This is the Niz Atom 68. It’s an electrocapacitive keyboard, so it’s different from standard
mechanical boards, but still fantastic in it’s own way. I’ll get into the differences in a bit.
Taking a look in the box, you get a manual that’s all in Chinese so that’s kind of useless.
You also get a wireless USB adapter in
case you want a wireless connection that’s more reliable than bluetooth.
Taking a look at the board, you’ll see this is a 65%
layout which actually has 68 keys, hence the name Atom 68. My version has 3 connection modes:
wired, wireless USB, and bluetooth. It also has windows and Mac support,
so this board is incredible versatile and can be used in any desk setup.
Besides the board, there are some other extras as well.
There’s a keycap puller, and a nice braided USB A to USB C cable.
In this little bag, there’s some alternate Mac keycaps and extra
stems and stabilizer parts in case you break one of them.
If the current weight of the switches isn’t enough for you,
there are also some springs to add a little more resistance.
Looking back at the back of the board, you’ll see there are 2 levels of flip up feet.
You get 3 options for typing angles at either 3, 7, or 11 degrees.
One thing to note is that if you do use the feet, the board will sound a bit more hollow.
To further add to the customization, if you are using wired mode, you can route
the wire 3 different ways to either the middle back, right, or left of the board.
If we pop off one of the keycaps, you can see this looks pretty different from
a normal mechanical keyboard switch. This is actually an electrocapacitive rubber dome board,
but don’t let the rubber dome turn you away.
The electrocapacitive style was made popular by Topre and this one is pretty much the same design,
but the stem or plunger let’s you use standard MX style keycaps. Also,
the atom 68 comes with silencing rings already built into the switches.
The way an electrocapacitive switch works is that the resistance actually comes from
a rubber dome that buckles as you press it down, which provides the tactility.
It kind of reminds me of pressing down those tabs on a soda cup, but much more satisfying.
Anyways, as you press down, the spiral, cone shape spring gets flatter
and once it reaches a certain flatness, it registers as a key press. You don’t
actually have to press the key all the way down, which is how the cheap rubber dome boards work.
The board comes included with Niz’s own branded keycaps. They’re cherry profile and made of PBT
plastic. They have legends on the top as well as the side to indicate the function layer.
It’s nice having legends on 2 dimensions, but they’re only printed on as opposed to
being dye-sub or double shot. These will definitely fade pretty quick.
The stabilizers that come on this board are pretty unique in that there’s no
housing; just the rails on the top and bottom. The stem kind of just floats there so there’s way less
friction when you press a key. However, if you ever need to take a keycap off,
they’re a huge pain to put back because they’re tiny and there’s nothing to align them.
The stabilizers are pretty rattly out of the box so I
would recommend squeezing a dab of lube or dielectric grease on them if you have any.
It’s at least easier to add lube on these than normal stabilizers.
My only real complaint with this board is the keycap quality,
but luckily you’re not stuck using their proprietary keycaps like on Topre boards.
With just the wave of your hand, you can swap them for some other MX style keycaps like GMK.
Alright, I’ve talked about this board enough so I’ll leave you with a typing test.
Please consider subscribing if you haven’t yet and let me know if you
think this sounds better or worse than a normal mechanical keyboard.