Hi Everyone,
This is my first post here, but I've been a lurker for a long time. My name is Chris, and I'm the Hardware Editor over at MMORPG.com. This site was my first real introduction into the wonderful world of mechanical keyboards about five years ago, and I've been obsessed ever since. You also taught me how to lube my switches, so thanks for that! I'm finally stepping up because Mistel was kind enough to send me their new keyboard to review at our site and they asked if I could be willing to let you know my thoughts too. I know they've posted around here in the past, but it's pretty clear that they value this community, which I thought was pretty cool.
To give a little context to the position I'm writing from, I currently own 17 mechanical keyboards and have reviewed a good amount more than that. Most of these are gaming branded, from companies like SteelSeries, Corsair, and Roccat. I've long wanted to expand the scope of my reviews and since stepping up to lead the hardware side of our site, I'm now setting out to do just that. I share this because my experience with premium enthusiast mechanical keyboards is still somewhat limited, but I think I have a good frame of reference to begin exploring these more high-end boards.
Anyhow, the keyboard I'm talking about is the
Sleeker MD870. It's pretty fantastic and has earned a few "oohs" and "aahs" from the colleagues at my day job, even without knowing a thing about mech keyboards. To start, aesthetically, I really liked the silver and white look Mistel went with. Check it out:
The body is a two-part CNC-milled aluminum with a brushed finish. The keycaps are a nice white with mostly dark grey legends. In the picture above, you'll see some blue, green, and red legends accenting the layout. Any inconsistency you see there, ("that key looks like it should be blue!") is because I swapped out some of the originals with some of the alternates for Windows functions (it's Mac compatible and ships with those keycaps installed) and really just to try them out. I love the look of it. It's clean and accented in a way that you really only find on enthusiast boards, and frankly looks classy. The downside, like all white keys, is they show any little hairs or darker dust that might fall on them, so it needs to be cleaned to stay looking pretty.
The keycaps are dye-sublimated PBT with nice thick 1.5mm walls. They're also Cherry low-profiles, which gives the Sleeker a nice angle across the keyset.
The keyboard also features white backlighting. It looks good, and since the keycaps aren't shine-through, it creates a pleasant underglow that adds to the crisp, clean look of the keyboard. There aren't many options with it - on, off, breathe - but it's nice to have nonetheless.
You have your usual array of secondary functions, including media keys, backlight controls, and screen brightness options if you use it with a laptop. There are also 14 function keys, though on Windows I'm not sure exactly what to use these for. Functionally, it's a straight keyboard, and to my knowledge there's no programming to be done. I do wish that was included, as I enjoy macros from time to time, and really enjoyed the programmability of the Barocco. Still, not every keyboard needs every capability, and I'm content with just how very nice this is.
I received mine in Cherry MX Browns and the keyfeel is amazing. The mix of PBT and that nice thick aluminum plate make for a keyboard that's not only quieter, but feels and sounds very satisfying to use. Out of all of my keyboards, the Sleeker feels the absolute best to type on. It could be that I'm not that experienced typing with PBT keycaps (the gaming industry really needs to step it up from the thin, painted ABS they've been using), or that the denseness of the Sleeker's aluminum top is so much thicker than the standard thin gaming top plate, but I'm sad that I have to move on to my next keyboard for review (my first Topre!).
The keyboard uses a detachable USB C cable to interface and has an adapter for male ports. One more sign that it is definitely intended to be the premium option for Mac users. It's a nice cable, but I will probably be replacing it with a white C-to-A cable to avoid the adapter and retain the looks.
I won't go into all the details here, but I'll end with this: everything from the packaging to the construction to ease of use and keyfeel clearly communicate that this is a premium product. I'm a Windows user, but it's nice to know that I could plug it into a Mac and a quick function switch, be ready to roll. As a daily driver, though, it's just top notch.
I'm not coming here to plug our site, but I do plan on doing more of these reviews in the short term and to try to convince gaming fans that enthusiast keyboards should be on their radar. If you want to read my full thoughts, you can check them out
here.
I also want to thank Mistel for working with me on this.
Thanks for reading, everyone, and for helping me with a ton of questions over the years!
