i-Rocks Golem Series K50 Keyboard Review

i-Rocks Golem Series K50 Keyboard Review

Manufacturer: i-Rocks
UK price (as reviewed): £35.68(inc VAT)
US price (as reviewed):N/A

The last few years have seen mechanical keyboards based on Cherry MX switches all but dominate the gaming market. Membrane keyboards are now all but resigned to the budget end of the market and there are few other options to choose from.

A couple of manufacturers have tested the waters with their own mechanical switches - Logitech for example has released a number of keyboards, often with noise reduction in mind, but with varying success. So where do you turn if mechanical keyboards are either too expensive or too noisy? Maybe you just don't like the feel? Thankfully, i-Rocks has come up with something very interesting.


The Golem Series K50, which retails for a very reasonable £36, uses a raised scissor switch structure to offer full height keys and a typical amount of travel. Scissor switches are of course used in many low profile laptop keyboards but Razer has flirted with them on full size keyboards too. The difference with the K50, though, is that unlike Razer's effort with the DeathStalker, its keys are full size, while the DeathStalker's were low profile, which lead to it having limited appeal.


Before we get to the keys themselves, lets talk a bit about the keyboard. It's essentially a limited frills product; there are no USB ports, volume dials or macro keys and no wrist rest either. However, it does include a single-level red/orange backlight that can be switched off and which is also thankfully just about the right brightness to be useful in both low light and total darkness.


The USB cable isn't braided, but there are at least several clip-in channels to fix its exit from the top of the keyboard to the left, centre or right. There are single level height adjustment legs, and these are possibly a bit too high for our liking; the author usually uses these religiously, but thankfully laying flat, the K50's slight slant is enough for comfortable typing.


The chassis itself isn't metal-clad like some of its mechanical and more expensive competitors but at less than £40 we'd be amazed if i-Rocks had included any metal at all. As it stands, the chassis is very rigid indeed, despite being made entirely from plastic.