Reviewed in Canada on April 20, 2022
To preface this review, my previous daily driver is a Drevo Gramr (Blue Switches) purchased in 2016 for $49.99 The cost of ownership is around $8.30/year at this point.
What did you like you dislike?
The main dislike I have of this keyboard is the angle the keyboard is situated at. The angle of the keyboard flat, with the legs DOWN is okay, however over long periods of typing it does cause wrist strain and eventually pain for my hands. I think this keyboard is really good for the price and to get a lot of new buyers into the mechanical keyboard market which is a positive. Typing on this keyboard with the legs UP was not enjoyable. The angle is very stark and does cause wrist pain.
The secondary dislikes I have with this keyboard are to be expected at the price point. Mainly build quality issues. When typing on the right side of my keyboards (I bought 3), each are very uneven and the keyboards will tilt to the right noticeable to the point the keyboard is not stable. This is a build quality issue, but like I stated before it is to be expected at such a low price point.
The last dislike I have with this keyboard is having to FN, PU,PD,HM, END, DEL. I write a lot of code and spend a lot of time in terminal sessions. When in the terminal PU, PD, HM, END, DEL are used quite frequently when scrolling code or man pages. This really decreased my overall coding productivity. I tried to push through it and it was just not happening after 3 weeks.
The same issues manifested when I was editing documents, I use the arrow keys, PU, PD, HM, END, and DEL a lot to do editing as I am not a heavy mouse user. When performing these tasks my productivity also dropped substantially having to FN into each key. Over the last 3 weeks, FNing has also cause a lot of hand strain on my right hand which is not comfortable, or sustainable for me in the future. As a result I am returning all 3 keyboards I purchased.
The stabilizers on this keyboard were not good, there was a lot of key wobble on every key which made typing less enjoyable than it should be.
Those are the major dislikes I have with this keyboard. I was hoping it would become my new daily driver, however it is just too
What did you use this product for?
This keyboard was used daily for three weeks, mainly for writing code, technical documentation, and editing documents.
I had been looking into 60% keyboards for the past year or so, however I was adverse to purchase one as most were over-priced for the form-factor.
The first week I was really excited to type of this keyboard as the switches had a nice ping and the click-clack was enjoyable. I would start the day and look at this keyboard with desire, sit in my seat and start typing away, forcing the shortcuts into my muscle memory, determined to make it my daily driver.
The keyboard pleased me so much initially I told my friend about it who also owns mechanical keyboards and he was quick to order one for himself. There is a nice teller at the bank who liked mechanical keyboards and I gifted one to him as we had built a good relationship over the years. for $20 dollars why not, it is pocket change.
As the week progressed I was set that my Drevo Gramr would be shelved indefinitely, so I purchased two more keyboards with the intent of having a backup, should the first ever get damaged, and another should I ever have to return to the office.
The second week started and I had some long online training sessions where I had to take notes over a 3.5 hour period, two days in a row. This is when the issues began to manifest. Getting notes down was straightforward until they required any editing or special commands, it was frustrating. During the breaks the amount of time I spent revising my notes was much too long, there was also content I simply was not able to get down due to the right side of my keyboard wobbling and causing typographical errors to be made. Fixing those typographical errors when slides are being moved through at a fast speed was not manageable. In the past I have not had any issues taking notes in long training sessions with my Drevo Gramr. This also goes to layout, as the Drevo Gramr is TKL 75%. I think this keyboard is good, do not get me wrong, however I think this keyboard is truly a gaming keyboard and i am explicit in saying that any potential buyers would consider what their daily tasks are before purchasing this keyboard as they will be adversely affected.
Throughout the week I went about my daily tasks, coding in an IDE, scripting in a terminal, and the keyboard was okay, not ideal. The wobble from the right side of the keyboard continued and I found myself having to re-write commands as they were being entered with typographical errors.
I will say that my typographical errors increased dramatically using this keyboard. This was confirmed by keybr.com. My overall WPM decreased by 8 when using this keyboard, I attribute this solely to the angle the keyboard is situated at which puts unnatural stain on my wrist and does not allow my fingers to sit naturally on the board. That may be a physiological difference for some versus others, I am just writing about my experience.
The third week I was not excited to use this keyboard anymore as the pain in my wrist was quite high. I had been using stress balls to alleviate the inflammation in my wrist and my productivity was taking a steady hit. I went into my closet and reached into the uppers shelf and took out my Drevo Gramr. I went to my desk and plugged it into my machine and started typing. I entered amazon.ca into the address bar and navigated to My Orders, then I selected Returns and printed three return labels; one for each keyboard I purchased.
This is my story of owning this keyboard. It was a decent experience overall and I really needed to see what the other side was like (60%). Solely based on the angle of this keyboard, the build quality and the form factor, I would not purchase this again. The cost of ownership is actually higher over time based on the fact the build quality is so low, it will not last over a long amount of time. There is no way this keyboard would have lasted me 6 years without issue.
With that said. If you are just looking for a cheap (60%), are not bothered by the keyboard angle (feet, DOWN or UP), and do not mind low quality stabilizers, then this keyboard is unironically up your alley. I say that with no passive aggression, snarkiness. Some people are able to tolerate these issues, however, downgrading in quality was not a reality for me so I will continue to use my Drevo Gramr and be a happy typist.
The lighting options on this keyboard are 10/10. Especially for the price point.
