I don't know how you define minimalism, but I don't think RGB lighting counts, nor a big branding logo, nor awkward key labels that smush the while-shift-is-held label into the superscript position (the underbar partially hovering over the hyphen-minus label is particularly ugly).
Meh. I've seen a lot worse. RGB lighting can be turned off, and it's a helpful visual aide for us hunt-and-peckers.
Although I agree with you that the keycap font/design is terrible. Who thought the "____" on the space bar was a good idea? Or that the font on the Shift/Ent/Back keys should be larger? Or that they should read "Ent" and "Back" instead of "Enter" and "Backspace"?
On the other hand, a proper touch typist probably wouldn't spend enough time looking at the keyboard to be annoyed by those things.
It's actually surprising to me that more people aren't pickier about their input devices. If you work in a profession where you're going to sit there and type all day, I would think the keyboard you use, etc., is pretty important.
I have several split mechanical keyboards, and those tend to start at around $200. The Kinesis Freestyle Edge, which is what I'm currently using, has key backlighting. At first, I thought it would just be a gimmick, and turned it off. I also turned it off because, before the latest firmware update, the backlighting was ridiculously bright and distracting even on the lowest setting.
But it turns out that very mild backlighting is actually pretty useful for quickly locating the home row in the dark. I can make out the keys just well enough out of the corner of my eye to be able to place my hand directly back on the home row after using the mouse without hesitation. The font on the keys doesn't matter a whole lot though.
Hey there, how loud is this keyboard actually? From what I saw on youtube, they seem really quiet. I'm thinking of getting this for the office, but I'm concerned about the noise levels, and more specifically the pitch. How noticeable is the sound? How annoying is it? Can it be used in an office with 20 people without getting punched in the face? Thanks!
There are keyboards from other brands that are very much like this, probably from the same actual manufacturer. I have seen for instance a TKL with Bluetooth but without RGB backlighting.
I only use split keyboards, so I wouldn't be in the market for this anyway, but I don't know if I could use a keyboard regularly that doesn't come with a palmrest.
I agree with you, now most of keyboard are RGB lighting keyboard, mechanical keyboard and gaming keyboard, definitely, gaming keyboard seem like is the most suitable keyboard who play game. https://www.ireidea.com a company have different type keyboard
Meh, blue switches are not for everyone (in fact I believe they're the least popular among the mechanical switches). I've tried one of their previous models and the keys wobbled more than I could tolerate, despite being low profile.
I ended up buying the GSkill KM780R for about the same price as this one (because of a sale). I got macro keys, USB and audio passthrough. And some terrible software that means macros aren't actually usable.
I'm glad to see a review of this keyboard here. I've had the TKL version for over a month now and I think it's a great value for money. That said I pretty much agree with your conclusions. I don't understand why they market it as a gaming keyboard because this is clearly a great keyboard to type on. Even though this is my first ever mechanical keyboard, I have tested Cherry switches and I think these Kailhs both feel better and make less noise than Cherry blues. Build quality wise I like the aluminum front plate, the way the plastic keys feel (even if they do catch fingerprints easily), the fact that you can dim the lights to be barely noticeable, the simple typeface on fonts (although shortening the Enter to Ent seems like a weird decision) and overall just how simple it is. If I were to give any feedback to Havit it would be to cut the gaming gimmick from it and position it as what it really is, a great multi-purpose mechanical keyboard that excels at typing. I'd remove the blinking lights features and the logo from it and just leave it a a simple somber mechanical keyboard.
I bought this keyboard over a month ago, and it immediately impressed me. I have been more than pleased with it. Because of back issues, I tend to lean back in a european- style (StressLess) recliner, and balance the keyboard on my lap with an old Logitech trackball on the armrest.
My main requirement was weight. I assume I have the same model as the one reviews, mine is a Havit HV-KB395L. It weighs a little over one pound, less than 500g I believe, about half the weight of almost any other mechanical keyboard I could find.
The "blue"-style keys are excellent. The feedback is better than I hoped for, the click is noticeable but I have a private area for my PC, and my wife's off-the-shelf non-mechanical keyboard is much louder.
What I love about the RGB is that I can see the keys in poor lighting. I downloaded the driver software, chose a uniform medium green color, dimmed the brightness considerably, and again, I couldn't be happier.
The one issue with balancing the keyboard on my lap, is some difficulty not accidentally depressing some keys around the edge, such as the bottom-left CTRL key
As for styling, I'm a touch typist. I almost never actually LOOK at the keyboard. Except for that awkward row of '-', '=', and the Back key. Some days, my fingers just don't remember how to use those; being able to look down and clearly see them under any lighting conditions is so frustration-reducing.
For $80.00, I couldn't have gotten a better keyboard. I honestly don't think I could have gotten a better keyboard for my use case for three times that.
Wait, that software looks familiar... and that space bar. Come to think of it, the keycap layout and font and iconography on the lighting controls looks familiar too.
*squints at his Viper 760* I think we found Patriot's OEM!
I like this keyboard, but I do hope they come out with different keys like brown's. I would like the least amount of noise while retaining some feedback.
I absolutely hate thick mechanical keyboards with thick keys. So useless to add so much height. It's ergonomically bad for your forearms and generally ugly too. This keyboard strikes a nice balance, although I would probably paint the logo to try to hide it.
Probably the new Cherry low-profile switches are for you. Though there's no telling when they'll hit desktop keyboards, I believe Cherry aims them primarily at laptop keyboards.
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26 Comments
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Elstar - Thursday, March 1, 2018 - link
I don't know how you define minimalism, but I don't think RGB lighting counts, nor a big branding logo, nor awkward key labels that smush the while-shift-is-held label into the superscript position (the underbar partially hovering over the hyphen-minus label is particularly ugly).dave_the_nerd - Thursday, March 1, 2018 - link
Meh. I've seen a lot worse. RGB lighting can be turned off, and it's a helpful visual aide for us hunt-and-peckers.Although I agree with you that the keycap font/design is terrible. Who thought the "____" on the space bar was a good idea? Or that the font on the Shift/Ent/Back keys should be larger? Or that they should read "Ent" and "Back" instead of "Enter" and "Backspace"?
On the other hand, a proper touch typist probably wouldn't spend enough time looking at the keyboard to be annoyed by those things.
Cellar Door - Thursday, March 1, 2018 - link
That is nitpicking on a ridiculous level - have you ever used a laptop? Look at the font on those.dave_the_nerd - Thursday, March 1, 2018 - link
Oh, yeah, they're all terrible too. ;-)notashill - Friday, March 2, 2018 - link
People that aren't ridiculously nitpicky probably don't even consider buying $80 mechanical keyboards in the first place.twtech - Friday, March 9, 2018 - link
It's actually surprising to me that more people aren't pickier about their input devices. If you work in a profession where you're going to sit there and type all day, I would think the keyboard you use, etc., is pretty important.I have several split mechanical keyboards, and those tend to start at around $200. The Kinesis Freestyle Edge, which is what I'm currently using, has key backlighting. At first, I thought it would just be a gimmick, and turned it off. I also turned it off because, before the latest firmware update, the backlighting was ridiculously bright and distracting even on the lowest setting.
But it turns out that very mild backlighting is actually pretty useful for quickly locating the home row in the dark. I can make out the keys just well enough out of the corner of my eye to be able to place my hand directly back on the home row after using the mouse without hesitation. The font on the keys doesn't matter a whole lot though.
Ukyo - Thursday, March 1, 2018 - link
I have the TKL version and love it... for a bit... but quickly moved back to my MS ergo type keyboard. And my co-workers thanked me for it... loltwtech - Thursday, March 1, 2018 - link
You should check out the Kinesis Freestyle Edge. Your coworkers might still hate it if you were to get it with MX blues, but you'd probably like it.philehidiot - Friday, March 2, 2018 - link
You just don't realise how loud those blues are until you start typing and the girlfriend has to turn up the telly... Downstairs.twtech - Friday, March 9, 2018 - link
The Freestyle Edge has materials that mute the sound a bit. It's still loud, but apparently not as loud as it would be otherwise.letmepicyou - Monday, March 5, 2018 - link
My Orion Spark (G910) is wonderfully quiet. Now if I could convince them to create a proper wrist rest for it...Jakuarella - Monday, August 6, 2018 - link
Hey there, how loud is this keyboard actually? From what I saw on youtube, they seem really quiet. I'm thinking of getting this for the office, but I'm concerned about the noise levels, and more specifically the pitch. How noticeable is the sound? How annoying is it? Can it be used in an office with 20 people without getting punched in the face? Thanks!Findecanor - Thursday, March 1, 2018 - link
There are keyboards from other brands that are very much like this, probably from the same actual manufacturer.I have seen for instance a TKL with Bluetooth but without RGB backlighting.
twtech - Thursday, March 1, 2018 - link
I only use split keyboards, so I wouldn't be in the market for this anyway, but I don't know if I could use a keyboard regularly that doesn't come with a palmrest.mecanled - Monday, August 13, 2018 - link
I agree with you, now most of keyboard are RGB lighting keyboard, mechanical keyboard and gaming keyboard, definitely, gaming keyboard seem like is the most suitable keyboard who play game. https://www.ireidea.com a company have different type keyboardbug77 - Friday, March 2, 2018 - link
Meh, blue switches are not for everyone (in fact I believe they're the least popular among the mechanical switches).I've tried one of their previous models and the keys wobbled more than I could tolerate, despite being low profile.
I ended up buying the GSkill KM780R for about the same price as this one (because of a sale). I got macro keys, USB and audio passthrough. And some terrible software that means macros aren't actually usable.
oni-work - Friday, March 2, 2018 - link
I'm glad to see a review of this keyboard here.I've had the TKL version for over a month now and I think it's a great value for money. That said I pretty much agree with your conclusions. I don't understand why they market it as a gaming keyboard because this is clearly a great keyboard to type on. Even though this is my first ever mechanical keyboard, I have tested Cherry switches and I think these Kailhs both feel better and make less noise than Cherry blues.
Build quality wise I like the aluminum front plate, the way the plastic keys feel (even if they do catch fingerprints easily), the fact that you can dim the lights to be barely noticeable, the simple typeface on fonts (although shortening the Enter to Ent seems like a weird decision) and overall just how simple it is.
If I were to give any feedback to Havit it would be to cut the gaming gimmick from it and position it as what it really is, a great multi-purpose mechanical keyboard that excels at typing. I'd remove the blinking lights features and the logo from it and just leave it a a simple somber mechanical keyboard.
chaos_gerbil - Friday, March 2, 2018 - link
I bought this keyboard over a month ago, and it immediately impressed me. I have been more than pleased with it. Because of back issues, I tend to lean back in a european- style (StressLess) recliner, and balance the keyboard on my lap with an old Logitech trackball on the armrest.My main requirement was weight. I assume I have the same model as the one reviews, mine is a Havit HV-KB395L. It weighs a little over one pound, less than 500g I believe, about half the weight of almost any other mechanical keyboard I could find.
The "blue"-style keys are excellent. The feedback is better than I hoped for, the click is noticeable but I have a private area for my PC, and my wife's off-the-shelf non-mechanical keyboard is much louder.
What I love about the RGB is that I can see the keys in poor lighting. I downloaded the driver software, chose a uniform medium green color, dimmed the brightness considerably, and again, I couldn't be happier.
The one issue with balancing the keyboard on my lap, is some difficulty not accidentally depressing some keys around the edge, such as the bottom-left CTRL key
As for styling, I'm a touch typist. I almost never actually LOOK at the keyboard. Except for that awkward row of '-', '=', and the Back key. Some days, my fingers just don't remember how to use those; being able to look down and clearly see them under any lighting conditions is so frustration-reducing.
For $80.00, I couldn't have gotten a better keyboard. I honestly don't think I could have gotten a better keyboard for my use case for three times that.
Lord of the Bored - Saturday, March 3, 2018 - link
Wait, that software looks familiar... and that space bar. Come to think of it, the keycap layout and font and iconography on the lighting controls looks familiar too.*squints at his Viper 760*
I think we found Patriot's OEM!
Anonymous Blowhard - Monday, March 5, 2018 - link
China, eh? Does the inline keylogger add much latency? ;)Dug - Monday, March 5, 2018 - link
I like this keyboard, but I do hope they come out with different keys like brown's. I would like the least amount of noise while retaining some feedback.I absolutely hate thick mechanical keyboards with thick keys. So useless to add so much height. It's ergonomically bad for your forearms and generally ugly too.
This keyboard strikes a nice balance, although I would probably paint the logo to try to hide it.
bug77 - Monday, March 5, 2018 - link
Probably the new Cherry low-profile switches are for you. Though there's no telling when they'll hit desktop keyboards, I believe Cherry aims them primarily at laptop keyboards.Samus - Monday, March 5, 2018 - link
The 48MHz ARM processor give me a laugh for such a basic keyboard. This thing has more power than my first 3 PC’s...MisterAnon - Friday, March 9, 2018 - link
I recommend boycotting products from Chinese companies.bug77 - Friday, March 9, 2018 - link
In that case, you might want to get rid of your smartphone, your laptop and quite a few other things. Lead by example!affiliatem11 - Saturday, March 24, 2018 - link
Really good review. Thanks