CIY X77 Hot-Swappable Mechanical Keyboard/RGB Gaming Keyboard/USB C/Anti Ghosting/N-Key Rollover/Compact Layout 87 Key/Detachable Magnetic Upper Cover/Wired Keyboard for Mac Windows

For the price I feel this is an excellent starter keyboard to start you journey on modding mechanical keyboards. Trust me, you need to mod this keyboard. It needs help! Lets start with the switches. I received the red linear switches. These are clones so the quality isnt really up there. They are quite scratchy. I did some tests and I lubed one and it really improved. Then I tried adding a film into the switch and that helped it even more. Even with film and lube they still wont be the same quality of a true Gateron switch but it really REALLY helps. They keycaps are ok. They get the job done. Of course you can swap them out with whatever you want. The board sounds pretty hollow however the tape mod and adding some foam into the casing really helps it here. You can even add some PE foam in the upper layer of the board and with all of that done, this board actually can sound pretty good. Again, out of the box, this board isnt impressive but there is a ton of modding you can do to the board and if you want a board to learn your modding skills on and not worry about messing up an expensive board, then I think this one is a good choice.

Ive only had this keyboard in my possession for a couple of days and Ive made the decision to return it. The reason why is that the USB C cable it ships with is the simple rubber coated kind, which my cat is inclined to chew on. I wanted to replace it with a slightly nicer braided cable but no other type C cable in my house will fit in to the narrow housing around the USB C port. Not even the simple Amazon-purchased Anker brand cable that I have several of. This is a deal breaker for me.

You can change the LED lights to several different designs

I got the black cover with red switch version. Out of the box this keyboard sounds very good. I was not expecting it to sound this nice. However with a few mods like foam and tape mod, it sounds much better. I was planning to do some mods for the stabilizers but there was absolutely no need. The stock stabilizers has ZERO wiggle and is generously lubed. One thing to watch out for is the connecter between the pcb and usb port is very fragile, and looks like it can be damaged very easily. Just need to be really careful if you plan on taking it apart to do mods. Overall Im very happy with this purchase and I doubt there is a better hot-swappable keyboard @49.99 There is a grey version for $5 less but imo it was worth the extra 5 for the black one.

Keyboard feels and looks like a high-end premium Keyboard! I love that I am able to swap out the switches. I added some lubes switches and this Keyboard sounds pretty darn good!

TLDR: This is a gem of a TKL keyboard and a very nice unit if you intend to either use it as-is out of the box, or if you intended to take it apart and build to suit your particular preferences. Out of the box, the entire keyboard package is solid and provides a great typing experience, especially for the price. The stabilizers are impressively good, with my unit having a lot of grease in the important areas to quiet it down (though it improves with extra lubrication). * Detailed Review * Other reviews say the keycaps are just meh, but in reality the font is really nice and crisp. Many other gaming keyboards in this price range have fonts where the double shot/shine through tooling causes letters like O, Q, R, A, D, B, etc. to be broken with a layer of plastic that prevents the light from continuously shining through. However, these keycaps appear as a traditional font without that problem. Additionally, the caps have more of a PBT texture to them than other ABS keycaps Ive used, which is a pleasant surprise. I think some of the more meh or negative reviews are due to the thinner walls compared to nicer keycaps, but I find these pleasant to use and enjoy the feel. The included switches are in my opinion heads and shoulders above similar priced keyboards with Outemu switches. They have Jixian markings, and are a Kailh style case but the inside is 98% Gateron design. Ive never had a genuine Cherry brand switch to compare, but the design is so similar to my Gateron switches that I had to look at them side by side in order to notice the subtle differences, which were mainly in the size or shape of the metal contacts being ever so slightly different. My keyboard came with Red switches, and while I intended to replace them with Red or Yellow Gaterons, I decided to simply lube these and give them a try long term. I tested some Kailh and Gateron Reds in this case (they fit fine into the hot swappable sockets) and I actually like the sound (lubed) they made better than lubed Kailh Reds or lubed Gateron reds, as they seems to sound slightly deeper and are about as quiet as the Gaterons. Everyone has their preference, but if these hold up long term I will be very happy. If you are intending to use a linear Red type of switch I think these are great. Comparing Red spring strengths, I found these to have slightly stiffer springs than Kailh Reds, which in turn is slightly stiffer than Gateron Reds. I simply held each switch stem to stem and pressed them together to test spring stiffness, using several switches to ensure consistent findings. Edit: These Jixian switches are as stiff as Gateron Blacks, but ever so slightly less stiff than Kailh Blacks. Definitely not Red in in the traditional classification despite them being red in color. I took the case apart and added some foam in the bottom and some felt-like material between the PCB/Plate layer (bought on Amazon). The plate seems to be just painted white steel. The steel plate is the bulk of the overall weight. The plate finish is fine but nothing exceptional. The included stabilizers are actually very nice. They are designed without the little nibs that all the online videos say you need to clip off. They fit tightly in the plate and didnt wiggle around. I did use a sticky cloth tape on the plate when I reassembled the stabilizers just to be sure they would be extra tight, but out of the box they were very good in this regard. Finally, as others have pointed out, its nice to see a removable USB-C cable but I wasnt able to use another standard USB-C cable from my phone - it just didnt fit far enough into the case to plug in. I may have to widen the opening if I want to upgrade the cable. The included USB-C is adequate and quite soft and flexible, but is only about 4 feet long and is quite thin. Its the cheapest feeling/looking part of the entire package. In short, I added foam under the PCB, lubed all the switches, re-lubed all the stabs, used a sticky cloth tape in the stabilizer mount and the same tape on the PCB under the stabilizers. I also added a felt-like modifier between the PCB and plate. Im very happy with the final results and will probably keep the stock keycaps and switches (this isnt my main keyboard). For reference, Ive used a 1STPlayer DK 5.0 keyboard in both TKL and full size styles (with Outemu Red switches), and this is much nicer out of the box, has the benefit of hot-swappable switches, and has some different RGB lighting options if that matters to you. It is very easy to recommend this over the 1STPlayer. Ive also customized a Hexgears GK705 full size, hot swappable keyboard. This and the Hexgears seem to use the same great stabilizers and the Hexgears has a nicer plate in my opinion, since it has a brushed aluminum finish and this is just painted. The quality of the two are similar enough to call it a toss-up and you would choose a winner based on your preferences (RGB vs single LED color on the Hexgears), though I prefer these Jixian switches over the default Kailh switches on the Hexgears (switches become irrelevant if you have a favorite in mind.) I do like these ABS keycaps on this CIY unit better than the stock ABS keycaps on the Hexgears. This is definitely a gem of a keyboard and I expect it will become very popular in the keyboard modding community. I wish they made it in a full size keyboard option.

I currently have my set up as shown. I run a asus I7 12th Gen with the 3060 nvidia Graphics plus 64Gb Ram ddr5 with the ssd plus external 5 Tb drive. I was running a Razer Huntsman tournament tenkeyless board brand new. Ive used it for approximately 2 years now and the board isnt ideal. It presses keys next to keys Im trying to press. Do research on making a custom keyboard I ran into this one. The keys are buttery smooth with a tactile feel when I press it razer didnt have on the red switch. I have brown switches and I love them. I have not customized nothing so Im looking forward to upgrading the key caps and maybe the switches but I enjoy them.

I bought this keyboard to mod, if that’s what your planning on doing I’d give it like 3.5/6. It easy to swap key caps and switches, but the stabilizers aren’t the best, sometimes they’ll get stuck. The stock switches aren’t very good and the key caps aren’t that good either. So I don’t recommend this keyboard straight up. If you buy it, mod it

This keyboard has 2 small flaws, and everything else is perfect. For the only things I found wrong with it, the first is that I had to really hunt down to get the software for this thing (it mentions the website on the back of the keyboard, but you have to use http and not https to get to it), and for the even more annoying issue, the usb-c port is extended out but also small - you cant use most usb-c cables on this keyboard, which really sucks since I got a nice coiled aviator cable thats too wide. I ended up shaving out the inside some, and it was definitely a pain, but also not an issue for most people. Now its time for the good stuff. The keyboard software is limited but useful, and has built-in macro functionality which is nice. Every single key is 5-pin hotswappable, which is incredibly important with all of the ongoing right-to-repair stuff happening in the world right now. My Razer keyboard had a bad switch after 10 months and I cant even replace it without needing to solder stuff. Thats another good thing: this is, by FAR, the easiest cleaning experience Ive had with any keyboard. With the magnetic tray you can get right under the keycaps in under 5 seconds, and if you need to get to the board you can do that too in under 5 minutes. It took me over an hour on my Black Widow. The switches arent really special to this keyboard. They browns sound just fine and have the perfect amount of force, and Im a programmer/gamer that spends many, many hours typing. Overall, for under $75 (this is only $45 at the time of review) this is probably one of the best keyboards you can get right now. Its packed with features and is definitely future proof.

Good quality keyboard for the money. It is a little bit louder than my membrane keyboard, but it is not terribly loud. The magnetic cover is a nice touch that will make things easier to clean on the board as the board will eventually get dirty from hair, etc. You really have to push in hard the usb cable that attaches to the keyboard in order for it to connect. There are no default solid color settings, but there are 5 programmable slots that you could in theory use to make a solid color layout. The colors are most of the rainbow and the color white. Although they dont have a separate color for orange.. just a dark yellow. So you have 7 colors choices - Red, dark yellow, Green, cyan blue, indigo blue, magenta violet, and white. The white has a slight pinkish tint to it. All RGB keyboard that I try to use the white color setting either have a tint either towards cyan or to pink. And I think this is because it is difficult to combine the leds of the switches to produce a pure white color. If you want a white color, youre usually better off getting a keyboard that only displays a white led. The other weird issue is that when I try to program the setup to use only white color for every button, then scrlk, capslock and win keys turn dark on setting. It doesnt happen if I choose another solid color for the keyboard. Programming the button colors is tricky as well, as the button color sequence appears to be dependent on the last button color that you pushed and is not totally dependent on what the current color is of the current button you are pressing. Overall a good keyboard for the current price ($50). My perfect keyboard would be a low profile membrane keyboard waterproof with backlit white settings that was reliable with keys that dont fade due to wear and tenkeyless (most users dont use the right number pad). So far I have not found that keyboard, but have found keyboards that are close. Some logitech keyboards have come close, but they have some issues.