FYR / TEK · A personal publication by Alan Gurling
Heavy music. Mechanical keyboards.
Technology. The rabbit holes in between.
I'm Alan, the person behind FYRTEK. I write from London about mechanical keyboards,
heavy music, useful technology and the stories that collect around them.
Entirely subjective proof, of course. But proof nonetheless.
It's been a while since I've talked about music here on FYRTEK. I've spent much of the past year in a state of mental healing, and one of the things affected along the way has been my love for music.
It's quite something when something that has been such a huge part of your life suddenly stops giving you the feeling it once did.
But I digress.
The subject of this post is Duran Duran's Ordinary World, a song that is very special to me and belongs to a very exclusive club I've come to think of as my Songs of Perfection.
From the moment I first heard it to today, nearly 35 years later, it remains a song I can completely lose myself in.
I'm not going to analyse the song itself too deeply. That's another article entirely. Instead, I want to try to remember where this song fitted into my life, and how, in its own quiet way, it has helped me along the way.
I can't remember exactly when or where I first heard it.
But I remember my reaction.
I must have been ten or eleven years old when I caught the opening notes, and they made me stop whatever I was doing. Then the song pushed forward into its chorus, and, perhaps for the first time, I experienced what it felt like for an emotional high to somehow climb even higher.
Looking back, music probably played a much bigger role in my childhood than I understood at the time.
Around this period of my life, I was exposed to adults abusing drugs. It was an awful thing for any child to witness, but it also taught me something early. Music became somewhere else I could go. And thinking about it now, I genuinely believe it helped keep me away from some of the darker roads I could have followed.
There was, however, a problem after hearing Ordinary World for the first time.
I had absolutely no idea who sang it.
And I had no idea how I was ever going to hear it again.
That's difficult to imagine now. We live with smartphones that can identify a song within seconds and give us immediate access to almost everything ever recorded.
But this was the early 1990s.
A song could simply disappear.
And this one did.
I think it was at least another year before I finally encountered it again.
I was watching MTV when the video appeared. The moment I recognised the song, I found myself staring at the television.
Completely transfixed.
I remember being slightly annoyed that I had to blink because, for that fraction of a second, I wasn't seeing the video.
The video was beautiful.
More than that, it somehow completed the song for me. I didn't realise it at the time, but Ordinary World would become one of those pieces of music that helped shape my taste in everything that followed.
Naturally, MTV also managed to annoy me.
Back then they had a habit of cutting off the final few seconds of songs to squeeze in a commercial break or move on to the next video.
They did exactly that.
For the next few years, Ordinary World existed mostly as something I occasionally encountered. It would appear on the radio or MTV, stay with me for a few minutes, and then disappear again.
It wasn't until I owned my first PC and eventually connected to the internet, through the screeching technological ritual that was dial-up, that I finally managed to get a copy of the song for myself.
And then it couldn't disappear anymore.
Fast forward to 2026.
It's Sunday. Next week is September. Summer is coming to an end, and here in London we're preparing ourselves for another wet autumn.
Part of me wishes life were easier now than it was when I first heard Ordinary World.
In many ways, it is.
But life doesn't really run out of challenges. It just changes them.
I'm now a father to two awesome humans with autism. I try my best to help them and prepare them for a world that isn't always particularly kind or accommodating towards people who experience it differently.
And that scares me.
I dream a lot, although I forget probably 99% of those dreams.
What often survives is the emotion.
A strange residue that stays behind after everything else has disappeared.
The handful of dreams I do remember tend to be the ones that hit too hard.
One of them was about my daughter.
She was grown up and struggling with something, and somehow I wasn't there for her.
Even though it was only a dream, writing that sentence still hurts.
Some dreams disappear when you wake up.
Others leave scars.
This probably sounds like I've wandered away from Duran Duran entirely, but this is where it all comes back together.
Ordinary World isn't perfect to me simply because it is beautifully written or performed.
It's perfect because it has somehow followed me through my life.
If my life were an album, this would be one of its tracks.
A song discovered by a child who didn't really understand why it affected him so deeply, carried forward through adolescence, adulthood, parenthood and everything in between.
And today, when I hear the words:
"But I won't cry for yesterday..."
I understand them differently than I did when I was ten.
The ordinary world isn't somewhere you eventually arrive.
Perhaps it's something you spend your whole life trying to find.
And somewhere along the way, you learn how to survive.
There is something slightly ridiculous about picking up a 60% keyboard and discovering that it weighs more than some laptops.
This is the NEO60 Cu. And this is keyboard number eleven in my mechanical keyboard journey
By this point, I had already learned that size does not necessarily have anything to do with how substantial a keyboard feels
But the NEO60 Cu takes that idea and runs away with it. This thing is dense. It is small. It is compact. It barely occupies any room on the desk
Then you pick it up. And suddenly your brain has to recalculate what it is looking at. "It's a chonker!" I hear you say haha!
My particular NEO60 Cu is the WKL version in Spray-Coated Nebula, which contains tiny sparkles throughout the finish.
And I love it.
Under normal lighting it can look relatively restrained. Move it underneath stronger light, though, and those little flecks begin appearing across the case. It gives the keyboard character without turning it into something overly flashy.
With the SWG Rubber keycaps, I think the whole build has come together beautifully. There is a slightly industrial look to it.
It's dark. Definitely serious. A little strange, even.
This is exactly the sort of thing I tend to gravitate towards. It's a keyboard that a metalhead could be seen using without losing street cred, the usual look that I go for.
The micro-glitters/sparkles look so much better in real life. So much for street cred!
My Build
My current configuration is:
NEO60 Cu
WKL layout
Spray-Coated Nebula top case
Brass bottom case
Brass weight
ISO layout
Split left Shift
Split right Shift
1.6mm Hotswap PCB
ALU plate
Top-mount
Foamless
HMX Black Cat tactile switches
SWG Rubber keycaps
And the layout is probably worth talking about before anything else. This is ISO, but I have also gone with split left and right Shift.
A few months ago, something like this would probably have looked needlessly complicated to me. Check out my NEO60 Core story, that build took longer than it really should.
Now? I look at it and think, "Of course I should split both shift keys." That tells quite a lot about what this hobby has done to me. It's another part of the hobby that I love.
It's more about "this is what I like" over "what do you guys think?", and it's quite refreshing. The pure subjectivity of the hobby still fascinates me to this day.
The Journey Changes You
One of the things I have noticed while documenting this keyboard journey is that every new board seems to teach me something. Sometimes it is obvious. A new switch. A new mounting style. A new plate material.
But sometimes what changes is simply your taste. When I first entered this hobby, I mostly wanted keyboards that sounded nice straight out of the box. And even then, what "sounded nice" was completely different (check out my thoughts on "from thock to clack").
Then I wanted barebones boards. Then I wanted to build them myself. Then I wanted unusual layouts.
Then split keys started making sense. Then I started caring about things like mounting systems, material combinations and how a particular switch interacts with the acoustics of a case.
The goalposts didn't just move. I picked them up and carried them somewhere else entirely. Being mindful about all these things keeps my fascination about the hobby at a high.
The NEO60 Cu feels like another checkpoint in that progression.
The NEO60 Cu 60% compared to a Weikav MAX102 98% keyboard
Small Keyboard. Very Heavy Keyboard.
The first thing that really distinguishes the NEO60 Cu is its weight. This thing feels absurdly substantial for a 60% keyboard. You expect something this small to be relatively light. It isn't. Far from it, that it's almost funny.
The NEO60 Cu can weigh well over two kilograms once built, depending on the configuration. And that mass shows in how the keyboard feels.
You put it on the desk, and it stays there. There is no sliding around. No sense of hollowness. No feeling that you're typing on a lightweight shell. It feels planted, and that is a feature that I feel is underrated. There's something about a tool that grounds you into place. This keyboard does that.
I know weight does not automatically equal quality. You could put a brick inside a cheap keyboard and technically make that keyboard very heavy. But here the weight feels integrated into the design. It contributes to the entire character of the board. This tiny keyboard feels almost architectural.
And Then There Is the Sound
This might be my favourite thing about this particular build. I LOVE how the NEO60 Cu sounds. NEO, or QwertyKeys rather, continue their impressive sound design with this keyboard.
Trying to describe keyboard sounds with words is always dangerous because eventually every keyboard reviewer starts sounding like they are reviewing coffee.
Deep. Rich. Bright. Clean. Creamy. Nutty, with hints of switch lubricant. (What the...)
The NEO60 Cu was designed around dense materials and an internal acoustic chamber intended to reduce hollowness inside the case.
You can hear that philosophy in the finished keyboard. Instead of sounding like the switches are bouncing around inside an empty aluminium box, everything feels contained. Focused.
And then there are the HMX Black Cats. These are tactile switches with quite a bright and resonant character of their own. They're currently my favourite switch and with good reason.
They have a short three-millimetre total travel, a fairly pronounced tactile event and a relatively light actuation.
In another board, I could imagine them becoming a little too lively for what I usually enjoy. Here? They work. The NEO60 Cu seems to give that brightness somewhere to go. The result is a definite "clack".
The longer I stay in the hobby, the deeper I get into it, the less interested I am in forcing everything into thock versus clack. I take into consideration whether or not a keyboard was designed to thock or clack, and the NEO60 Cu is definitely a clacker.
The SWG Rubber Keycaps
The SWG Rubber keycaps add another part to this build that I really enjoy. They have quite a pronounced texture under the fingers. Not better/worse than GMK, but in my experience, different.
And visually, I think they suit the NEO60 Cu perfectly. The darker colours against the Nebula case give the keyboard this understated industrial appearance. It doesn't look delicate. It doesn't look particularly playful. It looks purposeful. And I think the slightly more muted acoustic character of these keycaps also works nicely with the Black Cats.
I would have liked the base version with red sublegends, but the beige version that I have here has its own charm.
Premium Is a Feeling
Full-on BRASS
There is another word that keeps coming to mind whenever I use the NEO60 Cu. Premium. And premium is difficult to quantify. It isn't just price. It isn't just weight. It isn't just machining. It isn't just the finish.
It is the combined impression an object gives you when you interact with it. And the NEO60 Cu feels premium to me.
The finish is excellent. The case feels substantial. The weight gives it presence. The design is clean without being boring. And when I sit down and actually type on the thing, the experience matches what the keyboard looks like. That last part matters.
I have used products that look expensive but stop feeling expensive the moment you touch them. The NEO60 Cu isn't one of them.
A Very NEO Approach to Value
Something I am beginning to understand about NEO keyboards is that their definition of "budget" is slightly peculiar. These are not cheap keyboards in the everyday sense.
Go outside the enthusiast bubble and tell someone what some folks spend on keyboards, and they will look at you in precisely the way you deserve. But within custom mechanical keyboards, NEO has become extremely good at offering features and build quality that would previously have been associated with much more expensive boards.
The NEO60 Cu is a good example. Multiple layout options. ISO support. Different plates. Different mounting configurations. Different case materials and finishes. VIA support. Wired or wireless PCB options. There is a lot here.
I can even say that all of these things can and will spoil you. You start raising the floor, and expect other manufacturers and designers to offer the same plethora of features as a starter.
I've seen conversations online where people discuss how one particular keyboard needs over twenty screws just to get to the PCB, and that's borderline a dealbreaker for me.
But what interests me more than the specifications is that none of it feels particularly compromised when you actually use the keyboard. That is such an important part and almost understated. All these quality-of-life features add up, and this is why I love NEO products.
Living With WKL and 60%
Of course, there is still the small matter of this being a WKL 60% keyboard. Which means I have willingly removed several keys from my keyboard and am now congratulating myself for doing so. It's like bonking myself over the head and saying thank you.
This hobby is perfectly normal. I keep telling myself that.
Okay, I digress, but seriously, the lack of dedicated arrow keys remains one of the biggest adjustments with a 60%. But this is also where layers start becoming genuinely useful rather than something hidden away in VIA that you never touch.
Once your arrow keys and navigation commands have sensible layer positions, a 60% becomes considerably easier to live with. And because I have built this one with ISO and split shifts, the keyboard also feels uniquely mine.
The difference between being forced to use a layout because someone forced you to, as compared to using the layout and being mindful about it because you want to, is a huge difference. But the layers I've set up help with the arrow keys:
Is the NEO60 Cu Perfect?
That side profile is almost perfect
No. Far from it, actually. Because no keyboard is. The obvious issue is that a 60% simply isn't going to suit everyone. I'm even willing to say that it won't suit the overwhelming majority of folks. If you rely constantly on dedicated arrow keys, function keys or navigation keys and have no interest in layers, there are better layouts.
The weight is another double-edged sword. I love it on the desk. I would not particularly enjoy carrying it around every day. This has not stopped me thinking about it though, and I feel that this thought won't go away until I actually do it at least once.
And depending on how often you like experimenting with the internals, it is worth knowing that NEO moved away from the convenient ball-catch opening system used on some earlier boards. This uses an internal locking system instead. That makes modifications slightly less convenient, although the design is intended to avoid the unwanted metal-to-metal vibrations that can occur with other mechanisms.
Keyboard Number Eleven
Eleven keyboards. That still sounds strange when I say it.
When I started this journey, I thought I was getting interested in mechanical keyboards. What actually happened was that I became interested in all of the tiny decisions hidden inside them.
The NEO60 Cu represents that evolution rather nicely. It's ISO. It's WKL. I've split both Shift keys.
I'm using tactile switches selected because I like what they do in this particular board.
I've chosen keycaps partly for their texture, partly for their sound and partly because I simply love how they look. But one of the biggest parts is how SWG keycaps are essentially 95% of GMK keycaps for about half the price and come with a case. That is value that's hard to ignore.
None of those decisions would have meant very much to me when I bought my first keyboard. None of those factors would have been things I would have noticed, at all. Yet here we are. The NEO60 Cu is a culmination of my journey in the hobby so far. All the knowledge, all the things I've learned and absorbed to help me form my personal preference, resulted in me owning this awesome keyboard.
Final Thoughts
The NEO60 Cu has become one of those keyboards that reminds me why I fell into this hobby in the first place. Not because it has one revolutionary feature. Not because it produces some mythical perfect keyboard sound. And certainly not because I suddenly believe everyone needs a two-kilogram 60% keyboard.
I love it because everything comes together. The weight. The sound. The feel. The unusual layout. That wonderful Nebula finish. It feels like something I built rather than something I simply bought. And perhaps that is the biggest difference between keyboard number one and keyboard number eleven.
At the beginning, I was discovering keyboards. Now I am discovering my taste in keyboards.
And apparently my taste involves tiny keyboards made from enormous quantities of dense metal.
I can live with that.
This is the NEO60 Cu. Keyboard number eleven. And the journey continues.
The older I get, the more I realise that you sometimes have to be in the right frame of mind to do certain things.
Not everything needs to be done immediately. Sometimes you need time. Sometimes you need space. And sometimes you need to wait until your head and your heart are both ready.
Strangely enough, a set of keycaps recently reminded me of that.
Growing up
I didn't have the easiest childhood.
Growing up in the 1980s, it sometimes felt to me like children fell into one of two camps: those whose parents were there for them, and those who largely had to figure things out for themselves.
Unfortunately, I often felt like I belonged to the latter.
So, like a lot of children who needed somewhere else to go, I found refuge in things. Television. Films. Music. Computers. Stories. Fictional worlds became places you could disappear into for a while when the real one wasn't particularly welcoming.
Winnie-the-Pooh and his collection of friends in the Hundred Acre Wood were part of that.
The funny thing is, I wouldn't even describe myself as having been a huge Winnie-the-Pooh fan. I didn't collect Pooh merchandise. I wasn't obsessed with the stories. There were plenty of other things from my childhood that probably occupied much more of my attention.
And yet, something about Pooh and his friends stayed with me. There was a warmth to that world. These were very different characters, all carrying their own personalities, worries, insecurities and peculiarities, yet somehow they still belonged together.
Pooh was Pooh.
Piglet was Piglet.
Tigger was very definitely Tigger.
Eeyore could be Eeyore.
Nobody needed to become someone else before they were allowed into the group.
Looking back now, I wonder whether that was part of what resonated with me. Maybe I needed that more than I realised at the time.
Different problems
Fast-forward several decades and I'm now in my mid-40s.
Life hasn't necessarily become easier. The problems have simply changed shape.
I now live in a neurodiverse household, and autism has become an important part of my everyday life.
There are wonderful moments, but there are difficult ones too. It is hard watching someone you love struggle with a world that isn't always particularly good at understanding them or accommodating what they need.
I can't solve everything. I can't experience the world exactly as they experience it.
Sometimes all I can do is listen, try to understand, advocate when I need to, and most importantly, be there.
And perhaps that last part means more to me because I know what it feels like when somebody isn't.
Then a box of keycaps landed in my lap
At the Bristol Mechanical Keyboard Meetup, I entered one of the raffles. And somehow, I won.
My prize was the DCD Hundred Acres keycap set.
At first, that's exactly what it was. A really nice set of keycaps. But seeing the set in person, it struck a chord in me.
I've written before about how the mechanical keyboard hobby has helped me become more comfortable expressing my preferences.
That probably sounds ridiculous if you're outside the hobby. They're keyboards.
Bits of aluminium, plastic and sometimes far too much money arranged into increasingly elaborate rectangles.
But look at some of the keyboards I've built. Look at my TKD Cycle 7. Look at my NEO Ergo.
They're colourful. They're personal. Some of them are a little ridiculous. And that's exactly why I love them.
I've reached a point where I'm much less concerned about whether something fits some imaginary definition of what an elegant keyboard is supposed to look like.
I build things that make me happy. And I'm still riding that high.
Something unlocked
Looking through the keycaps brought back something that I hadn't thought about for a very long time.
Not necessarily specific memories. It was more of a feeling.
A tiny connection to a much younger version of myself. A child who found comfort wherever he could find it.
Somewhere along the way, I had packed a lot of that stuff away.
Maybe that's simply what adulthood does to us. We grow older. We become more serious. Responsibilities pile up. Work happens. Bills happen. Families happen. Health happens. Life becomes very good at filling every empty corner.
And you quietly lock parts of yourself away because they don't seem useful anymore.
Then something completely unexpected finds the key. In my case, apparently, it was a Winnie-the-Pooh-themed keycap set.
Mechanical keyboards are strange. But I was happy. Really happy. A feeling of happiness I used to have when I was a kid, something that I haven't felt in a long time.
Waiting for the right keyboard
Normally, when I get a new keycap set, the temptation is immediate.
Which keyboard am I putting these on? What switches should I use? How will it sound?
Within minutes I'm mentally pulling keyboards apart.
But Hundred Acres sat in its box. Not because I didn't like it. Quite the opposite.
It felt special enough that I didn't want to throw it onto whichever keyboard happened to be nearby just so I could say I'd built something with it.
I wanted the build to feel right.
And that brings me back to the beginning of this post.
Sometimes you have to be in the right frame of mind.
I needed the right keyboard. I needed time. I needed some space in my head.
And I needed to actually want to sit down and build it rather than treating it as another job on a list.
So I waited. A week passed. Then another. Eventually, more than a month had gone by.
The keycaps weren't going anywhere. There was no deadline.
There was nobody standing over me demanding to know why Winnie-the-Pooh remained trapped inside a cardboard box.
So I let myself get there when I got there.
Hundred Acres
Eventually, everything came together.
The build is:
Weikav MAX102
DCD Hundred Acres keycaps
HMX Moonlight silent tactile switches
Hundred Acres deskmat
And when I finally put everything together, the wait was worth it.
It isn't my most expensive keyboard. It isn't my most technically impressive keyboard. It probably isn't going to win any awards for enthusiast credibility.
None of that matters. I look at it and it makes me happy.
More importantly, I understand why it makes me happy.
It's a small piece of my childhood sitting on my desk.
But it's also connected to my life now.
There is something strangely appropriate about having the Hundred Acre Wood in a house where being different is simply part of everyday life.
A group of very different characters somehow finding their way through things together.
Perhaps that's what resonated with me all those years ago.
Perhaps that's why it resonates even more today.
More than keycaps
I've realised something else since getting deeper into this hobby. Mechanical keyboards have become a form of self-expression for me.
Sometimes that expression is loud. Sometimes it's an absurd colour combination. Sometimes it's about finding exactly the right sound. And occasionally it is quieter.
Sometimes it's just about putting something on your desk that reminds you of who you were, who you are now, and perhaps how far you've travelled between the two.
DCD Hundred Acres will probably never be just another keycap set to me.
I won it at a keyboard meetup. I brought it home. I left it sitting in a box for more than a month.
And eventually, when I was ready, I built something with it.
Maybe that's why this keyboard means so much to me.
For once, I didn't rush towards the destination. I gave myself the time and space to get there.
And somewhere in the process, I found a small piece of myself that I'd apparently left behind in the Hundred Acre Wood a very long time ago.
I can't believe it. I've already done ten keyboard reviews. I started this journey officially just after New Year of 2026. It's now month eight of 2026. So many things have happened, America started another war, and the average intelligence score of the younger generation is now definitely on a downward trajectory.
But I digress. The old saying that time flies by when you're having fun is so true, because it's already August and I wonder where all the time went.
I've met so many wonderful people. So many personalities. I've gained so much knowledge and heard from so many perspectives – all of which helped me appreciate the hobby and what's involved with it so much more. I have truly enjoyed my time so far in the hobby, and I am looking forward to what the future brings!
The Recap
I think it's time for a much-needed status check. Let's do a quick recap of my keyboard journey so far:
Keyboard #1 - Epomaker RT85
It's my first keyboard, and I think I'm keeping this. It's a sort of reminder of how I started in this hobby. I like how it sounds, and I still enjoy using it. There's a kick of nostalgia that it gives when I press on the keys. The orange accent keys really clinched it for me. Waiting for the keyboard was both anxiety-inducing and exciting, but it was my first proper entry into the hobby.
I think this was going to be my first proper "thocky" keyboard. I'm a bit of a Japanophile, so the keycap sets, wooden case, and overall package made it an instant buy for me. I bought it from AliExpress, and it's an amount I don't usually spend on the site, so I was a bit apprehensive. But the keyboard came, and I was a happy camper. The switches that came with the keyboard were so light!
The most barebones kit keyboard for the cheapest price. This keyboard nailed it. It's also my only yellow keyboard so far. Whilst I enjoyed the time I spent with it, it's also a perfect example of you getting what you pay for.
This was the first "wow, this is heavy, it feels premium!" moment for me. A moment that would continuously be shattered in this hobby. I love the colourway; it reminds me of my favourite band, Type O Negative.
Reading and watching so many reviews of this keyboard, by the time I purchased it, it held a certain notoriety in my mind. My curiosity got the better of me, and I'm glad it did. It was an inexpensive purchase, but it felt far from cheap (at the time). I was truly amazed at how far Chinese manufacturing has come, and this was a perfect example of it.
My first ever "true 65% layout" keyboard. You could almost call this the next level to the Leobog Hi75C. CNC Aluminium with a loud & proud LED adorning its design, the NUT65 is a fun keyboard that hides a complete package with all the bells and whistles. This is also where I found that just because a keyboard is marketed as easily customisable, it doesn't necessarily mean that you can actually customise it positively.
The NUT65's sibling. The less-flashy one. The "professional" one. It was my first ever red keyboard, and I like it. I purchased it because I wanted to know why Weikav would release something so similar, and I found the reason. I was afraid that I was throwing money away by buying a keyboard that had slight differences from the previous one, but I'm glad I did, as I learned a lot from the experience. A slight change can mean a world of difference to how your experience pans out.
This was a brand that I've been watching for a while. They've been getting decent reviews, and when compared to their peers, there were few keywords that caught my attention. "More premium", "solid purchase", and "highly recommended" were synonymous across all the reviews I came across. And they were right. I was also able to buy this while it was on sale, and I love how it feels and how it sounds.
I told myself that I wouldn't get a NEO keyboard. Not until I get an EVO keyboard at least. Yet, here I am. Making the purchase from the de facto UK keyboard hobby vendor, ProtoTypist. It's an important keyboard for me. My first ever NEO. My first BIG keyboard purchase. It's a keyboard I'll be keeping and using for a long while.
This was my first ever silent keyboard and was a learning experience for me. I found that I didn't like my keyboards to be too silent. I also discovered what people meant when they said that most silent switches are "mushy". This keyboard is the perfect office companion, and because of that, it's also a keyboard that made me feel bored of it. The unique selling point of it being silent is both its greatest feature and biggest drawback.
I'm writing the review for keyboard number ten – it's another Weikav product, and this time it's a big one! Stay tuned for when I publish it!
If you're still reading this, thank you. I'd love to hear from you about how you started your keyboard journey. What keyboard are you using right now? How is it configured? Let's talk keyboards!
At this point in my mechanical keyboard journey, I was beginning to move away from entry-level prebuilt keyboards. My tastes were changing. I was becoming more interested in premium materials, custom kits and keyboards with a bit more personality.
I was getting quite interested in TKLs (tenkeyless), and I was also quite curious about silent switches. I also didn't have many ISO-layout keyboards. All of these factors led me to push BUY for this keyboard. The Epomaker TH87 ticked almost all the boxes for me.
I bought the TH87 from the official Epomaker store on AliExpress. Interestingly, I had to buy a UK ISO layout keyboard in China. I guess this means that it's a popular keyboard for it to be out of stock in the UK.
I chose the ISO UK version with Epomaker Sea Salt Silent V2 switches. At the time, I could not find this exact version available from any UK retailer. This was also the first keyboard I had purchased that came with silent switches, so I was excited to see how they would feel.
Familiar Epomaker packaging
By this stage, I had already bought several Epomaker keyboards and had generally been happy with them.
The TH87 arrived in the company's familiar packaging. Epomaker has standardised its presentation, and the box and accessories have an unmistakably Epomaker feel.
It gives the impression of a company that has been in the keyboard market for a long time.
Inside, the keyboard is protected by a dust cover, which is a simple inclusion that I always appreciate.
You also receive a combined keycap and switch puller, some spare switches and a braided USB cable.
It is a fairly standard package, but it includes everything you need to get started.
Designed for the office
The TH87 has a clean and restrained appearance. It feels like a keyboard designed with the office in mind.
The keycaps have a professional colour palette, and the legends are clear and crisp. I also like that they include markings for both Windows and macOS. That is particularly useful on a tri-mode keyboard that may be used across several devices.
The case is made from plastic, but it does not feel excessively light. It is easy enough to carry into an office while still having enough weight to remain securely in place on a desk.
It does not have the premium feel of a heavy aluminium keyboard, but that is not really what the TH87 is trying to be. It's a keyboard that proudly exudes a functional air to it.
Sea Salt Silent V2 switches
The switches were the main reason I bought this keyboard. The Sea Salt Silent V2 switches are impressively quiet.
Before buying the TH87, I had read that silent switches could feel mushy because of the dampening materials used inside them.
There is some softness here, but it is much less noticeable than I expected. The best way I can describe them is that they feel like typing on a thin layer of marshmallows.
There is a cushioned feeling at the bottom of each keypress, but the switches do not feel completely lifeless. They are soft, quiet and comfortable.
They will not suit everyone. If you prefer a sharp and firm bottom-out, silent switches may feel too soft. However, for an office, shared room or late-night environment, they make a lot of sense.
Pleasant and easy to use
Typing on the TH87 is very pleasant.
The quiet switches make it easy to settle into a flow state. There is no loud clack after every keypress and no noisy spacebar interrupting the room.
The keyboard simply gets out of the way and allows me to concentrate.
Wireless performance has also been excellent.
I experienced no signal drops, sudden disconnections or other connection problems.
The tri-mode connectivity makes it easy to move between several devices, which is one of the main reasons I enjoy using wireless keyboards.
I will have to say, though – the silence got old pretty fast for me. Silent keyboards, silent switches for that matter, are not something I enjoy. It's clinical, functional, and gets out of your way, and that's not what I want from a switch/keyboard. I can see its value, though.
The TH87 has a huge 10,000mAh battery. After one week of heavy use across several devices, the battery level had not fallen below 93 per cent. That was with the RGB lighting turned off, so battery life will vary if you regularly use the lighting.
Even so, the result was impressive. I could use the keyboard without constantly thinking about when it would need charging.
Where it falls short
The Epomaker TH87 alongside the EVO80 (pink)
The biggest limitation of the TH87 is that it feels like an affordable, pre-built plastic keyboard. There is nothing wrong with its construction, and it works perfectly well as an everyday keyboard.
However, by the time I bought it, I had started looking for something more premium. I had become more interested in materials, mounting systems and keyboards with a stronger individual identity.
The TH87 feels safe and practical rather than distinctive or exciting. That is not necessarily a fault. It simply means the keyboard may not appeal to someone who has already moved further into the enthusiast side of the hobby.
The keyboard I needed, not necessarily what I wanted
The main reason I bought the TH87 was because it offered a very specific combination of features.
It was silent, ISO UK, TKL, wireless and affordable. It ticked every box I was looking for.
The switches are genuinely quiet, the battery life is excellent and the wireless connection has been dependable.
It is also comfortable to type on and easy to carry into an office.
The TH87 gave me exactly what I wanted. It also made me realise that my tastes had evolved and that I was beginning to want something more premium.
Be careful what you wish for; you might just get it. And I sure did.
Would I recommend it?
Would I buy the Epomaker TH87 today?
Probably not.
My preferences have changed, and I now look for more premium materials and greater customisation.
But would I recommend it?
Yes. No question.
Especially if you want a silent ISO UK keyboard with a TKL layout, tri-mode connectivity and excellent battery life, all in a very attractive price point. This is a keyboard that would make a perfect gift for that loved one who just wants a tool that won't get in their way.
It is not trying to compete with a premium custom keyboard.
It is a quiet, practical and dependable pre-built that works well at home or in an office.
The Epomaker TH87 may not be the keyboard I would choose today, but it was an important lesson for me.
Moving forward, I need to see past what I want and think hard about whether or not the product is more than the sum of all its parts.
We're now almost hitting the ten-keyboard mark. Well, if I counted all the keyboards before I got into this hobby, then I would definitely have hit the 20th mark by now, but let's focus on me and my journey through the hobby.
After a brief conversation with several folks in the Thocc Exchange channel (shout out to PyroBunny, ADM, and andy from the ThoccExchange Discord community), it's been agreed roughly that there's a tier-structure to the mechanical keyboard hobby, and it looks something like this:
Yeah, my tier listing basically goes:
<100 = entry level (for prebuilts, really) <200 is budget customs 200-400 is the general pricing for good-quality customs >400 is where you start getting into the fancier, boutique stuff
That's been copied and pasted from PyroBunny's message on Discord – another thing that makes the hobby awesome is its Discord community! That's a tale for another time, but do check out the Discord community.
Okay, now that we have that out of the way, today we're talking about something that's more on the upper end of entry-level boards, and it comes from the brand Yunzii, and specifically it's their AL68 keyboard. Here's a quick rundown of the specs of the particular unit that I have:
Brand: Yunzii
Model: AL68
MSRP: $124.95 (according to the Yunzii website)
Layout: ANSI 65% (66-key and knob)
Colour: Spray-coated Black
Build: Aluminium with Mirror Weight
Switch: Gateron Zero Linear
Mounting: Gasket
Battery: 6,000 mAh
Connectivity: Tri-mode (Bluetooth/2.4g) & Wired
Weight: 1.2 kg
Keycaps: Doubleshot PBT Cherry-Profile
Now that's a decent spec sheet for something that costs nearing $80 – don't mind the SRP; apparently these companies never sell at the SRP anyway – and I bought the keyboard during a sale on Amazon for just over £50.
One of the best things about the board is the way it sounds, and I think that a huge part of that is thanks to the Gateron Zero Linear switches. It's hard to believe, but this board helped open up my ears to the clacky sound profile. There was something about that high-pitched profile that resonated within me. At the start I wasn't happy, but I gave it time and found myself gravitating towards the sound profile.
Just like each keyboard review, I am typing this on the actual keyboard itself, and I'm enjoying it. The weight of the switches is just right. I love each deep clack when I go through the alphas. It's got a comfortable typing angle, and the keycaps all make a wonderful rounded package. I highly recommend this board! - But that's only if you can find it near the price of what I got it for.
At the £50 price point, you're still going to be seeing mostly PLASTIC boards – and there's nothing wrong with plastic. But the AL68 has an aluminium case and a mirror weight. It feels very premium compared to the other plastic boards. It feels well-built and is a joy to carry and especially to use.
I've been singing its praises so far, so let's get into the negatives. Well, there's one and a half negatives. Okay, the first one, it's not really even a negative – it's the knob. The knob is...okay? I've got a black keyboard, and the knob is...silver. That is such an odd choice. Other than the colour, it's a decent knob. Firm, rigid, and stepped, and it functions as a mute button when pressed.
Silver knob on a black keyboard. It doesn't work for me on this occasion.
Another negative would be that you have to load a JSON to configure it in VIA. A bit of a niggle, and would be something that folks new to the whole customisation scene might find troublesome. But on this point, let's get back on the positives, and it's a big one – VIA compatibility!
Yes, you can use the gold standard for configuring keyboards, VIA.
AL68 VIA Configuration Screen
This review was not going to be a deep dive. The long and short of it is that if you're looking to gift someone, and they had no clue about mechanical keyboards, and they're looking for something they can enjoy using (and they don't mind a loud and proud clacky keyboard), AND you have a budget of around £50, then this is one of the best options you can go for. Great keyboard, great sound, great build.
But knowing what I know now, and if I had £50 to spend? That honour will have to go to the SwagKeys EAVE65, and that's going to be a conversation for another day, as that's further down the line in my journey.
Before we close, I'll leave you with a typing test so you can hear what I mean about this keyboard's deep clacky sound profile.
I hope you found this review useful. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thank you for reading!
PS. Like the deskmat that I used in the photos? Grab one for yourself over at ProtoTypist: Ouchkick 2 x Space Deskmat (non-affiliate link)
FYRTEK is a personal music and technology site by Alan Gurling. FYR covers heavy music, metal, heavygaze, shoegaze, blackgaze, post-rock, and personal music reflections. TEK covers mechanical keyboards, switches, keycaps, desk gear, gadgets, reviews, and useful everyday technology.
