The German company Nerdytec, known for the “Couchmaster” celebrated by many sofa gamers, is launching its first keyboard on the market with the Cykey. With solid workmanship, exciting features and support for the open-source QKM/VIA software, the company wants to shake up the controversial keyboard market. Read on to find out whether it succeeds in doing so in today’s test, for which I took a little more time, even though many other reviews appeared sooner. After all, open-source software doesn’t always come without a small catch. However, you have to do more testing than just play around with it. Of course, Nerdytec can’t help that, but it certainly has to be mentioned. That’s a small spoiler for the software chapter.
The list of ingredients is almost a recipe for success, because the support of the QKM/VIA software alone makes the hearts of keyboard nerds beat faster. However, depending on your personal taste, even one wrong ingredient can spoil an entire dish. Even though I personally downright hate the TKL format because I find it a total work brake and a huge nuisance in productive use, I will completely ignore this feature in the context of an objective test. Instead, I’m going to focus on the technical implementation and the software that I’m not yet familiar with. Let’s start, as always, with the unboxing.
Unboxing
You can’t go wrong with a black box.
The keyboard is well secured in the cardboard insert and, in addition to the blister dust cap (does anyone actually use this?), is also wrapped in a film. A protective layer would have done the trick and saved some plastic waste.
In addition to the keyboard and the aforementioned dust cover, a number of accessories are also included.
The Cykey not only comes with the obligatory keycap and switch puller, but also some alternative keycaps (for Mac), a replacement rotary control, two replacement switches and an adapter that can be used to split the space bar into three different keys.
One of the few points of criticism is the keycaps used. These are inexpensive ABS keycaps, which are indeed properly (and double) coated, but for a compact keyboard for 130€ I simply expect proper PBT keycaps, which not only last significantly longer, but also feel considerably better.
A close-up of the keyboard. The layout is very similar to the GMMK Pro from Glorious or the cheaper models from AKKO Gear. I’ll come to the usability later.
The Cykey in profile. I really like the rotary knob with the well knurled aluminum cap and the semi-transparent housing.
The keyboard is equipped with soft rubber feet to prevent unintentional slipping, which also provide a reliable grip on fabric mouse pads. The detachable USB-C cable can be routed left/right/center out of the rear of the keyboard.
The USB-C port is easily accessible and offers a secure hold.
The rear feet can be folded out in two stages to angle the keyboard.
Hidden under the ABS keycaps are Gateron G Pro 3.0 Yellow Switches, which I will discuss later.
The keyboard is hot-swappable so that the switches can be easily replaced. The LEDs are mounted on the board and aligned “north-facing”, which for me personally represents the ideal case in terms of illuminating the keycaps. The switches are located deep down in the housing in the baseplate.
The space bar can be replaced by three individual buttons using the supplied adapter.
The Cykey illumination is set to green at the factory. The semi-transparent housing creates a great effect.
Here is the reason why I find the “north faced” alignment of the LEDs the most sensible. As a rule, the letters/symbols of the keycaps are located in the upper area and in the following picture you can see very clearly that the light comes through the keycap best in exactly this area.
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