****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I’m an old school mechanical keyboard user. Like, I was around back in the day when IBM Model M and Leading Edge keyboards were the norm, not the exception. Also, they cost a few hundred dollars, adjusted for inflation.The CIY isn’t a tank you can use to beat off home intruders. However, it’s surprisingly solid for the money. Heavier than a full size membrane. It doesn’t look tacky or gaudy. I like the removable frame feature. I found replacement frames in different colors on a prominent “buy cheap stuff from across the Pacific” site. Stabilizer keys (space, return, shift) have zero rattle. Like, none. The best of any Cherry MX-based keyboard I own.I got the version with blue switches. I like clicky switches, and the stock blues are perfectly fine; no worse than plain Cherry blues. Unmodded, the board can sound a bit hollow when typing, and the blues could be a nuisance in an office setting.Probably like most people who bought this keyboard, I made some mods. Tactile switches (cheap Ajazz blue something), Akko PBT keycaps (the ABS keycaps that come with the keyboard are about what you’d expect for a US$40 keyboard), and a thin layer (1/4” or 6 mm) of foam liner inside. No switch or stabilizer lubing, no tape, nothing else. Post-mod, the result is a really pleasant medium-pitch thocky sound when typing, with no hollowness. It’s quiet enough to use in an open office or cubicle without bothering anybody, too.I turned off the KeWL xTREeM GaMeR lighting. For what it’s worth, lighting is full RGB; not a fixed rainbow pattern. (I think the Ajazz version of this keyboard has the fixed rainbow LEDs.) I don’t use the driver software.At work, I use the keyboard with a Windows-based PC. It works fine with my MacBook Pro M1, too.I bought this keyboard to make use of some spare parts I had lying around, but I actually use it full time at work now; it’s that good. My work endgame is a Keychron Q-something, but for now, the modded CIY more than meets my needs.
