The Epomaker RT100 Pro, simply put, is a wired/wireless/Bluetooth keyboard that hopes you’ll put your desires into a retro look and feel trades off some modern gaming performance luxuries for an experience that looks and feels perfectly from the past.
I’ve been using the keyboard daily as my main board between work and play for nearly two weeks now, and it’s kept up, for the most part.
Epomaker has created a board that seemingly mostly cashes in on the retro future tech craze that’s caught right now on social media and online ads.
Looks, and sounds, creamy
Let’s start with where the Epomaker RT100 Pro excels: in the looks and feels departments.
Out of the very gamer-like green and black box, you are met with a computers-of-old cream-colured body with green or pink “Enter” and “Escape” buttons that can be swapped out if you want a fully old-fashioned appearance.
Epomaker maintains that this keyboard has a seven-layer high performance construction. However, you’ll only see two of those layers unless you’re tearing this thing apart.
You’ve got a rounded high-gloss exterior that is giving ’90s typewriter, with a matte face and matching PBT keycaps.
Overall, this exterior build is great for those worried about dirt and grime. I live with two long-haired cats, who have a tendency to cause keyboards to quickly show use. Yet, this thing has been on my desk just short of two weeks and looks pristine.
In terms of weight, there’s a heft that comes to having so many layers — especially one that is literally an aluminum plate — that makes this a nearly five pounds, which is either going to be something you love or hate.
I find myself in the earlier camp, as I’ve always been a fan of heavier boards that stay put on your desk, and feel fuller when locked in a tough gaming session. Keystrokes are warm and creamy thanks to the aptly-named Epomaker Creamy Jade Switches, with the weighty clicks sounding uniform across the keyboard.
The only place I found the sound change was along the “Space” bar, which is most commonly the source of change being the largest key spread across multiple switches.
Here the differing in sound is a hollow, metallic twinkle that isn’t off-putting, but is nowhere near as satisfying as keystrokes across the rest of the board.
Those looking for less of the clackity-clack can upgrade to Epomaker’s Sea Salt Silent Switches V2 for just a few extra bucks. While, I haven’t tried them yet myself, I read that they emit about 60% less clack.
In terms of construction, I love everything, with the exception of the scroll wheel and mute button at the top right corner of the board, as it feels like a much cheaper plastic, and mine has actually fallen off multiple times. But I have always controlled my volume through an external DAC, and so the only times I actually interacted with this dial was to make sure it wasn’t going to fall off again.
When it comes to asks, I write about 30-45 pages of transcripts in my day job and play about an hour of games on the computer a night. So, I am usually on my boards most of the day. Thus, I appreciate the ones that offer adjustable feet like my Steelseries and RK Royal Kludge boards. However, the Epomaker RT100 Pro offers enough of a horizontal taper to be comfortable. I just wish it featured feet that let me change things up.
ARGB, but make it “beige”
In terms of looks, where the Epomaker RT100 Pro struggles is in it’s futuristic “gamer” appeal. I am not exactly sure how to say this, but the RGB lighting here, as well as the onboard 1.5-inch screen are just okay.
Colour reproduction and brightness on both elements are dim and washed out. During the day or in bright light, you’ll hardly notice either.
While when placed in a dark space, you’ll notice deeper colours like blue and purples are darker and duller than their associated hex codes, and brigher colours like reds an greens come out harsher and with a slight overbite.
A battery full of life, a lifeless app
Onboard for Bluetooth and 2.4ghz wireless use is a 5000mah battery that gave me about 45 hours of use on a single charge. Putting this in terms of my life, I got a full week of 7.5-hour shifts at work and an our of gaming each night out of a Charge.
Ultimately, I have no problems with that level of reliability.
Where I struggle with overall reliability is in all things that require the Epomaker app; it’s just not an enjoyable experience, and the board seemingly doesn’t play very nicely with it.
The Epomaker app will drop connection quite frequently, and is a necessity for those wishing to use the included screen.
Aside from that, there’s really no need for it aside from updating the keyboard or changing keybindings, so it’s almost better left unused.
Just okay for gaming
Epomaker sparsely refer to the RT100 Pro as a gaming keyboard, and it has a lot of features onboard that make it quite suitable for gaming. However, don’t be too quick to believe this is a gaming keyboard.
Rather it’s a multi-tasker that can hold its own in gaming, yet it doesn’t appear to be made for it.
You’ve got a 1,000hz polling (that falls to 125hz in Bluetooth) rate and a four or eight millisecond (wired/wireless) latency here, which is certainly sufficient for gaming. However, real gaming boards are getting as close to imperceptible on inputs and with a lot of options for changing things up on the fly, and that’s lacking here.
You’ve got the ability to remap all 103 keys here, and rock three different configuration profiles and you also get a debounce slider, yet only RGB backlighting settings are swappable on the board itself and are instead hidden in downloadable software, which puts this at a major disadvantage when put up against my Steelseries and ASUS boards.
However, I do love how this board spreads out it’s directional inputs to the “WASD” keys, arrow keys and the central number keys. It’s a small thing, and something you can comfortably change yourself on most any board intended for gaming, but I’ve been enjoying the out-of-the-box ability to shift in comfort through my gaming sessions.
I also appreciate the ability to swap out the 1.5-inch screen screen for two more mappable “Option” inputs. This feature is sure to be a hit with those who want to set things up for gaming in comfort, but don’t want to sacrifice any of the tasks performed by the 103 other keys on the board.
Verdict
Overall the Epomaker RT100 Pro is a beautiful-sounding keyboard that leans hard into being a mix of old meets new.
And it manages to nail that old off-white plastic feel of ’90s keyboards in a way that feels high-quality and with great attention to detail.
However, it’s in the futuristic gamer persona where things hit a snag; They just aren’t all that exciting or convenient.
For those looking for a reliable, esports-ready board, look elsewhere; what Epomaker has here isn’t likely to impress in that respect.
However, for those looking for looks and a satisfying clunk, that will move through the day with you, this is a fine option.
[Epomaker provided a launch retail unit for this review.]
