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Drop ENTR – Enthusiast level quality on a Budget

Drop.com | Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada

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Drop recently sent us one of their new keyboards to take a look at and it’s something a bit different, the Drop ENTR is their new prebuilt TKL keyboard designed to give you the feeling of an enthusiast grade keyboard at a fraction of the price.

Where to get it

The ENTR is currently retailing on Drops website and Amazon for only $90. It is available in three colors: full black, Silver and white as well as an interesting Olive green with two tone grey keycaps. The ENTR is currently available with two switch options but we’ll get into those a bit later.

Drop.com | Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada

Frame

Drop decided to go with a very simplistic but solid design and I do mean solid, Going with a rounded anodized aluminum body and a plastic top plate resulting in a keyboard with almost no flex at all. This does make the keyboard weigh quite a bit, coming in at about 1 kilogram or 2 pounds total. The overall build quality definitely makes the keyboard feel like it should cost more. The best way to describe it is that the ENTR reminds me more of a Ducky keyboard rather than the gaming keyboards we got from the more mainstream brands like Corsair, Razer and Logitech.

Flipping it over

Taking a look underneath, this is the first and only time you actually see the Drop ENTR branding on the keyboard, printed quite largely in the center. There are two rubber pads in the bottom corners and two flip out feet at the top which I’d definitely recommend using to increase grip, the bottom of the feet are rubberized but don’t make contact if they are collapsed.

Cable

The ENTR comes with a pretty standard non-braided 1.8m USB-A to USB type-C cable that is fully detachable. But any USB type-C cable will work so you can easily swap it out if you want to go with a braided cable or if yours gets damaged.

Keycaps 

The included keycaps they are pretty thick walled double shot PBT with a slight matte textured finish that definitely feel well made. It’s also worth mentioning that the ENTR does have a standard bottom row in case you want to swap out the keycaps later.

Switches

The Drop ENTR comes with two switch options, which are unfortunately not hot-swappable. Available in either the linear Gateron Yellows or tactile Drop Halo Trues which we have here. The Halo Trues are a tactile switch which is completely different to any tactile switches I’ve tried before, feeling almost like a linear and tactile hybrid. They have an actuation force of 54g, 4mm of total travel and requiring a hefty 100g of force to bottom out. This gives them an almost dampened feeling when bottoming out. The switches have their tactile bump right at the beginning of the key press only needing medium pressure until they actuate at 1,9mm they then start getting stiffer, needing increasingly more force the closer you get to bottoming out. They feel great to type on and perform pretty well in games too.

As for how they sound, they are quieter than Cherry MX reds with an audible click both when bottoming out and releasing the switch. 

Halo Trues are usually bought for the stem which is pulled out and rebuilt into the housings of the INVYR Panda switch to make Holy Pandas, one of the most popular franken-switches in the custom keyboard community.

Software?

The Drop ENTR doesn’t need any additional software but instead comes with some preprogrammed secondary functions like windows shortcuts, full media controls and backlight adjustments built in.

No RGB this time

The Lighting is where Drop made an interesting call, by not going with RGB lighting they managed to keep the pricing competitive while still producing a keyboard with great build quality. It does at least have a white backlight which unfortunately has a slight yellow tone to it. I mean it’s definitely going to help if you’re typing in the dark but would have looked a lot better if it was a pure white. It kind of works with the green color scheme but apparently doesn’t look too good on the black and white models.

Worth it?

The Drop ENTR is not what we’re used to here at WeDoTech as it’s less of a “Gaming” keyboard and more of an enthusiast level piece. It doesn’t have any RGB lighting or unnecessary features but I’m strangely okay with that, writing this article on it was an honestly enjoyable experience and I think that’s what it was designed for. It’s perfect for people who work in offices but can’t stand the feeling of membrane keys or want something closer to a premium custom keyboard without having the budget or know how to build it themselves. The combination of the great build quality and the Halo Switches make this keyboard feel unique compared to the other keyboards that have come through our doors

The only downsides that I noticed were the slightly off white backlight and the included cable not being braided.

But it’s probably one of the best options available in its price group at the moment especially if you’re willing to give up RGB lighting in exchange for great build quality. 

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