Vortex Gaming

While there are many pre-built keyboards with higher quality than before, there are still many users who are interested in or prefer custom builds that they build themselves. It may be relatively labor-intensive and costly, but the overall quality is better and you can make it to your liking, so the satisfaction is high. Cycle 7 is from TKD, co-founded by VERTEX, well-known for switches and keyboards, and EQUALZ, famous for stabilizers, and has excellent completeness, making it perfect for high-end and custom entry-level users. I will introduce it with a review after using it myself.

"TKD Cycle 7 Barebone Package Contents, Design"

It seems necessary to mention in advance that this model has a 70% FRL (Function Row-less) layout that uses the arrow keys and function keys as they are, while deleting the top function row compared to tenkeyless. In addition, it features highly flexible assembly, easy housing attachment and detachment, and excellent aluminum surface treatment. Since it is a barebone, switches and keycaps are not included, and all components are stored in a hard case. There are two colors: Cream and Rock.

There are quite a few components. First, there are three types of sound-absorbing materials: PCB, switch PE foam, plate foam, and case foam.

A dedicated board is used. The hot-swappable PCB is made with a long Flex-cut horizontally below the numbers and above the spacebar to provide a resilient and flexible typing feel, and LED is not supported.

Aluminum plate, Flex-cut Plugs, silicone gasket strips, silicone gasket bins, keycap and switch puller, bumpers, and space foam. In particular, flex-cut plugs affect the key feel depending on whether they are installed or not, and provide a more refined sound than the board tape mod.

USB to C cable, Equalz V3 stabilizer set consisting of dragon and housing, steel wire, screws, and washers, various stickers and films, and pads are attached to the board, dragon holy mode, and steel wire, so feel free to use them as well.

The quality of the full aluminum housing finished with anodizing and TKD coating is considerable. The texture and surface feel are very good and luxurious, and the area with the internal brass cover is where the battery is installed when using a wireless board. It's also quite heavy.

The housing has a ball catch method applied, making it easy to attach and detach. It separates smoothly by gently pressing down on the bottom plate and lifting the top plate, and the fixation is more solid than expected, so there is no play or shaking. However, you should be careful not to scratch it when pulling it.

The daughterboard is located at the top center, and the connection method is wired, using a convenient C port.

The bottom is simple. There are places to attach bumpers to each corner, and a large stainless steel weight is added. Judging from the surface condition where the surroundings are visible, it seems to be a Mirror Polish type.

"TKD Cycle 7 Barebone Build, Typing"

Board testing is essential before building, because it's frustrating if it's defective after completion. The method is to display the keyboard test program on the monitor and ground the hole where the switch is connected with tweezers to check if it is input normally.

Flex-cut Plugs can be pushed in by hand along the line.

7U 1, 6.25U 1, and 2U 4 steel wires are provided, and as expected from Equalz products, the level is well set by default, so I used it without additional work. I like stabilizers with a slightly higher viscosity, so I lubricated them with Permatex, but if you did holy mode, I recommend using a small amount of lubricant.

Install the stabilizer on the board, put PE foam and plate foam on top of it, attach space foam, and then put the plate on it. Since there are no screws, fix it using a few switches so that the whole thing doesn't fall apart. (The PE foam has the stabilizer area blocked, but it is cut with dotted lines, so just tear it off.) TKD Cycle 7 comes with two types of elastic bin gaskets, delicate and soft strip gaskets, and the top plate is so easy to remove that it can be easily replaced.

Personally, I like the lubricated Bsun x Kinetics Candy Vanilla linear switch of the Bacchiri type, which provides very good typing sound and feel in aluminum housing and foam-filled builds. It's a good switch.

Connect the switch, Cherry profile PBT keycaps, and finally attach the anti-slip bumpers to complete the build.

Since the arrangement is the same as tenkeyless except for the top function row, there is nothing to adapt to. Rather, I don't usually use the function keys, so the FRL layout is my style. It also secures more space on the desk. Basically, it's a classy housing, so many people do no-foam builds, but I like low-pitched, solid, and neat typing sounds, so I put in all the foam, but you can configure it as you like. That's the charm of a custom keyboard.

The program supports VIA. VIAL, so you can easily change the key configuration. VIAL is easier to use.

"TKD Cycle 7 Barebone Review"

If there are no stabilizer problems, the custom keyboard configuration is half solved and you can start. This is because it is the most annoying, intrusive, and difficult part to work on. The basic Equalz stabilizer quality is considerable, which makes the build so easy and results in a neat sound without noise. The aluminum housing finish is also very good, and you can feel that they put a lot of effort into it, such as the convenient ball catch coupling method and various elements that can be freely configured. Of course, the cable on the dot board is a bit short, making it difficult to connect to the board, but if you are looking for an easy-to-build mechanical keyboard, I highly recommend it. I don't think there is this much completeness at a similar price in the 200,000 won range.

I also like the efficient FRL layout, so I think I will use it as my main keyboard. :)

"This review was written with the support of a free product from Youngjae Computer."

IT 인벤 유저리뷰사용기쵸이스진상
2024-06-02