I’ve been waiting for an update to the QK65 for a while.
Since its creation, the QK65 cemented itself as one of the pinnacles of the budget custom
65% space.
But it’s grown outdated, with a pretty foam-dependent sound signature and plain design.
Today, from Neo and Qwertykeys, we get to take a look at the Neo65, a new budget custom
65% with a friendly price point and some interesting inspiration.
Let’s get into the unboxing.
Before the carrying case is this accessory box, which got kinda dented during shipping.
In here is a bag with a braided cable, branded switch and keycap puller, and some tools.
You may also get clip-in stabilizers, and retail units should include a coiled cable.
Now onto the case.
First up are our gaskets and 50A gummy O-ring, bottom feet and screws, and extra daughterboard
cables.
Next is our carbon fiber plate, Wired hotswap PCB, which includes plate foam
and PE foam, And the board itself in this lower compartment.
We’ve got two layers of wrapping.
The Neo65 is a budget gasket or gummy O-ring mounted 65%.
We have three PCBs - bluetooth hotswap, wired solder, and wired hotswap.
Wired solder supports stepped caps, split left shift, 7U bottom row, split backspace,
and ISO enter, and wired hotswap supports stepped caps, split backspace, and per key
RGB.
All of these have daughterboards and utilize QMK and VIA, and are also all 1.6mm and come
with no flex cuts.
Bluetooth hotswap supports wired, Bluetooth, and 2.4G through a dongle.
As for the mounting styles, a 50A gummy O-ring is included, but 30A and 70A are also available
as separate add-ons.
O-ring mounting doesn’t support screw-in stabilizers, but custom clip-in stabilizers
are included as a gift in retail packaging.
For plates, we have carbon fiber, aluminum, FR4, POM, and polycarbonate, with plateless
also being an option as the gaskets are PCB mounted.
For colors, we have e-white, e-milky white, e-yellow, and anodized silver, purple, green,
red, navy, and black.
For weights, we have brass, copper, gold, dusk, and chroma.
Gold, dusk, and chroma are stainless steel mirror PVD.
Finally, the Neo65 will run you between 80 dollars and 130 dollars, with the cheapest
configuration being a brass weight, solder PCB, and no plate, and the most expensive
configuration being a stainless steel mirror PVD weight, Bluetooth hotswap PCB, and carbon
fiber plate.
All case colors regardless of their finish cost the same, which is really interesting.
In the wired hotswap PCB are TX stabs lubed with 205g0 and BDZ.
I’m going to add on the carbon fiber plate, and in here go lubed DD linears, a pretty
quintessential high-pitched long pole linear.
Next, we’ll install the daughterboard cable, which is going to be under this bottom weight.
with the cable in, we can replace the weight, install the interesting bottom feet, and now
for the mounting.
we’re going to test both styles, starting with these gaskets which just insert into
the PCB.
This shape allows the inner assembly to stay in the case through only friction.
With the inner assembly done, we can connect the daughterboard cable, which is actually
way too difficult from this position.
So we’re going to take it out of the daughterboard, attach it to the PCB first, insert the inner
assembly, and then connect it back to the daughterboard.
lastly, we can install CRP R4.
Let’s take a listen.
So I was a bit scared for the sound during the build because tapping the case without
the weight sounds extremely hollow.
But, there’s actually no hollowness at all when built, even on the edges.
The sound of the alphas is nice and loud, but the spacebar in this config is weak, as
expected because of CRP being PBT.
With the O-ring, I’d say the sound is more full and resonant.
The volume doesn’t really change a lot between the gaskets and the O-ring, but the O-ring
does add some more lower-frequency sound.
This, in turn, helps cover up some of the switch housing rattle and tick that you’ll
naturally get with a plate like carbon fiber, but I still prefer the gaskets as it’s just
a little too much resonance for my taste.
Foam might help with this, so experimentation with this board is very important.
Speaking of foam, I’m very happy with the foamless sound.
This config isn’t the liveliest I’ve heard DDs, but the volume is loud, which is a good
indication.
With the green jackets, I prefer the O-ring for sound as with the gaskets, they’re kinda
high pitched.
Carbon fiber and green jackets are not a great combo in this board, as they end up being
very loud.
So I wouldn’t be afraid to use switches that lean towards the quieter or duller side,
especially with the carbon fiber plate.
The gaskets are actually pretty bouncy, more than I was expecting.
Unfortunately, I won’t be able to test the flex headroom of the board as I was only provided
with the carbon fiber plate.
This config is the hardest it gets, and since all the PCBs have the same thickness and no
cuts, softness is completely dependent on what plate and mounting system you choose.
And because I have a very hard config, the bounce is mostly even.
If you press down in the center, pretty much the whole inner assembly dips down.
In this case, it’s basically just going to round out the feel of the long poles, and
not really add any springiness to daily typing.
With the O-ring, the flex and bounce are gone, and it certainly feels more harsh on the fingers
when bottoming switches out.
The O-ring has a lot more surface area connecting the inner assembly to the case, which really
dampens the inner assembly movement compared to gaskets.
With the carbon fiber plate, I really prefer the gaskets for a gentler feel, although it
will definitely vary, and with this board, you’ll need just to try both for yourself
and decide which mounting style is more suitable to your tastes.
Now let’s take a closer look at the design.
This board has uneven side and top/bottom bezels, with the side bezels being extremely
thin, a little too thin for my liking as it makes most keycap profiles look strangely
tall.
For reference, this E-milky white is darker than the CRP alpha color, and ever so slightly
darker and less saturated than the Jris65’s milky white.
The sides have some small chamfering, and a decent profile, where the bottom half dips
into the board more.
On the back is our centered recessed USBC port.
Now the bottom is pretty interesting for a number of reasons.
First to note is this copper weight, which has some nice clean engravings.
There’s also a little lip near the bottom here to make it easier to open up.
Strangely, this weight doesn’t seem coated at all, so I’d expect to do some basic maintenance
every so often or run the risk of patina or dark spots.
On the corners here are our bottom feet with hollow centers.
Just a step further would have made this board screwless, but this is a fine way to save
on costs and keep the screws accessible.
Notably, the feet for the bottom area are not hollow like the top two.
Since the screws are technically still visible, different colored ones are included to coordinate
with the exterior color, which is a nice touch, but to me, still doesn’t compare to how
clean screwless can look.
When we remove these screws, however, we saw earlier that we gain access to the battery
compartment and daughterboard.
But there’s also this array of internal screws on both the case and weight that don’t
seem to hold anything together.
The ones on the case are attached to some magnets, so I’d assume these are just to
help align the weight, and maybe even for acoustics.
With the daughterboard cable needing to be attached to the PCB first, then threaded through
to the daughterboard, disassembly is incredibly annoying.
If you’re not careful and break the connection here, you’ll need to open up the bottom
in order to reconnect the cable.
However, I’m definitely going to give Neo some props for how beautiful and neat the
cable channel ends up looking.
Another point of worry is that both mounting styles rely on friction to hold the inner
assembly in place.
I can confidently say that this friction is enough, actually way more than enough, to
keep the inner assembly locked in when you hold the board upside down.
To actually get the inner assembly out, with the gaskets, I recommend taking off the keycaps
on one side, and using a switch puller until you can grasp a corner.
And the O-ring is understandably much more difficult, and I actually found the best way
was just to open up the weight and push the inner assembly out from the bottom.
Whatever you’re doing, you’re going to want to keep the bottom open anyway, since
again, you’ll need to reconnect the daughterboard here.
Considering the design as a whole, one of the first thoughts that struck me was Neo’s
similarity to the Mode Envoy.
The inspiration is apparent in both the exterior design and the building process, especially
with the gasket placement.
But the Neo is obviously more geared towards cost-cutting compared to the Envoy, and is
actually of better value, although the Envoy definitely feels more polished.
The single-piece case and thin weight mean the board is extremely light, lighter than
the Jris65.
But this is not to be mistaken for low quality, as the finish is excellent.
Unfortunately, getting this board truly under $100 still has some heavy limitations, and
you’re forced to go plateless.
But the bottom line is that the Neo65 is a step in the right direction for budget 65s.
And while it technically doesn’t have anything to do with the QK65, besides being affiliated
with Qwertykeys, it really feels like its spiritual successor, bringing significant
sound and internal upgrades to the table.