WobKey Rainy 75 Review: A Great Budget Mechanical Keyboard Leave a comment

The Wet 75 is a typical sight on the r/MechanicalKeyboards subreddit, a neighborhood that nerds out in regards to the thock of a keyboard and, naturally, enjoyable keycaps. It looks like each week or so, somebody posts about their new buy from WobKey, and each time, the consensus revolves round how good of a finances possibility it’s. That is as a result of, for below $150, the Wet 75 has each characteristic you might need in a mechanical keyboard right now. There are a number of unusual design selections, however I lastly received my fingers on one, and I’m impressed by this keyboard.

The Wet 75 is accessible in three flavors: Lite, Customary, and Professional. The Lite retails for $129 and contains HMX Violet linear switches, a polypropylene plate, and a 3,500-mAh battery. The Professional—the mannequin I examined—contains Kailh Cocoa linear switches, an FR4 plate, RGB lighting, and two batteries totaling 7,000 mAh for $159. The Customary is in between and prices $139.

Poppy, Crisp, and Clean

Typing on the Wet 75 feels and sounds unbelievable. It has that poppy, crisp typing sound you see in movies on-line, and typing feels each bit as energetic and gratifying. I assume the “Wet 75” title comes from the typing sound, since its softer and rounded sound profile seems like rain falling.

The linear “Cocoa” switches are manufactured by Kailh for the Wet 75. These switches have a comparatively gentle working power of 45 grams, which is similar to a Cherry MX Red, and use a polyoxymethylene stem (POM) and Nylon housing, which helps to create a marbly typing sound and a easy typing really feel. The switches are responsive, popping again up rapidly after being pressed, and have hardly any scratch, even when pressed down slowly. The stems of those switches have little wobble back and forth or entrance to again, making keypresses really feel sturdy.

The stabilizers on this keyboard come pre-lubed and, regardless of being plate-mounted as an alternative of printed-circuit-board–mounted, they really feel unbelievable. Whereas I might discuss how easy and quiet they’re, it’s simpler to say that I didn’t even discover they had been there when typing. These stabilizers are tuned completely and don’t require any work out of the field. That stated, I think about that, like most plate-mounted stabilizers, they’ll require a reapplication of lube after some time.

{Photograph}: Henri Robbins

The gasket-mount system holding the keyboard collectively is actually spectacular. It feels bouncy and mushy with out seeming too muted or mushy. The dampening from the gaskets is constant throughout the entire keys, solely turning into considerably stiffer across the edges.

Finicky Performance

This keyboard has some quirks that, whereas not enormous, could be annoying. Generally, when urgent Alt+Tab on this keyboard, or every other key mixtures involving the Tab key, I’ve to press the mix twice for it to work. I’ve resolved these oddities by turning the keyboard on and off.

Usually, one in all my favourite options on a mechanical keyboard is assist for QMK and VIA. QMK, quick for Quantum Mechanical Keyboard, is an open supply firmware that permits for nearly limitless customization of a keyboard’s structure. VIA is a system for customizing particular QMK-compatible keyboards utilizing an in-browser interface. These enable for easy and environment friendly customization of mechanical keyboards, which means a QMK-enabled keyboard can have long-term assist with out reliance on proprietary software program that will cease being up to date after a number of years.