Meletrix has been on a tear over the last two years, essentially kicking off our current era of affordable-yet-excellent custom mechanical keyboards and propelling us forward with killer releases like the Zoom65 V2 and Zoom75. Until recently, if you’re a fan of number pads on your keyboards, the custom keyboard hobby has mostly left you out in the cold. Meletrix is officially ready to reveal its answer to the Numpad faithful with the Zoom98: a compact full-size keyboard kit that has instantly become one of the best options on the market for price and performance — especially if you’re a gamer.
The Zoom98 carries through many of the biggest design elements of Meletrix’s prior keyboards, including its soft, deep typing experience and satisfying acoustics, as well as its modular screen and kit options. For gamers looking to cut the cord, it’s also available with tri-mode wireless that supports fast 2.4GHz wireless for a wired-like gaming experience. It’s just as impressive as Meletrix’s recent compact keyboards but represents a perfect middle ground between gaming and productivity.
Specifications
- Current Price: $179 to $269
- General Specs
- Keyboard layout: 98% layout
- Mounting style Gasket Mount
- Typing Angle: 7.7 degrees
- Front Height: 22mm
- Case Material: Aluminum
- Case Color Options: Black, Blush Pink, Cool Grey, Cyber Yellow, Lilac, Milk Tea, Milky Green, Navy, Plum, Scarlet Red, Sky Blue, Strawberry Ice Cream, White, Wild Green, SE Black, SE E-White, SE GT Silver, SE Ice Blue, SE Lavender, SE Orange
- Case Weight: Anodized Black, Anodized Gold, Anodized Pink, Anodized Rose Gold, E-White, PVD Black, PVD Gold, PVD Silver, PVD Prism
- Default plate: Polycarbonate plate
- Per-Key RGB: Yes
- Stabilizers: WS V3.1 Included
- Modules: LCD Screen, Badge Kit, Two-Keys Kit, Knob Kit
- Badges: 19 options available
- Knobs: 20 colors available
- PCB
- PCB thickness: 1.2mm, with Ai03 DB
- PCB Version: Tri-mode Flex Cut or Non-Flex Cut Hotswap RGB PCB / Wired Non-flex Cut Hotswap PCB
- Supported layout: Split spacebars, back space, stepped caps Lock, left shift, right shift, ISO & ANSI enter
- Connection methods: Tri-mode(Wired/Bluetooth/2.4G) / Wired
- VIA/QMK Support: Tri-mode PCB supports VIA, the wired PCB supports QMK/VIA.
Meletrix Zoom98 - Group Buy Information and an Important Note on the Prototype for this Review
This kit will go into group buy on 10/10 and run until 10/30. Prices start at $179 and extend to $269 depending on your choices.
Vendors (see the official site for more details).
There are lots of options, so be sure to check out the configurator here to see all of the different color combinations:
Pricing
Important Note
Now for the important note. After receiving feedback from the community, Meletrix has changed the turbine-like dot-matrix RGB LED above the arrow keys to its telescope logo. The telescope, in my opinion, looks much better and should be a nice extra highlight if you decide to pick up one of your own. The other thing you’ll notice is that some of the pictures are taken without the rubber non-slip feet installed. This is because those shipped with my prototype were mistakenly mismatched in size. This is also an issue that only impacts prototypes, so rest assured that the final version will have long, removable feet to hide the screws.
Meletrix Zoom98 - Why Pay Extra for a “Custom” Keyboard?
As someone who has covered this space consistently for several years now, it’s important to answer one key question going in: why would anyone spend extra on a keyboard they have to build themselves? And for that matter, why would anyone spend extra on a keyboard they have to wait on? These are critical questions that everyone in the hobby has grappled with at some point in time.
Allow me to give you my rationale: your keyboard is the main way you interface with your computer. If you spend a lot of time at your desk, a great keyboard can absolutely enhance the quality of your day. It injects a bit of joy and satisfaction into your desk-life, whether that’s playing games or work or a little bit of both. At their very best, custom mechanical keyboards can inspire you. One more round. One more paragraph. They can inject a desire to engage with your computer that may otherwise not be there. Simply put: they make using your computer more fun.
On top of that, custom mechanical keyboards reflect your tastes and personality. One of the most fun aspects of the hobby is choosing all of the parts to match exactly what you want from your keyboard. Choosing the kit with the case, mounting style, connectivity you want, aesthetic and purposeful. Choosing the plate to dial in sound and feel. Choosing switches and keycaps. By the time you’re done, you have a keyboard that’s so dialed in for your unique tastes that nothing else on the market is going to come close… because no one else made it for you.
Building your own keyboard is satisfying, every time you look down at it. It’s adult Legos with a practical purpose and daily life enhancement. This is why people are willing to spend so much time and money. And like any great hobby, the more you explore, the more you begin to find subtle nuances between switches, mods, mounts, and keycaps that inspire you to keep exploring and keep building.
That’s what makes the custom keyboard hobby so fun and products like the Zoom98 so exciting. It’s not cheap in the conventional sense. At $179 to $269, you can get a great premade gaming keyboard for that money. But it won’t be as good as the Zoom you customize yourself. It won’t look, sound, or feel as satisfying. And when you compare that price against the wider custom keyboard hobby, you begin to see that what Meletrix is delivering for that cost of entry is actually very competitive. Only a handful of years ago, a kit like this would have gone for $300+ and no one would have batted an eyelash. You could settle with the Zoom98 for years into the future and be perfectly content… if you can keep the Mechanical Keyboard itch at bay.
Meletrix Zoom98 - Large and In-Charge (with Plenty of Customization Options!)
The Meletrix Zoom98 is the company’s latest offering within the accessible custom keyboard space. It acts as a bridge between the production keyboards everyone grows up on and the customizable, premium keyboard space where things really begin to get good. It’s also the first Zoom keyboard to offer a full Numpad, so if you’ve been waiting on a full-size layout (well, nearly) to jump in, the time has officially come.
The layout here is interesting. The “98” in “Zoom98” indicates a 98% layout. Typically, this means that the numpad, arrows, alpha cluster, and function row are all squeezed together in one long grid. Here, we have something that’s much closer to a traditional 104-key layout. There is less space between the main sections of the keyboard but most of the dedicated keys remain as there are four keys above the arrows, four more above the numpad, and an F13 key, with the option to add one to two more keys if you swap out the LCD screen.
That’s right: swap out the screen. That area of the keyboard is modular, and you have your choice of the LCD (which came pre-installed on my sample, an improvement from the Zoom75), a magnetic badge module, a single button and knob module, and a two-key kit. These are optional purchases but also a key area of potential customization, as there are twenty knobs and 19 badges to choose from. The additional keys, like all of the buttons, are able to be programmed to whatever you would like, too.
I suspect that most people will keep the LCD screen because it’s genuinely pretty cool. By default, it displays your connection type, current layer, and Caps Lock status but can be toggled to display lots of other information, as well as custom gifs. You can monitor your CPU and GPU temps, fan speeds, weather, notification status for Discord, charge level, custom notes, network bandwidth, and more. There’s even a cut dog that runs matching your typing speed.
Customization truly is the name of the game with this keyboard kit. There are more than twenty colors available for its heavy aluminum case. All of the standard edition cases (14 total) are coated using an electrostatic process that results in a durable, slightly textured matte finish. There are also six Special Edition cases, five of which are anodized (Black, GT-Silver, Lavender, Orange, and Ice Blue). There are also nine different weight options, including four anodized colors, four finished in mirrored PVD, and e-White. Even if you’re not considering one, it’s worth playing with the configurator to see what you can build. If you are, it’s a great way to visualize your keyboard before you buy it.
This new kit also blends together lighting features from different Zoom models in the past. It features customizable per-key RGB backlighting, which is always nice. There are also two downfiring RGB strips on the left and right side that can be separately set to different colors or animations to light up your desk.
There’s also an RGB LED above the arrow keys, though my prototype doesn’t match what you’ll actually get on the final version. Prototypes shipped with a dot-matrix LED in a turbine-like button but after hearing from the community, Meletrix has shifted to an illuminated telescope logo. It’s much more in keeping with prior Zooms now and I like it quite a bit (though wish it took up a bit more vertical space above the right arrow).
The Zoom98 is also very accommodating to different layout choices. Meletrix has done great work with providing options when it comes to your final build. All told, you can use a standard or stepped Caps Lock, split left and right Shift, split Spacebar, and split Backspace. International users are also welcome to the party with both ANSI and ISO support! This makes the PCB look a bit busy with a lot of extra hotswap ports, so you’ll need to pay attention to switch orientation for these keys, but it makes the Zoom98 one of the most versatile keyboards in its class.
The PCB itself is also available with different options to suit your tastes. It can be ordered with tri-mode wireless or wired hotswap and with or without flex cuts. These impact the sound and feel of the keyboard, but since it’s not the flexiest even with the flex cuts, I would recommend getting them if you want much movement in your typing experience.
When it comes to mounting and construction, the Zoom98 is very similar to the Zoom75. It uses a gasket-based mounting style with long “super-foaming” gasket strips that slip onto tabs ringing the plate. They’re soft and easy to apply, or remove, since there’s no adhesive. The keyboard comes with a full foam kit that includes PORON plate foam, PCB foam, IXPE switch foam, and case foam, as well as battery inserts if you’re using the wired version. You can use all or none of these to fine-tune the sound. A soft polycarbonate plate is also included by default. As of this writing, there don’t appear to be plate options.
One aspect that I really like is that Meletrix has opted to hide the screws under its long case feet. This is a much easier solution than hiding the fasteners beneath the keycaps when it comes time to disassemble. Rather than use adhesive, the feet use plugs that fit into the holes for the fasteners. My sample’s feet were a little mismatched but Meletrix is aware and will have this corrected by production (I believe they were included just so I could see how they would work in practice).
Another very nice inclusion is that the kit comes with Wuque Studio’s (Meletrix’s parent company) WS V3.1 screw-in stabilizers. These stabilizers come pre-lubed and have heatshrink applied to the wires to get rid of any rattle. You’ll still want to add a little Krytox or dielectric grease to fine-tune them, but they’re excellent and sound great once installed.
All-in-all, the Zoom98 is another well-rounded package from Meletrix. If you’ve looked at other Zoom keyboards and said, “that’s great, but where’s the number pad?!” then your time has finally come. You get all of the high points of prior releases in a well-done package complete with all of those extra keys.
Meletrix Zoom98 - Assembly
Assembling the Zoom98 is mostly very straightforward if you’ve ever built a keyboard kit before. If you haven’t you’ll want to pay attention to its different parts and read the forthcoming build guide. Here are the basics.
As always, you’ll want to start by preparing your switches and stabilizers. From there, you can begin work on the PCB assembly. Apply PE foam if you’re using it. Then, screw in the stabilizers (the big hole is for the feet, the small holes are for the fasteners). Add plate foam if you prefer it, and then the polycarbonate plate. Install the switches, paying attention to their orientation. Add the gasket strips to the tabs. Finally, for this portion of the build, add the PCB foam to the back of the PCB if you plan to use it. Note that it is made with a slightly sticky back, so you’ll want to put this directly on the PCB and not inside the case.
Next, it’s time to prepare the case. Remove the inner weight (if yours has one) to expose the internal threaded holes for the weight’s fasteners. Push the weight into its slot on the back of the case and screw the fasteners in from the inner side (securing it while leaving them hidden). Install the batteries if you have the tri-mode wireless version. Reinstall the internal weight. Add the case foam if you plan to use it.
This is where things get slightly tricky but nothing too drastic. Put the PCB assembly face down top case, threading the ribbon cable for the LCD screen or other module through the slot on the plate/PCB (that module will also need to be installed with the exception, possibly, of the LCD screen). Position the PCB assembly upside down along the top of the case. Plug in both batteries to their respective ports, as well as the JST cable for the USB daughterboard. Flip the locking tab on the port for the screen’s ribbon cable up to the unlocked position. Insert the cable, blue side up, and push the lock back down. Flip the assembly down into the bottom case so the gaskets rest along the sides. Flip everything over and screw the eight case screws back into place.
Add keycaps and you’re done! The entire process took me about two hours with the most time being spent installing switches and keycaps. The rest of the build can be done in roughly 45 minutes.
Meletrix Zoom98 - Impressions and Typing Test
With all of that out of the way, how is it? I’m happy to report that the Zoom98 is just as good as the Zoom75 and Zoom65 V2 I was so enamored with earlier this year. The typing experience isn’t exceptionally bouncy but it is soft under the fingers, especially if you opt for the PCB with flex cuts. The gasket strips do a great job of isolating your keystrokes and creating a satisfying deepness to the sound.
For my build, I went with Cabernet Noir keycaps from The Key Company and think it came together very well. White on Black is another classic option that looks very nice here, but I happened to have the keyset from a sale more than a year ago, apparently in waiting for this build. It’s such a nice match, and the keycaps are thick, dye-sublimated PBT with a deep sound of their own.
For switches, I built the keyboard in two ways. First, I used some of my all-time favorites: WS Morandi switches, a pre-lubed, long-pole linear from Wuque Studios. These compliment a full-foam build very well, with just enough pop to sound clear and articulate while still have a lower overall pitch. For the second build I used Akko Cream Blue V3 Pro switches. These are a long-pole, pre-lubed tactile switch with a much higher-pitched, clackier sound profile.
You can hear them for yourself in the sound test below, but I was surprised at how different these two switches came across with the Zoom98. The Morandi’s are smooth and deep, the Cream Blue Pros are crisp and pop like bubble wrap under the fingers. Note that the only difference between the builds in the video is the switches; the foam configurations are the same.
Wireless connectivity and gaming performance is excellent. Using the 2.4GHz dongle, I wasn’t able to tell any difference between the Zoom98 and my Corsair K100 wired gaming keyboard, which is a testament to its responsiveness. The bigger differentiator is the experience of actually using it, which is nicer than any gaming keyboard I’ve ever using. The sound and feel are dramatically nicer, offering better acoustics and less finger fatigue over time.
When it comes to the rest of the keyboard, there’s not a lot to criticize. Meletrix has the routine down pat, at this point. There were no flaws whatsoever in the e-static coating on my sample, and I like that it’s slightly textured. Everything comes together extremely well. Meletrix has refined its craft.
I will say this: the keyboard is heavy. Fully built, it weighs in at almost exactly eight pounds. The cutouts on the side might look good but they’re downright necessary to actually move this keyboard. The case isn’t just for show. I’s a beast.
Overall, there’s a level of refinement in this build that’s really nice to see, but if I could criticize anything it’s that Meletrix might be playing it a little… safe? While Qwertykeys and some of the other competition (like the Wind Studios Sin65) are offering multiple mounting styles, you don’t see that here. Internally, we have the exact same design we’ve seen on a long line of keyboards now. It’s not bad. This design works well and sounds and feels great. But knowing that Meletrix has done so well makes me want to see them push the envelope again and deliver more options to the prospective builder. Still, you can’t knock what works, and what the Zoom98 offers, it does very well.
Final Thoughts
The Meletrix Zoom98 is another great keyboard kit in a line of impressive predecessors. It offers a lot of versatility in the sound and feel you can achieve with it and has so many color options it’s hard to imagine anyone having difficulty finding something they would like. If you’ve been waiting for a keyboard kit with a numpad, this is an excellent opportunity to join the hobby and enhance the quality of your desk life.
The keyboard will be going into group buy on October 10th and run until October 30th. I’ve had great experiences with Cannon Keys and Keebs For All, both of which are lead vendors worth considering to complete your purchase. MMORPG is not an affiliate of either site or Meletrix, so purchase where you feel most confident.
The product described in this article was provided by the manufacturer for evaluation purposes.
