Adds a bit of flex, not too much. Made for a more pleasant typing experience for me. If the aluminum plate is too rigid this might be a good replacement.
FR4 is my preferred plate material. More thock than the standard aluminum. A quality plate and is worth the money if you also like FR4. I wish it was an option when I originally bought the keyboard instead of a $25 addon.
FR4 is one of my favorite plate materials, but it's easy to get it wrong. This one was made really well, with no issues retaining switches when removing caps (tested with JWICK Blacks amd DCX WoB). It provides a deeper sound than alu while still being brighter than the likes of POM or Polycarbonate. The black finish turned out pretty darn good as well.
A few minor things:
- the motherboard standoff fasteners don't thread into the plate, though this doesn't impact functionality
-the surface texture on the gasket tabs is tacky when contacting the top case gaskets, so when compressing the pcb/plate assembly with some effort (say, when testing board flex) you may hear a sort of tacky noise around the perimeter of the board; thats the sound of the plate breaking contact with the top case gaskets, reluctantly. I was able to fix this with strips of 3M Medical Tape on the top of the gasket tabs on the plate.
-the gaskets come pre-installed... not a fan, but that's me: I prefer the gaskets to be installed on the case to make for easier plate swaps.
In general it's worth a grab, provided you're able to address the issues Sense75's case has otherwise. It's not gonna add any more flex, but it's got great sound and feel, none the less.
It’s a little softer than the stock aluminum plate. Not a huge change in sound, maybe a little deeper and clackier. The screws from the stock aluminum plate do not screw in, so I have no screws in the plate. Still works fine though. If looks matter, it’s darker than the nightfall’s aluminum plate. I’m using it on the polar for a black and white build.
I love FR4, and this is a well made plate. I don't feel the need to review the FR4 itself as it seems to be... FR4!
My only complaint is that there isn't support for stepped caps, which implies the future is bleak in terms of getting that on the sense75 (yes, I really, really love stepped caps - it's like an additional homing position, in particular for video games or when you have macro rows).
Hopefully going to rebuild my Black Sense75 with this this weekend!
Note: The screw holes on the FR4 plate do not work with the screws in the aluminum plate. I simply built the board without them.
I was able to get a smoother, more elastic typing feel compared to the stock aluminum plate.
However, if you don't like pinging, it's worth noting that this plate alone won't fix it.