Best wireless keyboard for living room (couch) gaming?

[sacto17pete]

Trying to decide which keyboard is the best for couch gaming.. Quality, mechanical, backlights, battery life... So many pros and cons and compromises due to the wireless constraints.. Corsair K63 seems great and has the lapboard option but doesn't have an option to turn the lighting off to save battery life.. Logitech 613 has super long battery life but then has no backlighting at all.. AnnePro seems good too but don't know enough about them... Any thoughts/recommendations? P.S. I am not a competetive online gamer and mostly play single-player FPS/roleplaying games.. What works for you guys?

PS I haven't tried any of these yet... Just searching online

[DonJuanDoja]

My thing is the illumination is usually too bright. Need to turn it way way down so it's not distracting.

I'd make sure you can turn it off or dim it or it could possibly annoy the crap out of you in a dark room while trying to focus on the screen.

Logitech's software is pretty good but no dimming option that I've found, you can change colors and highlight certain keys or turn it off, but couldn't just tone down the brightness like my Razer can... both are wired keyboard though...

To me, keyboards are not compatible with a couch. Also to me, gaming sucks on wireless keyboards and I just don't do it. Same with mice. That's just me though.

[sacto17pete]

Thanks for the input.. I don't have a monitor or computer desk so I am sorta intent on making the living room setup work.. The lapboard option doesn't seem too bad. Maybe I don't need the backlights I suppose..

Also, I hear that the lag isn't nearly as bad as it used to be? Again, as long as it's not terribly noticeable, it shouldn't be an issue as I mostly play single player games

[Monk]

I'm looking to pick up the k63 and lapdog setup myself along with a second asus rog spatha mouse (as in used to it on my man pc), I'm more than happy with my k95 keyboard so I'll be happy to take a chance on the k63 as the backlighting isn't blinding and it seems to have decent battery life.

Only downside is cost ... I won't be getting much change out of £350 ouch.

[sacto17pete]

Yeah.. Part of me thinks that only having a 13-20 hour battery life is crazy short compared to the logitech that lasts for days/weeks, but then there's no backlighting.. kinda sucks. I don't really like the idea of needing to have a "wireless" thing that ends up having to be connected to a wire/docking station charging all the time in order for it to work.

[Monk]

The difference is performance, I use a cheap Logitech k400+ now on my htpc just for browsing and TV duties, the battery will last year's most likely, but it's crap and I'd never want to try gaming on it, the lighting won't affect the charge time by much.

If I go ahead (the price is really off putting) I'll likely use them 'wired' from a pair of usb plugs next to the sofa so they are always on charge, it's how I use my wireless headset with the pc 10-20ft t across the room.

[sacto17pete]

Does it charge just like a typical device like a smart phone or tablet? I suppose that's not so bad.

[Monk]

I'm not 100% sure, but the headphones do, so I see no reason the mouse and keyboard won't, though I am a bit unsure with the Asus mouse as it operates cat a higher performance mode when wired, guess I'll test it at some point before buying a second one, an email to Corsair support should answer this for the both of us I guess.

[sacto17pete]

For sure.. Let me know what you find out! I don't want to fork over the extra $50 for the built-in lapboard though, just gonna paint a nice piece of wood and use my sweet persian rug mousepad haha

[Talby]

Been considering a similar setup - thinking an old shelf rescued from a dying wall unit finished off with a router bit and sanding, the Drevo Calibur[www.amazon.com] and a good-old G602. Should not be so bad for just over a Benjamin note...

Should be good for casual but competitive, maybe - don't really have enough info about bluetooth keyboard response to make a determination about that.

[sacto17pete]

I was looking at those too. Drevo.. or AnnePro. Definitely a casual gamer so sounds good..

[Monk]

Bluetooth tends to have more delay than wireless so I'm not sure how well it would work for gaming.

[Arya]

Originally posted by Monk:

I'm looking to pick up the k63 and lapdog setup myself along with a second asus rog spatha mouse (as in used to it on my man pc), I'm more than happy with my k95 keyboard so I'll be happy to take a chance on the k63 as the backlighting isn't blinding and it seems to have decent battery life.

Only downside is cost ... I won't be getting much change out of £350 ouch.

Why have two Asus Spathas when you can have one Swiftpoint Z?

[Master0fBlunt]

It's not really "Pro" status, but it gets the job done:

Logitech M570
Logitech K400r

I use these two and get on "okay" when I stream my screen to the T.V. You won't have a number pad though. I use rechargable batteries and only have to charge them every month or more, and I never turn them off. You may not really want these for anything really competitive, but for just general gaming it's pretty legit.

[Monk]

Ah the swiftpoint z, from the reviews I've seen its awkward to use, a bit uncomfortable, crazy expensive and lacks the thumb buttons I need as I have limited use of my left hand so things like ducking, melee etc I do with my mouse not the keyboard.

[anrkyuk]

Originally posted by sacto17pete:

What works for you guys?

A NerdyTech Couchmaster with a Mionix Naos 3200 and a Max Blackbird tenkeyless board