The Redragon EISA K686 PRO Blue Himmel is an entry-level 98-key wireless RGB keyboard. It features sound-dampened linear red switches, tri-mode connectivity, and a hot-swappable gasket-mounted flex-cut PCB. That’s a keyword-stuffed couple of sentences, but it’s only one word longer than the product name on its official Amazon listing. If you’re not familiar with keyboard jargon, don’t worry — we’ll break it down together.
For now, the bottom line is this: the Redragon EISA K686 PRO Blue Himmel is one of the best gaming keyboards available for under $70. Whether it tops your shortlist depends on personal preference, but its overall quality won’t disappoint. What makes it interesting is its place in a broader, more expensive movement. What makes it stand out is its price.
Not long ago, buying a mechanical keyboard was a simple task. You chose clicky or not-so-clicky, and maybe paid a little extra for RGB lighting. But a surprisingly large community of keyboard enthusiasts has changed all that.
“The Redragon EISA K686 PRO Blue Himmel is one of the best gaming keyboards available for under $70.”
Now, there are dozens of switch types, hundreds of manufacturers, and endless options for customization. Enthusiasts have modded every element and scrutinized each component. They’ve even developed a meta around keycap plastics, key profiles, and the correct orientation of LEDs, which, by the way, is North.
You can question the necessity of this kind of nitpicking, but you can’t argue with the results. Thanks to genuine passion, mechanical keyboards are better than ever. But a quality one is also more expensive, which is where Redragon comes in. What Redragon does best is offer affordable, high-quality keyboards that borrow from the latest trends in the custom market. They’re curators for the casual. And with over 120 mechanical keyboards currently listed on their website, they have extensive curation experience.
One of their newer entries is the EISA K686 PRO Blue Himmel, which is one of four EISA K686 models — three of which carry the PRO label. The difference between each variation comes down to the aesthetic and switch type. I chose the Blue Himmel solely for its looks. The off-white and dark blue keycap set is nice and subtle, and stylistically a better fit for my office than the anime girl-themed EISA K686 PRO SE.
The keyboard’s 96% layout is ideal for small desks and shared spaces. It features a 98-key design and utilizes three layers of sound-dampening foam, making it both quiet and compact. To save space, the EISA K686 PRO (all models) moves some navigation keys into the function row and remaps the function keys to an FN layer.
I love space-saving layouts, but only up to the point where they shrink key sizes or move the arrow keys. This layout does both. The arrow keys are shifted left to sit beneath the Enter key, which shortens the Right Shift key. It’s not ideal for 3D artists, but if you need a board with a numpad that also saves three-quarters of an inch of desk space, this is certainly an option.
The keycaps have an understated design but excellent quality. The OEM-profiled shinethrough keycaps are made from a double shot of durable PBT plastics. The top layer is satiny and opaque, with cutaways for the legends. The clear underlayer fills in the legends, adding strength to the keycap while giving the north-facing RGBs a frosted, diffuse glow.
“The best thing about the Redragon EISA K686 PRO is that it’s more than a budget gaming keyboard; it’s a solid entry point into the world of custom keyboards.”
Under the keycaps are Redragon-branded linear red switches. Unlike tactile or clicky switches, linear switches actuate with no bump or audible click. They respond to even pressure throughout the keystroke. Their smoothness isn’t for everybody. To enjoy these linear reds, you really have to like linear switches.
Even by linear standards, they are unnervingly smooth. Like all switches, linear or not, resistance increases as you push down on a key. That resistance builds up to a pressure wall that must be pushed through for the input to register. On these linear reds, the input registers at the wall, not after it.
That’s not inherently a problem, but the feel is too airy. Part of the appeal of mechanical keyboards is the character of their switches. These have none.
Not helping the matter is the mechanical noise, or rather, the lack thereof. Linears are quiet, but they’re not silent. What makes these switches odd is that they bottom out without any sound, but click when the key resets. And they don’t report with a satisfying “thock” either, but a late, muted thump.
The typing experience is aggressively soft, thanks to a gasket-mounted PCB with flex cuts. The silicone gasket mounts act like a suspension system, allowing the PCB to flex under pressure, while the flex cuts provide similar give for each key. These features, combined with the plastic chassis, make the entire keyboard so flexible that it can be twisted a full 20 degrees. To me, the pairing of hyper-smooth linear switches and spongy mounting gives the typing experience the unmistakable sticky feel of a membrane keyboard.
That might sound like a skewer, but it’s not entirely. Preference matters a lot. Some people miss 2010 and are still mourning their long-dead Logitech G19s and Microsoft SideWinder X4s. This keyboard offers a way back to the days of membrane gaming, but with the reliability of mechanical switches. To each their own.
If you like the EISA K686 PRO Blue Himmel’s sound profile, softness, and design but prefer heavier switches, you’re in luck. The PCB is hot-swappable, which means you can remove the stock linear reds without soldering and replace them with any modern three- or five-pin switch. I swapped the switches under the alphas and arrow keys for Epomaker’s linear Zebra switches. The difference was immediate. The board kept its signature softness but gained responsiveness and a more satisfying sound, thanks to the Zebras’ marbly click.
The best thing about the Redragon EISA K686 PRO is that it’s more than a budget gaming keyboard; it’s a solid entry point into the world of custom keyboards. However, unlike entry-level custom units, it comes with features such as programmable RGB lighting and tri-mode connectivity. Having a 2.4GHz wireless and Bluetooth connection is something gamers often take for granted, but it is surprisingly lacking from many bespoke keyboards. Here, you get it all for well under $100.
The Redragon EISA K686 PRO is a decent keyboard, but like many Redragon products, it has the potential to be great. The main performance bottleneck is on the software side. Redragon’s customization software leaves a lot to be desired, most notably in the lack of performance monitoring tools. Control is limited to RGB lighting adjustments, macros, key remapping, and battery-saver settings. The most granular performance setting available is debounce. Not great.
Updating settings is slow, and the UI is clunky. But, overall, it’s serviceable. It just doesn’t do anything to elevate performance to the level you’d expect from a board labelled PRO. But if fine-tuning isn’t a concern, the keyboard is plug-and-play ready. Even without software, the default battery-saver settings help the rechargeable 3000mAh battery last for days between charges.
The Redragon EISA K686 PRO is a great value and a solid choice for a first mechanical keyboard. It’s feature-packed and highly upgradable, offering the flexibility of a custom build without breaking the bank. Its lightweight chassis and pillowy-soft typing experience don’t deliver a traditional mechanical feel, but the performance and reliability are absolutely there. It’s a solid starting point—but don’t expect to stick with stock.
- GASKET Design- The body structure differs from traditional screw fixing by using precision-locked covers with gaskets to assist with noise reduction and flexibility. It provides even feedback while the vertical cushioning reduces rigid noise, delivering a crisp, clean and softer typing feel.
- 3-Mode Connection – Geared with Redragon advanced tri-mode connection technology, USB-C wired, BT 3.0/5.0 & 2.4Ghz wireless modes which make the user experience upgraded to another level in all fields.
