer viable for me. Even if im not using rapid trigger, the reliability and latency of magnetic switches have been super cool. My reviews are completely centered on the osu experience, so snap tap SOCD who cares. We want comfort and performance.

Obligatory "why rapid trigger"

While this has been explained a million times and im not going to explain it, rapid trigger is just better technology in short. It allows you to get more precise inputs. Who doesnt want that? The only gripe I have had with the introduction of such technology is that there is a barrier to entry, but on days like these the barrier to entry is as low as 20$ with free 2 day shipping. There is almost no reason not to try it out. (assuming you have the money ofc, its just a game)

Less obligatory "why not wooting"

For the needs of osu players, other companies have caught up. We don't need many crazy features just for osu. That being said, if you want a keyboard with those features for other games, that is your consideration. That should not invalide how good some of these lesser known boards are for rhythm games. That being said wooting boards are really good in their stock config. The 80he is really a 10/10 and the 60he is still good stock. These are just options for people who dont want to spend as much or dont want to wait 6 months for batch sigma to arrive.

Keyboard round-up (the ones I own on sale)

In no particular order (ranking at the end)

Yunzii rt68

Price: 71$ (9/10)

Pretty much my favorite RT keyboard on sale. Works pretty well and the default profiles are even good. The software sucks though. Best part about this keyboard is the ergonomics. It has a nice front height and cherry keycaps so I didnt feel the need to use a wrist wrest. 9/10 for the price

DrunkDeer A75

Price: 104$ (7/10)

The stock config of the drunkdeer is pretty uncomfortable with the front height combined with the OEM profile keycaps that suck (unless thats your comfort.) With a cheap 30$ set of cherry keycaps though this thing is pretty awesome. Super good for osu and the web driver is ridiculously good. Its legit easier to use than wootilty (albiet having less features). Id give it a 7/10 for the price because there is just a few better options out there for 140$

Sayodevice

Price: 28$ (9/10)

I love my sayo device. If you configure this thing correctly, I think it is a top tier pick. Set a reasonable deadzone and dont go below .2 rt and this thing works well. The only real problem is bonking the knob while playing, but once you get used to it and play it at a slight angle, this thing just eats maps for under 30 bucks. This is the best option for laptop players or legit anyone who wants a keypad. I own the wooting uwu and the only thing that has on this is NOT having a knob. The screen is also really cool and helpful for configuring deadzones. If they made just a 2 or 3 key with no knob it would be a 10/10 EASILY.

GammaKay TK75 HE

Price: 71$ (8/10)

Pretty much everything about the drunkdeer applies to this keyboard, except it comes with a more comfortable typing angle and keycap profile. The software is not as good and there are deadzones (which arent a bad thing imo) but if you can look past the bad software and chinese gamer company I think this is quite a good product. This was the first RT board I got so maybe I am a bit biased, but I dont see many reasons to get a drunkdeer over this anymore and thats coming from someone who owns both

Keyboards I dont own but reccomend

CIDOO C75

I have their non RT version of this keyboard with tactiles and the thing is like 4 pounds. Compares well to the 80HE but for 1/3rd of the price. I have heard there are some software issues from reviewers (namely jaeky) and you need a wrist wrest to use it comfortably but its chill.

Yunzii RT75

shoutout yunzii for making goated boards. this one has the same switches and caps as the 68, so I assume everything is the same performance wise. these boards are awesome I highly reccomend picking it up.

Polar 65 CNC Aluminum (20% of the board is)

Yeah dont let the name fool you the board is not fully aluminum for those who care. Has a web driver and a friend really enjoys his. Pretty decent if you want an aluminum (ish) case.

Focus on ergonomics (if you care(yap))

TLDR ergonomics are (almost) everything;

While I dont have any personal gripe with wooting, something was brought to my attention while using my custom 60he.

The 60HE in the aftermarket case options (namely TOFU and Alumaze60) have a front height of 1" and a typing angle of 7 degrees. You need a wrist wrest/floating wrist technique or to play bottom row. I am someone who singletaps on my homerow identifier keys (either f or j) and I can not play bottom row comfortably. Having to use a wrist wrest to play osu was kind of odd. Even top players that use a tofu wooting (such as enri) use a wrist wrest or play bottom row (tuna). A good wrist wrest is like 30-40$. That factors into the already high cost of running a custom wooting. I dropped 350$ total on my config and it is less comfortable to use than the default wooting I made it out of.

I bring this up because it made me realize what I actually valued in a keyboard for osu. At the top of the list is ergonomics. I had been feeling super sluggish on the alumaze wooting for over 6 months, so I did some experimentation on my old keyboard: some leopold with cherry mx reds. Instantly I felt so much faster despite having 125hz and very outdated technology. I was even able to beat my wooting score on eiji kuinbi dthr.

I then went back and tried playing eiji kuinbi DT ONLY on my Alumaze60 and was so uncomfortable that i could barely A rank. Now with the wrist wrest, im back to being able to shred with the addition of rapid trigger, but the wooting wrist wrest was 45$ all things included. I did not have this issue on some of the boards I reccomended. I am getting the same performance on the yunzii for 1/3rd the price and now I feel stupid. Keep in mind osu is the only game I play and I do not benefit from snap tap or SOCD abuse.

If you have any questions just ask I love keyboards