Do you prefer backlit keyboards

[bishop245]

yup saitek executive here too after having 2 razer keyboards die I pulled this one outta moth balls and started using it again and i hate the clicky keyboards to boot. I like the near silent ones, but I have the microsoft wireless combo for work. Its noisy but I can live with it since I don't do alot of typing unless I am goofing off here on OCC while working lol

[VaporX]

I wonder if Madcatz realizes how much of a following the Saitek Keyboards got? They need to kill off that Cyborg crap and get back to the stuff that worked.

[Andrewr05]

I've never owned a backlit keyboard but if it was unobtrusive and wasn't too bright I'd definitely get one next time around.

 

 

Though in my case it would need to be adjustable, I couldn't stand watching a movie at full brightness.

[wevsspot]

I'm kind of surprised by the Saitek following too. I bought my first it seems at least four or five years ago. It was my first backlit keyboard ever and I fell in love. I played a lot of DFBHD and Halo on that first one

 

It eventually gave up the ghost and it wasn't even a question on whether I'd be getting a replacement or looking for an alternative. It has it's faults but overall both of them were/are super keyboards for the price.

[xPETEZx]

G15 v1 here! Had it since 2006 and love it! S & D keys are almost see-through now.

[ClayMeow]

I would never choose a keyboard based on whether it had backlighting or not because to me it's a rather unnecessary feature. I use it occasionally on my laptop, but as someone that doesn't look at the keyboard to type, it's not something that's necessary for me even in pitch-black rooms, so it's certainly not something I'm going to base a purchasing decision on. And as such, I did not vote.

[Stonerboy779]

Love the backlit keyboard

[MJCRO]

Yup ever since I went from my Logitech K800 to a Apple Keyboard, I must say I do miss the lighting at night!

[malmsteenisgod]

I would never choose a keyboard based on whether it had backlighting or not because to me it's a rather unnecessary feature. I use it occasionally on my laptop, but as someone that doesn't look at the keyboard to type, it's not something that's necessary for me even in pitch-black rooms, so it's certainly not something I'm going to base a purchasing decision on. And as such, I did not vote.

 

I agree with Clay here, but I voted no. The reason is because you pay a premium to have that light shining in your face, which either requires the manufacturer to charge more, cut out other features, or both. For instance, the Razer Blackwidow, it's a backlit cherry blue keyboard, but it only supports 2KRO. That's just pathetic and doesn't deserve to be called a gaming keyboard. The Xarmor looks nice, but they sell for $150. I'll stick to my Cherry G80's. They may not be pretty but they're cheap, come in Cherry browns or clears, and they have a diode in each key giving them full NKRO.

[Munkypoo7]

I agree with Clay here, but I voted no. The reason is because you pay a premium to have that light shining in your face, which either requires the manufacturer to charge more, cut out other features, or both. For instance, the Razer Blackwidow, it's a backlit cherry blue keyboard, but it only supports 2KRO. That's just pathetic and doesn't deserve to be called a gaming keyboard. The Xarmor looks nice, but they sell for $150. I'll stick to my Cherry G80's. They may not be pretty but they're cheap, come in Cherry browns or clears, and they have a diode in each key giving them full NKRO.

 

The whole BWU having only 2KRO is so blown out of proportion. It is not an issue at all unless your rage smashing your face on your keyboard.

 

On topic, I'm kind of a fan of backlit boards since usually I do play at night, look at my keyboard when I type.. not hunt and peck, I just never broke the habit... and procrastination on essays are 99% standard practice for me. Mechanical boards are a god send as well, once Razer announced the BWU it was pretty much sold to me instantly. Blues for typing and backlit since I'm a procrastinator, and useful little macro keys where I have Magicka spell binds and ME2 stuffs...

 

Total random thought: Can't wait for ME3.... do want :3

[flareback]

I voted no, but I have a backlit keyboard. I don't ever need to look at the keys though so it's not that big of a deal. I think it looks better but I wouldn't base my buying a keyboard on if it was backlit.

[hardnrg]

I agree with Clay and malmsteen... while having a back-lit keyboard could help me find the more obscure symbols, or F keys, in a pitch-black room where the monitor is not currently showing an image bright enough to light up a regular keyboard, that scenario happens to me literally about twice a year.

 

I use a MacBook Pro as my work PC (Windows/Ubuntu), but the keyboard illumination is almost always off. It's only really ever handy to find the position of the Function keys, with it being a laptop keyboard, they are not grouped into blocks in any way. That said, the screen itself casts enough light to see what the keys are anyway.

 

The keyboards I use are all Cherry keyboards... I've had a few of them and only moved onto other models as upgrades and in search of more straightforward keyboards without an array of near-useless media/shortcut keys. I was so impressed with the CyMotion Expert that I bought THREE more that I didn't even need at the time. So now, I have one for my HTPC, my main PC, and my work set-up (laptop, mouse, keyboard, monitor, speakers), and the other is a spare.

 

As I'm on computers for a large part of the time I'm awake, it's much more important that I have an extremely well designed key mechanism than if it has backlights, OLEDs or media keys. I hate mediocre keyboards more than pretty much anyone... I took one of my Cherry keyboards to work when I was temporarily using a Dell PC at work because the crappy cheap Dell keyboard was just too horrendous to use continuously, it felt like trying to type on a bunch of croutons laid out on a pillow.