Best Backlit Keyboards

Overall Rating: Sale Price: $71.91 The Razer BlackWidow is the first mechanical gaming keyboard designed to pave the way for a whole new feel and accelerated gameplay. A full mechanical key infrastructure delivers distinctive tactile feedback, superior gaming-grade response, and unsurpassed actions per minute with an extended lifespan of over 50 million keystrokes. Its five additional macro keys with on-the-fly recording and optimized key matrix allow you to stay in complete control of every...

Logitech Illuminated Keyboard, corded. Not much of a snappy name, but this unassuming keyboard is a hidden jewel in the backlit computer world. Corded means USB port connector. The backlighting is white, with four levels of brightness. The keys are laser etched for a crisp visual on each letter. Key action is quiet, with a comfortable nearly-flat key surface. The keyboard is ultra-thin (see video below). In addition to the brightness controls, there are keys for speaker on/off, and volume....

The DBTech Mini Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard isn’t the typical keyboard you’d find here, but it IS backlit, and provides some very nice functionality. The Mini combines a keyboard, mouse-style touch pad, and powerful laser pointer all into a device that can fit into a shirt pocket. The battery is rechargeable lithium-ion, and the keyboard can connect by Bluetooth up to 30 feet away. (The receiving device must be Bluetooth enabled.) In case you don’t have bluetooth, it also comes with a USB...

The Logitech G19 Programmable Gaming Keyboard with Color Display is expensive. Currently, right around $150. If you’re okay with that, then keep reading, because it’s a very unique keyboard with features to please any technophile: Aside from being a versatile, any-color-you-want illuminated keyboard, the G19 offers a color LCD (320×240 pixels) and 12 G-keys, each assignable with up to 3 macros for a total of 36 user-defined macro functions. The color game-panel LCD is tiltable, and can show...

The Microsoft Sidewinder X6 Gaming Keyboard has so many features, I hardly know where to begin! … Let’s see, to start with, Yes. Yes, it’s an illuminated keyboard. The majority of the keyboard glows a vivid red/scarlet color, and the macro keys (including the numeric keypad) glow amber. Brightness is controllable via a very easy-to-grab dial at the top of the keyboard. So while there are two colors, they’re used to separate regular keys from macros. Pretty cool idea when you’re playing a game...

The Razer Lycosa Programmable Backlit Gaming Keyboard is touted as a gamer’s board, but is more suitably described as a hybrid. Good for gaming, yet still effective for ordinary typing. The keys are rubberized for a sure touch, and offer a slim keycap with Hyperresponse technology. The downside here, is that the rubberized surface can wear off if you type enough, leaving the clear keycap and light exposed. The all-important backlighting is pretty basic. You get one intensity, and one color....

The SteelSeries Merc Stealth Gaming Keyboard is an amazing bit of technology. It’s also one of those things that generate strong emotions. People either really like it, or really hate it. I can understand why. It’s a highly customized… and customizable… gaming keyboard. I’m all about the backlighting, and the Merc Stealth has excellent illumination. You have 3 levels of intensity, and off. Plus 3 different colors, red, blue, and purple. Sufficient for most needs, both in finding a pleasing...

I Rocks has created a solid winner in the low-budget backlighted KR6820E-BK. Doesn’t come with a snappy name. No glitzy high-tech features. Just a great compact keyboard with illumination that’s either on, or off. The light is kind of orange/red, and considering you can’t adjust the brightness, is set at a useable intensity level. The KR6820E-BK does have anti-ghosting, on specific keys used most often by gamers. Lightweight, and at 15.5 inches long, is small enough to fit on most underslung...

This is the third “Over-sized Print” keyboard I’ve looked at. While they lack the illumination that I like to have in a keyboard, they serve a similar function. Backlit keyboards and Large Print keyboards both attempt to improve visibility for easier use. The difference being, backlighted keyboards also serve as a bit of added “coolness” to your computer setup, and large print keyboards are functionally targeted directly at people with visual problems. Because I have extremely bad vision, I’m...

I love the idea behind the flexible keyboards. It’s pretty cool that you can roll them up, hose them down… even submerge them, and they still work. The illumination is different from the normal illuminated keyboards. Since the whole thing is embedded in silicon, they light the entire bottom up. Typically, these low-cost flexible roll-up keyboards appeal to very specific needs, but not to the average typist. The biggest thing to me, is the effort required to type. The keys, as I mentioned, are...

The Eclipse Wireless Litetouch Keyboard is a beautiful keyboard, Backlit, integrated trackball and mouse buttons, flat lcd-screen numpad that cycles through multiple options and layouts… If it does everything as promised and actually worked as a keyboard should, this would be a fabulous keyboard. Unfortunately, somewhere between concept and practical functionality, someone missed a few steps. Just to be thorough, here’s what it’s supposed to be like: 2.4 Ghz wireless connection, rechargeable...

The Eclipse III has a versatile backlighting system. With primary colors of Blue, Red, and Purple, it also has two blended colors, Magenta and Pink. Five different color options, with adjustable brightness. The letters themselves light, as well as the borders around each key. The keys are soft-touch, with laser etching. The product description states that settings are kept even after a reboot. One reviewer specifically stated that his always reverts to ‘blue’ after a reboot, but that it...

The SideWinder X4 is a gaming computer with decent backlighting. You can tell Microsoft puts more emphasis on the gaming aspect than the illumination, since the product description barely mentions the light. Kind of an afterthought. Fortunately, the light is very nice. It’s strictly red, and has 3 levels of brightness. As you can see from the video below, the keys are well-lit, crisp and clear. If you’re a serious gamer, you’re probably aware of the ‘ghosting’ problem many keyboards have. In...

I nearly didn’t include this keyboard. It’s not illuminated. No backlighting. But, it does attempt a similar function. Instead of using lights to make this keyboard visible, Maxell made the keys yellow, and used very large size print for the letters on each key. While they WON’T be visible in a dark room, they are extremely visible in low light. Maxell designed the 191046 for people with visual impairment. Not a miracle-worker by any means, but for those of us who don’t see as well as we used...

Logisys KB208BK is situated somewhat between ‘bargain’ keyboards and ‘mid-range’. At $30, it’s not the cheapest board out there. The most obvious step up is the 2 colors of illumination. Blue or Red backlighting, and brightness control. This is another one of those keyboards with multi-media and internet hot-keys built into it. Whether that’s useful or annoying depends on your personal style. The one aspect I would have to consider is keyboard size. At almost 20 inches long, the extra keys...