King of 100-yuan keyboards, talk about game power VGN v98 and RK R104

[Solemn declaration] Game Dynamics (hereinafter referred to as VGN) v98 and RK R104 keyboards are purchased at my own expense, and there is no intentional slander or flattery.

The mechanical keyboard in the office is kneeling, and the middle area of ​​the 104 key position (direction keys and del, etc.) is out of function. I can’t understand the circuit board after disassembling it, so I decided to give up the treatment and replace it with a new one. Since it is used in the office, I don't want to invest too much, so I only pay attention to the price of 100 yuan as before.

Take a ride here and give Taobao a thumbs up - the keyboard fell down in the store, but Taobao paid me the full amount directly, awesome!

In October, RK R87 was still the king of 100-yuan price rolls, but the 87 has no small keyboard, which affects my work efficiency. Coincidentally, someone up said that RK is about to launch R104, and sure enough, before November, JD.com and Pinduoduo both put it on the shelves. In the end, starting with Duoduo, single-mode, single-optical, white, 21-key hot-swappable, 104 configuration, K yellow axis, 159 yuan. Arrived before November, as expected, the wait was not in vain.

Simple packaging, but quite heavy

RK R104 belongs to the hexagonal warrior. Regardless of the workmanship, feel, large key adjustment, backlight and lighting effects, or the most important cost performance, it is very good and ready to use. Personal feeling:

1. Like the RK R87 that was sold out before, the tuning of the big keys is very good, there is no noise, and there is no wire sound or spring sound. Compared with Logitech G710+'s cherry tea switch and big garbage keys, the tail lights can't be seen;

2. The brightness of the backlight is very high, and the lighting effects are many, which is enough for my demand for light pollution - I can play tricks without a driver;

There are about 20 kinds of backlight effects

3. The quality of the keycap is good, the color is consistent with the main body of the keyboard, and the RGB light bar on the side is low-key and beautiful;

4. The first launch only has a linear K yellow axis, and the consistency is good. The keyboard has a cotton bottom, and the collision sound of the keycap and the shaft is not hollow. Is it the "mahjong sound" that Gaowan said?

The bottom cotton can be clearly seen when the space is removed, and the backlight is very bright

5. The type-C key wire is separated, the visual inspection of the wire material is good, and the insertion and removal are smooth, at least better than the visual inspection that comes with v98;

Comes with type-C to type-A

Smooth plugging and unplugging

6. The keyboard is very heavy, and the parts visible to the naked eye, including the body, keycaps, wires and other molds are precise, and the corners are not scratched or cut.

Because I love the R104, I bought a new set of black canyon milk ice keycaps to fully fill the lighting effect.

This set of keycaps is of high quality. If your keyboard has a backlight, it is recommended to buy a set

Thanks to the double blessing of keycap light transmission and bright enough backlight, the final effect is quite good

In the space in the upper right corner of the keyboard, choose a few small decorations and stick them on, the effect is great.

Sitting polar bear, consistent with the color of the keyboard

The color contrast is obvious on the white keyboard, and it is also very cute

Another shot in low light.

Monochromatic blue backlight, RGB on the side is the light strip that comes with the keyboard, and there are several effects that can be adjusted

In fact, this keyboard was bought out of plan. The reason is that when doing keyboard homework, a large number of up masters at station B said that v98 and v98 pro are the kings of the new kings. At 19:00 on the evening of November 1st, I joined in the fun to watch the VGN live broadcast with goods, during which there were lucky draws for keyboards, keycaps, switches, etc. I didn't take it seriously at first, but I never expected that I would be hit by the "One Can of Zhixia Axis". When I first passed the test, I didn't take it seriously, thinking that Zhixia axis was not as good as the "steam wave axis" repeatedly recommended by the live broadcast.

It was the first time to watch the live broadcast of station B with goods, and it was the first time to win a prize. . .

In the later stage of the live broadcast, I searched "Zhixia axis" casually, but I didn't expect it to be around 3 yuan? ! Not only is it far more expensive than a steamwave axis, but it is also a paragraph axis. Among the keyboards I have, only the Logitech G913's Kaihua Box white short switch is a paragraph switch, there is no key collision sound, purely relying on the feedback of the switch body itself, the sound quality is pleasing to the "ear" and crisp - personally think it is the ceiling of the paragraph switch . Therefore, I have expectations for Kaihua Zhixia axis.

Received the VGN prize, the jar is quite beautiful.

However, there was no full-key hot-swappable keyboard at that time. If you want to change the switch of G710+, you need a soldering iron to remove the old one and replace it with a new one. So, engage in customization? I searched for "kits" on Taobao, and found that most of them are more expensive than mass-produced finished keyboards, and some have no bottom cotton, three-mode and so on! After thinking about it for 3 seconds, I decided to buy VGN v98 as a kit for 199 yuan.

Unexpectedly, there will be surprises in the future——VGN announced that it will send aviation plugs and pudding keycaps

I placed an order on November 1st and received the keyboards on November 5th (it turns out that due to VGN’s early publicity campaign, most of them are v98 pro, so they are hard to grab and buy, and it is easy to buy v98), received 100 pieces on November 9th Zhixia axis (live broadcast prize). Talk about personal feelings after using it for a few days:

1. The three-mode expansion is strong, and the switching between wired, 2.4G and Bluetooth is fast and stable. The switch is on the front of the keyboard, praise. But the switch is very tight, it is difficult to push it with wet hands, and even makes your hands hurt;

2. The standard Numbani switch is not the Vaporwave Pro switch in the promotional video of VGN’s own B station in October. The feel is similar to the red switch. Compared with the K yellow switch, a keyboard novice like me can’t feel the obvious difference. The large keys on the keyboard perform OK, what Gaowan said is ready to use?

Numbani axis with VGN logo

3. The keycap is the biggest shortcoming of v98, not only the spout is obvious, but even some characters display and light transmission are not complete, such as left and right Ctrl. By the way, compared with the JD v98 product introduction, the keycap style, characters, etc. of the arrival are different from the picture;

Probably VGN has discovered and paid attention to this problem, so they will send a set of pudding keycaps first, saying that they will be shipped around the 15th

4. It may be based on the consideration of power saving, the backlight brightness of v98 is much lower than that of R104. When the backlight is turned on during the day, the characters on the white keycaps are not clear. After replacing it with a transparent Zhixia switch, the backlight is better, but the improvement is limited. Now, I have to turn off the backlight during the day;

The quality of the keycaps is poor, so we have to use color difference to divert attention. The sticker is my wife's idea, it's quite Q

5. The Kaihua shaft seat is really good. It is not difficult to remove the Numbani shaft and install the Zhixia shaft, and the process is very smooth;

The clamp pin is said to be better than the sleeve

The empty space, the long groove in the middle is also filled with bottom cotton, visually better than R104

6. Similar to R104, the wired connection slot is at the bottom center of the keyboard. For single-mode keyboards, this is nothing, but for multi-mode keyboards that need to be charged, frequent plugging and unplugging must be uncomfortable;

7. Lighting effect, VGN can really pick, there are only 2 types for v98 - constant light and breathing. This is too unfriendly for the keyboard novice. Tell me, all the backlighting is done, is it just a few more lines of code in the firmware?

8. The attached stickers and manuals are very interesting, which shows that the product department of VGN pays attention to the details;

Some people may complain that the quality is average, but no matter what, I posted it

9. For me who is used to 104 keys, I still haven't fully adapted to the 98-key arrangement after a few days of use;

10. The keyboard is very playable, not only the shaft body and keycap are easy to replace, but even the not-so-small 4000mAh battery can be expanded to 8000mAh. There is a video of adding batteries on station B, and it seems that the cost is only more than 10 yuan.

There may be a lot of complaints about v98 above, but it does not mean that it is not excellent. You know, it is a miracle in itself that 199 yuan achieves three-mode, key-line separation, backlight, good shaft body, full-key hot-swappable and smooth large keys. What's more, if you buy the first release, you will also get an aviation plug cable and a pudding keycap.

Here is a wave of Zhixia axis. First of all, my axis is the VGN prize, and receiving it means that the live broadcast on the 1st is fair and effective, and Xiaobai also has a chance. Secondly, the sound of the Zhixia switch is crisp and clear, and the body of the switch shakes little. Listening carefully, it really feels like a cicada, not the rattling sound of ordinary green switches. Kaihua, you are a real cow. Finally, after changing the shaft body, ho ho, the hand feeling has been greatly improved! Personally, I think that the sound of snapping feedback is the soul of the mechanical keyboard! certainly, I don't dare to hate, so I declare again that I am a keyboard novice, please forgive me.

I started to change the shaft, and it was smoother than expected, la la la

The shaft of the big key of the small keyboard is not easy to pull out. I pulled it out by clamping the left and right sides.

Since November 1, due to the slow delivery of VGN and the half-disappearance of customer service, whether it is station B, Q group or other interactive media, people's heads are noisy.

Before the live broadcast, VGN was relatively successful in building momentum. At least a large number of keyboard ups on station B were pushing v98 pro. And the live broadcast on November 1 was also relatively successful. For example, people like me who don’t lack keyboards were also “into the pit”. VGN live shows that there are 4,000 in stock, and the daily production capacity will be 600 after that. It can be said that it was launched on the evening of the 1st, and Jingdong sold 20,000 to 30,000, far exceeding the spot inventory. Even so, judging from JD.com's evaluation and Q group feedback, there may be moisture in the 4,000 inventory, and the daily yield may be less than 600. Coupled with the uncertainty of express delivery caused by the epidemic, serious difficulties in supply have arisen.

I have not been in the VGN official group for a long time, but there are 4463 results in the search for "delivery"

Then there is VGN customer service. Maybe VGN was caught off guard by the huge sales of the live broadcast on the 1st, as netizens joked - the customer service went to turn the screws. As a direct result, Jingdong customer service almost disappeared—the message was unread for 2 or 3 days; for the VGN account of station B, it took 5 days to reply to the message; Duoduo customer service should hurry up, but he suggested to go to Jingdong customer service. . .

To sum up, those who buy the first release with full payment can’t sit still, and some people may deliberately fan the flames and sell anxiety. More and more buyers ask customer service, and it becomes more and more difficult for customer service to answer one by one. Such a vicious circle, the more negative energy accumulates more.

As a semi-bystander, I think it is right for VGN to go all out to deliver goods and increase production capacity, but it should not give up customer service completely. When the production capacity is insufficient, customer service is more needed to appease the buyers. Even if you can’t answer them one by one, you can always reply to the previous announcement (pictured below). certainly, I (personally) hope that everyone can understand VGN. After all, v98 and v98 pro are cost-effective products. Compressing customer service costs is better than compressing product quality and configuration?

VGN announced around the 3rd that they have gone all out and are quite sincere to the initial purchase users.

There is no need for multi-mode (wireless) keyboards, and there is no plan to change the axis in the future. Key friends who pay attention to productivity tools have no brains to enter the R104. As for the v98, delivery time is its only weakness. For those who are in a hurry, it is not recommended to buy v98 for pre-sale, because the delivery may start in mid-December. Friends who have already purchased the starter, please wait patiently and don't return it. Counting the gifts, the v98 and v98 pro are really worth it. It is expected that after the stable supply of v98 at the end of the year, the price may drop slightly. At that time, buy early and enjoy early, and buy late to enjoy discounts.

I hope everyone can use their favorite keyboard. Thank you for your reading, commenting, likes and rewards.

The current effect of my v98, I look forward to the arrival of the follow-up pudding keycaps to "fix" the standard keycap problem