Well, the question posed on the first page has been answered. A keyboard from 2021 that is priced like a keyboard from 2023 doesn't hold up as well as I'd like, and certainly not as much as i-Rocks would have wanted too either. The i-Rocks K71R is a minor update to the wired-only K71M we saw before that currently sells for $85 on Amazon from i-Rocks and closer to $70 from a few other vendors. This puts a 20-25% increase on the price for the K71R which adds in a battery and 2.4 GHz wireless connectivity but not much more than that. The K71M could at least sell itself with different switch options, a third pink color scheme, and the then-unique aesthetics too. We do get an arguably better switch this time round but seemingly that's the only switch on offer too. There is no hot-swappable switch socket in use which makes the limited switch selection even worse. This hurts compared to the vast majority of keyboards you can get for the same cost, or less, that offer more features now.

The differentiation the K71R has is with the design, the side lighting, and the smart wheel. These are still relevant enough to interest buyers and the wheel remains highly functional and customizable for those who want to do more than just volume control. The side lighting is also vibrant and has its own lighting effects available to choose from using either onboard controls or software drivers. The issue is these effects are separate from those from the LEDs associated with the keys themselves and there is no way to sync them up. The software drivers are also poorly optimized for a modern system and my complaints are unlikely to be resolved too since this is ultimately an older keyboard, even if it wasn't easily available for many people to purchase until recently. Unless you really liked the feature set of the K71M and thought you wanted it to be wireless, I dare say stick with the less expensive i-Rocks K71M or look elsewhere.