IKBC F87 RGB Mechanical Keyboard Review
By kbwarriors
The keyboard I will be reviewing is the F87 RGB Mechanical Keyboard by IKBC. I've moved on from gaming keyboards, but here we go. This board caught my attention because of the vast customization for a relatively low price point.
The model I am reviewing is the TKL or Tenkeyless version with a matte black finish installed with Cherry Mx Blues.
Other configurations include:
-108 key or 87 key layouts
-Black or White keycaps and case
-Cherry Mx Black, Brown, Blue, Or Red
Unboxing
The keyboard came in a black and blue box with the standard branding displayed prominently on all sides.
Included in the box is
-The keyboard itself
-A Manual written in English
-Extra R4 and R1 keycaps
-A wire keycap puller
The inclusion of the Keycap puller is a strong point of the accessories because it is an upgrade over the standard keycap puller, allowing you to safely remove your keycaps with less of a risk of damaging them or the keyboard itself.
Initial impressions
When I first picked up the keyboard, I immediately noticed the heft and the solid feel of the board in my hand. The case exhibited very minimal flex, only to be beaten by a full metal case. The lighting looks nice but honestly, thats not what I'm after. It also comes with a very useful clear dust cover. The top looks very clean with no apparent branding or tramp stamps.
Build quality
This keyboard uses an all plastic shell, and luckily, no glossy plastic. The plastic has a very nice sand blasted finish. It should be fairly resistant to your finger oils. The keyboard weighs in at over 1.1kg. The build quality is certainly a step up from the gaming brands like cooler master and corsair, and is more on the level of ducky and leopold. The pcb is a red dual layer pcb.
Keycaps/switches
The keycaps are pbt double shot keycaps, a surprisingly nice inclusion on a mainstream board. They looks surprisingly similar to the ducky one rgb keyset. Double shot means that they legend will never fade. The pbt caps will be more resistant to shine than the abs found on and they have a similar texture to the case but slightly smoother. They are 1mm thick and have a very nice ‘clack’ combined with Cherry Mx Blues. The secondary functions are ninja printed on the side using pad printing. At first I though the stabilized keys used costar stabs, But I took the right shift off and found cherry stabilizers. This is a testament to how great these cherry stabilizers feel. Unlike most, they are not mushy and feel the same as a non stabilized keys. This keyboard only comes in the 4 most common cherry mx switches. I found the typing experience to be very good, it's low enough for me not to use a wrist rest. It felt like typing on something very solid, a plus in my book.
RGB Lighting
This keyboard indeed has rgb leds, but if you don't like flash colors, you can always turn them off. There are 9 lighting modes controlled by the function keys.
-All LED light up
-RGB wave
-Rain drop mode
-Reactive mode
-Random reactive
-Ripple mode (single color)
-Random ripple
-Aurora model (single color)
-Random aurora
The lighting is very vibrant and you can control the brightness and the speed using the arrow keys. If you want a more info one the lighting features, I suggest you check out tae keyboards.
It can be hard to find the perfect color becuase you have to play around with the color levels of red, green and blue.
I wish there was was a color wheel and I could just simply click on the color I want, but there is not software.
Features
This keyboard features full NKRO over usb but Full NKRO isn’t necessary for me, or anyone for that matter, But it's nice to have. Includes the ability to set macros to any key. The macros were very useful to me for gaming. In csgo I could set buy binds with just one button press, very convenient. Being an HHKB user, The ability to change swap ctrl and capslock is especially welcome. This keyboard can also has Dvorak and Colemak on top of the standard Qwerty.
Pros
PBT keycaps
RGB Lighting
Solid build quality
NKRO over usb
Cons
Non detachable Cable
Lighting could be improved by adding software.
Conclusion.
For the price of $130 on Amazon(at the time of this review), I can definitely recommend IKBC F87 RGB over it's Ducky counterparts. Not only is it cheaper and more accessible, but it has some features that some other competitors don't have. If your are looking for a solid RGB mechanical keyboard with a minimal design and some stand out features, I highly recommend the IKBC F87 RGB.
If you would like to ask any specific questions, Please dm on instagram @kbwarriors
The IKBC F-Series can be bought here
By kbwarriors
The keyboard I will be reviewing is the F87 RGB Mechanical Keyboard by IKBC. I've moved on from gaming keyboards, but here we go. This board caught my attention because of the vast customization for a relatively low price point.
The model I am reviewing is the TKL or Tenkeyless version with a matte black finish installed with Cherry Mx Blues.
Other configurations include:
-108 key or 87 key layouts
-Black or White keycaps and case
-Cherry Mx Black, Brown, Blue, Or Red
Unboxing
The keyboard came in a black and blue box with the standard branding displayed prominently on all sides.
Included in the box is
-The keyboard itself
-A Manual written in English
-Extra R4 and R1 keycaps
-A wire keycap puller
The inclusion of the Keycap puller is a strong point of the accessories because it is an upgrade over the standard keycap puller, allowing you to safely remove your keycaps with less of a risk of damaging them or the keyboard itself.
Initial impressions
When I first picked up the keyboard, I immediately noticed the heft and the solid feel of the board in my hand. The case exhibited very minimal flex, only to be beaten by a full metal case. The lighting looks nice but honestly, thats not what I'm after. It also comes with a very useful clear dust cover. The top looks very clean with no apparent branding or tramp stamps.
Build quality
This keyboard uses an all plastic shell, and luckily, no glossy plastic. The plastic has a very nice sand blasted finish. It should be fairly resistant to your finger oils. The keyboard weighs in at over 1.1kg. The build quality is certainly a step up from the gaming brands like cooler master and corsair, and is more on the level of ducky and leopold. The pcb is a red dual layer pcb.
Keycaps/switches
The keycaps are pbt double shot keycaps, a surprisingly nice inclusion on a mainstream board. They looks surprisingly similar to the ducky one rgb keyset. Double shot means that they legend will never fade. The pbt caps will be more resistant to shine than the abs found on and they have a similar texture to the case but slightly smoother. They are 1mm thick and have a very nice ‘clack’ combined with Cherry Mx Blues. The secondary functions are ninja printed on the side using pad printing. At first I though the stabilized keys used costar stabs, But I took the right shift off and found cherry stabilizers. This is a testament to how great these cherry stabilizers feel. Unlike most, they are not mushy and feel the same as a non stabilized keys. This keyboard only comes in the 4 most common cherry mx switches. I found the typing experience to be very good, it's low enough for me not to use a wrist rest. It felt like typing on something very solid, a plus in my book.
RGB Lighting
This keyboard indeed has rgb leds, but if you don't like flash colors, you can always turn them off. There are 9 lighting modes controlled by the function keys.
-All LED light up
-RGB wave
-Rain drop mode
-Reactive mode
-Random reactive
-Ripple mode (single color)
-Random ripple
-Aurora model (single color)
-Random aurora
The lighting is very vibrant and you can control the brightness and the speed using the arrow keys. If you want a more info one the lighting features, I suggest you check out tae keyboards.
It can be hard to find the perfect color becuase you have to play around with the color levels of red, green and blue.
I wish there was was a color wheel and I could just simply click on the color I want, but there is not software.
Features
This keyboard features full NKRO over usb but Full NKRO isn’t necessary for me, or anyone for that matter, But it's nice to have. Includes the ability to set macros to any key. The macros were very useful to me for gaming. In csgo I could set buy binds with just one button press, very convenient. Being an HHKB user, The ability to change swap ctrl and capslock is especially welcome. This keyboard can also has Dvorak and Colemak on top of the standard Qwerty.
Pros
PBT keycaps
RGB Lighting
Solid build quality
NKRO over usb
Cons
Non detachable Cable
Lighting could be improved by adding software.
Conclusion.
For the price of $130 on Amazon(at the time of this review), I can definitely recommend IKBC F87 RGB over it's Ducky counterparts. Not only is it cheaper and more accessible, but it has some features that some other competitors don't have. If your are looking for a solid RGB mechanical keyboard with a minimal design and some stand out features, I highly recommend the IKBC F87 RGB.
If you would like to ask any specific questions, Please dm on instagram @kbwarriors
The IKBC F-Series can be bought here