Corsair K55 (2016) vs Drop CTRL (2018)

The Corsair K55 (2016) is a great Wired Keyboard for its $39 asking price.

The Drop CTRL (2018), however, while a reasonable product for $220, doesn't stack up against its competitors quite as well. If you're considering Wired Keyboards in the $190 range, you might want to check out some better options.

The Corsair K55 (2016) was loved by reviewers at TechGearLab, a highly trusted source that performs reliable in-depth testing. It did great in its "Best Gaming Keyboard of 2020" roundup where it was named its "A Budget Full-Size Keyboard", which, in itself, makes it a product worth considering.

Returning to the Drop CTRL (2018) - it was really well-received by reviewers at Laptop Mag and Wirecutter (NYTimes), which are among the most highly trusted sources on the internet and are known for their in-depth hands-on testing. It was named "Best customization in a snap" by Laptop Mag and "Other great mechanical keyboards" by Wirecutter (NYTimes), which points toward the Drop CTRL (2018) being a high-quality product.

We couldn't find any sources that tested both of these Wired Keyboards, so we only analyzed how they performed in reviews from different sites.

We first examined which sources rated each of these best and found that the Corsair K55 (2016) got its highest, 9.4, rating from Gadget Review, while the Drop CTRL (2018) earned its best, 7, score from Tom's Guide.

Lastly, we averaged out all of their review ratings and observed that the Corsair K55 (2016), with its 8.8 average, performed considerably better than most Wired Keyboards - the mean score for the product category being 7.4 out of 10 - while the Drop CTRL (2018) managed an average of 7.0.

There's one caveat here - it might not be entirely justifiable to do a direct Corsair K55 (2016) vs. Drop CTRL (2018) review average comparison since they aren't priced the same and more expensive products tend to get higher review scores from some sources.