Introduction
The (Originally Massdrop Ctrl) Drop CTRL Keyboard was released in 2018. At the time there was a lot of hype around them and they sold very well and were very popular. But how does it hold up in 202? The model I'm looking at is the High-Profile model, this model does some things better than the previous model but mostly it's just ascetically different.
When the CTRL dropped, the exclusive switches were the talk of the town. There was also some controversy around them which I won't be talking about here today. But not only were the switches popular they were also extremely sought after for making the most well-known and maybe only mainstream known frankenswitch the Holy Panda. The Holy Panda is now made in several different ways and versions are sold pre-made by Drop along with other brands. Originally they were made by adding either Halo stem into an Invyr Panda housing. Some kept the panda spring but others used third-party springs. But side from them being used in Holy Panda switch how do they hold up on their own.
Build/Looks
The Build and looks of the High-Profile model are in my option much nicer. The build feels a lot more solid because of the added material in the case. Looks-wise it's more subjective but I'm not a fan of Low-Profile/floating key designs so of course, I like this one more. The High-Profile model looks simply gorgeous. The case just looks so sleek and elegant. Mixed with at least a two-tone keycaps set, this thing looks stunning.
The edge lighting looks pretty nice if not just a bit uneven, but even with RGB off the clear strip works as a nice contrasting line.
The RGB is one of the nicer implementations I have seen which comes down to the south facing switches allowing the SMD LEDs to light up the legend more evenly. I'm not a fan of RGB on my keyboards I just turn it off but for those of you who do like it, here it looks great.
The keyboard uses dual USB-C ports on the top which I like, it means there is no need to machine channels under the board to add cable routing and lets you pick which side to plug the keyboard in. I love this feature.
The board is very sturdy at over 4lbs and features 6 nice rubber feet. AS it is a higher profile solid case there is no angle adjustment. I wish the angle was a tad more aggressive or there was a way to raise it a bit as it's just a tad low for my taste.
The build is great, it's a very solid 2 piece aluminum case. It has a very good weight to it at 4.25 lbs.
All of the corners are perfectly rounded. It sits at a very nice angle for typing, with 5 feet holding it in place. This thing sits very solid on your desk.
All of the soldering under the hood looks up to par and I don't see anything internal failing anytime soon. All screws are also exposed so there is no need to deface a sticker or the feet. Good job with this.
This is a very well assembled and well-built keyboard. Just like the LP model.
But with all that said there is one huge issue and ill put it down to build. There is so much case ping. Not as much as something like the OG GMMK or maybe some of the overpriced gaming keyboards on the market like the k70 or blackwidow v3. But still enough to be an issue.
I may do an update post with a little guide on how to fix the ping issue. But stock its a problem.
Cable
The
cable is fine. I'll give them credit for making it grey to match
the alphas and contrast the board colour since mine is Black. If
you pick the Space Grey CTRL you will get a Black Cable to contrast
your board.
I
also want to give them credit for wrapping the cable in a circle rather
than bending it which company's need to stop doing, so props for that.
Stabilizers
I
know a lot of people have called the stabs on these boards some of
the worse, but that is a bit of an over-exaggeration. These stabs are fine.
Not amazing not bad just fine. I see where people are coming from, at
this price point they should be better. There your average stabs that
require clipping and lubing, neither are done stock, so you have to
yourself.
But
stock, mine at least don't have too much rattle at all. More than I
prefer but better than so many other boards I have reviewed. They are
not smooth though, which is the biggest issue and why they need to be lubed from stock.
I
would love to see some better stabs included in the future or in a V2 board. Screw in stabs would be ideal, but at the very least include somewhat
don't need clipping and add some factory lube.
Keycaps
I
like the simple colourway they have chosen, the grey and black will
match almost any set-up and looks very clean without being too
boring.
The
keycaps are 1.2mm thick double-shot PBT shine-through. So the outside is a very solid
PBT that is decently thick, and the clear inside is either ABS or POM. There will also be no need to worry about the font ever fading.
While
they keycaps may not be the highest quality there about what id expect
out of a sub $60 set. They have a nice matte texture on top that is
pretty textured and not too smooth, I really like high textured keycaps. I remember the keycaps having a more gritty texture from when i used the CTRL LP.
In
general shine-through keycaps from my experience tend to feel noticeable
worse at the same price point as normal keycaps, so considering these are shine-through I am pretty impressed.
The type-face is pretty nice and the overall consistency is good. I rather like the look of the it.
Software
The CTRL fully supports QMK for power users. But if your not someone who needs that much depth you can use the configuration on drops website.
The software lets you fully edit up to 15 layers, which allows you change any key to really anything you want within the limit of a keyboard.
The RGB can be configured per key. Including per LED in the edge lighting.
Once you finish it saves to a file which you then can follow the steps on the website to flash your board with your newly set up settings.
Switches
My CTRL HP came with Halo Clear switches, and in the past, I have used the Halo True switches in the CTRL LP. I'm going to start by saying while the Halo switches are not my favourite switches they both offer unique experiences and don't do anything particularly bad. They're both very competent switches.
If these switches are not to your liking you are also able to choose between Kaihua (Kailh) Box White, Kaihua (Kailh) Speed Silver, MX Blue RGB, or MX Brown RGB. But between you and me don't bother with the Cherry options.
Specs:
Halo True
- Style: Tactile
- Manufacturer: Kaihua (Kailh)
- Community Name: Halo True
- Stem Colour: Salmon
- Actuation Force: Medium
- Tactile Method: Metal Leaf
- LED Style: SMD RGB w/ Lense
- Tactile Peak Force: ~60 gf
- Actuation Force: ~54 gf
- Bottom-Out Force: ~100 gf
- Spring Force: ~100 gf
- Overall Travel: ~4 mm
- Tactile Event: ~0.5 mm
- Actuation: ~1.9 mm
- Cross-Point: Gold Plated Cross-Point
Halo Clear
- Style: Tactile
- Manufacturer: Kaihua (Kailh)
- Community Name: Halo Clear
- Stem Colour: Milky White/Clear
- Actuation Force: Medium
- Tactile Method: Metal Leaf
- LED Style: SMD RGB w/ Lense
- Tactile Peak Force: ~65 gf
- Actuation Force: ~52 gf
- Bottom-Out Force: ~78 gf
- Spring Force: ~78 gf
- Overall Travel: ~4 mm
- Tactile Event: ~0.5 mm
- Actuation: ~1.9 mm
- Cross-Point: Gold Plated Cross-Point
Both of these Switches I'd overall call a Medium-Heavy switch There not the heaviest overall, but the Halo trues have a really heavy bottom out. They're also not the smoothest on the market but for a tactile, they are very nice and far above average for smoothness.
The bump itself on both can feel a bit scratchy and not the smoothest. But the tactile bump on both is very apparent and noticeable.
They both also have a bit of spring noise, a small bit of ping. Nothing to bad but a bit more than I like to see. It's more of an issue because the natural ping from the board sort of mixes with it and makes it seem like an issue. Aside from that I can't complain about the sound of these switches. They are not the deepest sound and when topping out they are less than ideal to my preference, but nothing that ruins the switch.
They have a bit more wobble than your average switch, the housing seems to be a bit loose around the stem. But if you haven't noticed the trend most of the issues are with the housing which is why it's such a popular stem to use for frankenswitches.
The Halo Clear switch like its name would suggest is an attempt to improve on the classic Cherry Clear switch. Overall I think they accomplished that.
The Clear though at times don't feel like a Tactile switch because the bump is a bit too high up. So it almost feels rather linear. The bump is still rather distinct just a bit too high.
The Halo True switch is there attempt to innovate on the standard MX style switch. The Halo True switch offers a very unique experience, It has a sharp tactile bump, then a long smooth linear like press down. But the bottom of the spring is much heavier and is made to make bottoming out not easy. You can think of it as training wheels of short to help you learn to touch type. I actually really enjoy these switches and i do rank them fairly high for there uniqueness.
Overall I still like both of these switches but there not my favorites. They're have just been so many switches released lately. But if these switches don't sound right for you just get the bare-bones model.
Note: This keyboard comes with a pretty nice aluminum wire key-cap puller, which I like and like to see included. Rather than just a cheap plastic one that can scratch up your keycaps.
But sadly for the first time ever, the switch remover was kind of awful. Maybe it was just mine or maybe just me, but I just couldn't use it The ends of each arm were not bent enough and it would just slip off during removal. I had to pull out another one and didn't have any issues with that one. I've never complained about this before but it was a noticeable issue for me here.
Hot-Swappable: This feature is now becoming pretty common place, but when the CTRL was first launched it wasn't. This is very nice as it makes not only trying new switches much easier, but also lubing stabs easier, and swapping out a switch if it fails.
They use the Kailh hot-swap sockets that are soldered onto the back of the PCB. These are very durable and should work with most if not all MX style switches.
Conclusion
This board looks and feels amazing, the stock keycaps are nice and I do recommend the halo switches and if you don't want the keycaps or switches get the bare-bones version.
The lack of 5 pin support does suck, and the south-facing sockets means with some switches you may get keycap compatibility issues. The stabs need some TLC and I wish better ones were included but there not so bad. The edge lighting isn't perfect and the stock cable isn't as nice as the rest of the board. But all of this I could forgive, with some clipping you can make 5 pin switches fit and the stabs are easy to lube. But the one issue that will make or break this keyboard for many is the amount of case ping.
I typed this whole review on this keyboard and the ping did start to get to me after a while. The board could just sound so much better and while yes you can buy some heavy sound deadening material to fill the back of the case and some neoprene for the middle fill and for around the keycaps or buy pre-cut foam or foam squares from KBDfans. But all of these options are to fix an issue that shouldn't be here and it won't be that cheap to fix. I'd like to see Drop offer a foam dampening kit for these at some point and include it free with future models.
But in its current state, the CTRL is a fantastic keyboard with one major issues.
Overall I love the board and want to recommend it but all the small issues plus the 1 big issue makes it a bit hard. I guess I can still say I recommend it but you need to know what you're getting into and for most it's going to be a long-term project keyboard.
Pros:
- Very solid build
- Beautiful Looks
- Stellar RGB
- Solid shine through keycaps
- Hot-swappable
- Dual USB-C ports
Cons:
- Way too much ping (#1 issue)
- Unclipped Unlubbed stabs
- South facing switches (barely a con and a pro for RGB)
- Uneven edge lighting
- 3 pin only
V2 PCB
There is talk that Drop is working on a V2 PCB if. This will include 5 pin support and no words on anything else that will be included. This seems like it will be offered for a separate purchase but I also hope it comes default on all future boards or maybe if they just end up release a full v2 board.
If they do release a V2 model, these are the changes id like to see.
- Fix the Case Ping
- Screw-in Stabs
- A Slightly nicer Cable
- More constant looking edge lighting
- Pre-lubed Stabs