Tt eSPORTS Thermaltake Tt e Sports Poseidon Z Blue Switches with 4-Level Brightness Blue LED Mechanical Gaming Keyboard KB-PIZ-KLBLUS-06

I can't say enough positive things about this keyboard! I absolutely love it! The feel of the switches was exactly what I had been hoping to find in a nice keyboard. This is my first mechanical keyboard (with the exception of the old school IBM keyboards, back in the day) and I couldn't be happier with it. I did a considerable amount of research before making this purchase. I didn't have much of a chance to try out the feel of the different style switches unfortunately, so had to rely on the descriptions from other more knowledgable folk.It is a nice heavy keyboard that remains in place with its nicely gribbing feet. The button presses are smooth and responsive. If you are playing games requiring quick repetative key presses, this keyboard will deliver with the proper settings. The way I have it set can sometimes cause multiple unintentional key presses while I'm just typing, but it's not a huge deal as the in-game benefits is the reason I have it set as such. I also like the function key features such as the quick volume adjust, it's a very nice feature. The key illumination is quite decent as well. It's a nifty shade of blue that looks great in the rather dark basement where my PC is kept. Others have made comments about how not all the keys are lit evenly due to the location of the LEDs under the keyboard, which is true. But I find that this isn't too significant and find all the keys to be sufficiently illuminated, as I said my basement can be rather dark and it does sufficiently light each key.All-in-all this was exactly what I had been looking for, mainly for playing blizzard games like Starcraft and Diablo which it fully delivers. The straight typing on it I find to be a joy and gives that old school clunk that I've missed for so long. That is something to note that this bad boy is pretty dang loud. I don't mind it, but if that's a concern I'd probably not recommend it based on the noise it can produce with normal typing.

UPDATE 28 August, 2015:I've emailed customer service two more times since the first (below) and have YET to receive a response. Looking at others' reports, it appears Tt eSPORTS makes you pay for return shipping on the RMA. I'm about ready to scrap it and buy a more reliable keyboard from someone else. The double-entry on the tab key is getting worse/more frequent, which is incredibly frustrating -- there's no key that allows you to tab *backward* through electronic forms. Imagine having to break away and go to your mouse roughly every 6 tabs....Advice: Spend the extra $40-100 and buy a board with better and more reliable switches (eg. Cherry, Matias). Even if it means saving up, it's worth it to avoid the bad experience, especially if you're new to mechanical keyboards. I have a Cooler Master with Cherry switches, for example, that wasn't that much more costly than this and is notably better.UPDATE 8 July, 2015:Like some others, I have begun to have difficulty with the keyboard sometimes double-entering upon key-strike. For me, it has been the Tab key, though others have had it with other switches. It seems to be getting worse/more common. This is a problem for me since I tab through a lot of fields in forms and needing to take my hands off of the keyboard to get back to the skipped-over field is a hassle and really frustrating. I emailed the company to request a replacement, which others have seemed to have had success in doing. That was over a week ago, and I have heard nothing in response.If the switches are operating normally, the keyboard is nice. If they start malfunctioning, it's frustrating. In either case, customer service could stand a refresher on how to respond to customer emails.ORIGINAL REVIEW:For the cost, I think that this is a very good buy and would purchase again in a similar situation.I use a mac and most of the keys are alright. You do need to remember that the OS (windows) key is actually the apple key and that left-alt is "option." Oddly right-alt is *not* option but, rather, activates show-desktop for me. YMMV. That is, unless you remap your keyboard, and then you can make the keys do what you want.Pros:* Media keys work on mac without mapping.* Backlit* Clicky "blue" switches for less money than the Cherry MX blues.Cons:* Row 1 (bottom row) does not have scalloped keycaps like the other rows but is, instead, a convex anti-scallop. I don't like this, but it's also not that big of a deal. This is not the case with the bottom row arrow keys or the bottom row on the number pad.* Backlighting has a variety of settings (off, 1, 2, 3, 4), but the lowest setting is still quite bright. The brightest setting is *very* bright.* The secondary functions of keys don't light up bright enough. At the highest setting, they are sufficiently bright, but the light leak from around the bottom of the keys overpowers them. At the lowest setting (when under-key light is at its least offensive), the secondary functions of the keys are barely able to be read. This isn't a huge deal, though I wish it were otherwise since it's really only those secondary functions that I ever need to look for on the keyboard.* Cord is fixed and non-removable. I would prefer that the board have a make use of a usb cable that plugs in at *both* the board and the computer rather than having it attached to the board. This aids in swapping boards or transporting elsewhere and also helps the user if the cord is somehow damaged.Overall, I'd say that I'm happy with this as a lower cost board for a secondary machine that I don't use as frequently as my primary. I don't game with it, so I can't speak to the effectiveness of it for that application. For typing, though, the board is fine (with the exception of the domed R1 keys, which just aren't to my liking). I'm a new owner, so I cannot speak to the quality of the switches over time or to how well they hold up. The Thermaltake warranty, however, makes me more confident. They feel a little different than their Cherry MX counterparts. I think they require perhaps slightly more force for actuation and the click that they make isn't as high-pitched -- they make more of a "thunk" than a "clack" if that makes sense, maybe like a sound between the Matias Click and the Cherry MX blue?? The tactile feedback is there as is the auditory click that I've come to love. They're different than what I'm used to, but they're fine.For $77, I think that it's a fine buy and would do so again. It would also make a relatively decent introduction to mechanical boards if you didn't want to spend the money on a more costly board simply because someone on the internet told you that mechanical keyboards are better -- I think they are and that they're worth the money, but that's ultimately for you to decide.