Createkeebs is no stranger in the custom keyboard hobby.
Being the manufacturer behind the class series boards and Windx series boards, as well as
producing heavy hitters like the glacier, thera, and SOTC switches, createkeebs has
given me extremely high hopes for their next exploration, inching ever closer to the budget
custom keyboard space.
This is the Luminkey80 by Createkeebs sister brand Luminkey.
But with the saturation of the budget custom keyboard market, the Luminkey80 will need
a lot to set it apart from the competition.
First off, the Luminkey80 comes in a nice custom carrying case.
On top, we have an included coiled cable, replacement switches and extra keycaps if
you bought the prebuilt bundle, switch tripods, an allen key and small screwdriver, screws
and custom keycap puller, artisan that matches the board colorway, and lastly, some bluetooth
and board info.
The bottom compartment has the board itself, wrapped in plastic.
The Luminkey80 is a gasket-mounted F13 TKL.
We have only a 1.6mm tri-mode hot-swap PCB, which supports stepped caps, split left shift,
and ISO enter.
This has a daughterboard and utilizes QMK and VIA.
For plates, we only have polycarbonate, and for colors, we have black, silver, and e-retro
white.
Finally, the Luminkey80 will run for $255 barebones and $320 as a fully assembled kit.
Let’s take a listen to the stock configuration with PBT keycaps and custom gateron switches.
So the stock sound is very loud, and almost textbook poppy.
It’s kinda like rain in a pleasant way, and this is definitely due to the PE foam,
which to me, is always annoying to open up and see.
I’m curious what it sounds like without the plate and PE foam, so we’re definitely
going to take them out in a second.
The spacebar doesn’t sound great, and has this high pitched metallic popping that sometimes
happens with PBT keycaps.
This could also be due to the foam or stabilizer though, so I’m not ruling anything out.
As for the stabilizers, they’re surprisingly good stock.
There’s pretty much no ticking, and I’m going to keep them in the modded build.
The backspace is just a tiny bit mushy on the edges, but besides that, there’s no
other problems.
So overall, the stock sound is pretty good, but I want to see what this board sounds like
outside of the default configuration.
So, the first step is to disassemble.
We’re going to take out the case screws, The bottom foam, and the inner assembly.
Now we get to see the gasket mount, which is a pretty standard gasket sock configuration.
I’m going to take off the keycaps, Take out the switches,
And there are still standoffs holding the plate and PCB together.
After these are unscrewed, I can access the plate and PE foam, both of which I’m going
to remove.
Before I put the plate back, I’m just going to uninstall the standoffs altogether, because
they’re inhibiting the flex of the board.
With the plate back on, I’m going to reinstall the included switches,
Install GMK striker, Connect the daughterboard,
Insert the bottom case foam, Replace the inner assembly, and finally close
up the case.
So I take back what I said about the stabilizers.
They sound much worse now after rebuilding, especially that backspace.
All of them have quite a bit of tick, so if you’re not going to use the prebuilt board,
I would go back and relube or replace them.
Since I only really swapped out the keycaps and foam, I think this mostly has something
to do with the keycaps.
However, the stock sound profile is still really lively even with the plate and PE foam
removed, and definitely very loud.
The included switches are very high pitched, especially as we only have the option for
a polycarbonate plate, but I’m not complaining.
These custom switches, dubbed sylvas, are an exclusive collaboration between createkeebs
and gateron.
They have a full nylon housing and POM stem, and cracking them open, we can see they have
some factory lubing on the stem rails.
Honestly, I think these are good enough to use stock, although you might want to lube
the top housing as well if you want something quieter.
The included keycaps are additionally pretty good.
They’re basic dyesub PBT in this 9009 colorway, but the legends are really consistent.
If you get the prebuilt configuration, you’re basically getting both sylvas and a decent
dyesub set for $65 combined, which is actually less than a fully built QK80, which adds $70
onto the base price.
As for feel, there isn’t a whole lot of flex because of the non-flex PCB and plate.
It’s definitely better than before because the standoffs were removed, but nothing noticeable
during daily typing.
It’s still a comfortable amount, and the polycarbonate plate also provides some extra
cushioning.
I can’t imagine there’s a lot of headroom to change your feel, and it might come down
to using case foam and the standoffs if you want something harder.
At a glance, I would consider the design pretty elevated, but looking closer, you can see
that it’s not really anything revolutionary.
The top and bottom bezels are slightly larger than the side bezels, which is definitely
helping the look punch above the price point.
Other than that, there’s an average-sized chamfer all around.
We of course also have our top triangle accents.
The side profile appears to have 3 layers, with the bottom case having an angled cut
near the side.
This cut is flat when viewed from the bottom, which likely saves a tiny bit on machining
costs.
The bottom copper weight has a tiny bit of inlay, which is a nice callback to the inlay
in the triangle accents on top.
The weight itself is pretty thin, and has some triangle accents on the edges.
A small issue I have is that the triangle inlay is a bit deep, and I can pretty easily
see debris getting stuck down there.
On the inside, we have nothing on top, but under this compartment is our daughterboard
and the batteries, which are included with every model as again, only a tri-mode PCB
is included.
Overall, the design is great at creating a simple and consistent theme all throughout.
The anodization is of standard createkeebs quality, meaning it’s very smooth both to
the touch and under a light.
I’d actually consider it slightly better than the quality of the Glacier, granted that
the Glacier came out a while ago.
But despite its newness, the Luminkey80 was not the first of its kind.
The Luminkey75 came out back in June of this year to pretty positive feedback.
It offered a similar prebuilt configuration, with gateron switches and ePBT keycaps, with
a price tag of around $260.
While I wasn’t able to get my hands on it at the time, we can tell now that the 80 represents
some sort of shift in the design direction towards a more elegant and clean silhouette.
There’s a lot to talk about when comparing it to the QK80, though, which I would say
is the primary competitor.
For starters, the sound profile of the Luminkey80 kinda blows the QK80 out of the water.
But this ended up being one of the main complaints of the QK80, so much so that QK offerings
began to include non flex cut PCBs.
The QK80 still has significantly more options for customization, and also is lower in price,
with the most expensive barebones config still not reaching the base barebones config price
of the Luminkey80.
If anything, this goes to show how far Qwertykeys has come in terms of its economy of scale,
and how it manages to offer so many options as well as keeping prices low, which is something
generally unheard of in the hobby.
But when we look at both of these boards from an objective standpoint, they’re both of
incredible value.
Even more so considering their prebuilt configurations, adding just $65 to the Luminkey80 and $70
to the QK80 for switches, keycaps, and stabilizers.
When we’re talking about value, however, we also have to consider that the Luminkey80
only comes with a tri-mode PCB, meaning it also includes batteries, a dongle, and all
the necessary components for a wireless keyboard.
This means when we compare it to the QK80, we’ll have to hike up the base price just
a bit to get the features on par.
Yet, the Luminkey80 still doesn’t manage to beat the price of the QK80, even if it’s
just by a tiny margin.
But at the end of the day, and in the context of the rest of the hobby, you’re still getting
an incredible quality board either way, whether you choose the Luminkey80 for its sound or
the QK80 for its flexibility and design.
And the Luminkey80 ends up being a fantastic semi-premium offering that pushes the standard
for what a custom TKL in this price point can offer.