Lofree 1% Transparent Keyboard review: Solid mechanical with unique look

Lofree’s 1% Clear Keyboards in Clear and Orange Soda

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Lofree’s 1% Clear Keyboard line boasts linear mechanical switches, built-in LED results — and clear keycaps.

We love mechanical keyboards and are all the time looking out for brand spanking new ones so as to add to our assortment, particularly if they create one thing new to the desk.

We acquired to take a look at two of Lofree’s 1% Clear Mechanical Keyboards to see how they stack up towards our different favorites.

Lofree’s 1% Clear Keyboard – Design

The very first thing you discover about Lofree’s 1% Clear Keyboards is that they’re eponymously clear. Whereas the look might not be for everybody, it definitely is a dialog piece. We occur to love it fairly a bit.

The unique model boasts clear keycaps with none tint, making it really feel a bit ethereal to kind on. The bottom is silvery chrome.

The Orange Soda version options soda-bottle inexperienced and clear orange keycaps with a soda-bottle inexperienced base. We love the playfulness of this design and suppose it might look nice in a themed setup.

Each variations function pre-lubricated Kailh Jellyfish switches. These switches are linear, which means there is no loud clicking while you press the important thing down the entire approach.

Each additionally function a USB-C charging port and a 60-hour battery life. As well as, they arrive with Bluetooth 5.1, which is good if you wish to pair them with a console or sensible projector.

Along with the clear keycaps, each fashions have white LEDs that backlight the keys. We like the selection to pair this with white LEDs quite than RBG ones, because it feels extra thematically applicable. The LEDs might be set to a handful of various modes and have a number of ranges of brightness to select from.

If there’s one draw back to the keyboards, they’re solely obtainable in a 68-key — or 65% — format. We might like to see the next key depend obtainable in future releases as a result of we might be curious about a full 104-key 1% Clear keyboard — or no less than an identical quantity pad.

Lofree’s 1% Clear Keyboard – Efficiency

The one factor we needed to get used to when typing on the 1% Clear Keyboards is how slick the keys felt. Our different mechanical keyboards and non-mechanical keyboards additionally are inclined to have a really slight texture to the keys.

These keycaps are shiny, making them a little bit overseas to kind on at first. It is not a deal breaker, but it surely was one thing we needed to get used to.

After all, whether or not you like linear or clicky keys is a matter of desire, however we expect the Kailh Jellyfish switches are improbable for a linear set. There is a good quantity of suggestions with out being overly noisy.

Whereas the keys are definitely louder than one thing like an Apple Magic Keyboard, we do not suppose that it might irritate any coworkers, napping toddlers, or school roommates.

We paired it with each our iMac and our iPad and located that it labored nice with each. We particularly love the change that means that you can toggle the format between a macOS/iOS format or a PC format — no have to remap your keys in any respect.

The Lofree 1% Clear Keyboard is a head-turner

Not everybody will need a utterly clear keyboard, however for these searching for one thing actually distinctive, the Lofree 1% Clear Keyboard will certainly get consideration.

Our greatest concern is that the value level is excessive, particularly when in comparison with AppleInsider workers favorites just like the Keychron K2 or the Keychron K2V2.

Nonetheless, it looks like a strong alternative, and for individuals who aren’t trying to construct their very own mechanical keyboards — a job that may get very costly in a short time — however need one thing designed to face out, it is a improbable keyboard value testing.