[Teardown Evaluation] Gradually Customized —— Dareu A81 Elastic Arm Gasket Mechanical Keyboard

Dareu, the domestic peripheral brand, after the previously popular gasket structure A98, A84pro, and A87pro, Dareu has a new innovative idea in the gasket structure. The A81 mechanical keyboard launched this time uses a brand new elastic arm Gasket structure design, today, let us have a deeper understanding of this Dareu A81 mechanical keyboard with elastic arm gasket structure.

Different from the previous versions, this time the packaging does not choose the color design corresponding to the product theme, but uses a shiny silver packaging box. The overall appearance is still good, and it is a bit trendy with a bunch of English.

The accessories are relatively monotonous. A series of mechanical keyboards come standard with a transparent dust cover and a separate key wire design. Except for the connecting wire, there are only wire key pullers and instructions. Because the shaft seat is not hot-swappable, it is not equipped. Puller.

Dareu A81 adopts a 75% configuration design, and the compact key design and simple size are currently preferred by users.

This mechanical keyboard has no feet, but the lower cover has a certain slanted arc, and with different row heights of the keycaps, the overall design is quite ergonomic.

There is a protruding buckle on the edge of the upper cover and the lower cover of the keyboard is closed. When disassembling, you need to carefully pry the buckle slowly to avoid damaging the appearance of the keyboard or breaking the buckle position.

After disassembling the keyboard, from top to bottom, it is the upper cover→PCB (soldering shaft and keycap)→silicone layer (the black part is poron cotton)→bottom cover.

The overall structure is relatively easy to understand. Unlike most mass-produced mechanical keyboards with a gasket structure, the A81 adopts a design without a positioning plate, and the shaft body is directly welded on the PCB (many people also call it a steel-free structure). The bottom is filled with a multi-layer sandwich and plays the role of supporting the PCB.

Dareu has not released a light-transmitting keycap for a long time, and this time I chose a translucent PC material black transparent keycap. For the sake of aesthetics, the keycap has no ribs, and the overall visual perception is more comfortable. In order to match the black transparent keycap, the upper and lower covers of the A81 also adopt a black transparent design, which makes the appearance more transparent.

Most of the gasket structure mechanical keyboards mass-produced by Dareu and major brands before adopt the structural design of the positioning board sandwich PCB. It can further restore the feel of the key shaft, and it is easier to achieve the characteristics of soft bounce.

In order to stabilize the handle of the welded shaft body and better fix the shaft body, the original three-pin Zijin Switch Pro is also specially adjusted to a five-pin design.

The PCB of the Dareu A81 mechanical keyboard has been greatly modified. There are many such protruding "elastic arms" on the edge of the PCB, and there are silicone sleeves on the edge of the arm.

The silicone sleeve on the edge of the arm can not only increase the airtightness between the upper and lower covers, but also fix the PCB with the hollow column of the upper and lower covers.

During use, we can see that the elastic arm on the PCB can be deformed to a certain extent, which enhances the "soft elastic" feature. Because of the bottom silicone support, there is no need to worry about damaging the PCB with excessive force.

Because I have seen poron cotton supporting the edge before, and the middle is hollowed out to realize the "soft elastic" mass-produced gasket structure mechanical keyboard, the principle of feeling should be similar. However, the design of the A81's elastic arm + thick silicone bottom layer makes each key feel less different in terms of "soft bounce".

Softer poron cotton is also added to the bottom silica gel, so that the noise reduction and key cushioning performance is fully maximized.

The underlying silicone has two grooves, which are filled with a sponge. There is a high probability that the A81 will have a three-mode version in the future, because the three-mode bottom silicone of the A98 and A87pro also has these two grooves for the battery (you may be able to change it to a three-mode version if you have strong hands-on skills).

In the update of the A-series mechanical keyboards, in addition to the continuous optimization of the structure, many details are actually being adjusted according to the voice of the user, such as the dual-zone satellite switch seen in the previous A87Pro and the subsequent Zijin satellite switch. This time the A81 has also optimized the satellite axis and adopted the PCB satellite axis design.

The gold-plated steel wire and visible thick lubricating grease improve the smoothness and feel of the satellite shaft, and the satellite shaft is locked on the PCB with screws to improve the stability of the satellite shaft. Compared with the previous A-series mechanical keyboards, the measured feel has improved a lot, the fleshy feel is gone, the original key feel of the switch body is also clearer, and the feel consistency with other small keys is stronger.

After unpacking, there is a small sticker on the upper right corner of the keyboard. In addition to reminding to avoid liquid splashing, it also reminds you to be careful when pulling out the keycap, so as to avoid the steel wire getting stuck on the shaft and pulling out the shaft together.

The steelless gasket structure design makes the lower half of the shaft body more exposed, and the steel wire of the key puller is easy to get stuck on the shaft body and cause accidental pull out, so you need to pay attention when replacing the keycap.

The A81 also rarely adopts the design of the south-facing light position. Those who don’t know much can understand that the shaft body is reversed. The south-facing light position is a very good design for the side-engraved light-transmitting keycap, but it also sacrifices a little key. Cap compatibility, a small number of keycaps such as OEMs may be stuck.

This Dareus A81 mechanical keyboard not only brings us the innovative design of steel-free, elastic arm gasket structure, but also from the appearance (keycap and shell made of black transparent material) to various details (satellite axis, light position direction, axis Body, etc.) are being updated and optimized. It can be said that it is a very sincere work, and the price of the recent event is only more than 300, which makes it cost-effective. Of course, there may be hot-swapping in the future. And the three-mode version, friends who pursue one-step completion can also wait.