Welcome back to nearlucid.
Today we’ll be taking a look at the Wind x65, a 65% adaptation of the original Wind
X from wind lab.
This review unit was sent to us by Wind Lab, but as always that will not affect our opinion
or statements in any way.
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Let's unbox the keycaps first.
Wind lab sent out custom EPBT gray, orange, and green keycaps that should pair well with
the board.
This is in standard EPBT packaging, a very discreet brown cardboard box with our plastic
trays inside.
The unboxing is very similar to that of the glacier 80.
And this is no coincidence.
Createkeebs is doing manufacturing for both the windx and windx65, so we should expect
about the same quality for the board as well.
Opening up the top of the box, we first have a custom box with our POM Plate,
Gaskets, optional standoffs, bottom feet, and required allen keys,
Soldered PCB with flex cuts, And a whole bunch of foams, including a thin
case foam, bottom PCB foam, IXPE switch foam and a thin silicone sheet.
Under this is the board itself.
Onto the specs.
The windx65 is a semi exploded gasket mounted 65%, offering both soldered and hotswap PCBs
with daughterboards.
The soldered PCB supports stepped caps, split left shift, ISO, split backspace, and 7U bottom
row, while the hot swap PCB is fixed.
Case options are gray, green, orange, and yellow, and plate options are POM and carbon
fiber.
The typing angle is 7 degrees.
VIA and QMK are both supported.
Finally, the base price is a very fair $288.
For the build, there is, of course, the thin case foam, bottom PCB foam, and plate foam,
but also the inclusion of 2 special foams.
The first is this IXPE switch foam, which functions the same as PE foam, but should
give a slightly different sound signature.
Next is this silicone sheet that goes above the plate.
I’m not entirely sure what this would do, but I’m glad so many options are being offered
in a relatively affordable board.
I received a solder PCB, so I’m not going to show the entire process.
In here are red jacket linears, only with factory lube.
Our stabilizers today are TX stabs lubed with 205g0.
Inside this inner assembly is also some plate foam.
Since this is a gasket mounted board, assembly should be really quick and easy.
We first have to take out the 8 case screws, Then we can apply our gaskets to the top and
bottom cases.
Lastly, we can connect our PCB to the daughterboard, insert our thin case foam,
And close the board back up.
On top of this, we’ll mount the EPBT keycap set.
While this isn’t an inclusion in the base board, it will be a separate add-on that you
can buy.
Let’s take a listen.
It sounds great.
It’s really loud and poppy, which is especially surprising given that I usually don’t get
such a nice sound from EPBT.
There is virtually no hollowness in the alphas with this foam configuration, and only a tiny
bit on the edge keys.
This is not noticeable when typing regularly, so overall I’m quite happy with the sound.
There also is some scratch sound, but this is obviously due to my switch choice and not
the board itself.
The board has a great feel as well.
As for specifics regarding the red jacket linears, we already have our full review on
them up, so if you’re interested, the link is in the description.
The inner assembly has a comfortable amount of bounce, which is great considering that
it uses regular gaskets and also has a sheet of case foam.
Unfortunately, if you do want more flex, it isn’t possible to do plateless because the
plate is required for the gasket mounting.
I think this level of flex will be enough to satisfy most people though.
The design is pretty unique, but also doesn’t have anything too eccentric.
Since this is a 65% version of the windx, most of the design is identical to the original
board, just with the number pad cut off.
On the top, of course, we have this small accent RGB strip.
I really like this implementation of RGB, as you can easily match it to your keycap
set.
However, there is quite a bit of light bleeding.
Wind lab has confirmed they will include a small piece of light blocking foam that won’t
affect the sound, so this is not a concern for the group buy units.
Moving to the side, we can see the secondary color accented in the seam between the black
top and bottom.
Originally, I thought this was a separate piece of aluminum, but it turns out this is
still actually part of the bottom case, presumably to save machining costs.
Going to the back, we can see that the bottom gray piece is embedded inwards along the entire
perimeter of the board, and in the center is our non recessed USB port.
On the bottom are the characteristic triangular feet, and also our small brass accent strip.
I really like how this yellow strip stands out on the gray bottom.
Above this is subtle windx branding.
Like the glacier 80, this board also has fileted edges.
I much prefer these to chamfers, as they feel better in the fingers and also look better
when reflecting light.
The level of design here is very impressive for its price.
Having a brass accent on a sub 300 dollar board is very appreciated.
Although there really isn’t anything new to cover here, with the design simply being
a smaller version of the windx.
Material quality isn’t really anything new either.
With createkeebs handling the manufacturing for glacier80, class65, and windx, we can
already tell that the aluminum pieces should be near flawless.
The brass accent looks great on the interior and exterior, and is clear coated to prevent
patina.
I can’t see any inconsistencies in anodization or any scuffs anywhere on the board, so again,
great job createkeebs on the high quality manufacturing.
The case is a production unit, meaning that the case quality is the same as that of the
retail units.
However, both the PCB and daughterboard are prototypes, so there will be minor discrepancies
like my backspace still registering as tilde.
I would also check out the reviews made by my good friends sviz and fredasaurus, as they
give important information regarding the hot swap PCB that I don’t have.
There seems to be some warping and alignment issues with the POM plate and the hotswap
PCB.
Other than those issues building with hot swap, I really have no complaints about the
windx 65.
The design is great, the material quality is excellent, the sound is there, and the
very reasonable price tag is just the cherry on top.
It also seems like there’s going to be a southpaw windx soon, which I am very excited
to see.
I think the wind x65 is a great, inexpensive option for anyone wanting a 65% with just
a little bit of extra flair.
And that's all I have for you today.
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