Redragon K729 Pro

I’m blown away by the quality of this keyboard. For the deep discount I got it, I am extremely happy with it.How does it sound: Peach silent switches are remarkably quiet for a mechanical. And yet, it isn’t silent. Due to the layers of material behind the board, there is still a very satisfying and relatively deep THUD when typing (I type fast and hard…). It’s nice, it’s kind of like you’re looking at and feeling a mechanical keyboard but it doesn’t have any of the click. Someone EQ’d this to the low mids.Looks: I was surprised to see that the Urban Jungle keycaps look WAY better in person than in the product photos. There is a very subtle gradient going light to dark from the function row down to the space row. In strong light it is most apparent. VERY CLEAN. The front-facing shine-through labels are something I’m still getting used to, but I don’t look at my hands to type so I only need to look down now and then to make sure I don’t miss a rare key. LEDs: be aware that all of the built-in color schemes/animations are full rainbow based. If you, like me, prefer a simple monochrome look, do not despair just open the tiny manual. There is a table showing you how to do everything you need by using the Fn key. I now rock a monochrome blue glow under the keys and on the side panels. HOWEVER the battery strip stays a rainbow, which is a little offputting. Not a star-drop offputting.Compatibility and Connectivity: PC/Mac modes for the keyboard and BT/2.4GHZ wifi for connectivity. The wifi dongle is conveniently hiding on the right side panel near the rear. BT works great on my laptop. The BT response is fast enough that I don’t see any compelling reason to switch to wifi.Size: it’s 80%. I didn’t think I’d love it, but I do. I wanted a numpad but this has grown on me. I love having the separate side bar on the right with the arrows and nav keys. I don’t think I could personally go down any further as a main keyboard. I need ins/del/home/end/pgup/pgdown in the normal AT position, and here it is.weight: heavier than it looks! This is densely packed with stuff compared to a cheap commodity board. It has what I would call a nice, balanced heft.

Well, I was initially wow’d by this keyboard. There is a lot to like. The RGB looked cool and the south facing LEDs looked really nice. Plus, the real reason I ordered this keyboard, the key presses were really almost silent! If you want the quietest keyboard around, this is the one for you. But, then, I tried it for some gaming. Sadly, it does not measure up. I found the key pressure unpleasantly firm. But, the main drawback was that the keys presses had a tendency to stick (key press stayed on briefly after I released the key) or miss the press entirely. Interestingly, I did not see this when typing messages and using for productivity. Just gaming. I initially thought that maybe the keys needed “breaking in” as it seemed that this effect reduced after some usage. But then I noticed that the sticking/skipping effect during gaming got more intense after the keyboard sat for a while unused. Not sure what is going on with this but the sticking/skipping, even though only occasional, makes it unsuitable for demanding gaming.

My current keyboard is very old, so I decided to replace it with a TKL version. At the moment, there aren’t many inexpensive TKL keyboards available on Amazon, so the Redragon K729 PRO looked quite promising.Pros- Excellent connectivity: USB, Bluetooth, and 2.4 GHz wireless. I’ve had no connection issues at all across modes.- Separate mechanical switch Windows/Mac.- Dedicated volume knob: Allows quick volume adjustment or mute. Very handy, and I use it all the time.- Silent switches included: Comes with custom silent switches installed, plus 5 extras in the box. They aren’t completely silent, but they’re very good overall. Typing feels smooth and pleasant.Cons- Do not wake up computer from the sleep when connected to Bluetooth, even it is on the USB cable at the same time to charge.- Unnecessary top lip: The keyboard has a large empty area at the top just to house the knob and the Redragon logo. Why? This feels like pure vanity. The knob could easily be placed on the right side, replacing the mostly useless Print Screen / Scroll Lock / Pause keys.- Color mismatch: Based on the product photos, I expected the “Concrete Jungle” frame to be black, but it’s actually dark gray.- Keycaps are terrible, they use a front-printed, shine-through design that I really dislike.It’s nearly impossible to see the legends without turning on RGB, and even then they’re still hard to read. I expected this and replaced the keycaps immediately with low-profile ones I bought separately — now it looks great.- Awful spacebar stabilizers: The spacebar rattles and makes a loud clicking sound. Easily the weakest part of the typing experience.- Custom software, that is pretty limited. There’s no support for QMK/VIA. Windows warns about installing unsigned software, which is concerning, especially since it requires administrator permissions.- Overly aggressive RGB lighting: Brightness levels are very limited, and even the minimum brightness is too bright for my taste. The south-facing LEDs shine directly into your eyes. If you want a Christmas decoration, it’s fine — but for an office keyboard, it’s too much.- RGB cannot be fully turned off: Even using the software, RGB lighting cannot be disabled completely. The light bar above the arrow keys is always on (Redragon customer service confirmed that). When connected via USB, the light bar starts pulsing in different colors (likely battery charging indication). Not everyone buys this keyboard for gaming, I need a quiet mechanical keyboard for work, and this lighting is extremely distracting. Yes, black electrical tape solves the problem, but that’s embarrassing for a finished product.- Caps Lock / Scroll Lock indicators: The keyboard has no dedicated indicator LEDs, so it uses RGB lighting on the keys to show their status. This lighting also cannot be turned off.VerdictFor the sale price I paid, the keyboard isn’t terrible. After some modifications, especially replacing the keycaps, it’s usable. I still have major issues with the RGB lighting and hope Redragon fixes this in future software updates. That said, I cannot recommend this keyboard, especially at full price. Too many design decisions feel careless, and the lighting implementation alone makes it a poor choice for professional or office use, cannot say about gamers.

Love it. Works great!