TLDR: - Nice quiet sound out of the box - Easy to mod for even better experience - 5 min auto shutoff for inactivity - Software is a bit minimalistic and lacking in much customizability for keybinds. Must be connected by wire to use. - Compact which is both good and bad depending on if you are ok with the lack of dedicated keys like arrows, del and `~. - Not great for programming/work that extends beyond normal typing but adequate due to above mentioned keys - Easy switching between wireless and wired - Overall a great and recommendable keyboard if you are happy with the keys available and ok with the keys that aren't This is my second mechanical keyboard, my first being an 87 key very cheaply made wired one. Coming from that, it wouldn't take much to impress me, but this keyboard did exceed my expectations. I play games moderately, leaning more to rarely, and primarilly use the keyboard for work/programming. Out of the box, the keyboard is very pleasant to use. It is fairly quiet and has a satisfying but soft lower toned click compared to the blue switch I came from. This type of thing is always subjective and while I originally wanted a nice clickity clackity keyboard, the blue switches got to be a bit much and this is a nice change. The RGB is nice and while the keycaps don't have translucent lettering for the light to shine through, I find it pleasant enough. I'm not staring down at my keyboard most of the time so just have the ambience of it out of the corner/bottom of my eye is sufficient for me. You can probably find a pattern that suits your taste and if not, they do have some flexbility in customizing it with their software. I didn't play around with that at all. Out of the box, you can cycle through different patterns and also cycle through different colors for each pattern. The speed and brightness of the color change is adjustable as well without need for software. I would have liked a dedicated function key to toggle the lights off and on, but you can just hit the dim key until it shuts off so it's not a huge deal. These are mostly one time and forget as far as I am concerned. The ergonomics of the keyboard are adequate at best. The case has a slight incline to it, but it has no feet for adjustability so if you prefer a flatter keyboard profile, you are out of luck sadly. I can't imagine anyone wanting it to be inclined more. Personally I find that an arm rest is a must to use this comfortably for any long periods of time, but find it pleasant enough with one. The software is very bare bone. You must be plugged in physically to use it. You can create some custom macros for keys or set keys to do different things, but given that this is a small keyboard as is, you are going to be hard pressed to find a key you don't use where you can set anything custom on it. The inability to change what the function key does when pressed with another key is what really limits the customization. The only thing I ended up changing was the list key into a del key. There are lighting customizations as well, but I skipped that section. By default, you have the number keys enabled with the Fn key giving access to the F1-12 keys. If you want to access the media keys, you have to set the F1-F12 keys as primary by hitting Fn+leftCtrl and thereby losing the numbers key all together until you get out of the mode. Too much of a hassle to use the media key. I don't understand why they don't have an option to set the number keys and media key as a combo. I don't really use F1-F12 or media keys much, but just note that there is that limitation there. The Fn+leftCtrl actually cycles through 3 modes which you can read in the documentation so I won't go over it. I find the other 2 modes useless anyway. While I picked this keyboard specifically because it was compact AND had 2.4Ghz option, I ended up never bothering with the dongle and using BT instead. I haven't seen any lag/connectivity issues and the switching only has about a second delay which is pretty good. Note that it will scan in as both BT3 and BT5. BT5 does show a battery life indicator, but it doesn't seem to be very accurate. The only way to know you have full battery is to plug it in and wait for the spacebar to flash white 5 times; this happens once so if you don't happen to notice it, I guess you miss your chance to see it is full. It will flash 3 times when first plugged in to indicate it is charging. The keyboard lasted roughly 10-12 hours I would say on a single charge with LEDs on and active use. The keyboard shuts off after 5mins of inactivity to conserve battery life. I plan to leave it plugged in most of the time so that is more than adequate for my needs. I did end up modding it by adding an extra layer of foam, duct taping the bottom of the PCB and adding foam to every keycap. This has help to give the keyboard an even deeper and nicer thonk sound. How to is easy to lookup on google or youtube. It is easy to take apart with only 4 screws under some keycaps you can see if you look closely so no need to remove all the keycaps if you want to perform any internal mods. I wouldn't say you need to mod it, but if you want to, it was fairly easy with the only caution I would give being with removing the battery connector as its a bit hard to pull out and the connector to the PCB can flex quite a bit. Overall, I use it as a programmer first and foremost and I can say that I probably would have opted for a slightly bigger keyboard if I had to do it all over again. The ` and ~ are available as Fn and Fn Shift for the Esc key even though the keycap doesn't have it labeled like most other keyboards I have seen. Del and arrow keys weren't something I would expect to miss as dedicated keys since I spend most of my time in VI mode, but my primary work laptop is Windows so they do come in to play more often than I had realized it would. If you like using window snapping to side ofs monitor by hitting the Win key and arrows, you'll have to toggle the arrow key mod with Fn Enter and then toggle out again when done. Again, all those keys are accessible with Fn so it's not the end of the world, but the inefficiency to access them at times is noticable early on. Other than that, the rest of the keys available are fine for my needs and I'm quite happy with the overall feel and use of it, especially with the easy mods performed on it. My big recommendation to everyone who plans to buy this is to use your keyboard without the keys you will lose if you are downsizing. Remove the keycaps or put some tape on that you will notice. I didn't realize how often I used some of the keys I assumed I wouldn't care about. So long as you are comfortable with missing out on those keys, it is a great keyboard.
