iQunix has been making some of the best prebuilt mechanical keyboards for years and it’s just launched a more affordable sub-brand: MIKIT. MIKIT’s goal is to bring high-quality, innovative designs to affordable price points, and the DK65 Currant is a perfect example. With a bold purple and yellow design, dual slider and knob design, lubed stabilizers, sound dampening foam, and tri-mode wireless with Bluetooth 5.2 and high-speed 2.4 GHz it has a lot to offer for a very reasonable $109 price point. It’s look won’t be for everyone, but it’s an excellent debut for this new brand.
Specifications
- Current Price: $109 (MIKIT)
- Key Features:
- Minimalist Design - Trending and Eye-catching
- Gasket Mount - For the Crisp Typing Experience
- Rotary Knobs & Slider - Volume & Brightness Control at Your Fingertips
- Hot Swappable - Swap out the switches easily as per your preference
- Tri-Mode Connection - Bluetooth 5.1 / 2.4GHz / Wired
- Wireless 2.4GHz - Lower Latency & Consumption
- Bluetooth 5.1 - 3-Device Connectivity
- Seamless Switching - Connecting and Switching between 3 Devices
- Long-Lasting Battery Life - Endurance of 50 Days with 4000mAh Battery
- (8 hours of use per day under Bluetooth connection with Backlit off)
- 65% Layout - Extra Desk Space Thanks to Compact Composition
- Two Adjustable Angles - Developed for Better Experience
- PBT Double-Shot Keycaps - Shiny-Look-Proof, Tactile and Tough
- RGB Backlit - Built-in 16-Million-Color RGB Effects
- N-Key Rollover - Unlimited Key Press
- Detachable Cable - Separated Keyboard and Cable Management
- Programmable Software
- Model: DK65
- Layout: 65% | ANSI
- Type: Mechanical Keyboard
- Case Material: ABS
- Key Count: 68
- Switches: Gateron
- Keycaps Material: PBT
- Keycaps Profile: Cherry
- Legends Printing: Double-shot
- Larger Keys Style: Cherry Plate-Mount Stabilizer
- RGB Backlit: 16-Million-Color Modules
- Connection: Bluetooth 5.1 / 2.4GHz / USB-C *(Connect to 3 devices at once)
- N-Key Rollover: Support
- Response Time: 1ms (Wired & 2.4GHz) / 8ms (Bluetooth)
- Polling Rate: 1000Hz (Wired & 2.4GHz) / 125Hz (Bluetooth)
- Interface: USB Type-C
- Battery Capacity: 4000mAh
- Battery Type: Li-ion Polymer Batteries
- Rated Input Power: 5V?1A
- Compatible OS: Windows / macOS / iOS / Android
- Dimensions: 362 x 112 x 36 mm
- Weight: Approx. 790g
- Warranty: 12 Months Limited Hardware Warranty
Introducing MIKIT and the DK65 Currant
MIKIT doesn’t want to be like other brands. The ten keyboards it has released so far all feature unique, eye-catching designs that embrace bright colors, knobs, sliders, and over-sized buttons. They’re packed with personality and designed to display yours. They’re equally designed to stand out in the market with their clearly unique designs. It’s rare to say in the keyboard world these days, but for many of its products, there’s really nothing else like them.
The DK65 Currant is one of its most eye-catching keyboards. It features a 65% layout but bucks complete compactness with an oversize volume knob and a slider on the left side, increasing its footprint. The layout of its keys is familiar — no function row or number pad, but dedicated arrow keys and a column of navigation and editing buttons — but the look of them absolutely is not.
The DK65 uses a mix of bright purple and yellow. It’s an inverse of the L.A. Lakers and requires that you love purple, but there’s something very playful about this keyboard. The volume knob and slider are are surrounded by yellow plates with exposed, matching purple hex screws. The rear face of the keyboard, invisible when in use, features a yellow plate decal that matches. It’s industrial yet playful and a bit toy-like despite also being a very high quality typing tool.
iQunix’s keyboards have always been built to an enthusiast’s standard, and I’m happy to report that the MIKIT brand is continuing that same high-quality typing experience. Available with Gateron Pro 2.0 or TTC switches, typing or gaming on the DK65 is consistently satisfying. The switches and stabilizers are both pre-lubed and smooth, the larger keys free of any rattle whatsoever. MIKIT makes it look so easy that it’s enough to make you wonder why the larger brands producing keyboards in the hundreds of thousands still struggle to get these basics right.
If you don’t like the switches, they’re hot-swappable so you can replace them without having to buy a whole new keyboard. This is a wonderful feature for being able to experiment with new sounds and feels for your typing and gaming, as there are always new switches being released. It’s also a boon if you happen to have a switch die or an inopportune spill. Simply pull out the dead failed switch and replace it with a new one.
Beneath those switches are two layers of sound dampening foam. One goes between the plate and the PCB, bringing out the sound of the switches themselves. There’s also a layer of foam that goes in the bottom of the case helping it to feel solid and remove any hollowness or reverberation.
The DK65 also uses a gasket-based mounting structure to enhance the typing sounds. Instead of screwing into the bottom or top case, the plate sits on soft tabs, isolating it from the hard material of the case. Between the layers of foam and the gasket mount structure, it has a soft yet full-bodied typing sound that sounds closer to a custom keyboard than most gaming keyboards on the market today.
The keyboard uses high-quality doubleshot PBT keycaps to further enhance the typing experience. These keycaps are thick and have crisp, consistent legends. There’s a slight texture applied to the surface, which feels nicer than completely smooth keycaps. MIKIT has also utilized a traditional Cherry profile for its keycap set, so its height and spacing feel very traditional and easy to adapt to.
The knob and slider are the most unique elements of the keyboard, outside of its color. The knob controls volume and uses notches for each tick. The slider controls LED brightness. There’s a pleasant amount of resistance when moving it, akin to a fader on a good mixer.
The keys are all remappable and can be assigned to different shortcuts using the MIKIT driver available on the product page. MIKIT did a good job of making sure all of the most used missing physical keys are already remapped (like Print Screen and media controls), but you can expand these to your heart’s content with Windows, office, and multimedia shortcuts, as well as mouse controls and macros.
The keyboard features full RGB backlighting which can also be controlled in the MIKIT software. There are a number of preset effects to choose from (which can also be cycled on the keyboard itself), many of which offer color, speed, and direction parameters.
There is one big missing feature, however: the ability to remap the volume knob or slider. It would have been great to be able to apply different shortcuts to them. Scrolling webpages or video timelines, zooming in and out, adjusting tool sizes in Photoshop… all of these would be possible if you could assign shortcuts to either of these. For the time being, that functionality is out of reach.
Actually using the keyboard is great, however, and that spans across each of its three connection methods. The DK65 Currant is a tri-mode wireless keyboard, which means that it supports Bluetooth (5.2), 2.4GHz wireless, and wired connectivity. Over a wired connection or using the 2.4GHz dongle, you’ll be able to connect with a 1000Hz (1ms) polling rate, which is perfect for gaming. Bluetooth connectivity is slower at 125Hz, so I wouldn’t use it for gaming. It’s perfect for typing though, with no discernible delay. It also supports three different Bluetooth connections in addition to its wireless dongle, so at any point you can be connected to four separate devices (or five if you don’t mind flipping the switch to wired mode for the final device).
Over the time I’ve tested it, I’ve found the MIKIT DK65 to be fast, reliable, and satisfying to use. The typing sound is very nice and doesn’t need to lean on PE foam to get there. It’s not soft or bouncy, but the gasket mount structure does a good job of bringing out the sound of the switches, and it doesn’t feel harsh under the fingers. For gaming, the left-mounted knob and slider are also great for preserving mousing space, so you get those dedicated controls without the usual swipe-space trade-off.
In short, the MIKIT DK65 is great, as long as you like its style.
Final Thoughts
The MIKIT DK65 Currant is the first keyboard we’ve tested from the company and it’s made a great impression. It’s no surprise that it’s a cut above the premade competition at this price: its parent company, iQunix, has been a leader in pre-made keyboards for years. The lessons the team has learned are clear here. The bright colors and bold knob-and-slider design won’t be for everyone, and it’s too bad you can’t remap them with custom commands, but there’s a whole lot to appreciate here for a very reasonable price. If you’re looking for an affordable new keyboard that offers a great typing experience and oozes personality, the DK65 Currant is well worth considering.
The product described in this article was provided by the manufacturer for evaluation purposes.
