9 Month review, used daily for gaming and typing.

Pros:
- Keycaps feel nice, great for typing and games.
- Letters are nice and legible.
- Sturdy aluminum frame.
- 75%.
- RGB.

Cons:
- Expensive. (also a $20 price hike just for some LEDs is ridiculous)
- Keycap lettering is not transparent on RGB. (Feels like a design choice because of the "retro" style, however at $160 USD there should at least be an option
for semi-transparent keycaps)
- Micro USB port wiggles/loose, can lose connection if moving keyboard. Feels shoddy. A keyboard for this price point should have Type-C or at least Type-A.
- Documentation is poor, changing settings is a pain and unintuitive, some of the directions are just wrong. Took a lot of fiddling to get a color settings the
way I liked. This could be fixed easily by proper instructions.
- Nearly impossible to find replacement keycaps.

Despite its flaws it's still my favorite keyboard to use, nothing has broken in the 9 months I have owned it. (which is what you would expect)

I really wouldn't trust the micro-USB port to last very long if you have to do "insertion cycles" with it often for travel or whatever.

This keyboard should cost half as much for what it provides. It has RGB backlights, but the keycaps are opaque. The programming portion of the manual is often incorrect, so I had to learn how to do some of the functionality from youtube videos. Its layer and programming status lights are LEDs that are awkwardly placed under the caps lock and space bar. For the price I'd expect USB C, but it's micro B.

On my unit, the left shift and backspace keys sometimes were sticky when pressed down. YMMV

In short, for the price I expected a premium keyboard experience, but didn't get one.

Top notch keyboard. Hits all the marks for build quality: anodized aluminium chassis, removable metal feet, switches mounted to a steel plate that isn't recessed which means easier cleaning, high quality dye sub PBT PSA keycaps, good stabilizers. The RGB LED quality is typical for computer components so you can't get the purest whites, but it is programmable and has good LED modes. Very nice compact layout too. This replaced my Drop CTRL keyboard and is far better.

So, this was my first foray into a proper mechanical keyboard. I've owned a razer Blackwidow for about 5 years up until the point that I bought this, and was looking for a board with more personality and higher build quality. I initially purchased this board to have silent red switches, but because of the constant push-backs regarding wait times for the stock to come in, I ended up using Cherry MX Blues. I'll say first and foremost that the build quality is excellent in my novice opinion, with the case being all aluminum it adds a nice weight and sturdiness for typing. The RGB instructions are a bit hard to understand, but they may have just been me. Also, the micro-USB included with my keyboard never worked, so I have to take points off regarding that. Overall, for this being my first proper MK as well as being my first tenkeyless it took a while to get used to the keys, but after that, period I have come to love this keyboard.
Plus the accent keys look very nice when installed on the board. Overall I would give this product and experience a 4/5

I've never been happier with a keyboard in my life. I can't stop typing just for the fun of it. The layout is just right; unlike most 60% keyboards I'm not finding myself routinely using layers or function keys. Its 2 inches smaller than most TLKs with the same full-sized keys. The manual was a bit lacking, and while the RBG exists, I haven't figured out how to configure it yet. The built quality is very satisfactory, and the tiny bezel is most appreciated. My last keyboard was a terrible membrane junker that came with a pre-built machine and my kiddos had all of the good boards. My mouse is about 5 inches closer to my home row than before which does wonders for my shoulder and neck. The bonus caps are fun. The fat escape key is a WINNER.

Buying from MechanicalKeyboards.com is an experience I would repeat in a heartbeat, and I love that I got this for $99 as a return. So happy!

Keyboard arrived today, getting used to the silent black switches which will be great in my meetings and also the layout, think its pretty interesting that you get free keycaps but no keycap puller. Other wise very happy with my purchase. Guess I need a key puller and some shine through caps now .

As a daily mac user it is more difficult to find a mech on par with those that are made for the PC, but as far as prebuilts go this one has exceeded my expectations. With a quick firmware update and a modification still to the option and command button in system preferences it works seamlessly with my mac.

The build quality is exceptional for the price point, and for me personally this size is exactly what I am looking for. Both for gaming and writing I need arrow keys and having them not hidden within layers it wonderful especially since they don't add to the foot print of of the keyboard.

The lack of decent manual and key puller does not warrant a star down to me for there are plenty of resources online that could out inform any manual and investing just a couple bucks into the right, durable, key puller is really no sweat at all after spending almost 200 on a keyboard.

The design is clean and chic. It combines styling elements of the original MAC/PC keyboards while upgrading them into a contemporary composition without pushing into what I feel is the gaudy territory of brands like Corsair or certain Ducky products, all the while not reducing itself to the office vanilla utilitarianism of something like a DAS.

Considering even buying a second one with silent switched (although writing my thesis with the Blues is a dream) for work and when around others.

IMO the best Mac Mech, and one of the top contenders for pc boards in its size class.

Love the keyboard. Perfect for work, now I just need a matching numpad and its the perfect setup for what I need it to do.
Loved how fast it got here on standard shipping. Its been a wonderful experience working with the guys here.

Very nice keyboard, one of my favorites. I own several 60-80% mechanical keyboards of different brands - the thing that I appreciate about the Vortex Race 3 the most is that they have fit TKL into almost the size of a 60% format. I have an Anne Pro II, which is a true 60%, and it is not much smaller than this keyboard. I also have a Ducky One 2, which is a true TKL, and it is much larger than the Race 3. The other great thing about the Race 3 is the key caps, I love the feel and the curve that they have. Sadly this review was typed on my Anne Pro II, but not because I like it more than the Race 3.

This keyboard is fantastic. Very sturdy and everything I wanted in mech keyboard. But, I wanted to leave a review for the service I received at mechanicalkeyboards.com. They were fantastic, responses were very quick, and they even accommodated my preferred shipping method during the pandemic.

The keyboard itself is great. But if you want to program any of the LED functions, good luck. I would highly suggest reading the "instructions" from the manufacturers website before buying. Or just buy the non LED version and save yourself the hassle of programming this boards LEDs.

Possibly the finest keyboard I have ever used. Everything about it exudes class and functionality, and if you're like me this is the literal perfect marriage of the utility of a TKL into the package of a 60% (well, more like 65%, but it's fantastic nonetheless). The RGB lighting is beautiful and customizable (though I personally don't mind the lack of shine-through keycaps). The switches are perfect and it feels wonderful to game and type on (I chose Cherry MX Silent Reds, but I have been typing on reds for years so I'm used to linear typing). In terms of aesthetic it is profoundly clean, recalling more than anything else the true purity of the classic Mac keyboard. The added solid-color keycaps are fantastic too, giving off a retro vibe, although I've opted to leave them off and go fully monochrome.

The one star off is for a few reasons:
* No key puller included, makes no sense when such fine swappable keycaps are packed with the board
* Not sure why Home and End are separated by two keys on the right side of the board, this is more of a personal OCD gripe though
* Manual doesn't come included, and the one you find online is terrible and actually refers you to another board's manual. If this is your first all-hardware mechanical keyboard with complex lighting, you will be a bit lost amidst the minimal information and poor translations. If you don't know the entire glossary of mech terms already (say you're coming from Corsair or something mainstream), you're screwed and left to search through online tutorials
* Weird rattling sound on certain keys, particularly backspace, although the actuation is still fine, just sounds different than all the other keys

All told I don't think you'll find a better board that comes pre-assembled.

A truly epic keyboard. It's really the only one I've ever seen that's a TKL/75% in a 60% form factor. Before this I was looking at the happy hacking keyboard. I like the colored keys and you're starting to see more keycap sets have some of the 1.5u keys that are on here if you want to swap. Plus there's no software, it's all hardware and super easy to reset. No regrets, I have the regular for work with a grey mx master 3 and RGB one for play with the Xtfy M4 Retro.

Great keyboard, compact and feels amazing to type on.

Good for low profile lover like me.
Only regret is connection is not USB Type C.

This keyboard is very compact. As a consumer with relatively little desk space, I wanted a mechanical keyboard that had separate arrow keys and a design that looked nice. This keyboard fits all of my requirements, and it also has RGB LED lighting.

I loved the keyboard, but I wanted to ask if there is a version with leter "�"

After playing on this and my Ducky One 2 Mini back and forth for about a week they feel about the same but I can say I slightly prefer the Ducky because it is so darn comfortable to play on. This thing is lightning fast with Mx silvers and the DSA keycaps. I absolutely love the fact you have an 80% keyboard for the size of almost a 60%. The pre-programmed function keys are fantastic and literally make this thing plug and play. The RGB lighting instructions need to be relooked at and I really don't like the fact that the feet on this thing are static and have to be taken on and off by screwdriver. The DSA keycaps took some getting used to for me. 4 stars due to the feet stands and the RGB instructions being wonky but it does not take away from how well this keyboard performs, The price is a bit much but I think it is due to the brushed aluminum base.

This is the perfect 75% keyboard if you are looking for one. I have been using it for a few weeks now and love it. The only two things I dislike about it are the micro USB cable it comes with (I prefer braided) and that there is no key cap puller included.

Upon receiving the keyboard, the contents of the box are very straight-forward. I would have liked to see a keycap remover because the keyboard comes with additional keycaps but that certainly isn't a deal breaker. For the price-point, the keyboard is extremely high quality, has a nice weight, and with Cherry MX Blue switches, gives a very pleasing typing experience. I haven't had any connectivity issues, all of the RGB lighting and the switches seem to work perfectly. BE WARNED, the keyboard does not come with a manual so you will need to find the PDF file on VortexGear's website.