About this item:
3.8 out of 5
75.00% of customers are satisfied
mixed feelings on this
Man, this keyboard is great in many ways but I feel like it misses the mark just a bit in a few others that hold me back from giving it a full recommendation.A couple of pros:- Flamingo switches; really enjoy the feel of them.- Touchscreen and media buttons are pretty cool.- Keycaps are pretty decent actually.- Case overall feel is good, with a decent weight, shape, and a nice fitted cover.- Wired, 2.4, and BT all work great.The cons or just odd things:- The second that plugs in is not that useful. It shows time, battery, and connection, but nothing really critical. You can put art or animations on it which is nice but not important. It also sits kind of precariously and the keyboard cover doesn't fit with it plugged in.- The touchscreen, oh the touchscreen. It is limited in the functions, some useful like the volume controls, and just feels like more could have been done with it. It is pretty responsive, at least.- Make sure you note the layout. I didn't pay close enough attention and didn't notice the R4 row being different from standard qwerty spacing until I found myself pressing "up arrow" when intending to press "shift" and trying to find the "n" key.- Wish the media buttons felt a little nicer.I debated between giving this 3* and 4* but I'm going to round up. The standard function of the keyboard (that is, typing and connectivity) is perfectly good and the ideas are interesting, but the execution could have been better. Particularly the two screens, the main gimmicks of the board; they leave me underwhelmed and thinking a little bit of what could have been.
I wanted to like it more than I do.
tl;dr - Interesting and fun ideas, but poor execution. Typing experience is decent. Feels cheap.The brief...What I liked:+ lots of cool screens+ Flamingo switches are nice+ keycaps are simple, but clean+ South facing LEDs+ touchscreen is responsiveWhat I was neutral on:~ keyboard is fairly flat, not much rise without the feet~ touchscreen is quite bright, but so far, I haven't been able to find a way to dim itWhat I didn't like:- there is no mount for the second screen and is begging to be broken off- when mounted the second screen does not sit level/flush- media buttons beneath the touchscreen feel awful and cheap- case is lightweight and plastics feel cheap- South facing LEDs (if you would like to swap in typical shine though keycaps)- USB port has a narrow recess, and my custom cable's USB-C plug doesn't fully insertThe not so brief...Dang, I really wanted to like the RT80 more than I do. But the things I was most excited for, the screens, seem to be one of the biggest letdowns for me. First off, the mounting for the second screen that attaches to the back of the keyboard was horribly thought out, in my opinion. Beneath the cover for the USB dongle is a USB-C connector, that is where the screen attaches. You have to remove the cover and dongle to access it. If you are using the keyboard wired, there is no other storage for the dongle. You then slide the male USB-C plug on the screen into the now exposed USB-C port. The screen has no other attachment points and is secured only by the USB-C connection and dangles off the back of the board as the bottom of the screen module has no support and sits way off the desk surface. With as tall as the screen sits, it can easily be knocked off and potentially damage the port or the screen or more. Additionally, the port on my keyboard is not 100% level or centered (it has a slight twist when looking straight at it) so the screen doesn't fit flush with either the top or back of the case. It feels and looks like a literal add-on as opposed to being an intentional design element.The touchscreen is a bit better, as it is responsive to touch, but it is incredibly bright with a white background. I have not found a way through the software to reverse it with a dark mode or even dim it. It will return to the Epomaker logo after some seconds and there is no way that I can find to add a custom splash screen. To select an app or one of the default functions like volume control, you have to tap through the logo screen first. Two of the 4-panel slides cannot be changed, and their functions are fixed with only one 4-panel slide seeming to be customizable. When you select an app to place in one of those 4 slots it will pull its default icon, or you can customize it. Again, the touchscreen seems like a cool idea, but the execution is rather poor.Also, the board as a whole just feels cheaper than its price point. The plastics are lightweight, the board lacks any significant substance in the hand. The media buttons below the touchscreen have that incredibly hard tactile feel that makes me just not want to use them.One of the only good aspects for me are the Flamingo switches. They are smooth in use and have a pleasant sound, in spite of the cheap feeling case. The keycaps are also decent as they are simple but are easy on the eyes and feel good to type on.The overall typing experience of the RT80 isn't bad, it is almost kind of decent. But is it $96 decent (or $77 after coupon)? I don't think the ok typing experience overcomes the cost and lackluster screen implementation. And let's be real, the screens are the reason you would choose the RT80 over any other 75%/TKL layout. Probably close to touching a four-star typing experience, but the rest of the board has maybe two-star execution, so I'll split the difference.
Solid hardware, undermined by software
I am a big fan of the way this keyboard feels. It feels solid even under my notoriously hard typing, and the keys have a very nice feel to them. I might, as a matter of personal taste, prefer a touch more resistance or tactile bump, but you can clearly feel that these are great switches. Also the sound of the keys sets a nice balance between loud clicks and clacks and mush. Big fan overall.But the real value add on this keyboard is probably its displays which are both undermined by the software. The little TV screen works on my system--something that is not to be taken for granted according to Reddit--but beyond telling you the time and playing a GIF it is useless. Apparently the old version could give you your CPU load and temperature, but those never worked well (?!?) and so instead of fixing the features they just dropped them. What?The touch screen is almost more frustrating because it is SO CLOSE to being great. It is clear, responsive and looks great. But it is limited to the shortcuts that are pre-installed (volume control, that sort of thing) and 4 program launch macros. That's right, they just launch programs! Wouldn't it make more sense to give you several pages and then bind them to macros? I certainly think it would.So why 4 stars? Well in the end I like this keyboard, and it is likely to become my daily driver. It connects well and feels great. But if they just made the screen actually useful and added better macro support to the touch screen this could be a game changer at this price. Instead, it is just a nice keyboard.
I love this keyboard
This is a great board. Nice typing feel good sound from typing. The screen i thought would be a gimmick but it's actually useful! The keycaps are decent quailty nothing fancy, however there are a few draw backs, the add on screen can only be used when in wireless mode it uses the USB c port, the board is a bit flimsy if you type hard it gives quite a bit in the center under pressure it could use a bit stronger plate. Other than that it feels great to type on and I wish it was a tad heavier weight wise. Also the switches are quite smooth and creamy
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