The lovely people at Yunzii have once again very generously sent me one of their keyboards to try out. This time it’s the KC84 Pro Shimmer – a wired (USB C), 84-key / 75% board.
The KC84 comes with a choice of Gateron Red, Blue, Black, Brown, or Yellow switches.
I would have liked Browns if at all possible (tactile, not too clicky, not too “soft”) but I ended up with Blacks which are linear and a bit “mushy” for me. I feel like I have to hit the keys harder than I would normally, but I’m well aware that that’s just the difference in feedback to what I’m used to. This is just one of those reviewer bugbears, rather than any complaint about the KC84 itself. I have no doubt would have got on with the keyboard even better had I ended up with the switches I usually work with.
Now, if I wanted to change those switches then I could because the KC84 is fully hot-swappable. All the switches can be easily removed and replaced (compatible with 3 or 5 pin switches) with no need for soldering or any of that messing about. If you were using the KC84 for gaming you might fancy swapping out your W, A, S, D, and spacebar switches for some Gateron Reds, for example.
Amazingly, I have now been doing these reviews for so long that I do have a switch-puller and some spare switches knocking around. So, for the first time, I actually tried out some switch swapping myself. Genuinely, it is about as easy as changing key-caps, and it is really interesting to feel the difference between two types of switches next to each other.
The outer case of the KC84 is made of frosted ABS which is dark (looks not quite black) but semi-transparent, allowing the board’s RGB LED backlights to shine through without being too dazzling. Similarly, the characters on the KC84‘s lovely XDA profile Shimmer keycaps are also translucent, allowing the LEDs to subtly shine through, as well as around, each key.
The backlights have a possible 16.8 Million colour combinations, loads of pre-sets, and are, of course, fully programmable and customisable. The keycaps, colour scheme, and case of the KC84 all make a much bigger difference to how the backlights look than I was expecting, to be perfectly honest. Effects that might be pretty eye-watering on a white or a black board are rendered much more palatable, and significantly less distracting, just by virtue of the scheme and design.
The KC84 is compact and sturdy, and, unlike some smaller boards designed for bag and backpack portability, it has fold-out feet. Which is great if you don’t like typing completely flat.
Just like the KC84 SP-Red which I tried out a while back, the KC84 Pro Shimmer is a really good looking, solid keyboard which has just about every basic feature you could possibly want straight out of the box, but just that little bit more grown-up and stylish. A great little all-rounder, suitable for any and all situations.