Performance

The Bloody B820R supports N-key rollover USB out of the box, which tested successfully using Aqua's test. Switch Hitter also confirmed no chatter with these keys.


When you first connect the keyboard to a Windows PC without CUE up and running, the keyboard lights up in a demo mode which then changes to a static RGB rainbow (different colors per row) at 100% brightness. The on-board brightness control key allows for steps of 0/25/50/75/100 %, and you can choose between multiple static color effects by using the Fn + left/right arrow keys, which again include all the red, green, and blue colors via on-board controls. Fn + F12 further provides some preset effects, including some RGB backlit options. Lighting is uniform at 100%, and the legends light up well.












There are multiple animation effects as we saw before, some of which can be triggered on-board without the driver being present, while others need the driver to be installed and open. The variations include breathing modes, wave modes, a fairly unique "Swallow" mode (after the bird), and a few reactive typing modes. I have demonstrated some of these in action in the videos above, with the effect names taken based on how Bloody refers to them for ease of comparison. The same story applies here as well - compared to the competition, who do have more resources and manpower focusing on making their software driver more complex and powerful for RGB keyboard backlighting, this feels a year or two behind.


As always, the sound of a keyboard is based on more than just the switch type. So when comparing sound clips, consider the keyboard as a whole. In this case, I have provided above an example sound clip of me typing on the Bloody B820R sample at ~90 WPM. For context, you can find sound clips from other keyboards here, including those with tactile and clicky switches. I did bottom out here, although you can definitely prevent that with practice. As with other LK switches, these have an actuation distance of 1.5 mm, a total travel distance of 3 mm, and an actuation force of 55 g, making them slightly heavier relative to the Cherry MX Blue switch in terms of necessary force, but with a faster actuation and rebound time. Bloody claims the fastest response times, but so does nearly everyone else now, including other players in the optical switch market, so I continue to take these with a grain of salt. There are some inherent advantages they have over fully mechanical switches, but with Cherry, Kailh, and others getting around to making switches that actuate at 0.9-1.2 mm, things are close enough to where placebo is a factor. In practice, these switches are very uniform with my tension gauge reporting an average actuation force of 55.08 g across twenty measured keys, and I did not notice any abnormalities with bottoming out either.

I did test the spill resistance as well. While gaming on the keyboard, I "accidentally" sprayed ~15 mL of water on the keyboard through a watering can, and there were no issues at all. The water collected mostly on the side of the keyboard's top cover and then navigated its way down through the channels onto the towel I had below the keyboard. It is definitely not waterproof, but can save you in a pinch.