Disclaimer

Mechlands sent me the Blade 101 keyboard to review for my blog. While I am very grateful for the opportunity, I won’t let it sway my opinions. This will be my honest review. Make sure you also check my latest reviews for the Ajazz Alux 68 and the Mechlands M75. I will also be using my affiliate links for Mechlands and Amazon where I can.

What’s in the box?

  • Blade 101 Keyboard
  • 2.5 G Dongle
  • USB-C to USB-A Cable
  • Key/Switch Puller
  • User Manual
  • 2 Extra Key Switches
  • Plastic Dust Cover

Features

The MechLands Blade 101 is an aluminum full mechanical keyboard. The keyboard comes in blue and black and while both colors look really good, but the keys and switches are easily swapable to match your aesthetic. If you like the clacking sound, the Blade 101 is gasket mounted with additional sound enhancing material for an extra satisfying tacking. It also wouldn’t be a modern keyboard with RGB, and the Blade 101 has a soft south facing RGB for a little extra flare.

As performance goes, users can enjoy high speed wireless connections through its Bluetooth and 2.5 GHz support, but a high speed wired connection is available when that 8000 mAh battery finally dies. Each 101 key has been prelubbed for maximum performance, and the finely tuned stabilizers promises comfort. The Blade 101 seems like the perfect full sized budget option, but how good is it really?

Sound Check

Review

The Blade 101 is undeniably one of my prettiest keyboards. I love the layout and color scheme, and the clean manufacturing makes it look like a more expensive keyboard. I also like the slightly textured caps. They made typing feel really good at first, but I can’t use the keyboard for too long without it flaring up my repetitive stress injury. People who don’t have this injury and use the keyboard a normal amount shouldn’t have this problem. I hadn’t had this issue with any of the other keyboards they sent me, and I am a little disappointed that this isn’t one of them.

Another issue I have with the keyboard is that it never charged. The keyboard held its initial charge, but I was never able to charge it again no matter what device, port, or cable I plugged it into. It also didn’t work on the USB mode when connected with the cable. I had to be on one of the wireless modes connected with a wire. This isn’t a huge deal, but I assume the wireless feature is baked into the price, and the price is too expensive for a wired keyboard that isn’t very comfortable.

The keyboard also didn’t perform well. I might have gotten unlucky and received my first defective unit, but it is an issue non the less. There was a lot of ghosting, and sometimes the presses wouldn’t register. It wasn’t unusable, but it made some tasks feel a bit tedious. The range for the wireless doesn’t feel very far. If was next to my device, I the ghosting was present, but not as bad as when I extended my standing desk. I did get about 6 hours of use out of the box with the backlight on, but I wasn’t able to test it again.

The MechLands Blade 101 is a very good looking full sized keyboard, but lacks the performance to earn a recommendation. Even if everything worked out of the box, I like the M75 a whole lot better. Go check out my review for that instead.

You can pick up the Blade 101 on the official MechLands online shop, or on Amazon through my affiliate links. It really helps me out if you do.