Today we’re gonna check out another budget mechanical keyboard and this one is from E-element,
who have quite a few budget boards in the market, and this is the Z88 81 key version.
And I wanted to check this one out because of how common it is on Chinese sites with
its price, and I want people to know what it’s about and what to consider.
This was provided by Banggood.com for review, so a big thanks to them for their continued
support.
Links will be in the description.
Opening up the box we have the keyboard itself.
We have a bag of goodies.
And some paper work, which does include English.
In the padded bag we get 5 extra switches.
A plastic ring keycap puller.
And a keyswitch puller.
This is another 75% keyboard in the budget market.
So it’s approximately 75% of a standard full sized keyboard.
It has 81 keys, so it’s only a few keys short from a tenkeyless keyboard which has
87, although is a bit more compact.
75% keyboards are a great choice for people who want to try out smaller keyboards, but
don’t want to go to 60%, as it still offers most of the primary functionality of a tenkeyless
board.
It also gives us more space on our desk, and more space for our mouse, allowing for a more
ergonomic experience with our mouse closer to the centre.
The build is what you expect from a budget mech.
It’s nothing special, but it features an aluminium plate that the key switches are
mounted onto.
And this makes it quite sturdy, showing minimal flex.
The aluminium does look nice in this silver colour though, but it does also come in black.
And the edge is chamfered all the way around to reveal a chrome finish.
This design is extremely common with keyboards that have a floating key design with an aluminium
plate, since it’s cheap and easy to make.
For example, it’s just like the Ajazz AK33 which is also a 75% keyboard.
And this keeps everything very simple, and quite slim looking.
However while the enclosure is clean, the keycaps of course are the typical Chinese
gamery font keycaps.
You really just have to accept it with many of these keyboards, and that is unfortunate,
because I know for sure that most would prefer a more simple and elegant typeface.
That being said, this is marketed as a gaming keyboard and it does fit the theme, and looks
are subjective, so it’s up to you.
Replacing keycaps though will be quite tough because of the odd layout.
It’s a bit of a different layout to other 75% keyboards out there, in that it has some
gaps between keys.
Usually 75% keyboards would have the whole thing covered.
But we do have our gaps in the function row.
Then there’s just heap of gaps in this cluster.
So the arrow keys are spaced out just a bit, and while it looks a bit weird, it doesn’t
bother me personally in how it feels in use.
And that brings us to the small right shift key which is a 1.
5u key cap.
And just to clarify, a 1u key cap refers to key caps like the letter keys.
So a 2u key would be double the length of say the R key.
And this right shift keycap is pretty much impossible to replace, because it’s not
even a normal 75% size which is already somewhat difficult to replace.
Although it is possible with uniform blank keys.
However since there is no right control key, you could put that key there, and it wouldn’t
look too out of place, being a 1.25u key.
Although if you don’t plan on changing the key caps anyway, then I guess it’s not a
problem.
On the bottom of the unit we have some indents in the plastic, which does make the plastic
case a bit more sturdy.
We get 4 flat rubber feet for non slip, and 2 flip up feet which are also rubber tipped.
Out of the box it does come with the cable attached, which led me to believe it wasn’t
detachable, but fortunately it is.
And this has a micro USB port.
And finally we have 3 drainage holes at the bottom for liquids to seep through in case
of a spill.
Under the key caps we have the ever prominent Outemu Blue keyswitches.
So these are just Chinese clones of the Cherry MX Blue switches, and are very similar, being
clicky, tactile, and loud.
These are using the dust resistant switches from Outemu, having these modified stems.
These switches are also removable without the need of desoldering.
But these are pretty tight, and I found the included keyswitch puller to be hard to use.
Some of them required a lot of force to take out which for sure will confuse some people.
So basically how this works is that there’s sockets soldered into the PCB, and the switch
pins just fit snugly into those sockets to make the connection.
And this is useful if you want to replace a keyswitch for whatever reason.
Although the issue with these sockets are that they’re too narrow.
The Outemu switches fit fine because the pins are slightly thinner than other switches like
the Cherry MX switches, Gateron’s, Kailh’s and such.
Although people have been able to supposedly file down pins to fit the sockets.
Now to the lighting.
This is marketed as an RGB keyboard, and while it does offer red, blue, and green.
There’s only the 7 colours available, so it’s not very customisable.
So it makes most of the effects and patterns look pretty tacky.
However, this still gives us 7 options for still lighting which I know most will use.
And most importantly, there is white which does have a touch of a blue tinge, but is
pretty clean.
And that’s what matters for me.
Taking the keyboard apart is super easy with a couple of Philips head screws on the top.
And this is a very basic construction.
We have the aluminium plate that the switches are mounted to, which is about 1.5mm thick.
The plastic base doesn’t feature ribbing, but is reinforced by the indents.
Again this is very basic, and because of this, it’s quite a light keyboard.
The PCB is clean though.
There’s SMD LEDs because of the hotswappable keyswitches.
The sockets used for the switches are more like holtites in it’s shape rather than
the larger modules I’ve seen on other hotswappable keyboards.
Although these are soldered in, rather than fitted like holtites.
Unfortunately I didn’t have my soldering station at this given time, so I couldn’t
take them out to see how they would fair with other keyboards.
But they still have the switch pin fitting issues.
Overall it exactly what I expected.
The 75% form factor is a cool size for those first looking to getting smaller keyboards
that aren’t 60%.
Although it does have an odd layout, straying from the standard 75% layout.
The build consists of a thin aluminium mounting plate, and a plastic base, so it is a light
keyboard.
And sure, it does feel a bit cheap, but again it is a budget board.
I think the biggest thing though that tells me perhaps you shouldn’t get this, is that
the Drevo Excalibur exists for a bit more.
And that has a very nice CNC’d aluminium base, with a better 75% layout, and is in
my opinion one of the best budget options out there.
And there’s even the Drevo Gramr which is even cheaper, but has a different design.
Then there’s the ever popular Magicforce 68, if you don’t require the primary function
row.
That being said, this does have a few extra features, with the removable keyswitches,
and multicolor backlighting.
But for me, if you don’t absolutely require those features, then you would be better off
getting the other options.
Thanks again to Banggood.com for providing this keyboard for review and their continued
support of the channel.
Links will be in the description.