Luxia Le

I’m always on the lookout for budget mechanical keyboards, just to try them out and see what kind of interesting features have been added at the budget level. Owning a mechanical keyboard is much more common, and modifying them is becoming more mainstream as well. So, it’s nice to see the budget market for gaming keyboards, particularly mechanical ones, exploding. I got a chance to try the Rii RK909 keyboard. Let’s assess.

Rii RK909: At A Glance

Keyboard	Rii RK909
Price	15.99 USD
Tier	Budget
Switches	Blue (Clicky)
Keycap Profile	OEM
Keycap Material	Plastic (unknown)
Interface	2.4 GHz
Layout	US ANSI
Keyboard Type	Mechanical
Hot-Swappable?	No

My Experience with the Rii RK909

Price

The price is very very good for what it provides. The keyboard is fully functional, though it lacks Bluetooth, which is normal at this price point. Some core functionality is limited on Linux systems, which I use, so be aware that if you buy this keyboard for a Linux distro you might not be able to use all the functions.

Construction

This is a very nicely constructed keyboard. It’s heavier than most other keyboards at this price point and is made from thick plastic. The faceplate can be removed, which makes taking the keycaps off very easy. Despite the low price, this keyboard doesn’t feel cheap at all. You don’t have to worry about it breaking under stress, I would wager, though I only used it for a little while.

Keycaps

The keycaps are OEM plastic, but it doesn’t say what kind of plastic. I would wager it was ABS plastic, since that’s what it felt like under the finger and that is the most common keycap material.

Keyboard Mechanics

I was excited to try out the Rii Blue Switches, I’ve never used them before to my knowledge. As a mechanical keyboard enthusiast, I use a wide variety of switches for different tasks. However, I must say that the Rii Blue Switches really disappointed me. They felt very flimsy under the finger and the clicking sound was not as satisfying as I’d hoped it would be.

Problems I Encountered While Using the Rii RK909

So the only problem I encountered was that the keyboard advertises a wired mode, but this was not compatible with my Lilnux distro, so I had to use the 2.4 GHz. Not a huge deal, but notable for Linux users who might want to buy the keyboard. The keyboard charged fine when plugged into my computer but did not register keypresses.