YC96 Bluetooth RGB Hot-Swappable Mechanical Keyboard Kit Reviews | Drop

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YC96 Bluetooth RGB Hot-Swappable Mechanical Keyboard Kit

Mech Keys

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YC96 Bluetooth RGB Hot-Swappable Mechanical Keyboard Kit

Alcamtar

Jul 16, 2020

Verified Buyer

Great value, but some flaws

Got this board for programming on Linux. I was intrigued by the layout--this is my first nonstandard keyboard--and it was cheap and had bluetooth. Being able to take it to meetings, or to swap between machines seems a nice feature for work. I was really excited to get this board. Once it was in my hands I ordered Zealios V2 78g switches. Plugging them in was a huge disappointment, since the keyboard didn't work, and there were no instructions in the box or on the product page on how to troubleshoot it. Another user posted that you need to reset it by holding down Fn+Backspace for three seconds, and that worked for me. (I don't know where they got that info since I didn't see it in the manual...) Keycaps are cheapos from Amazon, mainly cause I got this board and needed caps ASAP. I'll get some better shine-through caps when I find some I like, but these will work for now. The set is very complete and will work for all my keyboards, so makes a good "temp" set for future projects. One downside: the numpad doesn't have the navigation labels for 1,3,7,9 and since this keyboard lacks a nav cluster, I'll just have to remember.

NumLock is off by default, and "off" means the number keys are active. Turning NumLock on changes to the navigation keys, but here is a significant flaw in this keyboard: the shift key overrides the NumLock setting. That means when NumLock is on, then the 1 key is interpreted as End. But if I need to do a Shift-End, it overrides NumLock and the 1 is just a 1... so the software gets a Shift-1 instead of Shift-End. The only way to get a Shift-End is to disable NumLock to enable numeric mode, then do a Shift-1 which the keyboard will report as Shift-End. But now you have to hit NumLock again to get back into navigation mode. Super awkward and useless... I work in editors and IDEs all day and I'm not sure how tolerable this will be. Next annoyance: this kit comes with no instructions or software, and there is nothing posted on the Drop site. Drop even mentions software but doesn't say where to get it. But although Drop dropped the ball on this one, others have stepped up. For anyone else that is as confused by this as I was (I'm a newbie), you can get the manuals on the kprepublic site. The kprepublic page for this keyboard (https://kprepublic.com/products/hotswap-yc96-pcb-rgb-smd-switch-type-c-usb-bluetooth-4-0-driver-software?_pos=1&_sid=4ef580911&_ss=r) has a hard-to-notice link where you can download the manual and a windows executable from gdrive. Or just go here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/13BG8Wrfuzn47r_7f-8Rv0AfGfxP7h3X-/view If there was any doubt that this is a no-frills keyboard, the manual proves it: it is a single JPG image! But it has the necessary info to select RGB color schemes, program custom color schemes, and configure the switchable Bluetooth. One thing apparently missing from the manual is the reset sequence: hold Fn+Backspace for 3 seconds. As of this writing I have not messed with the Bluetooth yet, so can't confirm that it works properly. I have also not tried the Setup software since I'm running Linux and it's almost certain not to do anything under Wine. I can confirm that on XFCE Linux the app hotkeys F1-F5 work, the media control keys F6-F11 work, the keyboard lock F12 works, and all keys generate the expected keycodes. The color controls are working as described in the manual. As others have mentioned, the USB-C is very difficult to plug in, but I managed to get it into place without damaging anything. I'll use it wired for now, but eventually I intend to use the wireless feature so I'll have to figure out how to manage the plug. The image below shows the lack of clearance for the supplied USB-C cable. Oh well at least it's not gonna fall out.

After plugging it in the first time and then unplugging it a few minutes later, I was surprised when it stayed on. I realized it had charged the internal battery and was now running in wireless mode. There is a switch on the the underside, located under the left flip-foot, that turns it on or off in battery mode. When plugged in it is always on regardless of switch position. The switch is very flimsy and feels like it could fall out. I hope it doesn't break, but I don't expect to use it very often.

There seems to be a response delay sometimes, even on USB... I think it's mainly when switching between this and another keyboard, or when first plugging it in, but I am not convinced it doesn't happen at other times. No keypresses are lost, they just take a couple seconds to catch up. After the hiccup everything is normal. I hope this doesn't prove to be a significant issue. The keyboard feels nice. It has decent heft and doesn't sound hollow. Unlike my GMMK, the sockets have the extra holes to accept plate-mount keyswitches, and the Zealios are firmly seated with no wobble. Some of the stabilizers have some mechanical sound, but the spacebar sounds good, and none of them feel loose. Overall, typing feels great! Some have complained about the gap in the arrow cluster. I agree it is not ideal, but honestly it is not noticeable for me: the combination of black keyboard and dark keycaps helps a great deal. (Yeah the gray doesn't match the black... sigh) The Keyboard ended up being not-so-cheap after the Zealios. It is hard to find a socketed bluetooth keyboard that still has function and navigation keys, which I require. So finding it at all makes me very happy. Four stars since it is a hard-to-find combination of features, at a decent price; but minus one star for the awkward NumLock situation. Initially I would not have recommended this to a newbie, due to the complete lack of support from Drop. I mean, out of the box it is a paperweight without any info to fix it, and no response to questions from customers! But, since users have now posted the requisite info to get running, I would recommend it based purely on features and value.

(Edited)

Recommends this product? Yes

Was this helpful?

raubtier5

Sep 25, 2020

AlcamtarI'm having an issue where the software shows "Device disconnected" when trying to open vx9. Did you have any issues with this? Do you know of a fix?

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zelaznogydna

Sep 25, 2020

raubtier5make sure you have it connected to the computer by usb and not by bluetooth... the best way to be sure is to turn off the switch on the back to "off" and then connect by cable to a pc(windows) usb... Then you can run the vortex software...hope it works good luck

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