Final Thoughts
As we come to the end here I am a bit torn on this keyboard. For one I absolutely love that Drop has gone out and been able to officially license Lord of the Rings so they could make this keyboard and their keycap sets. On the other hand for me the typing experience on this keyboard was not the best.
When I first took this keyboard out of the box I was really taken back as it was unlike anything I’ve really seen before. The green with the dark creme colored keycaps looks amazing and if you are a Lord of the Rings fan you are going to appreciate it even more, especially the Two Trees of Valinor art by the arrow keys. The very interesting Sindarin terms and Tengwar characters on the keycaps are really cool as well.
This keyboard is based off Drop’s own ENTR keyboard, which for better or worse is a $90 tenkeyless keyboard. While Drop did upgrade the keyboard not only visually, but internally with their Holy Panda X switches and Phantom stabilizers, I still was not the biggest fan of the overall typing experience. The main reason for this is that the metal casing of the ENTR without a whole lot of dampening doesn’t sound the best. On top of that the MT3 profile of the keyboard will take some time for you to get used to as well.
If you are a fan of Lord of the Rings this definitely is the keyboard to get, and like I said its implementation is quite good, but I feel like there are better options out there if Lord of the Rings is not your thing. Right now this keyboard is actually on sale for $149 (normally $199). Overall ThinkComputers gives the Drop + The Lord of the Rings Elvish Keyboard an 8 out of 10 score.
Pros:
– Great implementation of LOTR
– PBT keycaps
– Holy Panda X switches and Phantom stabilizers
– Comfortable to type on once you get used to it
Cons:
– No software included
– Not a ton of dampening on the casing
– Plain backlighting & keycaps really don’t allow for light to shine through
– Really only for LOTR fans
