March 7, 2013 at 10:10

Overview of the wireless mechanical keyboard Neo Zelia KB-87

    Mechanical keyboards are quite rare in themselves, and there are so few wireless keyboards on the market that not even everyone knows about their existence. One of such models, Neo Zelia KB-87, I recently ordered from China. Finally, having received the package, I decided to write a review of this rather unusual device. By the way, the description of this keyboard is currently not available in either Russian or English, although it appeared on sale about a year ago.


    Selection, order and delivery


    The most important step when buying a mechanical keyboard is the choice of switches. The MX Brown seemed to me the most attractive, suitable for both games and typing, but in Russian retail, for unknown reasons, only keyboards with Blue, Red, and Black switches were available. After a while, I came across the announcement of the new Logitech G710 + keyboard, which used the MX Brown, so I decided to wait for its sale. Unfortunately, after the purchase I was completely disappointed in her. Yes, I liked Brown switches both with tactile response and low noise level, but this was the only thing that suited me. Therefore, the keyboard was handed over to the store and I decided to look for something on the MX Brown on the Internet.

    There are several specialized online stores selling mechanical keyboards, but most of them do not ship to Russia. I really did not want to overpay the intermediary, therefore, after searching and questions on the overclockers forum, two stores were found with the possibility of worldwide delivery: tankguys.com and qtan (a man and a ship steamer ). The latter also has a representative office on Ebay, but prices there are ~ $ 5 higher due to the commissions of ebay itself. But there is an additional guarantee.

    I looked at all the keyboards that qtan had and immediately fell in love with the Neo KB-87 for its unusual design: this keyboard lacks a top cover and you can see the bare textolite (painted black). The ability to work in wireless mode was also a nice bonus, although for me it was not an important criterion. In general, the fate of my money was decided. Naturally, I decided to read reviews and reviews on this keyboard, but I did not find them either on Google or on geekhack.org (the main keyboard forum). The only good corporation could help me was to find and even translate reviews in German and Chinese . But after translating into broken English, it was decidedly impossible to understand anything other than photographs.

    Reviews about the qtan store were only good, so I decided not to contact ebay and ordered directly on its website. The keyboard cost me $ 94 + $ 28 international shipping. Three days later, the seller sent me a track code, which began to be tracked after a couple of days - the parcel just managed to fly out of Hong Kong before the Chinese New Year. This was my first foreign purchase, so I was a little worried, especially after reading articles and reviews about Russian Post. But she did not fail: the total travel time was 24 days, which, in my opinion, is pretty good for Russia. I received the package too quickly, almost without a queue (in Russia, a queue of less than 30 minutes is not considered a queue).

    Unpacking


    The seller carefully wrapped the box in our favorite bubbled polyethylene.


    Mail successfully overcame this barrier and the corners of the box were noticeably dented.


    The box inside has double walls, so the keyboard itself was not affected. The poor equipment is visible in the photo - a keyboard, a USB-miniUSB cord, one white key, a two-sheet instruction explaining the additional functions of the keys (although it is difficult to call an explanation of the inscription in Chinese).


    And here is the same colored textolite. I think it looks great, but my girlfriend said that this is the creepiest keyboard she saw. I will consider it a compliment, I guess.


    The keys are easy to remove, if you suddenly want to replace them - this can be done without problems (for example, in the same store there are all kinds of sets of colored keys, etc.). It can be seen that the switches here are MX Brown.


    The keyboard turned out to be unexpectedly high, both in front

    and behind.

    But in other dimensions it is very compact, compare with my previous keyboard. By the way, on the left in the photo you can see the USB receiver from the keyboard.


    Description, testing, impressions


    Perhaps the time has come to write the characteristics of the keyboard:
    • Available Switches: Cherry MX Brown / Blue / Black / Red
    • Wired and wireless modes (detachable miniUSB cable)
    • Size: tenkeyless, no numpad
    • Number of keys: 87. One Win-key, the second is replaced by Fn.
    • Key Plastic Type: POM


    If you pay attention, then to the left of Print Screen a small shiny spot is noticeable - this is a drop of solder. Almost does not interfere, only a little distracts with its brilliance. Otherwise, there are no complaints about the assembly.

    Let's go through the additional features of the keys. In this photo, all the inscriptions on the bottom face are perfectly visible.


    Red functions are activated using the Fn key.
    F1-F6 - multimedia features. Sound, pause / play, change tracks. It works fine in my AIMP.
    F7 - disable Windows-keys, the so-called "Game Mode". Although I, perhaps, never in my life did not interfere with the Win-key.
    F8 - activation of energy-saving mode with a wireless connection (more details - below).
    Also, using Fn, you can activate 2 more modes - NumLock (Fn + PrintScreen) and SwitchLock (Fn + Pause Break). In NumLock mode, the central part of the keyboard starts working like a normal nampad - it can come in handy if you suddenly need to use a lot of calculator. SwitchLock simply swaps the CapsLock and Left Ctrl keys. I myself could not imagine why this was necessary, but the Chinese review says that it is also for games - apparently, it is more convenient to hold Ctrl.

    KRO Testing

    Key Rollover - the number of keys held simultaneously - is often referred to as one of the important advantages of mechanical keyboards, and, of course, I wanted to check it. To do this, I found such an online test . My keyboard showed an amazing result - it recognized any number of keys pressed (at least how many I could press with two fists). For verification, I decided to test a regular scissor keyboard - only 4 keys were recognized. I’m not sure that this is really useful, but it’s always nice to know about additional features.

    Wireless Testing

    Switching to a wireless connection is very simple - just disconnect the wire, insert the USB receiver into the computer port and move the small lever on the bottom of the keyboard. It is determined and begins to work immediately. I did not notice any noticeable delay in typing. From the next room it prints fine :) In a German review, it was said that it does not work perfectly - because of the energy-saving options, the keyboard turns off after 10 seconds of non-use, and the next press is not fixed immediately. Either I did not understand the translation from German into English, or some kind of marriage - I have no such problem. By the way, remember the combination Fn + F8. It turned out that it only turns off the LEDs (CapsLock, NumLock, etc.), that's such a saving. Of course, I still don’t have statistics on wireless operation,

    Personal impressions

    Impressions from typing are absolutely subjective, and you can safely not trust my opinion. But I really like the sound and the tactile feel of pressing the keys - the difference with membrane keyboards is huge. Specifically, from Brown switches the sound is not very loud, it doesn’t wake neighbors at night, but noticeable, so I did not take it to work, I'm afraid that I will distract colleagues with a knock.

    I also really like the compactness of TKL keyboards, after my previous “board” the amount of free space on the table increased dramatically , and cleaning was again delayed . I do not use a napad more often than once a month, so its absence is not critical for me.

    Oddly enough, the main feature of the keyboard - the wireless mode - I do not really need. Still, I prefer to use reliable wires and not worry about the ever-ending batteries. On the other hand, the choice is wonderful. Now I can take the keyboard, disconnect the wire, move the lever for turning on the wireless mode and go to the sofa, watch TV shows and correct the synchronization of subtitles with a light keystroke.

    The keyboard design seems very cool and unusual to me. At the same time, due to lack of cover spilled on the keyboard beer coffee can be fatal. Although, judging by the reviews, most likely the same thing will happen with any mechanical keyboard. Still, in theory, without a lid it will be more convenient to sweep the crumbs out of the keyboard :)

    It is time for the first minus for me. It turned out that due to its high height, it is completely impossible to use the keyboard without a wrist rest. They are not sold separately with us, so without thinking twice, I armed myself with the impenetrable argument “why not?” and sawed off the extra edges from the stand to the previous keyboard. Now it has become convenient to print, and it looks almost collective farm. True, the stand does not attach to the keyboard itself, but it seemed convenient to me - depending on the position of the hand, you can position the stand closer or further.

    Just as a minus, we can consider the lack of Cyrillic letters on the keys. But I think that for most habrazhitel it will not be a problem. On the contrary, this is a great way to learn how to type blindly. I’m not quite used to it yet, and sometimes I’m mistaken (so do not hit hard for typos).

    Conclusion


    All this text is written on the keyboard provided, and I am absolutely pleased with it. I have nothing to add, so it remains only to structure the pros and cons of the keyboard.

    pros

    • Mechanics, with any type of Cherry MX switches
    • Wired and wireless connectivity
    • Design (debatable, but I think this is a plus, because this is one of the distinguishing features)
    • Additional key functions
    • Compactness
    • Price (relative to other mechanical keyboards)

    Minuses

    • Poor equipment, even compared to other Chinese keyboards
    • Imperfect assembly
    • Increased chance to kill a keyboard with spilled liquid
    • Lack of localization (expected, but nonetheless)
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