I ended up getting a monsgeek M3 as I wanted something I wouldn't have to wait months for. Waiting on switches right now and it should be built in a few days but if these guys made a full TKL as nice as this I can definitely see wanting one. Like you I need those F keys.
I'm poor, so this is still out of my budget, but compared to when I first started glancing at custom keyboards a couple of years ago, this is a hell of a deal. It's amazing what some of these companies are putting out for the price these days. You can get so much more for your money lately and it's awesome!
“Budget” This thing punches *way* above its price bracket. Beating out a lot of boards in the $300 price range and some in the $400. The price to performance ratio is absolutely unprecedented
Yo Lewis! This board and keycaps looks solid and cool! It sounds so good. Deep sound and thocky too. The feature where the top easily comes off is awesome. Makes it easy to mod. Nice video content bro
Yooooo despite you uploading more I actually don’t think the video quality have dropped, keep up the great work! I also love that just by changing the amount of foam, it goes from clack to thock
The shipping is 40 bucks to the US east coast, the total for a simple hotswap build is coming up to $200. Decent price but still wouldn't consider it budget.
Great review and awesome keyboard. Now that is definitely something new! That top frame removal is just so damn good and I hope other keyboard manufacturers would use it as well.
Hi Lewis I've just come across your channel while researching on keyboards to resolve my wrist and arm pain issues. Your content is fun, concise yet very and informational. Best of all, a familiar fellow Singaporean accent ah! Kudos and keep it up bro!
hey so i found a really good ~$100 pre built board id recommend trying. its a yunzii board and its really nice. its hotswap and comes with the switches pre lubed. its not hollow and has some nice dampening. i find it pretty decent for the price.
Doubtful. There is nothing in this that hasn't already been done tbh. The latching mechanism has been done in multiple other keyboards and done better looking IMO (JRIS75 first to mind). What you will find is that this latching mechanism ends up making the top and bottom of the case look a certain way from the side profile (top overhangs the bottom). Or at least every one that uses it I've seen looks that way and I think that's due to how it works and tolerances. So, you won't see this in a lot of other case designs that are sleeker and more elegant looking. Beyond that the different mounting mechanisms are common in most group buy boards. The layout is, IMO, not popular (luckily click clack has said they should be releasing this similar design in other layouts in the future). The other problem is once again a group buy board is unable to offer a wireless PCB with QMK/VIA support even though it's CLEARLY possible. It's definitely a good value, at least before shipping, but I think it's being overblown how great this is. Feels like the same thing that happens with a keyboard ever 3 months.
Also seems to sound amazing foamless on alu plate. Ordered mine with alu plate and will use some long pole nylon switches. Curious to see how it would sound on PC plate without foams.
The future of the budget keyboard begins today I hope we see more and more companys make cheaper keyboard in the future + When are you going to stream or you quit streaming building keyboard
theres a keyboard called the neo frl tkl thats gonna eventually come out and i could not be more excited for that either, hope you check it out as well!
will you ever include no-foam in the sound tests? this would appeal to others watching, especially clack enthusiasts, I highly request no-foam sound tests at least
this for sure. i am not a huge fan of foam as i feel it just sucks all of the character out of the board and you can achieve that foam sound with any board
What colour is that one? Is that the Void Elf colour? It looks a LOT darker in the shop images. But there are no other purple colour other than the Lavender so I guess it must be? Anyways, cool board and nice vid as always dude.
Have you tried the gk75 I just got it and it has some of the smoothest switches out of box and the stabs are super nice with no clack. Its only $60 and already feels better than my $200 custom keyboard.
Can I ask if you use Slog color grading for this type of videos or no color grading at all? Because I've been thinking of sharing a keyboard production video myself recently. Thank you🙏🏻
I can recommend you what I'm using - Lily58 Pro. or you can look for something like Boardsource Lulu, Sofle v2 or if you want a more compact split, go for Corne.
EDIT: It should probably also be noted that the WIRELESS version doesn't appear to support QMK/VIA/VIAL. Per the geekhack IC thread; Cycle7 offers both QMK Wired and wireless PCBs. Wired based on QMK. Developed with the official QMK library, supports VIA/VIAL. Wireless, we have contracted a hardware development company in the peripheral industry. They have customized a triple-mode firmware solution and dedicated driver for Cycle7. In preliminary testing, the latency of Bluetooth and 2.4G reached a level that surprised us. It's equipped with two 2200mAh batteries to ensure battery life in wireless mode. Soooo, that stinks. I was really close to buying this because I like a lot of it, but ultimately, I just can't justify buying a keyboard of that layout. It's just too wide without providing any real additional benefit. And then removal of the F row makes no sense if you already are going essentially TKL. With the F row I MIGHT be able to justify for certain use cases like some games and certain work tasks. If they would release this in a traditional 65% or 75% layout I would most likely buy it. However, I'd also say that, while the latching mechanism is cool for the top frame, I don't really like the side profile of this keyboard at all. I prefer a more seamless look as it's more elegant. I'm not sure if this is because of the latching mechanism, but I have a sneaky suspicion it is (tolerances and what not). the JRIS75 used the EXACT same latching mechanism and had the same type of side profile where the top goes over the bottom instead of being seamless, although they did it WAY better IMO. A few others have the same type of mechanism and they ALL look like this. The top going over the bottom and creating that side profile just looks like a really cheap board IMO. I'd also like the weight and bottom accent color to wrap up the back and or front of the case like we see in some other designs. It gives some actual style to the keyboard instead of just being a different color weight underneath that you never see. From a purely functional perspective it's a lot of keyboard for the money in comparison to many other group buy boards with the various mounting options, plate options, colors, wireless support, etc. If you can get past the layout. So I understand why people are interested. But I really think people need to think about if this layout is even worthwhile for you before just buying it.
Hotswap lets you remove and replace switches without the need of soldering. I would suggest for you to get hotswap as it would be your first custom, which also could be handy when you have new switches to try out. As for the wireless and wired, it's all up to your preferences and needs.
Please tell me this is the void elf color?! I was hoping it would be somewhat purple, but it looks blueish on my monitor, which is kind of perfect, becuase I'm going to throw GMK Blruple on to it!
It's a very nice keyboard but how the heck would you work without the F1-F12 keys? How would you access the BIOS if you need to fix something (for most OS:s it's the DEL key but for some it can be F5 or F8 or F11, if I remember correctly) and many softwares use the F keys for shortcuts and mandatory functions. I can live without the NUM pad but you gotta have the F keys (well, maybe not necessary if you just do typing in general but for coding and more specific tasks you need the F keys). Other than the missing keys it looks and sounds very nice! 😊
I don’t personally see how this beats out the Qk75, yes that top clamp is cool but if you’re going to take the keycaps off anyway to switch them what is 5 screws difference to that
@@Pr0noTrigger What do you think is unique about it if I may ask, this board also uses the same mounting system as the qk75 but with a slight difference
@@Cam-i I like that it's a TKL with no F row. Makes it look super clean though you lose functionality, literally. I also like the ball thing that lets you remove the top case easily. The finishes are nice (I'd get stone), the RGB above the arrow keys is a nice touch, and it sounds good. WIth an attractive price point, this would be a no brainer for me had I not already gotten the QK75.
just baught my luminakey75 lol, fortunatly this board is not 75%, it doesn't have function keys I want, if it had them I would prob sawp lumina for this
You can't kill groupbuys completely. Majority of the projects are done by individuals or small creators and designers. The only way to to satisfy everyone is to encourage vendors to pick these smaller designers and help with the funds and logistics
im tired of people not doing a no foam sound test anyway this keyboard sets no standards because the new standard would be impossible to reach I would not bat an eye if this were double or triple the price
There are plenty of other creators who did no foam builds. But they all said it's a little quite. So stiffer plate like Alu would help a lot when doing a no foam build
IMAGINE GETTING PINNED 😳😳
why imagine
Idk
Tbh
i know imagine
Thank you for this review! I'm new to the keyboard community and I find your videos very helpful! 😊
thanks!
The build with only the plate foam sounds the best to me.
Will pick one up if they do a full tkl option. I need those function row.
That might be the next project from TKD.
Same here. The function row is also a dealbreaker for me now. Hope for the future build
I ended up getting a monsgeek M3 as I wanted something I wouldn't have to wait months for. Waiting on switches right now and it should be built in a few days but if these guys made a full TKL as nice as this I can definitely see wanting one. Like you I need those F keys.
just ordered this as my first CUSTOM KEYBOARD SO EXCITED!!!!
LETS GOOO
how’d you like it?
I'm poor, so this is still out of my budget, but compared to when I first started glancing at custom keyboards a couple of years ago, this is a hell of a deal. It's amazing what some of these companies are putting out for the price these days. You can get so much more for your money lately and it's awesome!
another budget board lets gooo
yeeee
@@LewisToh
Will you ever do a mid range build in the future cuz your last one was like 11 years ago
And no one else does mid range keyboard videos apparently
“Budget” This thing punches *way* above its price bracket. Beating out a lot of boards in the $300 price range and some in the $400. The price to performance ratio is absolutely unprecedented
@@noidsuper it’s a budget board, a good one. But it will never beat out the best value 400 builds…
Yo Lewis! This board and keycaps looks solid and cool! It sounds so good. Deep sound and thocky too. The feature where the top easily comes off is awesome. Makes it easy to mod. Nice video content bro
thanks man
Yooooo despite you uploading more I actually don’t think the video quality have dropped, keep up the great work! I also love that just by changing the amount of foam, it goes from clack to thock
thanks man!
That was a really great review!
I like what they are doing here, but I'm over pre-order buys.
Understandable!
The shipping is 40 bucks to the US east coast, the total for a simple hotswap build is coming up to $200. Decent price but still wouldn't consider it budget.
It’s “budget” for custom boards but yeah it is still expensive for most people
This hobby is a luxury hobby, the term budget in context makes sense.
Great review and awesome keyboard. Now that is definitely something new! That top frame removal is just so damn good and I hope other keyboard manufacturers would use it as well.
I just made a purchase for the qk100 and now I’m going to buy this too. The value proposition of these keyboards are just insane
definitely very different layout to a 100
thinking of going the exact same route
I’ve been wanting this board since I first saw it last week. It looks sooo good
It really is!
Thanks for the showcase, i just ordered mine. Can't wait to build it!!
"Hotswap top frame". Now that has a nice ring to it!
yes
i have never been in a groupbuy before and this could easily be my first good lord
I'm excited for this keyboard. I bought 3 for a build series that ive been planning for a while.
wowwww
@@LewisToh it'll be on my keyboard channel once i receive these
Looks really good. Shame you can't get it in the UK without emptying your bank account with shipping prices.
Prototypist is literally the UK vendor
i’ll build the Cycle7 for a friend soon!!
its amazing
Great review & test! I'm tempted for sure!
thanks
Sounds nice👏
yes sirr
Sound is nice! Love they dropped f row, only thing missing is a knob!
Hi Lewis I've just come across your channel while researching on keyboards to resolve my wrist and arm pain issues. Your content is fun, concise yet very and informational. Best of all, a familiar fellow Singaporean accent ah! Kudos and keep it up bro!
don't want to be too much of a buzzkill but if ur in the US it is also $50 shipping so add $50 to the cost of whatever configuration you want
i will never get how 100+ is considered budget on this hobby
wow what an innovative product from a bunch of companies. I don't think you can find this much value from a keyboard company.
hey so i found a really good ~$100 pre built board id recommend trying. its a yunzii board and its really nice. its hotswap and comes with the switches pre lubed. its not hollow and has some nice dampening. i find it pretty decent for the price.
really like the camera mic, thanks for doing that.
Whooeww thanks for featuring this greatness!
Can you share a link or name to the exact same keycap set
yo finally
Basicly the future of keyboards and nice vid love it keep it up
heck yes
Doubtful. There is nothing in this that hasn't already been done tbh. The latching mechanism has been done in multiple other keyboards and done better looking IMO (JRIS75 first to mind). What you will find is that this latching mechanism ends up making the top and bottom of the case look a certain way from the side profile (top overhangs the bottom). Or at least every one that uses it I've seen looks that way and I think that's due to how it works and tolerances. So, you won't see this in a lot of other case designs that are sleeker and more elegant looking. Beyond that the different mounting mechanisms are common in most group buy boards. The layout is, IMO, not popular (luckily click clack has said they should be releasing this similar design in other layouts in the future). The other problem is once again a group buy board is unable to offer a wireless PCB with QMK/VIA support even though it's CLEARLY possible. It's definitely a good value, at least before shipping, but I think it's being overblown how great this is. Feels like the same thing that happens with a keyboard ever 3 months.
sick! but i can’t bring myself to do a group buy even if it looks and sounds so good 😕
Same
Ayo, i hope that case assembly process will make its way to other boards
i agree
Also seems to sound amazing foamless on alu plate. Ordered mine with alu plate and will use some long pole nylon switches. Curious to see how it would sound on PC plate without foams.
didnt get a alu plate to try :,)
whats the name of this keycap set
Great video 👍
thanks!
Rather than F-Rowless, I'd prefer navless (60% + F-Row, aka 70%).
The future of the budget keyboard begins today I hope we see more and more companys make cheaper keyboard in the future
+ When are you going to stream or you quit streaming building keyboard
i have no idea
@@LewisToh burn out ?
Nice vid mate
thanks mate
Do you have any recommendations for the best keyboards to mod for beginners and for thocc
I’m not seeing this color available as an option :((( it’s so sick!
Really helpful, thanks!!
theres a keyboard called the neo frl tkl thats gonna eventually come out and i could not be more excited for that either, hope you check it out as well!
im coppin
frfr
@@LewisToh I bought it lol got a void elf wkl with a spectrum weight, cant wait lol
noicee
very nice vid
thanksss
What some good keycap colors for a keyboard case that’s red?
red samurai?
@@LewisToh what you think about "Wukong Keycap Set" i got the red samurai in my cart
im deciding between the TKD Cycle7 and the Choice65. They're both on GB now and they both have their ups and downs
If u re a no foam fan then choose Cycle7. And if u like foams, u can go with Choice65
will you ever include no-foam in the sound tests? this would appeal to others watching, especially clack enthusiasts, I highly request no-foam sound tests at least
this for sure. i am not a huge fan of foam as i feel it just sucks all of the character out of the board and you can achieve that foam sound with any board
What colour is that one? Is that the Void Elf colour? It looks a LOT darker in the shop images. But there are no other purple colour other than the Lavender so I guess it must be?
Anyways, cool board and nice vid as always dude.
yes its void elf!
Hey Lewis, are you using black pvd wieght? It looks nice.
Have you tried the gk75
I just got it and it has some of the smoothest switches out of box and the stabs are super nice with no clack. Its only $60 and already feels better than my $200 custom keyboard.
Could you try the monsgeek M1 wireless version? The pre-order started on Taobao😊.
still would've liked a no-foam sound comparison.
Can I ask if you use Slog color grading for this type of videos or no color grading at all? Because I've been thinking of sharing a keyboard production video myself recently. Thank you🙏🏻
Hi lewis i hope u can get intouch with another nice budget keyboard the Infi75 epomaker
Does it have via compatibility?
for stabs do you just inject grease in them? is that it?
what you can recommend about cheapest split keyboard we can buy
that's good having 2 different mics
I can recommend you what I'm using - Lily58 Pro.
or you can look for something like Boardsource Lulu, Sofle v2 or if you want a more compact split, go for Corne.
What keycaps are you using?
gmk laser
wich are theese keycaps?
gmk laser
hello I just wanted to ask if how is the color of the void elf in comparison to the images from the manufacturer themselves
Loved this keyboard at first sight but the German Group buy is just too expensive :(
EDIT: It should probably also be noted that the WIRELESS version doesn't appear to support QMK/VIA/VIAL. Per the geekhack IC thread; Cycle7 offers both QMK Wired and wireless PCBs. Wired based on QMK. Developed with the official QMK library, supports VIA/VIAL. Wireless, we have contracted a hardware development company in the peripheral industry. They have customized a triple-mode firmware solution and dedicated driver for Cycle7. In preliminary testing, the latency of Bluetooth and 2.4G reached a level that surprised us. It's equipped with two 2200mAh batteries to ensure battery life in wireless mode. Soooo, that stinks.
I was really close to buying this because I like a lot of it, but ultimately, I just can't justify buying a keyboard of that layout. It's just too wide without providing any real additional benefit. And then removal of the F row makes no sense if you already are going essentially TKL. With the F row I MIGHT be able to justify for certain use cases like some games and certain work tasks. If they would release this in a traditional 65% or 75% layout I would most likely buy it.
However, I'd also say that, while the latching mechanism is cool for the top frame, I don't really like the side profile of this keyboard at all. I prefer a more seamless look as it's more elegant. I'm not sure if this is because of the latching mechanism, but I have a sneaky suspicion it is (tolerances and what not). the JRIS75 used the EXACT same latching mechanism and had the same type of side profile where the top goes over the bottom instead of being seamless, although they did it WAY better IMO. A few others have the same type of mechanism and they ALL look like this. The top going over the bottom and creating that side profile just looks like a really cheap board IMO. I'd also like the weight and bottom accent color to wrap up the back and or front of the case like we see in some other designs. It gives some actual style to the keyboard instead of just being a different color weight underneath that you never see.
From a purely functional perspective it's a lot of keyboard for the money in comparison to many other group buy boards with the various mounting options, plate options, colors, wireless support, etc. If you can get past the layout. So I understand why people are interested. But I really think people need to think about if this layout is even worthwhile for you before just buying it.
Bro, is your unit mirror, gunmetal or black pvd?
black pvd!
thanks for the respond! Subscribed! 😊
all good, thanks my guy
Trying to decide the pcb portion. It’ll be my first keyboard, what’s hot swap ? And what are the other options, what’s the best one to get?
Hotswap lets you remove and replace switches without the need of soldering. I would suggest for you to get hotswap as it would be your first custom, which also could be handy when you have new switches to try out. As for the wireless and wired, it's all up to your preferences and needs.
It's a Group Buy 😭 Im Broke Until Xmas if i had ths cash this would be my dream keyboard as i love tkls without the f row
Please tell me this is the void elf color?! I was hoping it would be somewhat purple, but it looks blueish on my monitor, which is kind of perfect, becuase I'm going to throw GMK Blruple on to it!
this is void elf! haha
when i saw the thumbnail i thought the cycle7 meant your case is recycled lol
reply to me plz lewiz
LOL hi
@@LewisToh NO WAY YOU REPLIED WHAT
Are these gmk laser keycaps or Akko neons?
gmk laser
That's the layout I want.
It's a very nice keyboard but how the heck would you work without the F1-F12 keys? How would you access the BIOS if you need to fix something (for most OS:s it's the DEL key but for some it can be F5 or F8 or F11, if I remember correctly) and many softwares use the F keys for shortcuts and mandatory functions. I can live without the NUM pad but you gotta have the F keys (well, maybe not necessary if you just do typing in general but for coding and more specific tasks you need the F keys).
Other than the missing keys it looks and sounds very nice! 😊
Just hold Fn + Num row to access the function row. As for accessing to the bios, you can literally hold down Delete instead
yay, now everyone will have the same keyboard lol
it sounds good but i hate the fact it doesnt have the function keys so like 9 out of 10
❤
I try to chose between cycle 7 and mkc75 any one can help me
I don’t personally see how this beats out the Qk75, yes that top clamp is cool but if you’re going to take the keycaps off anyway to switch them what is 5 screws difference to that
I love my QK75 and like having a f row, but this looks way more unique.
@@Pr0noTrigger What do you think is unique about it if I may ask, this board also uses the same mounting system as the qk75 but with a slight difference
@@Cam-i I like that it's a TKL with no F row. Makes it look super clean though you lose functionality, literally. I also like the ball thing that lets you remove the top case easily. The finishes are nice (I'd get stone), the RGB above the arrow keys is a nice touch, and it sounds good. WIth an attractive price point, this would be a no brainer for me had I not already gotten the QK75.
2:35 WTF THERES A BUG CRAWLING ON YOUR ENTER SWITCH NAHHHHHHHH
its not really out so can we say of 2023?
Wait WHAT, why did nobody tell me about this keyboard!!
WWhat about the Jris65 r2
havent tried
@@LewisToh im still waiting for the gb to start shipping? maybe u could get on in the aftermarket, i promise its very good
just baught my luminakey75 lol, fortunatly this board is not 75%, it doesn't have function keys I want, if it had them I would prob sawp lumina for this
Sad that I seemed to jump into the hobby right around its TKL era 😂 I just have zero use for this form factor.
Hot swap top frame
Bro ngl your channel with this video quality deserve to get more subscribers than this
I appreciate that!
does anyone now from which vendor i can get this from if im in hong Kong
anyone know*
iLumKB covers most of the Asia region, try them!
Anyone have info for the gb vendor runner in indonesia?
Kukey Studio is the vendor for Indonesia
cap the odin 75 is the best
Mode envoy is wayyy better imo lol
this is still p good
@@LewisToh yeah it’s still good and the no screws system is pretty cool too.
It's products like this that are saving the custom mech hobby. All we need to do now is kill groupbuys.
You can't kill groupbuys completely. Majority of the projects are done by individuals or small creators and designers. The only way to to satisfy everyone is to encourage vendors to pick these smaller designers and help with the funds and logistics
i actually prefer group buys as it can reduce prices and allow smaller keyboard makers to actually produce their keyboards
Any person who doesnt put the rpice at the beginning of the video automatically get a skip and "do not reccomend this channel" ban to the shadowreal.
im tired of people not doing a no foam sound test
anyway this keyboard sets no standards because the new standard would be impossible to reach
I would not bat an eye if this were double or triple the price
How about no foam 🥲
There are plenty of other creators who did no foam builds. But they all said it's a little quite. So stiffer plate like Alu would help a lot when doing a no foam build
410th view lololol btw I watches since 3 years ago ❤
noice
Another budget board that will never be in stock for everyone : 😔
Bro can I buy this from u LOL
maybe not now… but aft the keyboard launches, sure
FEKER IK65
lewi
toh
wot
@@LewisToh you are teh best!
SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY💸💸💸💸
Would like to get pinned too!