The Bloody B820R comes in at the same price point as the B840 did, and generally improves upon it in terms of adding some RGB backlighting control, however limited it may be. Unfortunately, things have progressed so rapidly in the crowded keyboard market that this improvement is not enough to keep end users interested in this over previous keyboard models from the same brand that featured the same switches. Bloody is aware of this, and shortly after I received this sample, they released the B820R with LK2 Red optical switches for those who fancy a lighter linear switch option than the original LK (Black) switches. In fact, they decided they have to continue developing optical switches with the advent of other players in this small niche, to where they announced a new LK3 switch design at E3 2017, with products using those coming shortly.

All of this puts the B820R in a tight spot wherein it is among the last products that makes use of a switch whose successor has already been announced. Bloody's biggest claim to fame have been their optical switches, and so perhaps, they are their own worst enemy here as far as the B820R goes. It also does not help that Tesoro and Gateron have worked on full RGB optical switches with transparent housing, and Tesoro's Excalibur SE Spectrum is fighting for market share at the same price point.

You have slightly better on-board controls here for backlighting, and Bloody does get the benefit of also having a software driver with excellent macro and combo features. It also has an arguably better build quality with an aluminum top cover and doubleshot injected legends. Round 1 goes to Bloody then as far as the more established optical switch keyboard companies in North America go. But when you open up globally, things get harder. Bloody has a challenge here in making their brand name be seriously considered, which is hard enough with the name as it is, but a big way towards that will be aiming for a revamped driver - both hardware- and software-based. As it is, the B820R is a good keyboard that falls short of expectations there.