Today we’re going to check out an interesting mechanical keyboard from the prevalent Motospeed
in the budget range.
This is the Motospeed K87s.
Thanks to Banggood.com for providing this keyboard to check out, and their continued
support.
Check links in the description for more info.
Opening up the box we have the keyboard itself.
And some paper work.
And that’s all!
Motospeed as most of us know is a well known budget brand, but all of their keyboards are
pretty much full sized, so it’s really cool for them to actually come out with a tenkeyless
version.
So this has 87 keys as the model name suggests, and basically just cuts off the numpad on
the side.
I highly recommend checking out tenkeyless keyboards for people first looking into getting
a mechanical keyboard, as the numpad isn’t 100% necessary for many people.
It also gives you more space for your mouse, and allows for a more ergonomic experience.
Usually there’s a specific feature or something that makes me pick a keyboard for review.
And the design of this keyboard is the main reason I decided to make a video on this.
First of all it’s pretty simplistic in comparison to their other keyboards.
It’s a simple rounded rectangular design.
The top plate is a sleek silver aluminium, WITH no branding which is very very common
on many budget mechanical keyboards.
There is no top exterior shell, so we have a floating key design, so the keyswitches
are exposed from the sides.
This is a personal taste thing if you like it or not.
But the combination of a completely plastic shell, as well as an aluminium mounting plate
rather than a heavier steel plate, makes the keyboard quite light.
It doesn’t really have that traditional mechanical keyboard heft to it.
We have the white keycaps, but they have the gamery font on them.
This is a gaming keyboard, so it’s fits the theme, but I just can never get behind
the look of it.
I prefer something more simple and clean, and it would have really complimented the
rest of the keyboard.
The top function row is also lower than usual, so there’s no gap between it and the number
row.
And it does make it slightly easier to reach.
And on the rear we have the non detachable USB cable.
But the main attraction is this transparent plastic bottom shell.
I checked out something similar from Velocifire, but they went a bit crazy with theirs.
This one however is simplistic and how it should be.
Although on the bottom there’s some sort of white piece covering the bottom of the
PCB.
And then there’s this white frosted shell inside the case itself completely covering
the internals.
So it’s kind of like a case inside the case.
And finally there’s 2 flat rubber feet, and 2 rubber tipped flip up feet.
From the side it has a pretty slim profile.
Without the flip up feet up, it has a slight natural inclination.
And we get a good view of the switches from the side, because the diffusion doesn’t
start until further down.
So it’s kind of a mixed look, where some parts are fully visible, and others aren’t.
But that’s not all, because when we plug it in, we get this.
Good old underglow.
The keyboard is marketed as an RGB keyboard.
The lighting is split up into 2 parts.
We have the key illumination on top, and the underglow lighting.
We’ll start with the key illumination.
This is very similar to many budget keyboards.
We can cycle through a few modes with function and insert.
First we have the solid colour mode, which I’ll assume will be the mostly used.
And we can press function and delete to cycle through the colours.
And this reveals that we just have 7 colours to cycle through.
So sure it’s RGB, but it’s quite limited.
Next is the breathing mode.
Then we get the custom layout mode.
Where we can customise each key by pressing function and home and pressing each key to
our liking.
However we also have our other customisable profiles on the keys 1 to 5, which all have
preloaded gaming profiles.
Then we have a mode that cycles through colours.
Then a singular reactive mode.
A rainbow wave mode.
A snake mode.
A ripple mode.
A slightly different reactive mode.
Then this other rainbow wave mode that shows the limitations of the colours.
But that’s not too interesting.
It’s the underglow that matters.
Ok so first of all, it doesn’t flicker like this in real life, it’s just the camera.
So I’ll chuck in some photos as well, that look pretty close to the real thing.
We can cycle through the modes with function and page up.
The first mode, and my favourite mode is this simple rainbow.
We can change the speed of the effect with the minus and plus keys.
Next is the singular colour mode, which I also really like.
To change colours we just press function and page down, and it’s a clean look.
Next is the breathing mode.
Then we have a mode that slowly cycles through colours.
Next is this slightly different rainbow mode.
I don’t really like the colour palette with this one as well as several effects within
that, so I stick to the first one.
We have a flashing mode.
Then completely off.
And finally a snake mode.
So with the combination of both the key and underglow lighting, I’d say I like just
the solid white on top, and then the slow rainbow on the bottom.
There are a couple of things I don’t like though.
First of all the keycaps on top are just ugly in my opinion.
It doesn’t contribute well to the aesthetic of the keyboard.
That’s why I prefer the white backlighting in normal lit conditions, since it kind of
blends in the legends, whereas having the lights off doesn’t.
I’m also not a fan of the diffusion of the underglow LEDs.
They’re using a separate diffusion piece inside, but it looks quite thin, so while
the light is spread, there’s still the clear points where the LEDs are, which are also
made quite clear by the reflection on the table surface.
It would look so much better with the outer clear shell diffused, as well as being a bit
thicker, like on the Ganns GK87 Pro, which is quite similar.
The whole thing is also quite in your face, and is definitely not for everyone.
Taking off the keycaps and we have 1mm thin double shot ABS keycaps.
Double shot just means that the legends are a different piece of plastic, so they’ll
never fade away.
Underneath the caps we have the very common budget Outemu Blue switches.
These are just clones of the Cherry MX switches, and they mimic the colour characteristics
as well.
So these are tactile and clicky, with a travel distance of 4mm.
And here’s a quick sound test.
Now to the disassembly.
The keyboard is held together by a few Phillips head screws as well as some Torx screws which
you may not have a screwdriver for.
Here’s the thin piece of plastic that diffuses the underglow LEDs, and just sits in the outer
clear casing.
It’s just too thin to do a proper job of spreading the light.
But under that is this piece of just actual paper which blocks everything from the bottom
view.
The aluminium plate is 1.5mm.
The PCB has a nice clean white solder mask, which looks pretty good with the clear case
by the way.
Here’s the underglow LEDs scattered around the edge of the PCB.
And the key LEDs are actually mounted on the other side of the PCB.
So I’m not too keen on this completely clear transparent look for the bottom plastic, and
I want it to look like all the other cool underglow keyboards.
I have this frosted glass spray, and as described, it frosts glass, and in theory should work
in a similar way for plastic.
I’m just going to spray it straight on top without any scuffing, and see how it goes.
After a few passes it wasn’t really adhering well, as we can see, also showing some peeling.
But it was a bit cold, and I probably went a bit too heavy, so in this case, it’s probably
best to go with many lights coats.
It was pretty rough, so I decided to wet sand it a bit with some soapy water and 2000 grit
sandpaper.
Then I went with light coats.
And it turned out better, but not perfect.
Then to top it off I’ll chuck on my cheap blank white PBT keycaps.
I would like you know try other caps, but my keycap game is super weak, but it matches
the theme anyway.
And here it is.
And it’s so so much cleaner.
Without the underglow on, it’s completely different.
It’s much more sleeker and cleaner, and hides all those extra lines that could be
seen through the plastic.
The inner diffused plastic piece is hidden now, as well as the bottom halves of the keyswitches.
It’s also not so reflective and shiny, and is more subdued and matte, blending in much
better with the top aluminium piece.
I didn’t protect it with a top coat yet, but it looks like it wouldn’t impact on
the look, so a nice satin or matte clear coat would probably be fine.
But of course, the underglow.
Again, just a billion times better looking in my opinion.
So much more cleaner, shows off the colours better, and all of a sudden makes it look
so much more premium.
From the top view we now have a glowing ring around the edge, which looks neat.
The individual LEDs are still quite sharp though, and can still be easily seen.
I actually didn’t spray the inside of the case, and I’m quite tempted to do so, but
we’d make it a bit more dim.
The usual method to achieve this look would be with frosted acrylic which is also thicker
than this, creating a much more cleaner and diffused aesthetic.
Motospeed did try, but only with the thin piece inside the outer shell, ending up with
a weird look.
I think the outer casing would look fine in a completely transparent design, where the
PCB and internals are shown, but this isn’t the case here.
They also gave me this keyboard case, which is really useful for protecting your keyboard
during transportation.
It’s made from 3mm felt, and actually has the Cherry logo
lasered on it.
Plus a bit more below that, which it probably could have gone without.
It can be had in different sizes, but this is the tenkeyless version, and the keyboard
fits snugly.
It’s also nice to have a velcro strap for the cable on the K87s.
And it secures with a strap, and I’d say it does a pretty good job of protecting your
board inside your bag.
Also, I messed up my footage where I went through all the lighting modes, so it’s
scattered with no narration over the conclusion.
Overall it’s a unique product from Motospeed.
It is a light keyboard with just the aluminium plate and the plastic case, but it’s still
solid enough.
And it’s nice to get a tenkeyless offering from Motospeed, instead of just full sized
boards.
I think the aesthetic design is a bit mixed up as I explained, and it would be nice to
get more budget boards without the gamery font on the keycaps.
But there’s definitely potential in the keyboard.
The frost glass spray isn’t the cheapest here in Australia, at over 10 bucks.
But in the U.S it can be had for around 5 dollars, and you’ll only be using a little
bit, so I’ll get more out of mine.
It also has a completely standard layout, so changing the keycaps can be an option in
the future, giving it even more potential.
Thanks again to Banggood.com for providing the keyboard and being a long time supporter
of the channel.
I’ll leave links in the description.