MagicForce 68 With Outemu Black Switches Quick/Mini Review

[LiquidEvilGaming]

This is a short quick sweet review to which i will be doing a full one on Youtube in the near future.  Bit behind on my Video reviews due to the wife being fairly ill as of late and looking after her. Ordered the MagicForce 68 With Outemu Black Switches from Amazon for 40$ US.

First Shot Keyboard in the box untouched.



Second Shot Keyboard Box opened,Some unexpected accessories here....Hmm
 


Included a White rubber USB cable and a plastic cheapo Keycap puller along with an OTG cable...not bad.  Good thing i have the lightning adapter i need however.


The keyboard all by itself in it's budget glory



So all that photo glory aside now what do i think of the keyboard?

Pros: Outemu Blacks feel fantastic!  Smooth heavy but not intolerably so, really solid feeling.  Would never take over my Topre but may use this over my Pok3r if it works with my iPad.

Price!!!  40$ US!?  Is this real life?  With a variety of switches available at this price from Outemu Black,Brown,Blues all on Amazon.  Pricier options available with Backlightning and or CHerry switches are out there.  I even saw a backlit Cherry MX Green and a Backlit CHerry MX White option out there.

The Keycap printing method isn't the greatest but they are fairly thick for Stock ABS and definitely are better feeling than some of the other keycaps i have seen stock on MUCH more expensive boards (KUL ...cough KUL)

Fantastic rubber feet keep this keyboard in place without moving which is a huge plus, not even my HHKB Gets this right at more than 5X the cost of this board.

Included USB cable is not overly stiff and easy to bend in any direction

Cable routing system works well and stays in place without issue

Built in Function level Volume controls and media controls





CONS:  Stabilized keys are VERY rattly and sound worse than an unmodded Novatouch does by far.  The Enter key and Right shift and Spacebar being the worst of the bunch. 

No dip switches on cheaper non backlit model

Odd choice of Del/INS/PgUP/PgDN four key cluster on upper right corner, would have preferred elimination of these and arrow cluster moved to the left for a smaller form factor overall.

Bearing in mind the price of the board i would have to say this is THE budget pick right now and unless someone needs a TKL i would feel very comfortable recommending it over a QFR as a fantastic starter board or travel board....or if you are like me just another board to add to the pile

Among it's price point i would give the board an 8.5 out of 10 knocking it down for the noisy stabilized keys and just weird choices of extra keys for that 4 key cluster on the top right wasting space.  Asides from that what more could you ask for 40$?

BONUS INFO:  Just tested and confirmed this works on my iPad with the lightning to USB camera adapter!  I would be willing to bet the backlit models however do not work.

[Leslieann]

I completely agree, it's not perfect, but what a bargain and great portable keyboard these are, certainly the best deal going.

Something worth noting, these use standard keycaps and I'm sure a bit of grease on the stabs would quiet them down (something I should do myself).

[phantasma]

Thanks for your review. How does they switch feel? Is it similar to Cherry Mx Black?

[LiquidEvilGaming]

Thanks for your review. How does they switch feel? Is it similar to Cherry Mx Black?

I only have a Cherry MX Black switch tester to compare but it feels slightly heavier?  If you'd like i can test it with nickels and report back Actuation force on my own board.

[LiquidEvilGaming]

While i am glad i decided to order one of these as it's a nice fun little board think i may sell this one and order another with Brown switches as the Blacks are getting insanely tiring with extended use.  Literally can feel the pain building in my arm right now as i type this out.

[Leslieann]

While i am glad i decided to order one of these as it's a nice fun little board think i may sell this one and order another with Brown switches as the Blacks are getting insanely tiring with extended use.  Literally can feel the pain building in my arm right now as i type this out.

That happened to me after running Blues and trying to go back to a Model M.
Eventually you adapt, but if you type a lot, it can be tiring getting there.

[LiquidEvilGaming]

While i am glad i decided to order one of these as it's a nice fun little board think i may sell this one and order another with Brown switches as the Blacks are getting insanely tiring with extended use.  Literally can feel the pain building in my arm right now as i type this out.

That happened to me after running Blues and trying to go back to a Model M.
Eventually you adapt, but if you type a lot, it can be tiring getting there.

Possibly but these seem a bit heavier than Cherry Blacks as it is and those are a bit heavy as it is.  It's really nice when gaming i'll say that but for extended typing it's a bit uncomfortable.  Definitely far more tiring than my MX Blues pok3r is by a long shot.

[phantasma]

While i am glad i decided to order one of these as it's a nice fun little board think i may sell this one and order another with Brown switches as the Blacks are getting insanely tiring with extended use.  Literally can feel the pain building in my arm right now as i type this out.

Yes, this is what I've read from reviews. I think this is true for every Outemu switch (it feels a bit heavier than it's Cherry mx equivalent), which is not bad thing for the lighter switches, but in case of Black, it can be a bit too much.

[LiquidEvilGaming]

While i am glad i decided to order one of these as it's a nice fun little board think i may sell this one and order another with Brown switches as the Blacks are getting insanely tiring with extended use.  Literally can feel the pain building in my arm right now as i type this out.

Yes, this is what I've read from reviews. I think this is true for every Outemu switch (it feels a bit heavier than it's Cherry mx equivalent), which is not bad thing for the lighter switches, but in case of Black, it can be a bit too much.

Yeah as i had read from someone else i think describing them as super blacks is fairly accurate.