Skyloong GK68 HE Review
A Beautifully Average Compact Keyboard
The last board I tried from Skyloong was a full-size that had the fun gimmick of being somewhat customizable. This time, Skyloong has sent a compact board for me to try out. Let’s see what this little keyboard has to offer!
Retail Price: $69.90
Disclaimer: Skyloong sent us a unit free of charge to review, but all thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are our own and were not discussed with the company prior to publishing.
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Hot-Swappable with SKYLOONG, Gateron Jade Pro, and TTC Maneto magnetic switches
Compatible with Windows and Mac
Volume wheel
PBT key caps
Customizable key travel
Adaptable dynamic calibration
Aesthetics
We chose to get this keyboard in the “blackberry” color, which is a gradient that starts as a deep mauve and slowly becomes pink by the bottom row. It also has a ripple pattern on the keys which is transparent, so the RGB lights can shine through. The key legends are front-facing instead of on top of the keycaps. The GK68 is very pretty to look at; I absolutely love it.
Unfortunately, this beauty comes at a price. The RGB lights emit a significant amount of bleed, and when combined with front-facing key legends and transparent designs on the top of the keycaps, it’s a recipe for disaster. Because there is so much light everywhere, I find it hard to read the keycaps. This is especially true for the very top row of keys. The legends on these keycaps are some of the worst, with the symbols lacking detail. Honestly, I find the font used for the legends to be a bad choice in general. Some parts of the letters just get too thin, which again makes the legends harder to read. Dimming the backlights does help a bit, but the overall design is still questionable.
Another thing to note is that some of the keys don’t even light up properly. The right arrow doesn’t light up at all, nor do the ripple designs at the tops of the keys on the very top row. For the top row, I’m assuming this is because the lights themselves are front-facing. As for the right arrow, there doesn’t appear to be a light under that switch. It just feels to me like there wasn’t enough thought put into the design. The idea and the colors are great, but the execution doesn’t make sense.
Does it Thock?
In this day and age, people don’t just want keyboards that look cool; they want keyboards that sound cool and feel good to type on. I was surprised to find that the Skyloong GK68 is somewhat of a quiet keyboard. I do think the sounds the keys make are somewhere in that thocky or creamy space, but at the same time, I don’t think they’d satisfy people who are looking for that quintessential thocky sound. However, if you want a keyboard that isn’t obnoxiously loud or clacky, then you might like this. Though you can obviously still hear the typing sounds, the sound is a little more muted. As always, we will include a soundbyte so you can hear it for yourself!
In terms of how it feels to type on this board, I’d say it’s a pretty good experience. I don’t have to press too hard, but at the same time, I don’t feel like it’s entirely lacking in feedback. No, it isn’t a bouncy keyboard, but I also don’t feel like I’m pressing the keys straight into the board (this would be the equivalent of putting your head on a pillow only for it to deflate so far you might as well be without one). The keycaps have some amount of texture on them and are made from PBT, which is supposed to be a more durable plastic. Personally, I’d like a bit more texture; it’s only been a couple of weeks of trying this board out, and the keys already feel slightly smooth. For some reason, Razer seems to be the only company that can get textured keycaps exactly right, even if they suck at providing the thock.
Where is the Software?
On their website, Skyloong makes some claims about this keyboard that I don’t really understand because I am too much of a casual gamer, and I don’t play any first-person shooter games or even MOBAs. These claims are things like “customizable key travel” and “adaptive dynamic calibration.” Those sound like they could be really cool features. Unfortunately, I can’t figure out how to access them.
Skyloong has a bunch of keyboard software on their website, and I downloaded basically all of it and could not get any of it to work. It all just kept telling me that I didn’t have a “compatible device” connected, even though the keyboard was obviously connected directly to my PC. The one software that maybe would have worked was completely in Chinese, so I gave up. All of those fancy features I mentioned become completely meaningless if you can’t access them. This may be user error on my end, but at the same time, I think it is important that companies offer clear instructions and provide software that is easy for anyone to install and use.
Another thing I cannot access without software is RGB customization. I can toggle through different RGB presets using the hotkeys listed in the user manual, but I cannot customize the RGB at all since I can’t find any working, usable software for this board.
Overall thoughts
My verdict on this keyboard is that it is just okay. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with it if you’re just looking for a cute keyboard to plug and play; it functions well enough, and it is very pretty. However, I would argue that the beauty of this keyboard doesn’t outweigh the negative of the key legends being hard to read.
If you’re interested in this board because of all the claims made on the website about special functions like adaptive calibration or customizable key travel, you may be slightly disappointed. I’m sure the claims made by the company are true enough, but accessing these features is difficult. Is the adaptive calibration always on, or do I need software for it?
I do love that this keyboard has a volume wheel, and the board itself does seem to be decently built. It uses PBT for the keycaps, and the case itself is made of aluminum. However, because I can’t access some of the more exciting features, I’m left with a board that I feel is just sort of average for the price. There are many keyboards out there that offer just as much functionality, if not more, for the same price or better. It’s a cute little keyboard, but definitely nothing to write home about.
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