Pennefather V700DIY Mechanical Keyboard: Define Your Own Input Experience Ver.Lite?

In the evaluation of Rapoo V700DIY mechanical keyboard some time ago, we finally mentioned that there is also a V500DIY belonging to Rapoo’s latest hot-swappable mechanical keyboard “DIY” family, which supports Rapoo’s own linear fast silver switch and white spring switch. And other five-pin hot-swappable shaft replacements on the market.

After using it for a period of time, we also found that this Rapoo V500DIY mechanical keyboard has a differentiated experience compared with the V700DIY in terms of design and positioning.

At a glance, V500DIY seems to be the simplified and lightweight version of V700DIY Version.Lite. The keyboard arrangement has become a more compact and regular 100-key design. keys and numeric keypad, which is more friendly to users with tight desktop space, and has an outstanding appearance.

However, compared with the standard 104-key arrangement adopted by V700DIY, there are also problems that some combination keys (such as Shift+Del) are too far away.

In terms of appearance, Rapoo V500DIY shows a lot of difference compared with V700DIY. First of all, it no longer adopts the floating keycap design, but combines the regular layout of keys with the rectangular outer frame. The top cover, which is almost completely covered by the keycap, naturally no longer needs to pursue a special metal texture. With pure black/pure white color matching, the overall look and feel is more simple.

In terms of backlight, Rapoo V500DIY is not equipped with custom single-key RGB similar to V700DIY, but is equipped with orange/blue monochrome backlight for the black/white version, and supports 19 backlight mode switching and 6-level brightness adjustment.

to the rest of the keyboard. The bottom cover is made of ABS material as a whole, with rectangular rubber non-slip feet at the four corners, and 2 single-stage feet that can be flipped up on the upper part. The contact part of the feet and the table also has non-slip feet. Both Rapoo V500DIY and V700DIY are wired keyboards, which support full-key input without punching, and both adopt the design of separated keys and wires, which are easy to disassemble and carry. The Pennefather V500DIY sets the USB Type-C interface on the side panel in the upper left corner of the keyboard, between the Esc and F1 keys. On the whole, Rapoo V500DIY shows a slightly different personality from V700DIY, but still focuses on supporting customization capabilities such as hot-swappable shafts. The standard keycap adopts PBT two-color injection molding process. Both the keycap and the keyboard surface have a granular touch, which is not easy to wear and tear, and the overall durability is very high. The white Rapoo V500DIY we used out of the box this time is the version with elastic white shafts as standard. 2 colors and 2 shafts can provide consumers with four combinations when purchasing. In addition, the shafts can also be purchased separately. Key replacement to achieve a customized input experience. The total stroke of Rapoo’s independent hot-swappable linear elastic shaft is about 3.4mm, the trigger stroke is about 1.2mm, and the trigger pressure is about 35gf. It can be seen from the following Log diagram that the white axis maintains a higher rebound force than the stroke, and the actual experience can also feel a strong sense of rebound. The linear fast silver switch used to replace some keys has a total stroke of 4mm, a trigger stroke of about 1.3mm, and a trigger pressure of about 45gf. Compared with the spring white switch, the quick silver switch has a longer keystroke and trigger stroke, a slightly heavier trigger force, and a more linear and uniform change in rebound force. The two independent hot-swappable shafts launched by Rapoo have no sense of section, so the overall use is relatively quiet. At the same time, the single key has a service life of 50 million times. The double-sided dust-proof wall design can prevent dust from falling into the shaft and cause failure. . Next, let's try to hot-swap and replace the shaft body in the working state of the keyboard. The package of the Rapoo V500DIY also comes with a double-headed key and shaft puller. The ring-shaped end is used to cover the keycap and pull it up; the other end, which is shaped like tweezers, can squeeze the buckles on the upper and lower sides of the shaft inward. , unlock and remove from the keyboard. The backlight of the keyboard is still on. At this time, to install the new shaft body, you only need to align the hole position, press it lightly into the corresponding position, and hear the crisp sound.

Evaluation Summary

As mentioned earlier, although the Rapoo V500DIY is similar to the V700DIY in naming and belongs to the Rapoo DIY keyboard family, there are some differences in positioning. In fact, it cannot be simply regarded as a simplified and lightweight version of the V700DIY, but rather It is more like a choice of different users in different usage scenarios. For example, it exhibits compact, simple and high-value attributes, and is more restrained in keyboard backlighting, etc., so that this Rapoo V500DIY itself may be more suitable for the needs of office scenes. In terms of selling price, it continues the people-friendly attribute of the Rapoo DIY keyboard. Currently, the four combined versions of the Rapoo V500DIY are available for only 199 yuan on JD.com’s self-operated platform. The price is only 29 yuan. Compared with V700DIY, it is more affordable and has little functional difference. Users can choose according to their own preferences and scenarios.