Redemption time for Redragon? I would say so! It appears the device-specific software drivers that result in the lack of a unified experience carry over throughout, with my experience varying drastically from one Redragon keyboard to another. With the K596 Vishnu, the company offers an interesting variant of the tenkeyless form factor, which typically is cut down to just the bare keys. Some companies add media and volume controls on top, but I don't remember the last time I had a TKL keyboard with ten macro keys. It takes away some of the advantages of the TKL form factor, but arguably provides more customization with useful keys as opposed to the numpad you may never use on full-size keyboards.

Making the most of these macro keys requires using the software, which is a big improvement from the last time with the Redragon K585 Diti. While still with its unique quirks (why does Redragon expect me to know what Zhongzhichengcheng is???), it is a lot more user-friendly and did not want me to hit the keyboard out of frustration. Again, this is a low bar to clear, but it did the job. I do wish key mapping were not restricted to just the macro keys, and pretty much everything else can be done via onboard controls, which is nice, too. There are a few other issues here, but these are more than made up for by the positives, of which the biggest is no doubt the price. At $80, the Redragon K596 goes back to the company's mantra of offering good value peripherals, and I imagine a good number of readers may be interested in it now.