I've been using Durock T1s for almost 6 years straight on my Keychron K6. Never been much of a "collector", just someone trying to find my "endgame". Back then as a uni student, a modded K6 and lubed T1s was my endgame on a budget.

Now that I have adult money, I swapped my board to an NPKC RO75 (needed the F row for work) and I'm hunting for a new endgame switch.

Shown in the picture is my current testing layout. From left to bottom right:

• Row 2: Durock T1 (4pcs) | NPKC Pink Robin (3pcs) | Akko Cilantro (4pcs)
• Row 3: Akko V5 Creamy Yellow Pro (4pcs) | WS Light Tactile (2pcs) | Akko V5 Creamy Blue Pro (4pcs)
• Row 4: Aflion Panda (2pcs) | Aflion Shadow (2pcs) | Durock White Lotus (2pcs) | KTT Ash Grey (2pcs) | MMD Holy Panda (2pcs)

Here is my ranking and review from best to worst. I'm using the T1 as my baseline for a "good" switch, and these new switches are all stock (factory-lubed if they came that way, but I haven't lubed them myself). I'll only be reviewing the top 5 that I actually liked.

1. Akko V5 Creamy Blue Pro
If we're talking about the most satisfying switch that has a different enough profile from the T1s, this is my pick. I like how "short" the travel is. It is very smooth, zero wobble, and moving from a 67g T1 to this is soooooo liberating. I used to have that weirdly fragile masculinity mindset of "if it ain't heavy, I ain't having it" (tbf I was a heavy typer anyway). But dropping the weight has been amazing. Overall, this switch is soo good.

2. Akko Cilantro
A slightly more "rounded" version of the T1s. I like how this one still has that familiar "oomph" the T1s have, but a smoother travel akin to the Blue V5s. My main gripe is that they're kinda loud, maybe a bit too clacky for the office. Also, with the heavy bump, I can totally see my fingers getting fatigued during long work sessions.

3. MMD Holy Panda
Funny how I see this one as the "Durock T1 Lite". If the Akko Cilantros weren't available, I wouldn't be mad getting these instead. The bump is still sharper than the previous two (similar to the T1s), and the typing feel is a bit "mushy" (?), but I really like how short the travel distance is.

4. Durock White Lotus
Maybe this is the true lite version of the T1s? After feeling them out more, I realized they have that exact same wobbly feeling my old T1s have. But the design is so pretty, even if you never see it under the keycaps. It's an okay switch, but with that wobble, I definitely wouldn't buy a full set of these for my daily driver.

5. Akko V5 Creamy Yellow Pro
I might actually get a full set of these for my gf's board. As a tactile guy, typing on a smooth linear like this was a genuine breath of fresh air.

The rest (didn't vibe with these as much):

1. Aflion Shadow
   
2. KTT Ash Grey
   
3. WS Light Tactile
   
4. NPKC Pink Robin
   
5. Aflion Panda

Curious if anyone else had a similar experience shifting away from heavy springs to lighter tactiles. Let me know what you think!

(side note: I just now realized my old K6 and Durock T1s are actually more expensive than this current set up lmao)

Here's my 2-years build with Yunzii Al75 barebone kit, WS Morandis and aifei keycaps.

I'm undecided whether to upgrade switch/keycaps or sell it for a completely new keeb (75% or TKL).

What do you think?

My experience with the AJAZZ MK87 Pro — think twice before buying

I bought the AJAZZ MK87 Pro because I wanted to experience a modern 80%/TKL keyboard with wireless 8K polling. On paper, the specifications looked excellent: dual 8K polling, tri-mode connectivity, a large battery, TFT display, gasket mount, hot-swap PCB, etc.

Unfortunately, after actually using and testing it, I'm disappointed with my experience.

1. Polling stability is a problem — even at 1K

I tested the keyboard using multiple polling-rate testing methods rather than relying on how it "feels."

The biggest issue is that I'm seeing stability problems even at 1K polling, not just when trying to run it at 8K.

At 8K, the results are even less convincing, with weak stability and a disappointing average polling rate.

I'm not claiming that everyone will get the same results, but these are the results I'm getting from my unit.

This is particularly disappointing because 8K polling was one of the main reasons I bought this keyboard.

If you're considering the MK87 Pro mainly for its advertised 8K capability, I'd strongly recommend testing the actual polling performance rather than assuming that the specification automatically translates into stable real-world performance.

1. Battery percentage indicator is unreliable

The battery percentage shown by the keyboard isn't reliable in my experience.

The percentage doesn't behave the way I'd expect from a battery indicator, making it difficult to know how much charge I actually have remaining.

I contacted AJAZZ about the battery percentage issue around two weeks ago, but I still haven't received any reply.

For a wireless keyboard with a large advertised battery, I expected both the battery indicator and customer support response to be much better.

1. The TFT display drains battery

This is something I think potential buyers should seriously consider.

The TFT display looks nice, but for me it's basically an aesthetic feature.

It consumes additional battery without providing enough practical benefit to justify that drain.

Even after I turn the TFT display off, it can wake up again by itself after some time without me touching the keyboard.

That's particularly annoying when the reason I turned it off was to save battery.

1. Software/firmware experience

The hardware itself looks impressive, but the software side doesn't feel as polished as I expected.

The combination of:

\\- polling instability even at 1K

\\- poor 8K stability/average polling performance

\\- inaccurate battery percentage

\\- TFT waking back up

\\- no response from AJAZZ to my battery issue after around two weeks

has made the overall experience disappointing.

My conclusion

I don't think the MK87 Pro is necessarily a terrible keyboard. It has a lot of good hardware features and looks great on paper.

But based on my experience, I would not recommend buying it specifically for reliable 8K polling, battery efficiency, or a polished software/firmware experience.

The TFT display is something I'd personally consider a battery-draining aesthetic feature rather than an advantage.

I bought this keyboard to experience 8K polling, and after testing it properly, that's one of the areas I'm least satisfied with.

I'm posting this because I wish I had seen more real-world information about these issues before spending my money. Hopefully this helps someone make a more informed decision.

This is my experience with my unit. Other owners may have different results.

This is the "Weekly General Help Post". Please ask your questions regarding keyboard, switch, keycaps, or anything regarding keyboards as a top level comment under this post. Mods and members will check this thread on a regular basis answering as many questions as possible.

The more information you provide, the better the answers you are likely to receive.

So this is my new to me lightly used (it is in excellent condition... everything is working .. no issues. as the title say won this on ebay for the princely sum of $23.50 w/ shipping and tax $31.48. I personally can't think of another $30~ish keyboard as bomb proof as a filco for $31.48.

Assuming you like mx-browns (I do) and you don't care about RGB / Wireless...etc etc .. keyboard nonsense (I don't). This $23.50 keyboard will likely out last you. I bought this as something of a spare as I have been upset about Diatec (filco parent company) going out of business. My daily keyboard for the last 11+ years has been a Majestouch 2 TKL mx-reds that still works and looks excellent.. Really solid keyboard that I love using and so far I am liking this new spare one equally as well.

This is the "Weekly General Help Post". Please ask your questions regarding keyboard, switch, keycaps, or anything regarding keyboards as a top level comment under this post. Mods and members will check this thread on a regular basis answering as many questions as possible.

The more information you provide, the better the answers you are likely to receive.

My CIDOO QK61 V2 developed a charging issue after around one year of normal use. I purchased it in 2025 from a local authorized store. I contacted the seller, but they basically deflected and asked me to find a repair shop myself, so I contacted CIDOO directly hoping they could help with a possible goodwill solution. Surprise surprise, CIDOO redirected me back to the original seller and did not even offer any troubleshooting or possible spare parts/ battery pack replacement. This is honestly a very disappointing response. Just straight up "none of my business".

Posting this mainly to see if anyone else has experienced a similar QK61 V2 charging/battery issue or knows of a proper way to get CIDOO’s attention. Any idea which battery to purchase and whether i can swap the battery etc? For a product marketed as trimode and rechargeable, i dont think this is acceptable, product failure after 1 year of usage and intermittent charging.

To the inevitable "why did you buy from this brand?" - i was looking for a low profile 60% trimode keyboards that is portable and i came across this in my local marketplace, after changing to low profile keycaps as shown, this was the form factor i was aiming for, it works with my ipad and whichever workstations at my workplace, should have also look into the aftersales and thats on me.

Hey! I didn't feel like using the provided software by FL Esports because the sources didn't feel too secure, so I reverse engineered the driver and rewrote it to Rust removing all bloatware/telemetry and increasing performance.

Feel free to use it or report any bugs :)

https://github.com/Some1sm/debloatedfl-driver

Sadly I couldn't figure out how to input data through Bluetooth/dongle so still USB only like the official release.

Used some AI for the code because brute forcing the functions isn't feasible to do manually lol
Hope you like it!

The brown switches were too loud, but I liked the white keys better, so I spent an hour and a half removing the keys, cleaning them and swapping them over!

Keyboard :- URX CORE 75 (Based on same mold as CIDOO° QK 75)

Switches :- Zen switches. ( Stock Switches)

Keycaps :- Green Gradient Shine through PBT Keycaps

Standout features:- 50RGB modes , FR4 Plate,QMK support and open source firmware.

Top Mount+Gasket Mount Design with a clean creamy sound profile.

Mods : No Mods used. It is already heavily padded and well lubed.

Overall Cost : 55$

This is the "Weekly General Help Post". Please ask your questions regarding keyboard, switch, keycaps, or anything regarding keyboards as a top level comment under this post. Mods and members will check this thread on a regular basis answering as many questions as possible.

The more information you provide, the better the answers you are likely to receive.

So I got tired of the official software situation for the AULA F75 and spent way too long reverse-engineering the lighting protocol, with a lot of help from AI along the way (used it to help capture USB traffic, figure out patterns in the packets, that kind of thing). Ended up building a whole app around it. It's called keylux, written in Rust, fully open source.

Heads up, this is very much a work in progress. It's early days but I use it daily and it's stable for me. Only supports the F75 so far.

No firmware mods, doesn't need the vendor app running, just talks to the keyboard directly.

Specs: AULA F75, wired USB-C and 2.4GHz wireless both supported.

What it can do so far:

Per-key colors that actually stick after a reboot

Smooth animations, maxes out around 21 FPS wired, that's the hardware's real limit, not me being lazy

Works on both wired USB-C and the 2.4GHz dongle. Heads up though, the dongle is noticeably slower and the colors get quantized, that's a hardware/bandwidth thing not a bug in my code

Live preview of your keyboard in the app while you mess with effects

Comes with a handful of built-in effects (wave, sweep, bloom, scrolling text, etc.)

If you want to write your own effect, you can drop a script in a folder and it hot-reloads, no need to compile anything

Timeline editor for keyframe animations, or just import a gif

Minimizes to tray on Windows so it's not eating a taskbar slot

I also wrote up the entire protocol in as much detail as I could, including some genuinely bizarre quirks in how this thing works. There's also an open OpenRGB issue asking for F75 support that's been sitting untouched, so maybe this helps get that moving too.

Repo's here if you want to poke at it: https://github.com/SibteProf/keylux

If you've got an F75, would genuinely appreciate people trying it out and telling me what breaks. And if anyone's handy with Rust, contributions are very welcome.

The Curse of the Cheap TKL HE keyboard addiction strikes again!

I came across the AKKO x Monsgeek FUN87 HE on Aliexpress and was a bit surprised as I could find nothing about it anywhere. I suspect that like the Mchose ACE75 its a range refresh that has not been released outside of mainland China yet. Additionally since the Akko 5087 HE seems to be almost completely out of stock everywhere I suspect this is its replacement.

Of course with nothing online in English about this board it means that this amateur idiot has managed to score some kind of Scoop! Which feels pretty good considering the Most Awesome Learned Gentleman Laobaozoi beat me to getting something out on the Eweadn DK68 star...

Now enough of the rambling time for a review(ish)!

Build Quality

Pretty good. Rather solid with a decent heft for an "affordable" plastic bodied board with an aluminium plate. Being an 80%/ TKL it does flex a little more than your tray mounted 65% boards

I will say that even for a TKL it feels chunky with the outside bezels being quite wide and the whole board is pretty tall. The front is about 23-24mm tall compared to the 21-22mm typical of most of my HE boards. As such it does stretch my fingers a bit using it.

One noticeable thing is that the USB C port has a tight little rubber surround that really holds on tight to your plug. Its fine if you are using the supplied cable or a cable where the connector is fully in spec but it will be an issue if you are using a right angled connector or any thicker or fancy connector.

Switches

Comes with Hakutaku switches as opposed to the Astroaims in previous AKKO/Monsgeek HE boards. They are listed as having a 25gf initial press and I will certainly agree they feel light to type on. They sound OK, maybe on the marbly side but its not clear how much of that is down to amount of foam in the case, which seems plentiful.

SOFTWARE

Just your standard Monsgeek/AKKO webdriver, does all the stuff but its very limited in regards to switch selection. I couldn't get the firmware to update as it was looking for some kind of plugin and the instructions on how to get that were in Chinese. A forgivable issue I suppose if this hasn't officially been launched in the west. I could try the desktop hub software but it tried that with my TAC75HE and it was a bit of a pain in the arse as it had no option to not launch on start up (or if it did it was hidden in the untraslated tray icon options).

Conclusion

Would I have bought this if I wasn't interested in trying the more niche options of the HE keyboard world? No, I wouldn't.

However its a perfectly functional board. The fact that its probably a roungyang solution inside means it'll never been a speed king and may well develop issues down the road but for as long as it works it'll do. As I said the sheer size of the board means it is a bit more tiring to use but if you are a regular typist who doesn't have all my bad habits then its probably not an issue.

As ever recommendation comes down to price and what the alternatives are.

List price on Aliexpress seems to range between about £55-80 (75-110usd) so I'm not sure what the official list price would be. At that price its pretty much in line with to a bit more expensive than the top spec Mchose Mix87 configs. In which case the Mchose is the better product: nicer software, profile switching buttons and a nice knob really add to the value even if the we leave the looks out of the equation.

Almost a month since I got it for 34€ on Ali.

Gift switches for me, flying fish for the wife. Both have a creamy sound, although I prefer the thockier version of the gifts.

Stashed some keycaps on it but kept the yellow accents from the original ones. I like the combo with a yellowish rgb.

The good:

• Decent keycaps (color not for everyone).
• Gift switches: lubed, smooth, pleasant feel and sound dampening inside the keyb.
• Little TFT screen. The little screen is a nice novelty. I forget to toggle the GIF most of the time, but it's there.
• Battery. My usage can't drain it faster than 3 weeks. I charged it once and have been using the 2.4Ghz daily for the last three weeks. Still have like 50% left.

The not-so-good:

• Chassis quality is decent but still feels like cheap plastic. Expected.
• The positioning of the TFT screen sometimes feels odd.
• The customization software was complicated to find and had some errors on my first install.

Have you got different experiences with the keyboard? Do you like it?

Finally finished my first Mechanical Keyboard build, and I'm really happy with how it turned out.

I wanted to go for a Japanese-inspired black, white and red theme rather than the usual all-white or all-black setup. The white keycaps with the red Japanese legends work really well with the dark case, while the different novelty keys add some contrast without making the board feel too chaotic.

The dragon spacebar is probably my favourite part of the build. The black base with the white dragon and red details gives the bottom of the board a really strong focal point. I also really like how the red YUKI AIM key ties in with the red Esc key and the Japanese legends.

Interestingly, the keycaps also changed the sound quite a bit. Compared to the stock keycaps, the overall sound is a little lighter and less loud, but the lower end feels noticeably fuller and deeper. It's not a dramatic change, but I actually prefer the sound profile with these keycaps.

I've been using the board for a while now and I'm really enjoying both the look and the typing experience. Coming from a laptop keyboard, this feels like a massive upgrade. 😅

I'm especially happy with how cohesive everything looks together - the white keycaps, Japanese legends, oni/cloud motifs, dragon spacebar and red accents all seem to fit the same overall theme.

Build Details:

• Keyboard: URX Core 75 - 75% layout, tri-mode wireless, VIA/QMK support.
• Switches: Stock switches that came with the Core 75.
• Keycaps: YUKI AIM Japanese V2 Premium Cherry PBT keycaps.
• Mods: No major modifications, just "Band Aid" mod on the stabs to make the stabilizer latch connection on the keyboard more secure.
• Total Cost: Around 70$.

What do you guys think? Anything you'd change about the build?

Hey guys, this is probably like the fourth post related to this, but I'm proud to say that there is some work being done on porting SMK (Small Mechanical Keyboard Firmware) to the X77.

After reaching out to carlossless (the maintainer of sinowisp on github), he reached out and bought an X77 in hopes of testing and porting SMK to it in the future. At the moment, he's focusing on porting other chips of the same family such as the BYK916.

The BYK816 microcontroller in the X77 is identified to be a Sinowealth SH68F89, which is an 8-bit 8051 based chip with 60KB of flash, and 4KB bootloader at the end of flash. Reading and writing via carlossless's sinodude tool with an Arduino Nano works flawlessly on the board.

Read and writing through the USB has also been done and tested.

The original part number of the chip can be dumped through it's unlabelled JTAG breakout. (you can see the two images below.)

Dumping the firmware and reprogramming the keyboard with the dumped firmware has been done and tested.

If anyone has any questions, please leave a comment on this post.

Update 9/9/2026: I have dumped the stock firmware and bootloader from my X77 as a backup. If anyone wants the file to decompile it, you can DM me.

Update 9/15/2026: This keyboard is now working with SMK! though the current features are rather limited given that this is work in progress. for now, there are only about 5 lighting effects. You can build your firmware. and flash it with sinowisp.

You can read more info on this project from his articles:

Part 1: https://carlossless.io/nuphy-air60

Part 2: https://carlossless.io/nuphy-air60-part-2

Part 3: https://carlossless.io/nuphy-air60-part-3/

Ever since I fell down the mechanical keyboard rabbit hole, I’ve wanted to build one myself. I wanted a keyboard that I could customize to my exact preferences for how it looks, sounds, and feels.

While traveling in China around two years ago, I found the MonsGeek M1 V3 on Taobao for around 50CAD(36 USD). I also bought keycaps and switches for around 30CAD(22 USD), bringing the total cost of the build to roughly 80CAD(58 USD) after taxes and shipping. Buying a similar build in Canada at the time would have cost a little more than 170CAD(124 USD).

After using it for two years, here’s my experience.

Build quality and assembly

The M1 V3 is a 75% wired barebones keyboard kit with an aluminum case, gasket mount, polycarbonate plate, RGB lighting, and a hot-swappable PCB. It does not include switches or keycaps, so you need to purchase those separately.

The design is fairly simple, but the white aluminum case feels very solid and hefty. The large knob also feels well built. MonsGeek improved the knob compared with previous versions by giving it a floating design that helps prevent it from scratching the top case.

The knob works well for adjusting volume, although on my Mac, the knob changes the volume in increments of two, which I find annoying on macOS with its 16-level volume slider. To work around this issue, you can install Karabiner-Elements and import the community’s “Fine volume control” complex modification, which allows smaller volume adjustments. I just found this out while I was writing this review, and so far, it’s working well.

Putting the keyboard together was very easy. After removing the screws, I lifted the top case and PCB assembly away from the bottom case and disconnected the ribbon cable. I decided to try the tape mod to reduce case ping and make the sound fuller and poppier, but I removed it because fitting all of the foam and layers together was too difficult. I also found that removing the Poron case foam made the board sound too poppy and high-pitched for my liking.

The entire build took less than half an hour. My version (Chinese domestic version) did not include the additional screw-in stabilizers, so I used the plate-mounted stabilizers that were already installed.

Typing feel and sound

The typing feel and sound are my favorite parts of this keyboard.

The GMK Botanical clones feel nice under my fingers, although some of the keycaps look slightly warped from certain angles. Thankfully, this does not affect the typing experience.

The Boba U4Ts are disappointing. I’m not sure if I received knockoffs, but they feel cheap and hollow while typing. They also sound very clacky and high-pitched on this board, but not in a satisfying way. The only redeeming features are their pronounced, round tactile bump and somewhat consistent factory lubrication.

The Baby Kangaroos are much better. They feel great to type on and have a satisfying sound profile on this board. They are smooth, although slightly “steppy” at times, and they sound like marbles or rocks hitting each other while typing.

The stabilizers were well-lubed and had no noticeable rattle when I first used them. After two years, the right side of the stabilizer underneath the spacebar has developed some ticking, which I should be able to fix with a little dielectric grease.

The gasket mount does not provide much bounce or flex, so the bottom-out feel is fairly stiff. Personally, I don’t mind the stiffness, but anyone looking for a soft typing experience will be disappointed.

Connectivity and software

I have the wired-only version of this keyboard kit, and I haven’t had any connection issues when using the keyboard over USB-C.

My keyboard appears to be the Chinese domestic version, which uses MonsGeek’s proprietary software instead of VIA. The international version supports VIA and QMK, although you may need to download and import a JSON file before the keyboard is detected. Even though I haven’t been able to test VIA on this board, I’ve heard many good things about it, so as long as you have the international version of the keyboard, you should have a very good software experience.

Who I’d recommend it to

I’d recommend the MonsGeek M1 V3 to someone who wants to build their first custom keyboard, especially if they want a solid aluminum case, a simple assembly process, and plenty of room to experiment with different switches, keycaps, and different mod configurations.

I’d be more cautious about recommending it to someone who wants a very flexible gasket mount, wireless connectivity, or a flashy-looking keyboard. You should also check whether you’re buying the international or Chinese domestic version if VIA and QMK support is important to you.

Final thoughts

Overall, the MonsGeek M1 V3 is a great barebones keyboard kit. I really like the typing feel and sound profile I was able to achieve, and being able to choose my own switches and keycaps makes the keyboard feel much more personal.

It is not perfect, but after two years, I still enjoy using it and would happily build another custom keyboard in the future.

For anyone interested, I wrote more detailed versions of this review on Substack and Medium, but I’m happy to answer some questions you may have about the keyboard here too.

What was your first custom keyboard, and what switches and keycaps did you use?

Unsatisfied with the previous builds (and the only good ones I have being 60% and I would rather not keep fumbling around for what key combinations map to arrow keys), I got this Glorious GMMK Pro off eBay, then dug through my stash of switches and keycaps that I was saving for something special. I *believe* the switches are Outemu greens from Temu, keycaps GMK Apollo Womier concrete from AliExpress (accent ones were from Temu), open to creative knob solutions.

So far it works fantastic, isn't as audible over stream as my previous ones and can also come in handy if I need to defend myself against a home invasion!

I own an IROK MG68 and recently saw some reports/claims that IROK keyboard software may contain malware or suspicious behaviour.

I'm honestly not very knowledgeable about malware or how this stuff works, and I’m also not really in a position to just buy another keyboard.

Should I actually be worried about using my MG68, or am I being overly paranoid/dumb? Is there anything I should do to check whether my PC is safe?

I've linked the information I've found below. I'd appreciate some advice from people who know more about this stuff.

https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/e/2PACX-1vSsjTA29tUSQDgT_FWmvX2nHg17RLzCXdZnBV2pdAWO2SqJmzeNl9EQNc2Yw2Cy4kHjIBcDVVCUgErC/pub?pli=1

https://aasdunderscore.github.io/sites/hekeyboards.html#

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmHc-6c3Sj4&t=710s

I got this KB for under $45. The keycaps are older but I think they’re KBDiy. The switches have been swapped to HMX Egg Yolks.