Welcome back to nearlucid. Today we’ll be taking a look at the KBD75 V3.1, an affordable
compact 75 percent from kbdfans. Kbdfans did send this unit out to us for review, but as
always that will not affect our opinion or statements in any way.
Before we start, this video is brought to you by Flexispot. Flexispot makes high quality
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features like a storage drawer, USB A and USB C charging ports, and the ability to save
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looking for something sturdy and practical. Right now, flexispot is having their Black
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information.
Let’s get back to the KBD75. We have a pretty minimal box on the outside here. Opening it
up, first, is our hotswap PCB. all the sockets here are actually labeled, which is a really
nice feature. Next is the case foam that goes under the inner assembly
The very very flexible polycarbonate plate And the plate foam, which goes in between
the plate and PCB. And lastly, we have our board, with the 5
case screws already installed, holding it together.
Outside this, we also get a basic braided USB C to USB A cable
Screws, bottom feet, and an interesting screwdriver And also stabilizers, which are a nice touch
given that many premium boards usually don’t include them.
Onto the specs. The KBD75 is an aluminum top mounted compact 75%, offering both soldered
and hotswap PCBs. The soldered PCB supports 7U space, split left shift, stepped caps,
ISO enter, and split backspace, while the hotswap PCB is fixed.
Case options are green, purple, dark blue, light blue, black, gray, burgundy, rose gold,
e white, and e beige. Plate materials are aluminum, polycarbonate, or brass, and you
can also opt to pre-build the board with your choice of switches for an extra fee.
QMK and VIA are both supported, and the typing angle is 7 degrees.
Finally, the unbuilt price, which includes everything I unboxed, is $200 to $260, depending
on your plate and case materials. Today we have a dark blue, hotswap KBD75 to build with
a polycarbonate plate.
I’ve already installed the included stabilizers, clear tape modded and lubed with 205g0 and
XHT-BDZ. The clear tape mod seems to have worked well on the gentleman65, so I’ll
keep doing it on future boards. For switches I’m going to use cotton candies.
These are light tactiles and should provide a pretty unique typing experience and sound.
For good measure, I’m also going to do the tempest tape mod on the bottom of the PCB.
We can screw the inner assembly to the top case
The bottom case and top case together
And finally, kbdfans sent out this set of epbt gray and white. It looks nice and timeless,
and will be an interesting combination with this navy colored case.
Let’s take a listen.
So to be honest I’m not a big fan of the sound. It's on the high pitched side, but
there’s still some pretty audible scratchy and plasticy noise. I would consider PE foam
modding, but of course this comes at its own cost of locking you into the signature PE
foam sound profile. We have a full video dedicated to this pretty interesting mod, so if PE foam
is new to you, be sure to check it out in the description below.
The board itself is very light, since it’s entirely aluminum.
While the jelly epoch opened my heart to the exploded 75% layout, I am still pretty indifferent
to compact 75%. It’s excellent for utility, as it includes the arrow keys and function
row that I personally require for video editing, but just doesn’t cut it for me in terms
of aesthetics. Additionally, ePBT gray and white didn’t include the proper nav cluster
keys, so the heights for this row don’t match the rest of the board. Kinda scuffed.
Ultimately, the layout you choose is up to you, but I wouldn’t personally invest too
much into compact 75.
As for design, I think it’s a bit eccentric. The top and bottom pieces are both chamfered,
and they’re separated by this middle acrylic piece all around, which fooled me into thinking
it was a sandwich mounted keyboard at first. But actually, this sits under the inner assembly,
and helps diffuse the RGB underglow implemented into the PCB.
There is a pretty high level of customization for this in VIA, and each LED is individually
addressable so you can make rainbow and gradient effects.
The only interruption to the acrylic diffuser are the 5 case screws and the left side USB-C
port, shrouded in this strange circular aluminum piece. This is called the “USBC protector”
on their website, and I’m not entirely sure if I like the design of this. The bright side
is that it provides more than enough clearance for custom cables with larger connectors,
like this one from our sponsor RNcables. The aluminum weight bar is visible from the
back of the board, and even though it’s removable, KBDfans unfortunately doesn’t
sell extra colors or a brass version, so unless you buy multiple KBD75s, you won’t be able
to get a different colored weight. Additionally, the weight for the KBD75 v2 has been confirmed
by KBDfans to not fit the v3.1. The bottom of the board has a significant
amount of machining. The weight bottom has the KBDfans logo, and under it is this wave
pattern. Near the bottom of this is a small RAMA-esque X cutout, which goes all the way
to the acrylic RGB diffuser.
For material quality, there are very few comments when it comes to a vendor as large as KBDfans.
Even though I’ve seen and heard of questionable quality in the past, there is no evidence
of that here. The anno quality is excellent, very matte all throughout, with no interior
scuffs, exterior scuffs, or inconsistent spots. This blue color is pretty tasteful, although
I might prefer to have it be just a little darker. It is nice to me personally to finally
have a blue board for a change.
he KBD board lineup has always been great in terms of value, so there’s not much for
me to complain about. There are plenty of colors,
hotswap and soldered PCBs, pretty decent included stabilizers, and even a build service. And
all this is constantly kept in stock, so there are no worries of missing out on a group buy
or preorder. I would however, like to see different colored USBC protectors and bottom
weights offered separately for the people who would like to add a little extra personalization
to their board.
Otherwise, the KBD75 is a great, easily accessible option for those who want a relatively inexpensive
compact 75% with a little bit of rgb flair.
And that's all I have for you today. Thanks for watching this episode of nearlucid. If
you liked this video, drop a thumbs up. If you have feedback or questions, don’t hesitate
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That’s all for this video, I’ll see you guys later.