Redragon K580 VATA RGB LED Backlit Mechanical Gaming Keyboard with Macro Keys & Dedicated Media Controls, Onboard Macro Recording (Blue Switches)

UPDATE: 2023-2-20 Kudos to Redragon for reaching out to me to get workable software. Unfortunately it does not scale well in Windows on 4k monitors and is of no use to me. YouTube is a better manual as even that is printed in microscopic type. After using the keyboard for a while now, I have discovered that I do not like the way its so compactly laid out. As I stated originally, hitting the scroll lock, pause and PrtSc buttons really get in the way of writing code. Ill be going back to my old Logitech and tossing this in the corner. The good news is the backspace works well and the 5 replacement switches would probably be used to kee[p it working it as would get lots of use for having to correct my input. Ive also discovered that the brown switches they use are too clacky for me, so look for the red and hope for the best if you dont want the extra noise. ORIGINAL: I wanted a lit keyboard for low-light coding and some gaming. I dont care about RGB features but it would be nice to set the color Im in the mood for. This one is a solid slab of keyboard. Its the quieter brown switch version and its got a good feel and enough clacky to let people know Im busy and not to just waltz in and disturb me. Its got a long enough wire to get it connected and route it out of the way and the built in Functions for changing the lighting is decent enough. Works fine for games like any keyboard would. What Im not happy about is the software being just about unattainable. You can get it from redragonzone but its unzipped with gibberish and special character file and folder names - Nope on that. Second is the Fn Keys are as close to the numbers row as the letter keys are together so hitting Fn Keys by accident is a recurring problem. I have a few weeks to try it before the return window closes, so well see. It’s nice, though, to get a stout piece of tech that feels like a cast iron frying pan instead of a thin plastic sheet. I could probably defend myself with this thing if I had to.

Edit: The company reached out to give a full refund rather quickly, so while I wasnt happy with the keyboard, I can at least say that you can expect good customer service. In the interest of fairness, 4 stars instead of 1. I got the version with blue switches and was really happy with it for the first two days. Then the P key fell off while I was typing and I discovered that the keycaps hadnt been pushed in all the way before it was packaged. I returned it because that seems like a quality control failure to me, and if I cant trust the keys not to fall off after two days theres no way I can trust the keyboard to last longer than a month before something else breaks.

This is a beautiful keyboard and I love the colors and wavy movement of the lights. I never had a macro function on a keyboard before but now that I have it on this one, I would never want a keyboard without it. It makes it so much faster to log in to have a macro for my email address and other log ins. The keys feel springy to me which is nice and I love the volume bar which is a rolling wheel. You will hear the clicking on the keyboard more than on a regular one and I was aware of that when I bought it and is okay for me to hear as I type. I really like this keyboard and the price for it seems a fair price and I would only want a keyboard like this in the future should I need a new one down the line. I play Aram in League of Legends and it has a good feel and response for when I play.

Back in 2021, we felt it was time to replace our current keyboard: It worked fine, but the letters were wearing off, which made it hard for our 4-year-old to find the right keys to type her name (or just hold down the A key). After a bit of research, we decided to try this keyboard: we thought itd be fun to try mechanical, and this one was pretty reasonably priced. Also, we really wanted a keyboard with dedicated media controls, which doesnt seem to be as common as one might think. When we got the keyboard, it worked perfectly well. We went through the user manual and had fun playing with the built-in controls to change the RGB lighting schemes. The software to modify the RGB lights is okay: It also works with OpenRGB, which provides an alternate interface for setting up the lighting. A while back, I got a little into creating 8-bit music, and was able to set up a lighting scheme that corresponded with the keyboard controls for FamiTracker (software to create music for the NES/Famicom). You can also do neat things like have the lights radiate out from a key press. The built-in media controls work as expected, which is great. We havent had an opportunity to mess with the macro keys, but I would imagine theyd work fine too. Regarding customer service: I recently got some jam under one of the keys, and wanted to take it off to clean it a bit. But unfortunately, I had mispaced the keycap remover tool. I emailed Redragon through their website, and they very quickly provided a response, offering to send me a replacement for free. So that was really cool. For full disclosure: They did ask me to write a review, but did NOT condition the keycap tool upon the review. So anyways, this is a great keyboard with great customer support. I would definitely recommend it.

Since Redragon’s amazing INDRAH keyboard received some changes that I was not happy with, I went on a search for another mechanical keyboard by the same manufacturer that would hopefully keep the features that, for whatever reason, was removed from the older K555 model – namely the static white backlighting and multimedia keys, that I came to love. While the INDRAH still has a rock-solid design and stood up to everything I threw at it, I still needed a workhorse that performed in pretty much the same way. I had almost given up until I found a post on Reddit mentioning an obscure mechanical keyboard that not much was known about… Redragon’s K580 VATA. Granted I have not had the VATA for a couple of weeks as of this writing, but so far it is comparable to the K555 I reluctantly let go of. Unlike the INDRAH, the VATA is not as durable in terms of materials or weight (it came shipped inside an Amazon box, with the keyboard having been wrapped in bubble wrap in its own box – where the K555 had some additional support of fitting into a plastic mold as well as bubble wrap). The K580 is sleeker in design and more light weight, I find it interesting that the Outemu blue switches don’t seem nearly as loud as they were on the INDRAH. (Perhaps this is due to the INDRAH having a metal chassis and the VATA appears to be made almost entirely of durable plastic.) Furthermore, the VATA’s G-button placement for macros is far less awkward to reach compared to the INDRAH, and allows for deeper macro and backlighting customization with their software… which you can get at https://www.redragonzone.com/pages/download. Be aware that Windows 10 will balk at you with all kinds of worrisome prompts for installing this software, but I can tell you that it is perfectly safe. Otherwise the software is not even necessary to have, as the VATA seems to have its own onboard memory and will retain onboard macro recordings and basic backlight settings. Things I like about the Redragon K580 VATA ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- * extremely tactile Outemu blue switches * double-shot injected keycaps for clear backlight readability and won’t rub off * numpad * onboard memory * intuitive software to finetune macro settings with looping and time delay * intuitive software to finetune RGB backlight with added color customization and brightness level * key cap and switch removers * eight spare Outemu switches (2x black, 2x brown, 2x red, 2x blue) * multimedia keys * user-manual translations have improved greatly! Things I don’t like about the Redragon K580 VATA ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- * not compatible with USB 3.0 * non-braided cable * no wrist rest (if you need or want one, you must purchase one separately!) * distracting Redragon text logo above the direction arrow keys/no logo of the dragon itself (I blame this one on my OCD more than anything) Want to learn more about the Redragon K555 INDRAH? You can check out my review here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R233ZOPSZUHPZS/ASIN=B0171BSNYK TL;DR For anyone looking for a reasonably priced mechanical keyboard that is loaded with features often seen from high-end and mainstream companies, then look no further. Redragon’s K580 VATA gives you the best of both worlds!

so, as everyone who has used redragon products must know, their software is kinda bad, like its as if its made by a 70 year old unpaid intern as concept or something...anyway after 9 months of having the keyboard, few problems with lighting here and there, but you know what? that doesnt matter very much. After 9-10 months of usage, i get a message to update driver for keyboard, and after it was done, i clicked it again by mistake(huge button :START, with no confirmation or anything), and so i clicked X while it was halfway there since i had done it once already...and now, keyboard doesnt work anymore, only 3 keys have light, everything unresponsive, i tried on another computer who didnt have driver, same thing. So basically, it seems that if you interrupt installation of new drivers, the keyboard brakes entirely...luckily i still had my old keyboard to type this...note that, the X i pressed had NO CONFIRMATION or anything, so you can extremely easily fall into this trap. update: i contacted them and one of their solutions worked, a firmware update, note that everything in the exe was in chinese, i had to guess what to click on

So, I originally purchased 2 Corsair K70 keyboards a couple years back for 2 different computers. I wanted top of the line mechanical boards with customizable backlighting for my recording studio business, and I was ok paying the higher cost for a high end product. They needed 2 cables to interface to the computer, and the Corsair Icue software was kinda ridiculously confusing to use, despite recent revisions to it. It did let you set up different per-key lighting schemes for different programs, and it would automatically switch to those schemes when you opened each program, which was cool, but not hugely useful to me for the way I used it. Overall it was frustrating as hell to use, and with each software update my old settings seemed to disappear and I’d have to re-setup everything again. Then I’d basically have to re-learn the software each time I took an update because I didn’t use it often enough to remember how to navigate it efficiently. So ultimately, I was constantly having to screw around trying to make it work for me. Then, one keyboard stopped working at all. Anyway, long story short, I threw them away out of disgust and frustration and replaced them with these. (Even then, purging the stupid software from my system got confusing and took some time, as it was affecting the lighting in the new boards in a weird way). Boom!! Better backlighting, more legible keycaps, great tactile feel, easily replaceable keys (they even come with spares), and so much less money than the previous boards that I can replace them three times over for the same money the other ones cost. Per-key lighting can be easily set up without using external software, and tweaked on the fly in 5 seconds. I actually bought 2 different models of these, the bigger one has volume control and transport and programmable macro buttons, and works just as well and easily as the smaller, less-featured model. If you’re looking for an illuminated board, I think these are a great value and punch way above their cost in quality and usability.

If youre looking for a virtually no-compromise RGB mechanical keyboard that doesnt prevent your from paying rent, this is the one. Dont waste your money on a Razer or Corsair keyboard. Those are nice, but not twice-as-much nice. The switches sound just like real MX-Blue switches, the lights are so bright and vibrant that they can light up my room, and all of the macros and other settings are easy to control. My only gripe is that the macros and media keys are a little mushy-feeling, but its fine because of how little youll be pressing them when compared to the other keys. I dont think it should be a deal breaker for anyone, but keep in mind that they dont give dopamine like the other keys do. I love the volume roller thing. I use it every time I want to change the volume on my computer. On an unrelated note, I can verify that all of the program shortcuts work with Linux. (or at least Manjaro Gnome)

Short pros/cons list before a full review. PROS: Sturdy design Not TOO bright that it blinds you when dark Key caps are solid Very tactile and CLICKY Very accurate key registration Tons of rollover Volume and media controls built in Cons: Directions for changing lighting a little confusing To begin my review I must be upfront and say that this is my first mechanical keyboard. I tried one at a friends house and asked how much it was. Needless to say I dont have 180 dollars to spend on a keyboard! Now onto the review. I was scared at first, as cheap prices beget cheap products. I was completely incorrect. So far through using this keyboard I have had 0 issues. Its nice and tactile and gives you the feedback you want. For some its loud, but for me feedback is necessary for me while I type. The key caps, though plastic, are absolutely wonderful to type on. You can run your fingers over the top and feel which key it is. What really sold me were the media controls! I can easily shift spotify or iTunes tracks while playing game without having to alt tab out of what Im doing. The volume slider is an amazing bonus. Onto aesthetics of the product itself. I do not like overly bright LED lights. They look too artificial, but whatever LED lights they use in this keyboard feel a lot warmer than a lot I have seen. The frame of the keyboard itself is durable metal, which gives it this nice dark and sleek shine. The color options you get are wonderful, and they have many different settings as well! Now onto what i found to be negative about the product. I only disliked one minor detail about it. The directions on how to change the lights in the user manual were a little bit unclear. Not really a con but you dont get to choose whatever colors you want on the spectrum and for some people that might not be what they want, but for me thats not what I wanted.

I would have given it 5 starts, but its very loud. It would wake up someone in the same room thar was sleeping. Other than that, its great. You can change the brightness, color and direction of the RGB. Despite it being loud, Im going to keep it