Gigaware K26 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
Specification:
- Content Blue Mechanical Switches
- Metallic Surface
- 8 LED Modes
- N-Key Rollover
- 104 Key
- Anti-Ghosting
- Bright Rainbow LEDs
- 1.8 Meter Cable
- Braided/Plastic Covered Cable
- Detachable Wrist Rest
Where to Buy: Cash on Delivery – Yes
Unboxing – Gigaware K26 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
The Gigaware K26 Mechanical Keyboard comes in a rather big box. Here’s a video of a quick unboxing and overview of the Gigaware K26 Mechanical Keyboard.
The packaging overall doesn’t feature or highlight much information about the keyboard. The box is plain and simple with stylized letterings and an image of the actual keyboard.
The back doesn’t say much either too. Instead, the back highlights the main specification of the keyboard and its main features.
The sides of the packaging or the box don’t feature or highlight anything at all. Overall, the packaging is big but you’ll get that feeling that it feels cheap and flimsy.
Opening the box was pretty easy. Doing so reveals that actual keyboard that is covered by another yet cheap looking plastic. It feels cheap too.
The keyboard has two thin foams on each side that holds the keyboard in place and protects it from minor travel damages.
Accessories
The Gigaware K26 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard comes with a detachable wrist rest, one keycap puller, and one quick guide.
And that is pretty much about the content of the box of the K26. Nothing else is included.
Closer Look – Gigaware K26 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
The Gigaware K26 Mechanical Keyboard features a 104 qwerty keyboard layout with FN function. FN key can be used to change the animation of the backlight, the brightness and speed, as well as for shortcut media keys.
The keys are in their default location and there aren’t any macro keys available.
The top middle part of the keyboard has an engraved “Gaming” word.
On the right side where the numpad is located features an odd looking indicator. These indicators light up when you set caps lock, num lock, scroll lock, and gaming.
The cable is braided and has a length of 1.8 meters. Oddly enough, the cable is also inside a plastic tubing. Not sure why but it looks odd and feels odd too.
The USB port is not gold plated but it features a noise cancelling signal for better response time.
Furthermore, the noise cancelling module of the keyboard features a small option for cable management. So if you want to make your cables organized, you can use some cable ties or twist ties to attached to the hole of the noise cancelling module of the keyboard. Very thoughtful.
At the back of the keyboard, there are two adjustable angle feet that don’t feature any rubber feet and two foam feet at the bottom.
The place where you will attach the wrist rest can also be seen at the back but other than that, there isn’t much else worth noting.
Keycaps & Switch
The Gigaware K26 Mechanical Keyboard features a double shot keycap made of ABS material. It also uses cherry MX stem design so you can expect a wide range of third-party keycaps compatibility.
Removing the keycaps reveals the brand and colour of the key switch. For our specific sample of Gigaware K26, the keyboard features blue mechanical switches from Content which is an unfamiliar brand.
We couldn’t find any information about these Content brand mechanical key switches on Google. Although we did read some rumours that the Content brand is a rebranded name of Outemu key switches. But we still aren’t so sure about that either as we really can’t find any information about these key switches.
Dismantling
Like what we already have mentioned above, this keyboard features a metallic surface but we aren’t sure if it’s aluminium or not.
Our specific sample uses a blue PCB board. It’s a real mechanical keyboard given that there is no soft or silicon membrane present after dismantling the keyboard. The soldering and quality are decent but nothing special. A few stains and specks of dirt can be seen if you look closely enough.
One noticeable quality issue is the connection of the cable to the PCB board. You can easily tell that the soldering is poor and the cable is not detachable. Not even removable despite having a 5 pin connection which tends to be removable on most.
Lastly, I noticed that the upper covering of the PCB board, below the metalling surface and above the PCB board, is made of hard plastic.
The plastic comes in two colours and we are not sure what’s the purpose of this. It looks odd to us and the colours are very visible if you peek under the keycaps. The plastics don’t add up to the overall aesthetics and it doesn’t even enhance the luminance of the LEDs.
Performance – Gigaware K26 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
After using this keyboard for a week, we can’t help but notice that odd feeling that you can get from pressing the keys. At first, you will not notice it or if you’re new to the mechanical keyboard, you will not be able to tell. Coming from a Blue Cherry MX keys that I have been using for the last 3 years on a daily basis, the performance of the Blue Content Switches are a hit and a miss.
The actuation point of the Blue Content Switches varies from keys to keys and there is a few inconsistency as well. We did pretty much expect that performance from a keyboard that is designed for entry level. Furthermore, there is no information available online that describes the Content Switches.
N-Key Rollover
This keyboard features an N-Key Rollover setup. Allowing you as many keys as you can press at once without “dropping” any characters and that’s an important feature for MMO gamers. We used the Microsoft Ghosting Test to verify this feature.
LED Modes
The Gigaware K26 mechanical gaming keyboard features 8 different LED animation modes as well as functions to increase or decrease the brightness and speed of a specific animation. It also has an animation after turning it on.
To change the LED animation mode, simple press FN and SL. Hold FN and keep pressing SL to continuously change the LED modes.
Tactile Feedback
Here’s a short video that records the clicky sound and tactile feedback of the keyboard.
Final Thoughts…
Overall, the Gigaware K26 as a mechanical keyboard is definitely an entry level given its price and so with its performance. However, to cut this short, given its price of PHP1800 on LAZADA, we’re not sure if this is even worth considering based on its features, offering, and performance. Right now, as of this writing, there are other better options out there for that price point.
One worth noting is the key switches, we have never heard of the Content brand key switches. Doing a quick google search results to nothing but a mere information that this brand is a rebrand of Outemu without any facts to support the claim. Performance wise, the switches is a hit and miss. Some are able to replicate the feeling of typing on Cherry MX while some have low actuation point that activates the keys with a very minimal press.
Another worth noting is the LED modes. We have seen that other units, despite being the same model, feature different LED modes. Meaning, for example, one keyboard features a circular LED mode while the other one doesn’t have that mode despite being the same model.
We’re not sure why there’s so much inconsistency with this keyboard. It’s like a lottery game for this keyboard. You either get a good one or a bad one at random. Furthermore, we also have seen other units using different key switches such as Outemu, UX, and like ours, Content.
We’re not sure why there are different keys available and it is not stated anywhere that the keyboard is available in these switches. So if you ever buy one of these, you’ll either get either one of the switches randomly.
Where to Buy: Cash on Delivery – Yes
2 Comments
Tecware phantom naman 😀
can you remove the switches without desoldering method?