KKmoon review
Just got the
KKmoon Z-77 'rainbow light mechanical keyboard' keyboard with 'Chinese blues' (blue switches). I think this one is called 'gold', although I don't see a gold like color of the material.
Comparison material: Pluck PLU ML-87 with with blues from
http://key.plu.cn {BTW, that site doesn't work anymore}.
Pro's:*Nice backlighting.
Con's:-The {enter}-key doesn't feel good.
-The {shift}-keys don't feel good.
-The {tab}-key doesn't feel good.
-The {backspace}-key doesn't feel good.
These are the biggest con's. Basically, because these extremely much used very basic keys don't feel good or
need too much force, I'm already thinking of never using it again anymore. Maybe I'll give it to family, although because of this key-problem it is hardly better than a rubber dome keyboard.
-Most other keys (including the space-bar) feel 'ok' so far; although they need somewhat too much force to press. The Pluck needs less force and (that) is (much) better.
I think the blues on the Pluck are better than the blues on this KKmoon. It feels a bit like the KKmoon keys need lubrication.
-The keys have sharper edges than my Pluck. Which make, for example, a ctrl+key combo almost hurt. The high position of the keys might add to this problem.
-The left side of the keyboard has much less resistance when sliding it on my desk. That left side slides too easily.
-The position of the keys are (way) too high, which makes some key (or key combo's) less pleasant to use than on 'normal' keyboards.
-You can see the underside of the keys (/a part of the switches); I don't think that's a particularly nice view. Too cluttered/untidy.
-The logo (what is it? A chicken? An eagle?) was glued on skewed. It should not have passed quaility control. It makes the keyboard ugly (/uglier). I might peel it off and try to put it back on straight, but it is very questionable it will be unharmed when taking it off.
-The manual gives not enough information about the backlight possibilities and has too small font. There's no reason for that, as there is whitespace in the manual.
-The large bezel at the top. With screws visable.
-When backlight off: the lettering is gray instead of black. Not enough contrast with the white keys. (Allthough some people prefer totally blank keys. For those peope, my lettering concerns won't apply.)
-The lettering on the keys 1 to 0 is not clear/evident enough; I need sometimes to search for the right key! The 6 looks like an G, the 8 looks like an H, the 0 looks like []. Also, the openings in the letters Q, R, O, P, A, D, B reduce readability. Overall, the lettering is of poor readability quality. It would be better if there was no backlighting, IF also the lettering was black and better readable. But than there would be no pro left on my list...
-The green leds are brighter than the other leds. The purple leds are dimmer than the other leds.
-I can't easily see if caps-lock is on. The led is too far below the top of the keys, and in my case behind the F12-key. Also, the light of the caps-lock and scroll-lock bleed a bit to each other.
I think the plate is painted. I think, after a long time, the paint will wear; making the keyboard ugly. But it's too soon to tell.
Other pages about this keyboard:https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=76309.msg1904657#msg1904657 :
I disagree with Data that it is a decent keyboard.
@28 He says it feels very nice. I disagree.
General / other info:-QWERTY.
-Says it supports anti ghoasting 6 key or N key (you can choose). I don't use games where I would need that.
-The small size keys pop off easily. (Generally, I don't pop off the larger keys - they are sometimes hard to get back on or might even break. I probably won't try it with this keyboard either.)
-87 Keys (not 77, which the name of the keyboard might suggest).
-The normal keys are interchangeble with my Pluck (as you would expect, because both have cherry clones).
-The site
http://www.eyspc.cn doesn't have an 'English' button. With 1,4 billion Chinese people, they probably don't mind or target outside China.
-The box suggests black, brown, red and purple switches are also available. My KKmoon has 'green' switches according to the box. Like when I bought the Pluck, blue is wrongly translated to green.
In short: My personal view is that I think it sucks; waste of money. (Or you almost never type, and
really fancy the backlighting. But I think you might take that backlighting for granted after a week or so.) Better get a Pluck PLU ML-87 with blues (if blues are your thing), if you still can find those online (I couldn't or didn't search enough, when I bought this one). I think that the Pluck is
way better.
It puzzles me why tenkeyless keyboards don't have a button for normal keys temporarily mapped to numpad keys. Preferably a small button on the side, for example. Especially if the keyboard has backlight, like this one, that would be a good addition.
Also it puzzles me why KKmoon didn't add programmable keys. The large bezel at the top could easily contain a row of (programmable) extra keys.
Tags: geekhack kmoon moon chinese reviews{I'll might add/change/update info in this first post within the next few days.}
