Redragon is a gaming company that is no stranger to making budget keyboards that still give consumers a mechanical feel. The Redragon K617 Fizz is a 60% mechanical keyboard that provides enjoyable features like RGB lighting and a compact size.
Today we will take a look at the Redragon K617 Fizz to see if it should be the board to start your gaming setup.
The Verdict
The Redragon K617 Fizz is a budget 60% keyboard that offers an interesting design and a mechanical experience without breaking the bank. You get features like a hotswappable PCB and RGB lighting.
You won’t find features that you might find on more premium keyboards like Bluetooth or an aluminum case but the K617 beats much of the competition on the quality of the lighting and the sound of the keyboard. Unfortunately you do not get any switch options and features like hotswap are not very well executed.
If you want an interesting design, compact footprint, and a mechanical feel without breaking the bank, the K617 Fizz is a solid option to consider.
In The Box
Besides the keyboard, Redragon gives you a variety of accessories to improve your experience with this keyboard.
USB-C Cable: You get a rubberized cable with a 90-degree angle so it can be nicely plugged into the side-mounted port.
Keycap Puller: If you ever want to change the keycaps on your board, a plastic puller is included to easily take them off. This puller is not anything special but does the job.
Switch Puller: Along with the keycap puller, a metal switch puller is included so you can replace the switches at any time.
Extra Switches: If any switch ever breaks, four extra switches are included.
Sticker and Documentation: You are given a user manual to help you get started with the board as well as a sticker with the Redragon logo.
Overall everything is packed quite nicely and it is good to see that Redragon gives you extras to go along with the board.
Build Quality
The Redragon K617 offers an all-plastic construction with a mix of either pink and white or white and grey. The board is on the lighter side at about 0.43 Kg (0.95 lbs). The low weight with the small footprint makes the K617 a very portable keyboard if you want to bring your board around with you.
The K617 has a slight angle to improve the comfort of the board. If you would like more angle though on the bottom of the board there are two rubberized flip-out feet. Also on the bottom are two additional rubber feet. This means the board shouldn’t move around while you are gaming.
The board uses a side-mounted USB-C connection. This is a downside if you care about cable management but at least the included cable has a 90-degree angle.
You won’t get a super strong board like you would with more premium aluminum boards but I considering the price point the build lines up with my expectations.
The Keycaps
Redragon’s K617 Fizz comes with a set of double-shot ABS keycaps with shine-through legends. The keycaps are in the OEM profile. OEM profile is common with prebuilt keyboards. They are sculpted to make typing more comfortable than with something like a laptop keyboard.
The fact that the keycaps are made of ABS means that they may be more prone to developing shine over time but they seem to handle it a bit better than other keyboards I have used. They are a slight improvement over the keycaps on their older keyboards like the K552.
The keycaps let in quite a lot of light through however this is paired with a font that does not look very good. The legends have a gamery look to them and to go along with that don’t look very consistent. However, this is all personal preference so if the gamery font is actually something that you do like then these keycaps are a decent option considering the price of the board.
The Switches and Stabilizers
The Redragon K617 comes with Redragon’s own red switches. They are linear switches giving them a smooth travel. The actuation force is quite light like other red switches. The switches don’t provide the best experience in the world but at this price they match the competition. If this is your first mechanical keyboard then you will have a pleasant experience with this board.
Typically on budget mechanical keyboards the stabilizers are quite bad but I was pleasantly surprised with the stabs on the K617. The stabs come with some grease on the wires and as a result the spacebar actually has a decent sound. The rattle and ticking of many gaming keyboards is not as bad of an issue here.
After lubing the stabilizers they all sounded pretty decent and did not feel very scratchy. The only issue is that some of the stabilizers had a sluggish feeling when pressing them all the way down.
Hotswap PCB
A feature that has grown especially popular in the last few years is hotswappable PCBs. What this means is that you can swap the switches out of their sockets and replace them with different switches without needing to do any soldering. You can swap out switches in just seconds.
The K617 supports 3-pin switches and is north-facing. This means that the board supports certain switches that only have 3 points of contact with the PCB rather than 5. The fact that this board has north-facing sockets means that there could be some interference with Cherry Profile keycaps.
Unfortunately, I did have issues with switches seating perfectly in the plate unless they were Redragon or Outemu switches. Some switches like Kailh BOX switches seem to not fit very well in the keyboard. This is a result of the LEDs protruding rather than being flush with the PCB.
It is nice that the K617 has hotwap support, especially at this price, but it only really is good if you want to want to mod your stabilizers or a broken switch needs replacing. If you are looking for a cheap keyboard to try out different switches then we cannot recommend the K617 for you.
RGB Backlighting and Software
The Redragon K617 Fizz provides per-key RGB lighting. This can be controlled both onboard or more in-depth with their software. The lighting is quite vibrant and honestly, I have no complaints. This is probably assisted by the fact that the plate is white so it reflects the lighting better.
On the keyboard, you can change the lighting effects, brightness, and speed. With their software, you have much more control over the keyboard. Redragon’s software allows you to control lighting, change mappings, and add macros. I have used better software on keyboards but it does the job. Changes made to the lighting of the board will save to the board so they will work even if you use multiple computers.
The software looks like it was designed to look gamery and as a result, it doesn’t properly take up a full window. Furthermore, it does not look HD for some reason. The function of the software might do the job but the interface certainly brings down the experience. Overall the lighting is well executed but I wish there were some updates made to the software.
Conclusion
For the price, Redragon delivers a decent option if you are looking to get a budget mechanical keyboard. You don’t get many features like a scroll wheel, Bluetooth, or a metal build but the board does the job. The only big feature that the board does have is a hotswappable PCB but the PCB doesn’t have great compatibility with other switches.
The poor interface of the software and the gamery-looking keycaps also slightly take away from the experience. However for most people who are just looking to get a compact mechanical keyboard, this board is a decent option to consider. This is especially the case because the stock sound is actually pretty decent.
Thanks for reading and if you would like to see more keyboard content check out the sound tests on my YouTube channel or some other keeb reviews.
The Tech Frontier 
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