Gasket keyboard within 500 yuan, 99 key arrangement, Kaihua Cangling axis, how does Black Canyon do it

I’ve been playing mechanical keyboards a bit lately, but it’s a linear axis or a paragraph axis; whether it’s MDA or OEM, or SA height; whether it’s 68 keys or 81 keys or a full key arrangement; whether it’s Kaihua, Cherry, or Jia Dalong shaft body; whether it is simple or themed keycaps; whether it is TOP structure or Gasket structure, I want to try it out. So recently my daughter-in-law has also started to criticize. The table is almost full of more than a dozen keyboards, and new ones are still being added.

However, recently, I have been planted with the E4 of the Black Canyon. The simple white collocation, the strong Kaihua Cangling switch, the improved SA height PBT keycap with a comfortable touch, the three-mode full-key without punching, and the pure feel Gasket structure, large-capacity battery and RGB lighting effect, the most important thing is that the price of the 99-key configuration is less than 500, and the price/performance ratio has really reached the ceiling. In addition to saying that it is really fragrant, all I have to do is quickly place an order and get started.

Versatile starlight white, this color is very stable

This Black Canyon E4 has two colors, one is dark midnight blue and the other is starlight white. My own desk is mainly white, so I did not hesitate too much when choosing, and directly started with this starlight white Black Canyon E4. To be honest, among the mechanical keyboard products I am concerned about, few products dare to adopt an all-white color scheme so boldly. Why do you say that? In fact, this is the same as the white shirt. First of all, as a more pure color, white has very high requirements on the material and coloring of the keyboard. If it is not handled properly, it will easily affect the texture of the keyboard; After long-term use, slight stains or wear will have a great impact on the look and feel of the keyboard.

From the perspective of key arrangement, Black Canyon E4 adopts 99 key arrangement, and the overall layout is more compact. Compared with the common full key layout, Black Canyon E4 is more conducive to saving desktop space. When the light is turned on, we can see that the color matching of this keyboard and the lighting effect are very comfortable.

From this comparison chart, we can see that after removing some functional areas, the keyboard size of Black Canyon can be reduced by almost 15%. At the cost of sacrificing 5% of the keys, the desktop space is increased by 15%. Such an adjustment is more appropriate.

Let's take a look at the keycap of the Black Canyon E4 from the front. The first impression of this white color is that it has a good texture and a relatively delicate touch.

The smiling face indicator light next to the ESC key seems to have become the iconic design of Black Canyon, which has a special charm.

In terms of corner treatment, the Black Canyon E4 is very rounded. At the same time, the top cover of the frame is also made of a material similar to that of baking paint, which is very smooth to the touch. The entire keyboard is done just right in the tonality of the frame and keycaps.

In order to improve the user's input feel, the Black Canyon E4 still adds a hand rest very intimately. Compared with the many mechanical keyboards I have used in the past, there are not many hand rests that come with it. And what needs to be mentioned is that the Black Canyon E4 is already a mechanical keyboard with a Gasket structure that is very cost-effective, and there is a hand rest, which really surprised me.

In terms of texture, the attached hand rest is made of a material similar to the frame of the keyboard, which feels smooth, and the hand rest and the keyboard are combined with a buckle, the connection is relatively more stable, and when high-intensity input , and the hand rest is not easy to shake. But to be honest, after adding the palm rest, the entire keyboard will require more space on the desktop, and friends with small desktops may feel a little cramped when using it.

Let's take a look at the bottom of the keyboard. To be honest, I personally don't like the pure black bottom of the tablet. It doesn't match the front of the keyboard, and it doesn't have a sense of design at all. It seems that in order to pursue higher product cost performance, Black Canyon E4 has made necessary trade-offs in some design aspects.

Carefully observe the bottom of the keyboard, we will find that the height adjustment of the keyboard relies on these two magnetic feet. I have used it for a while, and personally feel that the magnetic force of this foot pad is still a little weak, and it is easy to fall off when it is moved occasionally.

Having said that, I also need to mention an interesting little detail. Now when most keyboards or mice are connected to the host computer, we tend to give priority to looking for USB2.0 or USB3.0 interfaces with low transmission speeds. In addition to USB interfaces, Black Canyon E4 also supports Type-C interfaces. I believe so The receiver interface combination can bring more convenience of use.

SA height keycap + Cangling paragraph switch, feel really good

I believe that when purchasing a mechanical keyboard, most friends will not only look at the brand and theme design, but also focus on the height of the keycap and the selection of the shaft body. From the data, we can know that the Black Canyon E4 uses the improved SA height keycap, and the Cangling switch of the first-line domestic switch brand Kaihua is used, so what is the actual experience of this combination?

First of all, let’s talk about the changes brought about by improving the SA height. Compared with the original height, the SA height can use the relatively higher keycap height to reduce the travel range of the hand and fingers during the tapping process for long-distance keys. It can help reduce hand fatigue caused by long-term input.

In order to improve the user's input feel, Black Canyon E4 uses high-purity PBT material keycaps, so that the overall feel of the keycaps is at a very good level, and with the ergonomic arc design, it can better fit the fingertips , Properly increase the friction of tapping, so that the whole typing process becomes very natural and smooth.

I tried the trigger texture of the large keys, and the feedback of the entire key position is very comfortable and easy to follow, and even a large key position such as space does not have a somewhat uncomfortable cavity sound, and the sound is neat and crisp.

Next, we can use the attached cap puller to remove the keycaps to see if the details of this cost-effective Gasket structure mechanical keyboard are still excellent.

When I removed the keycaps, I felt the texture of the keycaps at the same time. From the feel, the material of the keycaps of Black Canyon E4 is very solid, the material is very sufficient, and the two-color injection molding process of the keycaps is also very good. To burr or uneven color condition.

From this angle, we can see that the background color of the keycap is very pure, without the slightest uneven coloring or color deviation. Even in an environment that does not rely on the keyboard backlight, the overall texture of the keycap is still very good.

The light blue inside and the white surface make the overall match very textured, and the internal processing of the keycaps is also in place. It is very easy to insert and remove, without uncomfortable lag.

I carefully observed every key position of the Black Canyon E4, and the quality is very uniform, which should be what a big factory should look like.

Turn on the backlight of the keyboard, and we will find that the transparency of this set of white keycaps is very good. The light blue backlight and the light refraction brought by the blue material inside the keycaps will release the texture of the entire keycaps. come out.

Let’s take a look at the keycaps under the color RGB lighting effect. The overall texture is really excellent.

Let’s take a look at the shaft again. Black Canyon E4 provides three types of shafts to choose from. These three shafts are all from the domestic first-line shaft brand Kaihua. The Yanmo axis, and the Cangling axis with a strong sound. As for me, I personally prefer the paragraph feel. I feel very comfortable when typing, and the sound switch body is my favorite, so I chose this Cangling switch without hesitation.

So where is the experience fun of this Cangling axis? First of all, the color matching of the shaft body really caught my eye. With this PC positioning board with a similar matte texture, the overall look and feel of the shaft body is very comfortable.

In order to improve the overall percussion quality of the Cangling axis, Kaihua has implanted an extended spring in the axis body, which makes the stroke of the axis body relatively longer, and can stimulate a unique crisp sound field. Friends who like this tune must definitely Can't put it down.

Look at the disassembled shaft body, the overall workmanship is still excellent, the standard tripod shaft is very simple to plug in and out, basically no learning cost is required, even Xiaobai can easily change the shaft. Friends who have paid attention to Kaihua shafts at ordinary times may know that Kaihua’s scenic joint shafts are basically upgraded and improved from BOX V2 shafts. I compared the BOX white switch in my hand with the V2 white switch, and the texture of the Cangling switch has obviously improved to a certain extent.

Turn on the RGB light, we can see that the light transmission of the shaft body is still very good.

From the PCB board, we can see that the Black Canyon E4 can support five-legged axes and three-legged axes. Most of the axes on the market can be perfectly adapted. If you want to experience a different shaft body, then we can easily replace it by ourselves.

In other aspects, this Black Canyon E4 also supports Bluetooth, 2.4g and wired three connection methods, and supports full-key no punching in the three modes, so no matter how fast your hand is, Black Canyon E4 can Perfect feedback on your typing actions.

In terms of battery life, the Black Canyon E4 is also very powerful. The 4600mAh large-capacity battery cooperates with the automatic power-saving mode. Without turning on the lighting effect, there is no problem with a proper one-month battery life.

Talk about my comprehensive experience

To be honest, the most peripherals I bought recently are basically mechanical keyboards. A dozen keyboards plus themed keycaps are almost full of a cabinet. I also slowly began to understand the joy of using mechanical keyboards from a layman of mechanical keyboards. I usually charge a lot, but the ones that are used frequently are only a few dollars.

Basically, I use the most keyboards at home, one is the upstart GM780, and the other is the AK816 pro of Heijue. Both of them adopt the Gasket structure design, so I personally have a preference for Gasket structure mechanical keyboards. .

From my understanding as a novice mechanical keyboard player, this Black Canyon E4 basically has no obvious shortcomings. Except for the Gasket structure I mentioned earlier, the excellent 99-key arrangement satisfies the input of most users. On the basis of requirements, it can better save desktop space; the strong sense of touch brought by the Cangling switch is believed to be a favorite of some friends who love the sound switch. Chong's three-mode support, rich RGB lighting effects, and improved SA height PBT keycaps, such a cost-effective mechanical keyboard, I believe many people will definitely use it as the main keyboard after using it. In the end, I personally don't like the bottom design of this keyboard. This should be where I think the Black Canyon E4 can be better improved.