Drop CTRL High-Profile Mechanical Keyboard (Barebones)

Bought because I wanted an aluminum-case mechanical keyboard that wouldn't ship from China and take a few months to get here. I bought used, at a discount, which really helps my value-for-money rating, since this is QUITE expensive at full price. Overall a little pricey (its what you expect from Drop) but a great board and case nonetheless. It even comes with some foam inside of the case, which isn't the best foam, but it works. I would buy this again, especially if it is going for a lower price (PLEASE dont spend $270 on this board), as it is a highly available Aluminum case and hot-swap PCB combo, if you want another option for a TKL with aluminum case check out the Glorious GMMK Pro (I would have chosen that if I liked the format of their keyboard better. it is only slightly less for about the same keyboard) For rebinds I just use Auto Hot Key, since I don't need anything crazy, and AHK is a very powerful language. I do believe that Drop supports flashing the firmware for this keyboard, however. It should be noted however, this board doesn't come with stabilizers (the one I got) and they are clip-on stabilizers. So buy that ahead of time if you want to use any of your bigger keys without significant wobble.

I purchased the Drop CTRL with the Kailh White Box switches. I love everything about this board, but I'll try to be unbias in this review. For reference, I own the Anne Pro2 60% (Cherry Red), HyperX Alloy Origin TKL (HyperX Aqua), DAS Keyboard Professional (Cherry Brown), and the Drop CTRL (Kailh White Box). This is my favorite board of them all. Pros - 1. Heavy - this thing will not budge when you rest your wrists on it. 2. High Profile - I know some people don't like this, but high profile keyboards allow me my fastest typing speeds. 3. Quality - there is no key wiggle, the aluminum frame is gorgeous, the key caps that came with the board are of outstanding quality, the lighting is very bright 4. USB-C port on both sides of the board so it can be plugged in which ever you prefer Cons - 1. Cost, cost, cost - this is the most expensive board I've ever bought, but imo it is worth it.

I'll explain the headline in a minute, but first - a little background about yours truly. I'm not a gamer, just a huge fan of tactile mechanical keyboards since the late 80s. Not a hobbyist either, I don't have "keebs in rotation" or shelves full of switches and stabs. I buy or build a keyboard, then I work on it till it's irreparable. So when my trusty old Matias gave up the ghost, I was facing a choice: get another Matias, or buy/build something custom. And after a few unsuccessful attempts at liking the other keyboards, I've finally arrived at Drop CTRL. Here are my considerations: * Hot swap is a must, as I tend to like some rather unorthodox switches (currently typing it on Box Navies). * North facing backlight to illuminate the legends on keycaps instead of shining into my eyes. * Conservatively colored shine-through caps. * Per-key illumination control. I absolutely don't care for "breathing", "waves" and other glittery effects every single RGB keyboard has by default. I don't drop acid, and I don't care for horny peacocks, so rainbow it all you want for as long as there's an "off" switch. * Solid build. * Programmability. This keyboard ticks all of the above, and then some. However, there are some quirks you should be aware of. For me personally, they are either pluses, or I don't care for them, but YMMV. * First of all, this thing is extremely dense and heavy. And I mean, H E A V Y. If for whatever reason you've to travel with your keyboard, it might be a "con". It could also lead to destruction of caps and/or switches if you drop it and it lands in compliance with Finagle's Law. * If you've researched CTRL at all, you probably saw that they come with magnetic snap-on risers. That only applies to the low profile CTRL, not this one - it's propped up by default. Sadly, the side effect of it is, you've to rely on infamous 6-legged design for stability. Hopefully your desk is flat! (if not, just pluck 2 rubber feet in the middle of CTRL). * This is a V1, so it doesn't come with their latest stabilizers or pre-packed with foam. And it's for 3-pin switches only. BUT it doesn't require an OEM app, and it has a per-key LED control (yup, V2 is not really an upgrade). * Programmatic support is all over the place: Drop's web configurator has per-key RGB, layouts and layers, but no macros; VIA has everything but per-key RGB, and "proper" QMK requires coding skills that most of y'all don't possess. AFAIK there's no support for CTRL in VIAL (and probably won't be), although you can run VIAL with VIA firmware (and have VIA limitations). * This thing is built like a Bentley, but it's hollow on the inside and sounds like a KIA. Foam it up right away (DIY, or get a laser cut set from Drop). While at it, change the stabs to Drop's "phantom" ones, or get one of the (slightly) cheaper plate mount upgrades here on Amazon. * If you prefer a white backlight and don't like tinkering with RGB values, get a keyboard with a white backlight, not RGB. Getting a proper white on _any_ RGB keyboard is a royal pain, and keeping it white while adjusting its brightness is pretty much impossible. RGB backlight is not designed to be color consistent. ...I'd like to take a pause and address the "Drop controversy". I'm out of the loop here, but it seems that once upon a time Drop somehow infringed on some open source project, which is worse than molesting a puppy. Ever since, everything Drop related gets brigaged, and Drop keyboards tend to be frowned upon in the "proper" mechanical keyboard communities. I don't care, but if your ultimate goal is to be a cool kid - stay away from Drop. Lastly, a few pointers on how to set this thing up. First of all, do the foam & stab mods. Change switches if you like. Keep the caps, they are perfect and outrageously stylish. Lastly, let's set the backlight; I'll share my own recipe, as it's a good starting point IMO. 1. Register an account on Drop's website. It will let you save editable versions of Keyboard Configurator, not just compiled firmware. 2. Get comfortable playing with the aforementioned configurator and flashing the firmware. Yes, I've tried QMK&VIA as well, and settled with Drop's web configurator, as it allows for a per-key lighting settings. 3. I call my color scheme "ice and honey", and it's as close to the "real" white as you'll probably get. Open the "LEDS" tab and create 3 custom colors: #ff8800 (honey), #ccdd55 (ice) and #0a0000 (lava). On your computer screen they'll look rather nasty... As I've said earlier, RGB backlight has nothing to do with screen colors. Bear with me. 3. Layer 0: double click anywhere to select all, then choose "ice" color from the palette. Optionally, select all the keys that have black caps on your keyboard and assign "honey" color to them. Then, double click on the bottom panel to select all LEDs under the keyboard and assign 10 (off) to them. 4. Layer 1: I've disabled (in KEYMAP tab) all default buttons except WSX for LED control, B for bootloader, and N for rollover, plus the PrtSc/Ins/Del/Home/End/PgUp/PgDn cluster for media controls. 5. Layer 1, LEDS tab: disable everything, then select only the buttons that have assigned functions and color code them to taste. Use stock colors, or even color effects. Don't forget to make Fn glow too! Lastly, in a bottom tab of Layer 1, select all and assign our "lava" color. Compile, flash, and enjoy! PS: Fun project for bilingual readers... A modifier button can be momentary (default Fn behavior) or a toggle. So assign the useless (IMO) "Menu" button to toggle, lessay, Layer 2, create that layer and map it in another language. Perhaps create some extra awesome color scheme for it, too. Don't forget an exit for your toggle!... Once compiled and flashed, your keyboard will be bilingual (or tri, octo, whatever) without any software! PPS: Oh, one last thing... Before buying, I saw some comments on the interwebz that CTRL is power hungry and needs a powered USB hub, or it won't power up. I don't know what these people were plugging into, a vape pen maybe? I've tried my CTRL with Macbook Air, regular PC, Mac Mini and a few Chromebooks - it ran flawlessly. No problem with coiled cords and "aviator" connectors either. Edit/PPPS: I am running this board with Box Navies, fully foamed with Drop's OEM kit. Note that the stem color will be adding color to your backlight, and odd shapes (in case of Box switches) absolutely will cash shadows on shine-through legends. But since you've managed to read all the way to the end, I've to reward ya... Here's my new "ice" color with much lower brightness to match the "honey" and a slight tint adjustment to be more "icy" and less white: #667722. Enjoy!

This is my second Drop CTRL deep dish keyboard to purchase. I see no quality difference between the black and silver models, both are a very high-end product. I pair each these bare bones boards with a set of drop+invyr holy panda switches and Matt30 key caps. This is a very high quality board with fully programmable firmware to suit any possible layout and illumination setup one would want. Be sure to use Drop’s web tools for this purpose. Living in the barrio here in Houston, I find extra security in wielding these boards which are well suited for home defense applications should the need arise.

Ultimately I had two QC issues with these boards (both the alt and ctrl high profile varients). One I purchased here and the other from Drop directly. Both of my boards had ghosting on some keys and eventually some of those became totally unresponsive. The design and feel of the board is premium, but if you can't use it the build and feel is irrelevant... I do have friends who've purchased these same keyboards and didn't have my issues so it's not always going to be that way! I gave this product 3 stars because it has great potential and I want them to keep making more and improve upon it. Also the customer support for Drop has been some of the best I've experienced in many years of tech purchases. Rest assured that if you do buy one and it has any issues they will at a minimum replace it for you.

Bought the barebones variant for my work from home set up. After getting it set up, performing a few basic modifications, and installing my switches and keycaps, the keyboard is amazing. I had previously heard of this keyboard having issues with repeated keypresses but after using this for a few weeks I have not encountered this issue so it appears to have been resolved. Pros: - High quality, thick, aluminum frame. - RGB looks great - Multiple USB-C ports to use depending on desk set up - Hot swappable PCB (I hate sodering) Cons: - Expensive - Stock stabilizers rattle a lot (I swapped mine with authentic cherry stabilizers which have been great) - RGB settings reset each time the keyboard is plugged in; I have heard there is firmware mods that can fix this so I will be looking into that. Overall, the keyboard is amazing and I do not imagine needing another one for quite some time.

I opened the package and it seems like someone used it already. The spacebar switch and 2 other switches doesn't register when I press it. I expected a new product when paying a premium price for this. I'll be returning this back and stick to my cheaper TKL keyboard for now.

Don't get me wrong, this is still a step up depending on where you are coming from, but there are better options at this price range for custom mech boards. The orientation of the switches is a negative, along with a power hungry design, and not having a QMK profile outside of mapping your board on Drop's own website. Also, a bitter taste was left when I found that Amazon had stock before preorders by customer made directly from Drop's site. If you are outside of U.S., check here so you dont get the chance of paying duties since its already... here. Stabs like other boards do need work (clipping, lubing, band aid mod).

Came used... keycaps smudged, no feet included. Any static will power off the board. Unplug/plug-in. Move your feet while not touching your keyboard? Power down. I'll be returning it when I can pick up a replacement. It's a really nice board, but powering off in the middle of gaming is not acceptable.

Three of the hot swap sockets did not work. Had to return it because of this. For the price point this seems lazy. Aside from that the construction was quite nice, LED's were very bright and colorful.