Redragon K552 Kumara Review

Redragon K552 on Amazon

The Redragon K552 Kumara is one of the best selling keyboards on Amazon. It’s a TKL board that comes with clicky blue switches, but you can also get it with red switches. I’ve always been impressed with Redragon’s bang for buck peripherals, and the Kumara is another excellent budget keyboard.

At this price range I’m always worried about a flimsy build, but that is definitely not the case here. The Kumara features a metal and ABS construction. The keyboard feels weighty and robust with a metal top plate and plastic bottom piece. I really like the compact frame of the Kumara – there is no wasted space and it has a very sleek look. What I do find odd though is how far the frame stretches past the mounting plate, so you don’t get that nice raised key profile. The bottom of the keyboard features two rubber feet, and two fold outs with rubber bottoms. The keyboard sat quite firmly on the desk.

The Kumara has the standard ANSI layout and OEM profile. Using Fn with F1-12 allows you to do multimedia control and there is quick access to the browser and calculator. I would’ve liked volume control on the F9-12 segment, as it allows me to do volume control with one hand, but that’s just me. (show pan shot of F1-12 buttons)

The rainbow backlighting is very vibrant and it is an attractive keyboard, barring the font. As I’ve said previously, I’m not a fan of the Redragon font, and this board would’ve looked a lot better with a thin and clean font. But it does seem that Redragon are moving towards thinner fonts with the release of the K530 Draconi, so that’s cool. By pressing Fn with 1 to 6 you can change the backlighting scheme, and you can also adjust the speed, direction and colour. There are about 20 different colour schemes. There are also five levels of brightness which you can control by pressing Fn with Up or Down arrow. As per usual, I popped on my HyperX White Pudding keycaps, and was very pleased with the end result. The compact frame makes a big difference in the aesthetics.

Typing and gaming experience, stabilisers, typing speed, sound, pinging
The Kumara offers a very good typing experience. I believe the switches are Outemu blues, although they have the Redragon branding. These are tactile and clicky switches with an actuation force of 60g. Very satisfying to type on, and I found myself making less typos due to the feedback of each individual keypress. These switches are a bit too heavy for me though, as I usually use linear switches with an actuation force of 45g. So after extensive use I did experience some finger fatigue. I was still able to hit a max speed of 131WPM on the Aesop typing test, and on Typeracer I averaged around 90WPM. What impressed me the most was the stabilisers. The stabs are very good and the rattle is minimal. It’s very rare to find a budget mech with good stabs, so a big thumbs up to Redragon here. I was especially impressed with the space bar. Gaming performance was good, but again I didn’t feel very comfortable with the heavier blue switches, and felt a bit slower with WASD movement in CSGO.

In case you don’t know yet, this keyboard is loud, and it will always be loud. In the morning when you wake up and when you’re clacking away at midnight and everyone is asleep. So make sure the noise isn’t going to be a problem. I think every keyboard lover has a soft spot for that clicky sound, and this keyboard sounds awesome. You get that nice ASMR blue switch experience. We some slight metal pinging, but it’s barely audible over the background noise. The backspace also makes a metal springy sound.

There does seem to be software for the Kumara, but after a long struggle with compatiblity modes and the keyboard not being detected, I gave up on installing it. Definitely something Redragon needs to work on. When I am looking to install software, I don’t to start researching all kinds of problems. I just want it to work right away.

Summary, price, recommend or not, better options
The Kumara is currently going for around $40, which is an absolute steal. This keyboard offers excellent build quality and performance at a very affordable price. A great entry-level keyboard or just a nice keyboard to have if you like clicky switches.