EPOMAKER GK75 Lite Wired Gaming Keyboard

 The Epomaker Skyloong GK75 is my first go into the world of customizable keyboards. Since I am on a tight budget, the low price and good reviews of this keyboard made my purchase an easy one. I bought the blue and pink model with optical brown switches. What attracted me to this keyboard is its factory lubed switches, the low-profile knob, and its cute (but not too cute) colour scheme and rounded keycaps. Overall, I am happy with my purchase and would recommend this to other new enthusiasts that are aiming to spend $100 and under. More detailed review below for those who need it.

How it arrived:
The keyboard was packaged in a pretty cardboard box with a braided USB to USB-C cable (5 ft/1.5 m), two plastic bags of extra keycaps, a keycap/switch puller, and a small guide (English/Chinese) explaining the knob functions, backlight settings, and Fn function settings, and function key settings for standard/Windows/Mac mode. The keyboard itself was well-protected in a soft plastic sleeve and a hard plastic dust cover.

Setting up:
Plug and play. The paper guide provides URLs for Windows and Mac drivers, though I haven’t downloaded it. The Epomaker website will have info on that as well. There’s a QR code on the bottom of the keyboard that I’m guessing also leads to a driver download, but I haven’t tried it. The port for the USB-C is on the top left of the keyboard, and there’s a nice little groove in the case for the cable to slot into so that it stays in place.

Backlight:
The backlight for this model is cyan only, and it isn’t that bright. Those looking for bright RGB gamer lights will be disappointed, but it may actually be perfect for those that are planning to use this in work settings as it’s less distracting. I took a video of the 9 different backlight modes and levels of brightness.

Experience and feel:
The keyboard is a delight to use. The switches are factory lubed, so while it is likely subpar for more advanced keyboard hobbyists, they’re a great introduction to the lubed switch experience. I noticed some scratchiness with some of the keys (notably the backspace), and the spacebar is rattly when pressed hard and still pretty loud even when pressed lightly, but it’s nothing that I would classify as a deal breaker (I’m hoping to mod the keyboard with foam to dampen the noise). The knob is about the same size as the keys, and it feels nice and snappy when pressed or turned. The keycaps (which are light pink, denim blue, and navy blue) and font are cute but not overly so, which makes the look perfect for people like me that prefer something with personality while keeping their set up on the subtle side.

If you’re here for a cool mechanical keyboard with a knob at an affordable price, this is it. The overall build is high quality, it’s a nice weight, and with no defects it’s a solid board for the price-point. You also get a lot of bonus keycaps in case you want to switch out the contrasting keys to match or vice-versa

Gateron Optical brown switches: Good tactile, pretty close to the soft linear feel with the added benefit of tactility so you know a button press is happening. Larger keys sound clunky with this switch but with some foam in the keycap you can reduce the thunk.

For Modding:
Gateron hot Swappable only – Only has one plug, will not allow any stock 2/3/5/pin switches, ONLY Gateron switches work for this. And even then it’s a bit of work to get the switches out. It left a lot of dust-sized pieces of black plastic all over my board from pulling out the keys (I recommend full force, straight up, no wiggling required)

To remove the outer plastic frame there are 2 black screws each beneath the feet, and then some prying is required all around the outer shell. It is a tight squeeze, which really goes to show how high quality the build is out of box.

The plate screws – going into the bottom of the plastic frame from the plate are 4-5 small screws. The plastic frame the screws go into are VERY EASY to strip, and in my instance actually split at the weakest point, so any screwings/unscrewings is not recommended.

Plate Mods – The Plate is screwed into the silicon padding and the pcba. I did not unscrew this sandwich so I can’t say much about actually making mods to this, but just know it’s another step and a deterrent to making any stabilizer mods or anything else you’d like to do underneath the frame

The Bottom Sound Absorbing Foam isn’t very dense and more spongey than anything, I would describe it as low quality

TL;DR If you’re new to modding do not get this.

 I’m new to mechanical keyboards so I was debating between the red and yellow switches. I ended up getting the yellow switch and I’m pretty happy with my decision! The keys have a nice “deeper” sound to them and is very smooth when pressed. Please note that with the yellow switch, the keys are VERY sensitive and don’t require a lot of force to be pressed.

I love that there was extra keycaps and keycap puller included within the box. The overall build of the keyboard is excellent and the lighting feature of the keyboard can be changed. I kept mine to glow on key press. There is also a software included to configure this keyboard though I don’t often use it.

So I bought this because I was looking for a mechanical keyboard that wasn’t too expensive, had non-blue switches and of course because the knob grabbed my attention. I have to say I am not disapointed at all. The sound of the keys? Amazing. Switch responsiveness? Amazing, so much so that coming from a very shitty office keyboard it took some time for me to adjust to the incredible sensibility. The knob? Incredibly fun and satisfiying hand feel. The keyboard itself is quite heavy, which means it doesn’t move around when you type.
Overall, I like this keyboard quite a lot.