Sablute is a new company producing gaming peripheral products, and I recently got a chance to review their newest product, the Sablute SG KM61 Wireless Mechanical Keyboard. The KM61 is a mini keyboard about 60% the size of a normal one. It has RGB lighting and Red Switches with a sleek design marketed toward gamers.

What's In The Box

The box in itself is a classic RGB-styled sleek black design. Once opened, you have the keyboard, the manual, the key removal tool to edit keys, the Bluetooth USB dongle, and lastly the optional wireless connection/charger.

Aesthetics and Build Quality

The KM61 looks great and reads inputs well with a few exceptions that I’ll cover later. The most effort put into the keyboard has been in its aesthetics, from the font, to the keys, to the amazing variety of lighting options the KM61 is a cool-looking keyboard. The problem I have that I’ll get to later is that’s pretty much all it does, look cool and flash pretty RGB lights.

Specs and Special Features

The KM61 has a variety of features to stand out, and in general, delivers on what it promises.

• Enhancing the Ambience: 20 unique lighting effects, 4 levels of adjustable backlight brightness, and 4 levels of dynamic backlight speed.

• 3 Link Modes Keyboard: Versatile mechanical keyboard. You can connect via Bluetooth, a 2.4G USB-A dongle, or opt for the direct Type-C data cable connection.

• Free DIY Experience: Customize your own personalized keyboard. The keyboard features Hot-Swappable switches, which allow for easy replacement of keycaps and switches using the provided switch puller.

• Premium Typing Experience: SABLUTE Red Switches provide a 4ms typing experience and a 100,000,000 keystroke lifespan. They require less force to actuate, allowing for faster and more precise typing.

• Durable & Energy Saving: You can charge the keyboard while using it or idle through the Type-C data cable. With the built-in 60s intelligent sleep mode, you can conserve energy and extend the battery life of the keyboard.

• Easy to Carry: Sleek Grey 60% mechanical keyboard features a modern appearance and a compact 61-key design, making it incredibly portable. It is perfect for on-the-go use and helps save space, allowing for more freedom of movement for your mouse and maintaining a neat desktop.

Gameplay And Functionality

The KM61 has an emphasis on its sleek design, often relying on aesthetics over design. While the keyboard no doubt looks cool, the aesthetic choices have created a lot of design issues. For one, if you aren’t one of the elite 20% that can type without looking at the keyboard the font while ‘cool’ looking has multiple characters that are purposely partially incomplete to fit the style and all the keys are hard to see unless you turn the lighting on. Now, that’s a mostly aesthetic design issue, a design issue is how they’ve included the other keyboard keys that are absent as it’s a mini keyboard. To access the other keys in most mini keyboards you can just hit fn and then the corresponding key.

In the KM61 you have to memorize the keyboard’s separate 3 key shortcuts to change the keyboard’s mode, and you have to hold down the keys to change the mode for a couple of seconds and it doesn’t always work as it likes to be finicky. The same key press combo issue exists for the Bluetooth option which is annoyingly complicated and finicky as well. Woe bestride anyone who happens to lose their manual with the instruction is it on how to change modes and use the wireless functions.

If you ignore the design issues the keyboard is fairly nice to use if you’re playing a game and are used to mini keyboards. The keys are responsive and fun to press, the only issue in actively using it is how high the keyboard is. It has a fairly thick base which means a flat base which means there’s nowhere to rest your hands so you have to hold them above the keyboard. The thick base means it’s compact and portable just not the most comfortable to use.

What It Could Have Done Better

There are just so many issues with this keyboard. The biggest issues that I talked about in the design could have been easily fixed by having different simpler shortcuts and also a more responsive reading of the input. The font doesn’t matter if you’re using the keyboard for gaming, but it’s a terrible font choice for typing. I know it’s a mini keyboard but there’s got to be a way to fit some more keys on it while still keeping it small.

Verdict

While the KM61 definitely looks nice and has a very sleek design, it is plagued by a large host of design issues that make using it for anything other than gaming either a pain or a hassle. While it may look nice for a mini keyboard, there are a host of issues with the KM61 that, in my opinion, don’t justify its $45 price tag, especially compared to other mini keyboards on the market. Overall, I definitely don’t recommend Sablute’s latest keyboard, because, to me, it feels like more style than substance.

The Sablute KM61 Wireless Mechanical Keyboard is available now on the Sablute website and on Amazon.