In the enthusiast keyboard market, typically the two main options are the mechanical keyboard,
or the electrostatic capacitive keyboards.
However there isn’t much choice for the latter, so we see a lot of the same Topre’s,
Leopold’s, and of course HHKB’s.
But then we have the clones boards, with the clone EC switches.
So today we check out the new NiZ Atom66 electrostatic capacitive keyboard.
Big thanks to Digitevil.com for providing this keyboard for review.
And I’ll put the link and coupon in the description.
Inside the box we have the keyboard itself.
A nice braided USB type C cable.
A plastic ring keycap puller.
I believe that these are 10g springs which we’ll check out later.
We have some extra keycaps.
And 1 spare set of stabiliser parts.
There are a couple versions of the Atom66.
Given the choice, I naturally went all out with the Bluetooth RGB version.
In the hands it actually feels quite solid, with minimal flex, as I can feel the weight
of a metal plate inside.
It comes in at about 720g, which is a good solid weight for a plastic enclosed 60% keyboard.
This only comes in white, and the plastic has a slightly textured finish.
And it has a very simplistic aesthetic to it.
Like their other boards, it has a more rounded look, with the rounded corners and edges,
making it look a bit softer and less aggressive.
And looking at the side profile, it has a slight natural inclination to it.
The bottom has a couple of rubber feet for non slip, and two flip up feet that are also
nicely rubber tipped.
And there’s a cable routing channel, which is for the USB type C cable.
We have a simple white and grey colourway for the keycaps.
The font or typeface is clean enough, but we do get a lot of extra printing on there
for all the secondary functions.
And these are Cherry profile caps, so they’re a bit shorter than the typical OEM ones are,
and are a common favourite in the community.
And these are made from thick 1.5mm PBT plastic, which is great to see.
This is a 60% keyboard, which is something that’s awesome to see, as there’s really
only one alternative for EC boards.
A smaller board of course means more space on our desk, and allows more space for our
mouse, for a more ergonomic experience.
So many of the other keys that you would normally have on a full sized keyboard, are now on
a secondary layer.
So we have stuff like the nav cluster, which includes insert, home, page up, etc, on the
right hand side.
And then the F1 to F12 keys on the number row.
However we can take that step further in programming the keyboard via the downloadable software
that’s available.
So we basically have 3 layers.
We have the default layer.
The Left FN key layer.
And then the Right FN key layer.
Each key is customisable, so we can choose a key, and we can change it to another key,
make combinations, record macros, with the appropriate delay settings and such.
We can assign multimedia functions, have mouse functions, however that’s already built
into the function layer on the left hand side of the keyboard.
So there’s a lot you can do spread over 3 layers.
You probably wouldn’t change much on the default layer.
And I’d think that you’d have most of the custom functions on a 3rd layer, as the
function layer is already pretty full.
But having macros and other functions on the FN layers can be really useful for various
work programs, games, and just general use.
And this is great to see, especially on a smaller board, where it’s more important.
This is also the RGB version, so we can play around with the lighting here.
And it’s pretty much just the typical customisation options with the colours, effects, and patterns.
Honestly, you’re probably better off not getting the RGB version to save a bit of money.
First of all, I don’t think it works with a white keyboard too well, as the colours
don’t look as vibrant, and are kind of washy instead.
And the keycaps aren’t backlit, but the lighting still does bleed through a bit.
Back to it’s layout, and it does have this unique layout.
So the main thing is accomodating for these dedicated arrow keys.
We have 3 normal arrow keys, but then the up arrow key is this 1.75u right shift key.
And next to that we have the delete key.
It does take some time getting use to.
Like using the up arrow key as an arrow key is totally fine.
It’s just needing to press that right shift key that gets annoying.
The bottom row is packed with all the appropriate keys, but are made smaller to fit in those
arrow keys.
But the main cutback is this really weirdly sized 4.75 unit spacebar.
Like it’s fine usability wise, but this makes it super difficult to replace the spacebar
keycap.
Normally for Topre switches, it’s not the biggest deal, as they aren’t compatible
with MX keycaps.
But being clones, these of course have the MX cross stem, so we can chuck on any aftermarket
keyset on here.
But yeh, I’ve seen a lot of complaints, even from when they first showed pictures
of this.
It was pretty much the main thing that people pointed out straight away.
So it is pretty disappointing that they went ahead with it anyway.
But Niz or Plum, had their reasoning, saying that it’s optimised for ergonomics and such,
so yeh, I guess it’s up to you on whether keycap compatibility is of importance to you.
And in the top right hand corner we have a split backspace.
I haven’t used split backspace too often in the past, as pretty much none of the boards
that I receive have it.
But it is a popular thing amongst many people.
However, what’s cool is that we can replace these two keys with that spare backspace that
we got in the box.
And that goes over the 2 keys, so we have to disable the tilde key.
Normally this would make the key quite heavy, but these are actually lighter than usual,
as we’ll see later when I take the keyboard apart.
But I’ve also found it quite annoying, as it takes close to nothing to push down that
backspace.
So it may be worth chucking in the 10g springs for these two keys.
We also get some command and option keycaps for you Apple users.
And you can switch to the Mac mode as well.
And that brings us to one of the keyboard’s and in fact the brand’s distinctive features,
the electrostatic capacitive clone switches.
This is actually a rubber dome keyboard, rather than really mechanical.
BUT these are much better than your standard membrane keyboards you find everywhere.
So we have the keycap which is on top of the plunger which we push down, just like a normal
switch.
And that depresses the rubber cup which has a conical spring inside of it.
And then that interacts with the capacitive sensor on the PCB which creates the actuation.
Therefore it’s the rubber dome that creates the tactility, and the conical spring basically
has no resistance to it, and is just for it’s capacitive nature.
The domes that I have here are the very light 35g domes.
And this is something that they’ve done for a long time, whereas Topre would normally
be 45g or 55g.
Plus, these do have silencing rings on the inside, which dampens that upstroke in both
sound and feel.
And this makes for a very unique experience.
First of all, it’s of course closer to a typical membrane keyboard, than a mechanical
keyboard.
But with these 35g domes, it’s a very light and easy typing experience, kind of feeling
like you’re typing on a cloud.
The tactility is only really felt when you’re actually typing.
So when I slowly depress a key, it’s pretty much linear.
There’s no distinct bump, as it’s more drawn out.
And it’s a very soft feeling, with the bottom out being very cushioned, which I like.
But it’s lightweight nature can be a negative to others.
It’s very easy to actuate a key, so you can accidentally press a key when you don’t
intend to.
And yeh, you have to get used to pressing the keys lightly.
But then we get 50 of these 10g springs.
So 16 short from being able to fill up the whole board.
And all these do is go over the stem and make it slightly more heavier.
However this is not equivalent to a true 45g dome, as it’s the rubber dome itself that
produces the tactility.
But it does in turn make it feel kind of more tactile.
Well, at the very least, it does make it feel more poppy and snappy, as there is more resistance.
But yeh, it’s kind of difficult to explain, where the tactile bump itself isn’t particularly
changed, but at the same time, you do get more feedback.
Overall, it’s something that’s ultimately up to you.
I know that these will be just too light for a lot of people, in particular enthusiasts
who prefer heavy switches.
I personally have always been a fan of these.
They’re very unique feeling, and is just something I like to change to once in a while,
because they are so different.
Another feature with this particular model is its Bluetooth capabilities.
We can connect up to 3 wireless devices, which are on the 8,9, and 0 keys.
I tested this on Mac, Windows, and Android devices, and all worked perfectly fine, feeling
responsive and stable.
As always, unfortunately I couldn’t really get a grasp on the actual battery life of
the keyboard, as for the most part I used it in wired mode on my desktop computer.
So my apologies.
Taking the keyboard apart is pretty easy.
There are no screws for the case, so you just have to pry open the tabs.
And they’re not tight like other keyboards, so the top piece comes off nice and easily.
It takes a bit more effort to take the keyboard out of the bottom housing, but it does come
out.
And again, there are no screws for this bit.
There’s two cables between the two halves, with a ribbon cable that you just gotta be
careful with.
Then we take out all of these other Phillips head screws.
And then the keycaps, as they keep the sliders in place.
The rubber dome sheet is just a singular sheet, and is made specifically for this keyboard.
But if you really wanted to for whatever reason, you could cut it up and put them elsewhere.
The sheet does go around the edge of the PCB, and I thought that maybe without it, the keyboard
would become quite loose.
But that’s not the case.
I did put it back together without the sheet, and it was completely fine.
So you could chuck in some other domes, such as BKE domes for legit tactility.
But if you were to do that, then you would be blocking the SMD LEDs on the PCB, which
of course is only applicable to this RGB model.
Before I mentioned that the backspace key was lighter, because it actually is.
As we can see, there’s holes in these two domes, and that reduces its resistance and
tactility, so that the weight isn’t doubled if you were to use the 2 unit backspace keycap.
Looking at the sliders, and these are MX compatible, as all these clones are.
And each have silencing rings, which dampen the upstroke sound.
Also, when putting it back together, some of the housings will be slightly different,
and that’s just to give clearance to the standoffs.
The plate is made from 1.5mm steel, which does give the keyboard a lot of its weight
and rigidity which I like.
Looking at the bottom plastic shell, and we have our battery.
It’s stuck down and wrapped pretty well, so I didn’t feel like checking it out.
But it does make good of the space available.
So overall, it was a lot to cover, which is the case with these sort of keyboards.
But it makes for a very interesting and quite a unique keyboard.
And It’s nice to see more variety in the Topre / electro-capacitive market.
The layout is a point of debate, as we have an odd bottom row to accommodate the dedicated
arrow keys.
In particular that terribly sized 4.75u spacebar that goes against the MX stemed sliders.
There are a couple of versions of this keyboard, including the non-bluetooth and non-RGB versions.
As said, I’d probably skip the RGB to save a few bucks, because it isn’t that great
in my opinion.
And lastly the typing experience with the 35g domes is very unique.
I personally love it.
It feels so relaxing to type on, like you’re typing on a cloud, like a said before.
But at the same time, it will definitely be too light for many people.
It is a tactile keyboard, but the tactility is pretty weak, but it’s still there.
And if you really wanted to, you can swap out the domes.
It’s is a pretty quiet keyboard, so it’ll be absolutely fine in an office environment,
or a shared space.
So in my opinion it is a wonderful option in the capacitive market.
It’s a 60% board.
It is available with Bluetooth, and also RGB lighting.
It has the 35g domes with silencing rings.
There’s programmability via the software.
And all of these features are legitimately quite unique.
A big thanks to DigitEvil.com for providing this keyboard for review.
I’ll put the links in the description, as well as a coupon code in case you’re interested.