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Our favorite mechanical keyboards
By Kimber Streams This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, Wirecutter and Engadget may earn affiliate commission. Read the full guide to mechanical keyboards. If you spend most of your day typing or coding, a mechanical keyboard is a worthwhile upgrade over a cheaper, less comfortable keyboard. After spending months testing 19 of the most promising options, we found that the Varmilo VA87M is the best tenkeyless mechanical keyboard thanks to its excellent build quality and compact, minimalist design. It's also available with a ton of switch options and colorful high-quality keycaps to match your preference. The Varmilo VA87M is available with many different switch types, including Cherry MX Clear, MX Brown, MX Blue, MX Black, MX Red, and more. If you don't already know what switches you like, we recommend Cherry MX Brown, because they offer a satisfying tactile bump without making too much noise for a shared space. We also love that the VA87M is available with a variety of fun keycap sets and matching cases. It comes with a removable Mini-USB cable and a wire keycap puller, and it works on Windows and Mac. The VA87M isn't fully programmable, but it does have clearly labeled media keys, and you can customize a couple of functions. The VA87M typically costs around $130—about average for a great mechanical keyboard—though some switch types, keycap sets, and backlight options cost a bit extra. If the Varmilo VA87M isn't available, we recommend the Leopold FC750R. It has equally excellent build quality and a similarly compact, minimalist tenkeyless design, and it comes in all the most popular switch types. It's available with a few different tasteful, high-quality keycap sets, though it doesn't provide as much variety as the VA87M and has no backlight options. Like the Varmilo, this Leopold model has a removable Mini-USB cable and works on both Windows and Mac. But the FC750R's media keys aren't labeled on the keycaps (or explained in the manual), so you'll have to memorize them. The FC750R typically costs around $120, though some switch options cost an additional $5. Our top picks are well worth the cost because you'll use your keyboard every day for years, but if you're on a tighter budget, get the iKBC CD87. This tenkeyless keyboard offers build quality nearly as good as that of keyboards twice the price, as well as PBT keycaps and the most popular Cherry MX switch options—both rarities for a keyboard under $100. Its media keys require two hands to activate and aren't clearly labeled, its cable isn't removable, and it lacks stylish keycap options and a backlight, but the CD87 is usually around $50 cheaper than the Varmilo VA87M and Leopold FC750R. If you want a wireless mechanical keyboard, we recommend the tenkeyless iKBC CD87 BT. It's identical to our budget pick in build quality and size, it comes with the most popular switches, and it can pair with up to four devices via Bluetooth or connect via its removable USB-C cable. Unlike on the regular CD87, its volume keys are labeled and accessible with one hand, and it has DIP switches to customize the behavior of certain keys. At around $120 typically, it's reasonably priced for a Bluetooth mechanical keyboard, too. Unfortunately, availability is an issue with most great mechanical keyboards. Most are made in Taiwan or China and shipped to the United States in batches to be sold by specialty retailers such as MechanicalKeyboards.com. If our picks aren't available in the switches you want or with the keycaps you want, you can preorder at MechanicalKeyboards.com, keep an eye on that seller's incoming-shipments page, or set availability alerts on Amazon using a price tracker such as CamelCamelCamel or Keepa. We tested our picks against more readily available options and found that these models were of significantly higher quality and worth the effort to track down, but if you can't wait that long for a new keyboard, take a look at the other great options we found during testing.
