Royal Kludge C98 HE vs Pulsar Xboard QS
Get the Royal Kludge C98 HE for hall effect and rapid trigger. Get the Pulsar Xboard QS for qmk and via.
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Which one should you get?
Get the
Royal Kludge C98 HE
Hall effect
Build quality in the bottom 25% of 96% boards under $100.
- Magnetic switches only. Standard MX switches will not fit.
- South-facing LEDs. Shine-through legends stay dark, and some sculpted keycaps can clip the LED.
- Compact full-size layout. The numpad is present, the gaps of a full-size board are not.
Get the
Pulsar Xboard QS
QMK
Build quality in the top 25% of 80% boards under $300.
- South-facing LEDs. Shine-through legends stay dark, and some sculpted keycaps can clip the LED.
- No numpad.
The differences that matter
Skip the 40-row spec sheet. These are the specs that change how each board feels, sounds, and fits your desk.
Royal Kludge C98 HE
Pulsar Xboard QS
Layout size
96%
80%
Hall effect (magnetic)
Yes
No
Adjustable actuation helps in games and not in normal typing
Rapid trigger
Yes
No
Faster resets help in games and not in normal typing
QMK
No
Yes
The deep option when you want to remap every key
VIA
No
Yes
GUI remapping without compiling firmware
- Royal Kludge C98 HE
- Pulsar Xboard QS
- Performance
- 9574
- Build quality
- 5272
- Productivity
- 8487
- Customizability
- 6788
- Portability
- 4560
- Connection: Wired
- Hot-swappable
- Knob
- Keycaps: PBT
Royal Kludge C98 HE vs Pulsar Xboard QS specs
Every tracked spec, side by side. Rows marked with a dot differ between the boards.
8 of 25 specs differ
Royal Kludge C98 HE
Pulsar Xboard QS
Switch options
Hall effect (magnetic)
Rapid trigger
Hot-swappable
Mount style
Sound dampening
Layout size
Layout standard
Ergonomics
Knob
Display
Connection
Max polling rate
USB passthrough
USB-C
Case material
Plate material
Keycaps
Weight
Dimensions
Backlight
QMK
VIA
Mac & Windows
Released
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