KiiBOOM have very generously sent me one of their Phantom81 Lite keyboards to try out. It was not what I was expecting when I opened the box. The version I was sent is a collaboration with cosydiaries, and it’s almost certainly the cutest keyboard I have ever laid my calloused fingertips upon. However, is it a case of style over substance? Let’s jump in (off our lily pad) and take a closer look…
The Phantom81 Lite is an ANSI 79-key, 75% layout mechanical keyboard. It has three modes of connectivity: USB-C, Bluetooth, and 2.4GHz (dongle stashed nearly under the board behind one of the two-position flip-down silicon-padded feet). It has an onboard 4000 mAh Battery, and weighs about 930 g.
The Phantom81 Lite comes in four colourways: Green, Black, White, and Blue. I got the Green, which has the adorable cosydiaries rainy frog theme. I have reviewed the Phantom81 previously, which was an absolute shining jewel of a keyboard, so I was expecting something along the grand same lines. However, the whole chunk, rainy froggy thing has absolutely blown my mind, to be perfectly honest.
The Phantom81 Lite Green (and the Blue) comes with PBT MOA profile keycaps, which are lovely. They look as if someone made a cube out of plasticine and then squished the top of it down with their thumb to form a concave typing surface. The characters and the images on the keys all have the same whimsical hand-drawn look and feel to them. There are a few extra keycaps in the box too, so you can do a bit of cosy customisation.
South-facing RGB/ backlights enhance the look of the board. You can toggle through a whole lot of onboard presets (I lost count) and alter the speed, brightness, hue, and saturation of the lights via keyboard shortcuts. Of course, I set them to gently rippling shades of green, because I would be an absolute fool not to.
The thing about KiiBOOM is that they are a really high-quality brand, so although the vibe of the Phantom81 Lite is really fun and chunky and almost toy-like, the spec is very, very high. The Phantom81 Lite is fully QMK and VIA compatible, enabling users to customise every key, macro, and RGB lighting effect.
The switches on the Phantom81 Lite are KiiBOOM’s own Mochi linears, which are beautiful to type on and have a pleasant sound (they’re a little louder than I was expecting, but they’re definitely not too loud). The Phantom81 Lite is a gasket-mounted board with layers of latex sandwich foam, ixpe switch pads, PE transparent film, PCB Foam, and a bottom Silicone pad. This means that the Phantom81 Lite has next to no sound transference onto the work surface.
The Phantom81 Lite is a compact, portable, high-end, high-performance keyboard with all the functionality, stability, and durability you could possibly ask for. The Green Froggy Rain edition, also happens to be one of the cutest, loveliest boards I’ve ever seen. There is absolutely no chance of me keeping hold of it, sadly. It’s already on my wife’s desk. 🙁
The Phantom81 Lite is available directly from KiiBOOM now for $105.99 USD