We are back with another peripheral review. This time it’s the EPOMAKER RT100 Mechanical Keyboard. EPOMAKER was founded in 2019, so a relatively new kid to the block, they specialize in mechanical/gaming keyboards. But they are focused on bringing good, feature-packed keyboards but at an affordable price tag whilst offering customizability. The RT100 is available on Amazon (US), Amazon UK and AliExpress. Retailing for around £75 (If you order from AliExpress), going to be more around the £100 figure if using Amazon, let’s see if it lives up to the hype.
SPECIFICATION
- 98 Key UK QWERTY layout (on our review sample)
- Tri-Mode Connectivity (Bluetooth 5.0, 2.4Ghz and Detachable USB-C > A cable)
- Hot-swappable Kailh sockets for complete customizability
- Detachable USB-C smart screen
- Built-in OS switch (for changing functionality between Windows and Mac OS)
- 2 in 1 customizable volume knob
- 5000mAh battery
- South facing RGB lighting
RT100 PACKAGING AND ACCESSORIES
The packaging presents a mixture between retro and futuristic with a representation of the keyboard printed on the top/front of the box. Up in the top right-hand corner, they confirm the keyboard is supported both on Windows and Mac. Let’s face it, it’ll work on Linux too (but the Epomaker app software currently does not).
Opening up the box we can see the keyboard is well packaged. As you can see the box itself took a bit of impact throughout the delivery cycle, but the keyboard itself is absolutely fine. It’s well protected by plastic and inner cardboard. The plastic isn’t great for the environment however it did its job.
I love the accessories are underneath a warning, this is to prevent you from ditching the box without unboxing everything fully. The number of times I’ve unboxed something and gone to throw the packaging away and not realising there are other items in the box.
Our review sample is the gorgeous retro white theme, the appearance of it and it looks good on a wooden surface. But unboxing even further we can see the keycap puller, USB-C > A cable, detachable USB-C smart screen, and spare keys for if you are planning on using the keyboard on Mac (comes with Opt and Cmd keys). As well as the instruction manual and quick reference guides.
A CLOSER LOOK
So EPOMaker was kind enough to send us the retro white-themed keyboard (they also offer Pink, Deep Grey, Green and Purple theming options). But something about the retro white sticks out and looks awesome. You can see they made sure to send us the ISO-UK format (keeps us UK reviewers very happy). So many times we get keyboards in for review and they generally always come in US or ANSI format. The font on the keyboard is clean and easy to read.
The theming on this keyboard is pretty great, it’s appealing to the retro fans but look at that printing on the space bar. It’s also kind of futuristic. Almost reminds me a bit of the theming in Elite Dangerous (video game). It’s not overbearing and doesn’t take away from the general retro goodness (reminds me of an AMIGA 500 or IBM keyboard). Talking of the space bar, this sounds good when pressed (sometimes, with mechanical keyboards you can find that the space bar will bounce or reverberate slightly). It seems to be quite firm in line with the rest of the keycaps.
Moving onto the volume knob on the top right-hand side of the keyboard, it also has a nice clicky feel when rotated and pressed down. Twisting it from left to right adjusts the system volume by default and pushing it down will play/pause media. It’s firmly attached so if like me you have little children, it should be safe and isn’t easy for those little fingers to yank it off. Black is an odd colour though, I feel that something could have been done to match the rest of the theming. Also in the same photo, you can see the included USB-C > A cable which also has a retro coax look to it. I love that even the design of the cable has been considered on the RT100.
The feet on the keyboard simply clicked into place and helped the keyboard stay firmly in place, I can’t stand when you get a keyboard that slides all over the place. This one stayed firm on my wooden desk. You can also see the rubber pads on the bottom, again to help with stability.
Our sample of the RT100 comes with Wisteria Linear switches which are completely removable, upgradeable, cleanable, and replaceable which is awesome to see. A lot of the time switches are soldered to the keyboard which makes maintenance a complete pain, but not here. Maintenance is a breeze with the included keycap puller. Wisteria switches give a satisfying click without being too clunky or loud. Keypresses are quite soft. But of course, if you want to swap them out for something completely different then EPOMaker has you covered. Replacement switches can be found on the EPOMaker website. The keycaps themselves are PBT with a higher MDA profile.
Looking at the top of the keyboard you can see two USB-C ports. The USB-C to A cable goes in the port nearest the volume knob (if you’re planning on using this wired). Removing the cover labelled 2.4Ghz RF transceiver is where the 2.4Ghz dongle is hiding. If you remove this then you’ll see the second USB-C port for the screen. I tested via Bluetooth on a ROG Ally handheld and it appeared to work well with no latency on keypresses. Battery life seems to last around 2 days with the RGB switched on. You can pair this keyboard with 3 different Bluetooth devices too.
Now the screen itself is again where retro meets futuristic. The screen is completely optional, you don’t have to have it attached if it isn’t your thing. You can program it with an animation or a static image. We went for the Enos Tech logo just to show you something different. The screen also shows the date & time, which connectivity method you are using as well as temperature and CPU stats. It’s all controlled by the EPOMaker Driver App.
EPOMaker Driver
Now talking of the application itself, it’s full of customizability options. Up the top, you have options for defining the function keys, macros, RGB lighting and settings for controlling the screen. We did have a couple of crashes with the application where cycling between the different menu options caused the application to hang.
Hopping over to the share tab is where you can apply custom RGB and screen effects. Yep, you guessed it, people have been sharing and applying memes like the classic cat dance and various Pokemon and other effects. Pretty neat but if you’re going to include a customizable screen, people will of course meme it up to the next level.
There is even an option for you to draw your images/animations from scratch. Also on this tab is the option to synchronise the weather and CPU stats. This doesn’t appear to update automatically and I had to keep hitting the “Sync” button for it to update the CPU usage. I’m not going to criticise this too much as if it bugs you, then you can remove the screen entirely.
There are also options for cloud backup by way of linking to your EPOMaker account which is a nice touch. The software does feel a little clunky and buggy sometimes but it’s perfectly safe and useable. I have a feeling this will only get better as EPOMaker continues to innovate and develop as a company.
FINAL WORDS
VALUE
Being able to get such a feature-rich keyboard for under the £100 mark is impressive, you certainly get a lot of value for money. The keyboard just looks and feels premium. Having wired, Bluetooth and 2.4Ghz connectivity options mean that there aren’t many devices that this couldn’t be used with.
DESIGN & PERFORMANCE
A couple of things to mention. The design and customizability of this keyboard is impressive. The 500mAh battery is bigger than most of it’s competitors so should in theory last longer. The screen at this point does feel slightly gimmicky but we’ll need to wait and see if EPOMaker improves this. It’s still a nice optional feature to have though.
Typing and gaming on the RT100 has been great. One of the only things I struggled with slightly was the delete key being up near the top right-hand corner. But being a 97 key keyboard of course there is limited space. Having a number pad built in is nice and is a must for me as I often work with numbers in the office. The retro white looks gorgeous and makes me feel very nostalgic. You could use this as part of a regular build or sleeper entire retro-themed build if you wanted to and it would look just fine. It’s been a talking point at work when I took it into the office. So much so that I’ve decided to use it as my daily driver for the foreseeable future.
We have decided to award the EPOMaker RT100 the EnosTech Design award as it looks, sounds and feels great. Removable and replaceable switches are a big must in this day and age of mechanical keyboards. Especially with many premium brands costing well over the £100 mark. The retro white theme will cater to a whole multitude of builds and theming ideas.
We’d like to thank EPOMaker for sending us the RT100 for review and we are looking forward to working with them again in the future.
