Side by Side Comparison of: Azio vs Intel vs Havit vs Ballistix

I was looking for a keyboard with illuminated keys; I tried two others that used "clickie" type keys, which I was OK with, as this is the type keyboard I first used typing with electric typewriters and telecommunications keyboards. However, the first keyboard did not have a separate numbers keypad, and it became apparent that I missed that, plus the clicky keys were very noisy, so back it went. The second one was another low cost gamer keyboard with, again, clicky keys (that were not as noisy as the other keyboard), but one of the cursor keys began working intermittently, so back it went. I then found this one with a very reasonable price, illuminated keys, but with membrane type key mechanisms instead of mechanical. Turns out these keys were of a better design than your typical membrane keys,and work very well for me. The markings on the keys are overly large, and with the led lighting, make this keyboard exactly what I was looking for. The price is quite reasonable, the keyboard works great and seems durable. It has three colors, one of which is a sort of magenta (or light purple) that I thought might be strange when I read the keyboard's description, but turns out it is my preferred color of the three. The intensity of the lighting is just right, which is good since it is not adjustable. And it has a numbers pad!

Trying to get use to the keyboard. I purchased 2 of these keyboards and I am very happy for the price and colors available. Once I received the keyboard I had an issue re-habit forming the key locations on the enter key. My old keyboard trained me to hit a certain position, while this new keyboard I kept hitting the shift key for a while.Strange how the body works while forming habits. I think also that the words CAPS LOCK, TAB, SHIFT and CNTL are done too large. This was part of the factor I hit the SHIFT key instead of the ENTER key. If they reduced the size of the font on those particular keys it would be the perfect keyboard. Leaving the ENTER key font size the same. Anyway, the keyboard is solid and worth the price. I am glad I purchased 2 because I go through keyboards the quickest. The colors are nice and rich and the brightness really gets bright. About time I can set the brightness and have to actually turn it down some because of the power it outputs in brightness.

This is actually my second one as I accidentally fed my old one one too many cups of coffee. :'(It works well, easy to see, easy to use, plug & play...I'm a PC gamer with vision issues & nerve damage in my hands so I have very little indication that I am actually touching keys or which ones, & I have constant micro-twitches in my fingers. I have never mastered touch typing, although I do some keyboard game controls, most of it is mouse driven. However I do quite a lot of typing... send emails, comment in blogs & forums, ask questions no one else has gotten answers to & accidentally hit keys that delete the entirety of things I already spent 45min spell checking for the finger twitch mistakes :DAt least with this keyboard I'm not hunkered down, squinting, trying to see what letter is under which finger.As night-blind as I am I can use the Azio Vision without bright lights on, comfortably, even late at night...Awesome considering most keyboards I have to use at chest height, with bright light & squinting to see the faint difference between the black keys & thin mostly invisible (to me) white symbols.My particular pet peeve with it is the weird, bumpy, rubbery texture on the front palm rest section. lol I find myself completely off-task picking at the bumps & feeling like I have chalk on my teeth :D... Not removable. sigh!

I'm very pleased with this keyboard! The keys are all in the right place, the letters and numbers are easy to see, and the touch of the keys is really easy on the fingers (I love to type FAST!). It's easy to change the color or change the brightness of the keys. It is slightly wider and deeper than the one I had before (HP model that came with my computer), but still fits on my keyboard shelf, leaving enough room for my mouse. The symbol keys look a little different, but I think I'll get used to those in no time! I usually leave the overhead light off in my computer room at night, since I'm in and out of there all evening. I no longer have to keep a flashlight handy! The packaging is very nice, the box describes all the features. They've also included a user guide that has 2 pages of info about the keyboard, and then a page about support and warranty info. And there's a little card included that asks if you're happy or troubled with your keyboard, and then lets you know what you can do in each instance. I definitely recommend this keyboard if you're looking to replace your standard keyboard with a backlit keyboard.

It's funny. You think to yourself that a keyboard is a keyboard and there's nothing wrong with a normal unlit one. Meanwhile, you write thesis papers and romance novels and witty jokes and get into heated internet discussions until the wee hours of the night. You mistype a letter, lose your concentration, and have to rely on muscle memory and/or the glare of your monitor screen to see where Delete or Backspace or Caps Lock is, pecking away in the darkness, trying to find what you're looking for and losing your train of thought in the process.This solves that problem. You can switch between a blue light (the brightest setting) a red light (a medium setting) and a purple light (arguably the dimmest setting) on your keyboard. Between the light and the enlarged keys, you won't have to wreck your eyes and pound your fists in frustration. Entirely worth the money. Works perfectly well with Windows 7, 8 and 10. Buy it now.

Excellent keyboard - Seems incredibly sturdy and the backlight works well with the large print. Nice to have a choice of red, blue, or purple. This is the ONLY keyboard I have seen (in this price range) that has a FULL SIZE backspace key. If you've ever tried using the one with the half size it can be annoying, especially when they place another key beside it which is typical.**IMPORTANT NOTE - "Off" ButtonThe instructions are scant - not a big deal - but I've had this for several weeks and FINALLY just now figured out how to turn this thing off. It's the SAME BUTTON you use to switch LED colors - only you hold it down for about 3 seconds. I looked for this in the instructions and could not find it - although LEDs are long-life bulbs - I use my computer only a couple of hours a day, so I worried having it on for 22 extra hours per day would severely decrease the functional life of the keyboard. Problem solved - hold the color change button down until it turns off - same button turns it back on.Finally - there are four rubber feet towards the front of the keyboard that do an awesome job of keeping it in place. The back has two small feet that you can flip up to raise the back of the keyboard. The palm rest that sits in front of the keyboard is not intended for removal - with some effort it might be removed (can't tell if it just snaps on or not) but it is a molded piece of plastic that runs around the entire top edge of the keyboard - if you removed it you would also be removing the part of the cover that encloses the media/shortcut keys at the very top of the keyboard - the row with the function keys (F1, F2 etc) would not be affected.Overall a fantastic keyboard for the price - highly recommended!

I am holding back the fifth star, I have been using this keyboard for 3 weeks now and see from some old reviews that it doesn't age well. As of now I find it perfect. Perhaps the old complaints (from several years ago) have been taken care of.Let me address them:Firstly, someone who was a touch typist complained about the key spacing. As one who learned to touch type on a mechanical typewriter around 1950 let me point out that any change in keyboard requires a bit of adjustment of "finger memory" on spacing. My thumbs couldn't find the space bar at first on this keyboard, they are now quite comfortable with it. I'm still making a few mistakes, but the muscle memory is improving. I'm used to this - I went from mechanical (real mechanical, one had to push the striker all the way for it to hit the paper) to electric (still mechanical) to selectric, to computers - and to all the variations of computer keyboards. No problem learning this keyboard.Second issue. Complaints about the pressure needed on the keys. I find no problem with my Azio. The keystroke is longer than some, but I like that as it prevents me from inadvertent keying. It might be a problem for "hunt and peckers" used to an iPhone, but I don't have one of those. Perhaps over time the keys will get sticky, but I feel no indication of that so far.Third issue. This one I'm really not sure of. Some have had a problem with the key surface wearing out. From the photos of the problem it seems as if the "black paint" is wearing away blurring the letters. The reason I got the backlit is the reverse, my other keyboards had the "ink" in the letter wear away on the most used keys. The wearing away of the surface might have to do with "sticky keys" on the Azio, or it might be a general problem. If I start to see wear of the key surface I'll look into using a clear protective coat on the keys.In summary, I'm happy with my purchase and would give it a five star rating if I weren't concerned about those latter two things happening in the future. FYI, I probably have given the keyboard a couple of months wear compared to most - I write long letters (as you can tell). I also write articles for my web site. So far, so good with the Azio.

I needed to replace the Logitech keyboard and mouse (wireless) as they were paired and did not work very well. I took my son's advice and bought a wired keyboard, and a wired mouse. The keyboard has backlit keys so the letters are bright, and WAY larger than I even expected. The keyboard is extremely light. That is both good and bad. It is good as it is easy to move, but it slides too easy. There is nothing wrong, except one cannot rest ones hands on the leading edge of the keyboard -- and we all might want to. The weight of my hands as I am typing can cause the keyboard to slide away. So, I just have to drag it back into place occasionally. The keys are easy to hit, the placement of the features on the board are all easy to work. I have not issues with the construct of the keyboard. If one is looking for a decent keyboard at a well affordable price -- this is it.

Really like this keyboard. Big, bright letters make it so much easier to see Not exactly hunt and peck but I still need to look at keyboard often when I type. I love the full-size layout. too many keyboards have weird layout trying to integrate too many buttons in one space. Everything is where you expect it to be. The best part is the low profile keys. I hate the tall keys that are just a pain to deal with. This is short throw, low profile. Love it. Does make a clatter when typing so docked it one star, but that is pretty nit-picky. I might update it to 5 stars after I use this for awhile.

My keys do not stick at all. Maybe the problem is corrected. But you would not call this a quiet keyboard. My reason for purchase was for editing fiction, so I didn't want to strain to find keys like the hyphen. The big back-lit letters and numbers do the job. You can turn the back-light all the way down with a wheel. The backspace and enter keys are wide, so I don't miss them when moving fast. You want a keyboard you forget about because it functions well--which is my experience with this one.

I love the colors and the ability to dim or brighten. It feels very solid and built of quality material. The letters are large, and the lighting doesn't bleed through the sides unless you look at the keyboard at a lowered angle. What I don't like is the non-detachable wrist rest, which I am slowly becoming accustomed to. What I don't understand at all though is all the symbols to use with the shift key (Shift + Symbol) are positioned on the bottom of their respective keys. This is totally counter-intuitive for me since I'm not a good typist and need to look at what I'm hitting. There's the same amount of room at the top of the keys as the bottom, so I don't see why these guys had to be different than everybody else in where they placed the symbols. Other than those 2 things I really like this keyboard.

Everything I wanted in a keyboard. I LOVE the lit keys and large letters. I work outside, usually at night, and don't want to attract bugs with a desk lamp. Every backlit keyboard I've tried has been a joke - you can see the color behind/between the keys, but you can't see the keys themselves. I don't understand the purpose. But THIS keyboard you can SEE the KEYS! Bye-bye eye strain!I would definitely give it 5 stars if it didn't have some sort of wiring problem that makes it go wonky on a frequent basis. I'm torn between exchanging it for an identical one (maybe I got a lemon?) or going for a similar model. But as I write thisk, I'm realizing that I want to give it another try. Really love this keyboard.

I bought this keyboard for the back lighting, dimming feature, and the reasonable price. Unfortunately I must report that although it dims fine, it doesn't actually dim any but the primary colors. Meaning if you have selected a compound color and start to dim it, it reverts to one of the primary colors used to make that compound color when it reaches anything less than ~75% brightness. So no dimming pink, purple, yellow, or cyan (my personal choice if I could dim it). You can dim red, blue and green. That's it.On top of that, the wrist rest is a strange texture that seems like it would offer traction, but your wrists will slide down it anyway. So it's uncomfortable and doesn't perform it's intended purpose.And lastly the layout chosen for certain keys is awkward. The < > and ? are under the comma, period and / and a much smaller font giving the impression that they are the primary characters of said keys, and the other characters are obtained by using the Shift key. This only confuses me when I am looking at the keyboard, which isn't often, but it's still annoying when it happens.Over all for $30, it's barely passable as a decent keyboard unless you need the larger, more easily seen characters. Then I suppose it would be a decent keyboard, if it weren't for the characters being difficult to see in normal light and the lighting off even with perfect eyesight. So it's not even 5 stars in that event.

I wanted to like this keyboard but...I had a lot of double strikes, have never had this problem with a keyboard before. I don't know if that's even the right term; what happens is, if I want to type an "o" I get something like "o9i". Also, the "shift" characters (e.g. !@#$<>:") are so tiny compared to the regular characters that it's hard to know what's what. This isn't a problem for those who know how to type and never have to look at the keyboard for these characters. It is a problem for me.It's a very comfortable keyboard, low/flat keys and the handrest is soft with a little bit of texture which I really liked. And I would have gotten used to the character display eventually. But couldn't get past the double strikes.

This keyboard is much better than my previous one because it uses standard font. But, this keyboard is NOT perfect. It has three glaring problems. First, for some reason the designers put the Shift characters in the lower right-hand corner of the Keys instead of above, Normally, Shift characters are above the non-shift characters. This is unlike any other keyboard and seriously hurts it's functionality. Why did the designers do this? Only their use of a standard font allows this keyboard to be at least functional. Next, the keyboard lights don't go off. The only thing to do once your PC has powered down is to turn down the brightness. Last and pretty small potatoes, is that white is not one of the five colors available on the keyboard.

Sometimes the caps lock indicator doesn't work, probably just a flaw in the keyboard I received.The keys are translucent and painted black everywhere but the image of the character for that key. That's how the characters are lit. But the black paint wears off. So far that's just happened where I tap the space bar because that gets used more than other keys but eventually it will happen to other keys in the order of how often they are used.

For visibility and backlighting this keyboard is a 5 star, As an actual keyboard you need to use instead of a book you are reading it's about a 2. The keys are almost flush like a laptop but think of what a laptop would be like without springs. Pretty close. Very easy to strike the wrong key or more than one key because although the keys are good sized there is no space between them. I was constanly turning off the caps lock which I would accidentally press. Frankly when typing there isn't much more frustrating than typing a paragraph and looking up to see it is all in caps. Some typist may like the superlight key press but it was not for me. Overall it just felt low quality. However, for visibility at it's price point it is pretty hard to beat. Definitely not a great gaming keyboard either. BTW my clerk at work tried it and shares the same opinion.

This keyboard, I thought was perfect and was ready to give it 5 stars until I realized that they had reversed the special characters keys (comma, forward slash, colon, semicolon, quotation marks, etc.). What would normally be on top, indicating the need to use the shift key was on the bottom and what was usually on to bottom is on the top. My typing skills are limited, basically, I am a 2 finger pecker, who needs to see the keys to use them. They do the same thing with the numbers keys, but the significant difference between a number and the <shift> symbols is fairly easy to process as I peck away The symbols in the lower right are a different story, they are so similar, one is not sure which is <shift> and which is not <shift>.Other than that (which I feel is fairly significant), this keyboard is perfect as a basic multimedia keyboard. The price is right, the keys are well illuminated even in the darkest of rooms, and the ability to switch colors and their brightness is all top rate. If you can put up with the reversal of symbols it will serve you well. I have seen no problem with sticky keys in the short time I have been using the keyboard.Why the hell do they have to screw up a perfectly good keyboard by reversing symbol keys is beyond me, I took 2 stars away because of the switching, otherwise it would have been 5 stars

I bought the 5-color model (KB506). It feels nice, with easy-to-read letters. But there's just one problem with mine: the color won't change. I've tried pressing the "LED Color" button many times. I've tried a long press of the button. I've tried short, rapid presses. I've tried mashing it down as hard as I can. I've tried it in combination with Ctrl and with Alt and Shift. Nothing seems to work. It's stuck at blue, which is probably the default color. On the plus side, the brightness wheel works. But that's about the only customization I can do with this keyboard. So instead of the five-color version, I've got a one-color version. I can live with it this way, but it's a little disappointing.

I go through keyboards quickly wearing off letters and making them difficult to operate within a year of purchase. I type that much. When I took the keyboard of out the box it worked perfectly and I enjoyed the large letters and the fun of light behind the keys with my failing eyesight. I warn all who look at this brand and purchase that the manufacturer and designer made a great boo-boo and that is to place the space bar too close to the actual letter keys. All keyboards I have had to this one (perhaps ten in the last fifteen years), force the typist to use the space bar at the center of the board and leave the thumbs to work it. This design forces you to use your finger tips to space sometimes and worse, clears the latter "A" so often I type "A" instead of space between words. I put up with it for a day, but had so many corrections in my text line, I would have to relearn how to touch type to get good at this particular board. I had an old DAS keyboard sitting around and reinstalled and oh what a relief! Gamers: The board works for you in particular, so long as you have nothing to write your honey or the boss. I wish the manufacturer well as my board arrived in perfect condition, but is a lousy produce to write novels on. Thank you.

Here's a heads up for you who might be trying to decide between the 3 and 5 color Azio USB keyboards. I first ordered the 3 color and, because of some peculiar lighting and seating arrangement in my office workspace, was not happy with the limited range of colors and visibility of the keys. I did, however, find the quality of the product to be pretty good compared to others I had looked at. Azio claims in their advertising that the chartreuse on the 5-color model is more highly visible than the other colors, so I ordered that model with the intent of returning the 3 color board if the 5 color better suited my needs. What I found was that the 5 color, though similar, is clearly made by another manufacturer and is inferior to the 3 color keyboard in almost every respect. Particularly the "resolution" (if that term applies) of the key letters/numbers, which are much more distinct on the 3 color. So now I am returning the 5 color and keeping the 3 color. My preference would have been a backlit keyboard with SIMPLE/TRADITIONAL WHITE LETTERING, but the Ivation board I initially ordered from Amazon turned out to be junk and I could not find another listing for one I liked.

Like the LED backlighting which can be dimmed and changed to any of 5 different colors. A problem with this keyboard is that the key identifiers for the character with the shift key depressed are reversed. So instead of the & showing at the top of the 7 key it is at the bottom. Where this can get quite confusing is with the characters for comma, quote, apostrophe, etc. where the normal orientation is that the character at the bottom of the key is the one that will be typed normally and the one at the top is generated with the use of the shift key.There is a also a firmware bug that causes the Paragraph notation to be switched on with Microsoft Word when using the shift key inside the program. More than a little annoying to have to keep turning this back off.It is the noisiest keyboard I have ever encountered in my 33 years of typing on a wide range of OEM and third party keyboards.With the reversed characters on the keys and the high level of noise I will be replacing the keyboard with another one next week.

I did like the large, clear letters on the keys and the light-up feature is great (3 light color choices) BUT this is a light duty keyboard. I find it fine to type on the letters on keys WEAR AWAY. After 6 months the print started wearing (weird because yes, the light shines thru the actual letters and number... but SOMETHING is wearing away. NOW AFTER A YEAR AND A HALF many keys are unreadable. SEE PHOTO. I'm looking to order a new keyboard right now -- noticed this one, and had to add my review. I will choose a different brand this time!

Build quality is very good, particularly for this price. The large font and backlighting is excellent. I really want to like this keyboard, but I had to get rid of it.The issue is with how the keys depress. If you a pressing straight down from on top of the key, it seems fine. But as you type, you reach with fingers and often press keys at a bit of an angle. The keys on this keyboard don't respond well to this which means a key will not depress. So then you start typing with slightly more force than you're used to to make sure key presses all register. And the problem with that is this keyboard IS VERY LOUD if you type with a bit more force. So much so it wakes up my wife in the next room. It's like you start to press the key, it seems stuck, and then it suddenly "gives" and presses down with greater force - which contributes to the racket it makes..Backlit keys are great for hunt and peck typers like me and the large font just makes it that much better. If only the keys didn't "stick" the way they do. As nice as it looks, it's held back by its own primary function in my opinion. For gaming - I suppose it's fine because you aren't typing a lot. The wasd keys work just fine for that!

The letter N cracked within 6 weeks. I should have read the 1-Star and 2-Star reviews before I bought this and I would have avoided it. My mistake. I bought an IVATION as a replacement. Best advice - Avoid this product. Amazon was great in handling this. Love Amazon!

Update2 - 10/8/2014 ** 1 star is even too much for THIS.. keyboard. Various keys on both of these keyboards are hard to press down or you really have to press on the key straight down for the key to work! If you need or want a REAL "GREAT" 5***** star keyboard purchase try the LED Illuminated Ergonomic USB Multimedia Backlight Backlit Gaming Keyboard (3 Colors) It's FANTASTIC RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX! I'll be ordering more for my family and various computer work stations! AWESOME Keyboard!Update... 8-7-2014 ** Well, I still like the keyboard for the lighted keys.... BUT the actual individual keys are really (As another reviewer stated) HARD to push down. You REALLY have to focus on hitting the keys on this keyboard. If you are a light fingered speed typist; I'd pass on this product. My 5 star rating on this product is now a 3. *** :-(((Where has this SUPER keyboard been in my life! Nice blue, red or purple for the cheaper priced one; which suites me just fine! I can now compute in the DARK! ;-DDD

The keys are about as thick as a plastic butter tub and feel like the same material, accuracy is terrible because the keys are low profile and inconsistent for actuation pressure. You may have to smash one to get it to move but the one right next to it has no troubles moving so both end up getting pressed. I would say the company needs to focus on inspections and quality control.Follow up: I have no faith in Amazon 5 start reviews anymore. To me it seems like people who are ok with made in China junk are driving these reviews. This keyboard for instance is a complete waste of money and falls in line with all the other 1 star reviews about the keyboard: made of low density polyethelene that warps and mashes other keys in normal use. This is NOT even of sufficient quality to call it a "home office" keyboard, in fact it would be drive the cost of doing business up because you have to correct the errors the keyboard causes.QUALITY IS PART OF VALUE! When the quality is so bad you throw it away at less than 10% of the life of a comparable keyboard for the same price, it is no value.

This keyboard was HORRIBLE. The look was fantastic! We really WANTED to like it! I got it as a gift for my brother, he loved it on sight. However, he found it impossible to use! The keys were really hard to press down, hurt his fingers after a short while. So he gave it to my mom, she couldn't stand it either, so they gave it to me. And there was no way I was going to be able to use it! They keys were ridiculously hard to press!! It was light weight lifting for fingers! Maybe if all you do is check email this kb would be fine, but if you actually type stuff, no way! We returned it. So, looks pretty, but is actually pretty useless!

I really like the easy read letters and the back-lighting of this keyboard. However, due to the design, more and more keys of the keyboard were sticking if the keys were not pressed exactly in the center of each key. This faulty design continued to get worse with more use. After three months, I was ready to trash it and look for a new keyboard.In a last-ditch effort, I pulled all the primary keys off and used a Q-tip and petroleum jelly to lubricate the slots where all the keys are installed. Once I snapped all the keys back in place....WOW....THIS WAS THE PERFECT KEYBOARD. It now works very smoothly and I still enjoy the benefit of the back-lighting and easy read letters. I wish I had done this easy fix when I first received it.I put the 1-star on this review so people can learn how to easily fix this keyboard themselves in only a few minutes. After the fix, I would give it 5-stars.

While the large text and lighting are excellent, this keyboard fails miserably at its main function - typing. I am not some purist or heavy typist, I just need it for average usage and it is terrible. The main problem is that the keys stick/bind. When you press them down sometimes they go/move, sometimes they dont. But in every case each letter/key requires quite a bit of force to overcome the binding. And that force is inconsistent. In other words it feels like there is a plastic on plastic binding. If you press perfectly vertical it is present but less noticeable, but press down at the slightest off angle - say 1 degree, the key binds and requires lots of force to push down. In normal typing this happens in every single word. I have to constantly correct missing letters. And even when I concentrate on forcefully pushing every key, they still bind and my overall typing speed is reduced significantly. I really have to return this. It is so bad it is in the realm of unusable.