RK ROYAL KLUDGE RKS70 Split Keyboard Review — Is It Worth It?

Quick Verdict

The RK RKS70 split keyboard is one of the more serious ergonomic mechanical keyboards you can grab without remortgaging your desk. The split body tents neatly, hot-swappable brown switches let you experiment freely, and the 75% layout keeps your mouse arm close without sacrificing the keys you actually reach for. After two weeks of daily use — spreadsheets by day, shooters by night — I can tell you where it shines and where it bites. Recommended for anyone spending serious hours at a desk who wants to fix wrist and shoulder fatigue without going full ortholinear.

What Is the RK RKS70 Split Keyboard?

The RK RKS70 is a 75% split mechanical keyboard from Royal Kludge, a brand that has been steadily climbing the ergonomic peripherals ladder. The two halves connect via a coiled cable (included) but can also be used linked together like a conventional keyboard. Eight adjustable feet on each half let you flat-lay or tent the angles inward — a setup that genuinely changes how your forearms sit relative to your wrists.

Inside you get tactile brown switches, PBT keycaps, a 3150mAh rechargeable battery and three wireless modes: 2.4GHz USB dongle, Bluetooth 5.0, and USB-C wired. The left module carries its own battery and wireless chip, which means it can function as a standalone one-handed keyboard — unusual at this price and genuinely useful if you want to keep chatting while your right hand manages a mouse.

Key Features

• Split body with 8 adjustable feet for flat or tented typing angles
• Hot-swappable PCB — compatible with 3-pin and 5-pin mechanical switches
• Tactile brown switches pre-installed, ideal for typing and light gaming
• Triple-mode wireless: 2.4GHz, Bluetooth 5.0, USB-C
• 3150mAh battery — up to 14 days without backlighting
• 75% compact layout retaining arrow keys and essential function row
• 5 programmable macro keys on the left half, RK Windows software
• PBT double-shot keycaps, fixed wrist rest, RGB lighting with indicators

Hands-On Review

I set the RK RKS70 up on a Saturday morning. Within an hour I had the halves tented to roughly 15 degrees, plugged in the 2.4GHz dongle, and was staring at my new split layout wondering why my fingers felt so lost. That feeling lasted about four days. By the end of the first work week, I was back at roughly 85% of my normal typing speed, and by week two I genuinely preferred it for long sessions.

What surprised me was how much the tented position changed things. On day one I thought the feet adjustments were a gimmick — they are not. With the keyboard flat, my wrists were doing the usual slight inward rotation. Angling each half so the keys face your hands more naturally takes maybe three minutes of fiddling, and the difference in shoulder tension was noticeable by the afternoon. I have a habit of hunching my left shoulder during long coding sessions, and the split layout seems to pull me out of that automatically.

The brown switches are a safe, solid choice. They are not as quiet as reds but they are not shouty like blues either — a soft thud that I found easy to live with at 11pm without headphones. I swapped in a set of 5-pin linear switches I had lying around just to test the hot-swap board, and it genuinely took under two minutes with no tools. That matters if you decide six months in that brown is not quite right for you.

Battery life is where the RKS70 earns real points. Two weeks of heavy back-to-back typing and a few gaming sessions on a single charge, RGB off, is what Royal Kludge promises — and based on my use it is not inflated. The RGB strip is pretty if you want it, but switching it off is the right call for battery longevity.

The one thing nobody mentions in listings: the fixed wrist rest is comfortable but low-profile. If you have larger hands or prefer a higher wrist rest, you will feel it sitting right at the edge of comfort after a few hours. I adjusted by adding a slim mousepad folded over — not elegant, but it worked.

Who Should Buy It?

• Remote workers and developers logging 6+ hours daily who want real ergonomic improvement without learning a full ortholinear layout
• Gamers who care about posture — the macro keys, low-latency 2.4GHz mode and brown switches make this genuinely usable as a gaming board
• Programmers and writers who appreciate hot-swappable customisation and want to experiment with different switch feels over time
• Anyone with RSI or wrist fatigue on a standard keyboard — the tenting and split positioning are not marketing fluff here

Skip this if you switch keyboards between multiple people or need something plug-and-play that feels immediately familiar. The learning curve is real, and if you share a workspace where others touch your keyboard, the split layout will confuse everyone. Also skip if you need per-key RGB customisation that rivals Razer or Corsair — the software is functional but limited.

Alternatives Worth Considering

• Keychron Q1 Pro — premium aluminum build and superb software, but no split layout or tenting; better if you want a fixed-position board without ergonomic adjustments
• Kinesis Advantage 360 — the gold standard for split ergonomic keyboards with sculpted key wells, but priced significantly higher and harder to find
• Ummmico Split Keyboard — budget split option with similar tenting philosophy; sacrifices hot-swappable flexibility and wireless versatility for a lower price point

FAQ

Final Verdict

The RK RKS70 split keyboard fills a gap that most ergonomic keyboards either ignore or price out of reach: proper split ergonomics with hot-swappable switches, solid wireless and a compact 75% footprint — all at a mid-range price. The learning curve is the honest drawback; everything else is genuinely impressive for the money. If you have been putting up with wrist and shoulder fatigue from a standard keyboard and are ready to invest two weeks in relearning your typing position, the RKS70 is worth serious consideration. It is not perfect, but for the price it is close enough to earn a permanent spot on my desk.