Review copy provided by Ant Esports.

Founded in 2016, Delhi-based Ant Esports has made its name in the country for its wide array of gaming products. With affordable prices all around, Ant Esports has captured a healthy segment of India’s budget-friendly gaming market.

Ant Esports MK3400W, the keyboard I’m reviewing today, costs around Rs. 2,000 on Amazon (at the time of writing this review). Many would still consider it expensive, but if you place it in a list of gaming keyboards, it’s at the very bottom. The best keyboards in the market will cost you around Rs. 15,000-22,000. Considering that, you’re still in for a great deal.

Long story short, for those who don’t want to read a thousand words, it’s a decent keyboard. The Blue switches are fine with me, but I haven’t developed a special liking for it yet. It’s worth mentioning though that I’ve been using it only for a few days now and you need to be extremely patient with mechanical keyboards to get used to. I, however, would switch to Cherry MX Red keys any day. But remember, key preferences are subjective. The design is great and one of the big advantages – it has an aluminum frame. And hence, you don’t need to worry about corrosion. It has a short non-detachable plastic arm-wrest, which is fine. The rest is all plastic. I’m a little worried about the cable though as it isn’t detachable and the quality is quite poor. Rest assured, if your budget is around Rs. 2,000, I’d recommend it.

Now, for the marathon runners, here we go.

General Details

Switches Blue switches (unmentioned brand) Lighting Backlit – 5 colors Onboard Storage No Media Keys No Game Mode No (Anti-Ghosting keys) Interface 1 x USB 2.0 Cable 1.5m, braided, non-detachable Additional Ports None Key Caps ABS plastic Construction Aluminum top, rest plastic Software None Dimensions (WxDxH) 445 x 115 x 38.5mm Weight 1.19kg Warranty 1-year Price ₹2,131 (Amazon)

Keys

The MK3400W has a total of 104 keys, all keycaps removable. Double-shot-moulded ABS keycaps. Just the basic ones with an additional key for changing the lighting of the keyboard. No media keys, no volume rocker. The keys are completely plastic, no rubber coating of any sort. Normal-sized keys with an awful font. That takes away the charm of the keyboard. I really wish they used a better font. Especially when you examine the Shift, Enter and Windows buttons without lighting, they’re horrible.

Sound

You can judge a keyboard’s quality by its sound. And the MK3400W does a decent job at it. Blue switches are meant to be audible, and the keyboard gives you that. Here’s a sample –

Ant Esports MK3400W Mechanical Pro Backlit Gaming Keyboard

Lighting

12 different patterns, including a number of wave patterns, breathing, always-on, trigger, wiggle, explosion and more. All of the keys are backlit, single color. Like the keys to the extreme left have yellow lights, next to it are orange, then violet, then sky blue and finally the keys to the extreme right have pink lights. There are four levels of brightness to the lights, which you can access by pressing the Fn key + arrow-up/arrow-down. The lighting modes can be changed by pressing the lit-up bulb key right to the Fn key.

Remember, don’t confuse them with RGB keys.

Feel

While gaming, you won’t feel much of a difference. While typing though, it feels a lot better than the cheaper Rs. 500-ish iBall keyboards. At this price point, you get a pretty decent feel.

Anti-Ghosting

A total of 26 keys support anti-ghosting – Q, W, E, R, T, A, S, D, F, G, Z, X, C, V, B, M, Tab, Caps Lock, Left Shift, Left Ctrl, Left Alt, Space and Arrow Keys.

Design

The Ant Esports MK3400W is 445mm long, 115mm broad and has a thickness of 38.55mm, i.e., dimensions are 445*115-38.5mm.

For a full-size mechanical keyboard, the footprint is of the perfect size, not too compact, not too large. I’d say, it’s the ideal footprint. The overall lighting of the keyboard is absolutely gorgeous. I must say, I didn’t expect a keyboard at this price point to illuminate the colors so precisely.

Back

The feet at the back are plastic with no rubber attachments. On the bottom corners, there are two rubberized holders for firm placement.

Front

Just have a glance at this image and you will have a great idea of how beautiful it looks.

Problems

I faced two major problems during my time with the keyboard. First, the keyboard stopped functioning after a few hours of inactivity. I came back to see the lighting was working fine, but the keyboard inputs – dead, including the lighting key. I plugged-out the cable, plugged it back in, and the keyboard was working fine. Second and the final one so far is key jam. Over slight pressure, the arrow up key got stuck and it wasn’t visible. Everything went haywire when I figured it out.

Typing Experience

During my time with the keyboard, I spent more time typing than gaming. In fact, I typed this entire review with the MK3400W. If you’re typing thousands of words a day, and enjoy the audible clicks, this is a great budget keyboard. If, however, typing is your only purpose, you can go for other keyboards available for even lower prices.

Gaming Experience

I played some Witcher 3 and Modern Warfare with this keyboard and I’d say, the experience was great. Moreover, once you’re engaged, your fingers work automatically. Even if your keycaps are exchanged with thorns, your fingers will run and bleed over them.

Other Details

The keyboard is manufactured by Eastern Full Technology Limited, Hong Kong, and imported by Acro Engineering Company, New Delhi.

World of Warships Affiliation

Ant Esports has manufactured the keyboard in collaboration with Wargaming, for their game, World of Warships. It’s clear right from the keyboard’s Amazon page to the box it comes in. It’s a complete set with the GM200W mouse (₹449) and the MP340W large extended mousepad (₹539), both World of Warships editions as well.

If you aren’t a World of Warships player already, there’s a coupon code worth ₹1,000 inside to get you started.

Final Verdict

As I wind up the review, I’ve spent around two weeks with the keyboard and my experience so far has been good. I got a few occasional, “Is that a new keyboard? Looks great though”, comments and I’m happy about it. The keyboard is, indeed, a value-for-money product and I seldom think you’ll find a better keyboard at this price point. Although I haven’t tried other keyboards of this range, I think this one is the one to go for.

I think a few media keys would have been great. But that isn’t my prime concern here. What is, indeed, my prime concern is the cable. I’m really confident about it as I’ve pretty bad experiences with such cables. So, for me, detachable wins over non-detachable.

And finally, if I’d choose it over my existing keyboard, i.e., HyperX Alloy FPS. Of course not. But if I were using my old iBall keyboard, which somehow, I declared the best keyboard at the time, definitely, any time.

If you’re on a budget and want to experience the joy of mechanical keyboards, this one is for you. And if this would be your first time using mechanical keyboards, you’d be amazed by the feeling of it. Remember though, mechanical keyboards are an addiction. Use at your own risk.