Pros: Great RGB design, good stock build, and sound, ease of use.
Cons: Plastic Build with some wireless latencies, needs more RGB color options.
Price: US$99.99
Intro
Disclaimer: The Epomaker EP75 was provided to us at no charge courtesy of Epomaker. However, this was done with the understanding that I was to give my honest thoughts and opinions on the keyboard. The Epomaker EP75 is available for purchase here should you find yourself interested in one, or feel free to use your own links.
Epomaker is certainly taking huge steps toward making customizable keyboards a much easier hobby for enthusiasts to enjoy and at the same time, allowing the masses to experience the gushing dopamine produced whenever typing on a mechanical keyboard at a reasonable price. I will briefly go through the feature set for this sub-$ $100 keyboard and also some cool takes in terms of the design.
Specs
- Switches: Epomaker Flamingo switches
- Up to 3 Bluetooth devices for pairing / 2.4GHz / Type C Cable
- 75% 82 Keys 5-Pin Hot Swappable
- Epomaker Pampas PBT Keycaps
Top of the list, the RGB is amazing. I know Epomaker did target the gamers in mind for this model whereby it should deviate away from a traditional gaming keyboard but with distinctive RGB elements to make it rise above its competition. The highlighting effect of the RGB lighting around the chassis gives it a really futuristic look.
The overall colorway choice and font designs set itself as the best of both worlds for those gamers who are looking for an aesthetic custom keyboard with sick RGB accents. Oh heck, you can even customize how fast the RGB wave lights go and which direction you would like them to go!
Layout-wise, I find the spacing of the keyboard in terms of layout to be much better than most 75% that I’ve tried specifically on the arrow keys section, Epomaker’s design has some form of spacing between the arrow keys and “SHIFT” and “ENTER”. I really appreciate what Epomaker did here as many times, I found the arrow keys to be too close and often led to mistyping which was really annoying at some point so kudos to you Epomaker.
Keycaps-wise, this special Epomaker Pampas PBT is like a special SA profile where it is not as tall but it really captures your fingertips while you are typing, cupping your fingers as you deliver the stroke. Coming from a Cherry profile user it really felt weird at the start but after a while, it actually felt okay. The typing experience is much smoother than a full-fledged SA profile where the keycaps are higher and “cumbersome” when trying to type quickly and this hybrid-like keycaps really struck a good balance in that perspective.
My typing experience with the EP75 was pretty good as explained earlier due to the hybrid profile of the keycaps where I did not feel that much of a difficulty to increase my typing speed. Switch-wise, flamingos are linear switches and it does require a slightly higher actuation force as compared to something like Gateron yellows which I have no qualms against as you can hear from the video, I type harder as compared to an average person, and the output definitely sounds “clocky”.
Conclusion
This keyboard holds an insane value for gamers who are looking for a sick RGB presentation but at the same time would like to take a dabble into the customizable keyboard space without breaking the bank. After all, If you are considering the EP75, you must appreciate what awesome RGB design steps they took to give what the gamers want, and even without the RGB, the overall aesthetic of white/blue is quite popular and will fit into most desktop setups. If you like to explore other options, check out our review of the Epomaker TH80SE