This wireless mechanical keyboard has a suspiciously Fallout-flavoured aesthetic, but it impressed me — Akko 5098B review
Plastic fantastic — again.
The Akko 5098B Wasteland Survival mechanical keyboard is basically Akko showing off what it can do with dye-sublimation. The resulting mechanical keyboard is an unhinged combination of Fallout and cats. Weird aesthetics aside, the 5098B is a promising 1800 mechanical keyboard with an actually useful integrated screen.Julian van der Merwe Published 🇳🇱 🇫🇷 ...
Verdict - A spectacularly silly mechanical keyboard
The Akko 5098B is a solid, well-built budget mechanical keyboard for those who want something other than a plain black or white keyboard on their desk. While the Wasteland Survival colourway is a little ostentatious, it demonstrates Akko's excellent dye-sublimation keycap printing, and there are much more palatable options available on Akko's store.
The 1800 layout of the 5098B is easy to get used to, and the display and horizontally mounted volume knob are both implemented well. The display isn't just vanity, either, which is a nice change from other mechanical keyboard designs.
One major downside to the 5098B is that it's nearly impossible to modify, thanks to a plastic case that's held together very firmly with clips instead of screws. The switches are also middle-of-the-road. The Piano Pro V3 switches sound great, and they are consistent, but they are also not as smooth as other cheap alternatives.
Pros
Cons
Price and availability
The Akko 5098B wireless mechanical keyboard is available from Akko directly or from Amazon at $109.99–118.99, depending on the colourway — Amazon does not appear to have the Wasteland Survival colourway.
The Akko 5098B is a wireless mechanical keyboard with an 1800 layout, meaning it has a compact layout but keeps many of the features of a full-size keyboard, including a num pad with a wide zero key for data entry. The 5098B has a built-in TFT display, a customizable volume knob, and a fully plastic construction, and our review unit features the Wasteland Survival keycap theme.
| Akko 5098B | |
|---|---|
| Form factor and size | ANSI US, 409 × 138.4 mm with TKTK mm front height |
| Case material | ABS |
| Weight | 1,011 g |
| Plate material and mounting style | PP Plate, silicone gasket mount |
| Connectivity | USB type-C, 2.4 GHz, Bluetooth 5.0 |
| PCB and switch style | 3-pin, 5-pin hot-swap PCB for MX-style mechanical switches |
| Default switch options | Akko V3 Piano Pro linear switches |
| Keycap material and profile | Dye-sublimated PBT in Cherry profile |
| Customisation software | Proprietary Akko driver for Windows |
| Backlight | South-facing RGB backlighting |
| Polling rate | 1,000 Hz over wired and 2.4 GHz, 125 Hz over Bluetooth |
| Included accessories | USB Type-A-to-C cable, keycap and switch puller, extra translucent keycaps on select models |
| Price | $109.99–118.99 |
First impressions, design, and accessories
Build quality of the Akko 5098B is decent, with no obvious issues in terms of flex or weak points. The case is plastic, but there is a metal weight on the bottom that adds to the weight of the board and makes it feel a little more premium than it actually is. Aside from the outlandish visuals, the 5098B is sensibly designed, and everything is more or less where you'd expect it to be.
The visual design of the Akko 5098B Wasteland Survival keyboard is the most striking aspect of the keyboard, with the Fallout-inspired Wasteland Survival keycaps and the orange accents on the keyboard's otherwise plain case carrying the majority of its visual flair. The chassis itself is rather plain aside from those visual touches, which could be a positive or a negative, but there are a few design touches that are worth calling out.
The 5098B has built-in storage for the 2.4 GHz dongle and a dedicated physical toggle that allows for both OS selection and power. The display on the 5098B is more than the gimmick that it usually is on other keyboards. While you can use the display to simply show keyboard battery life, gifs, and the time, it can also be used in conjunction with the scroll wheel and Fn key to change the connection mode, adjust the RGB backlighting and case lighting mode, speed, brightness, and colour — a genuinely useful touch.
The volume roller itself is well placed, and the barrel is nicely grippy, but the tactile feedback on the roller is very faint, and the click functionality of the roller is stiffer than on keyboards like the Keychron Q1 Ultra, which has a traditional vertical knob design.
Accessories
While the Akko 5098B comes with a number of accessories, nothing in particular stands out from other similar keyboards. The keycap and switch puller and extra switches are nice to have, but they're basically standard in most budget mechanical keyboards these days. Meanwhile, the additional translucent keycaps are an ostentatious visual addition to the keyboard, although they are exclusive to the Wasteland Survival version of the 5098B.
Still, the translucent keycaps match the nuclear wasteland theme quite nicely, and they are thick, with thick, crisp UV printing that shouldn't wear off easily. The stark difference between the polished translucent keycaps and the dye-sublimated PBT keycaps is quite stark, and while that difference might be useful for gamers using the translucent WASD keycaps, it can be quite distracting while typing. The PBT keycaps themselves have quite a nice chalky matte texture, which allow for a balance of speed and tactile feel.
Switches and typing experience
Possibly the biggest disappointment about the Akko 5098B experience is its switches. The Akko V3 Piano Pro switches are generally well regarded in online keyboard communities, but I found them to be slightly too scratchy for my taste. This might not be that important for some users, but it might be bothersome to users who are more sensitive to wobble.
One major drawback of the 5098B's typing experience is the space bar stabilizer, which is super rattly. This is annoying, but it is almost expected at its price point, and it can be rectified with some lubrication or a plumber's tape mod.
The combination of the switches, foam-filled case, and flex-cut plate made the sound profile of the 5098B reasonably pleasant, with a sharp but muted clacky sound on bottom-out. The gasket mount and flex-cut plate also give the 5098B a softer bottom-out feel. Overall, the combination of the textured keycaps mentioned previously and the keyboard's construction outweigh the Piano Pro switch drawbacks and provide a decent typing experience. See the brief typing test below.
One important note about the Akko 5098B is that it does not support an open-source customisation tool, likely due to the inclusion of the TFT screen, and Akko's driver is less than ideal and designed for Windows only, making it difficult to set up macros or customise the layout on macOS or Linux.
The Akko 5098B has a sizeable internal battery, but the abundance of bright RGB lighting and the TFT display eat into the keyboard's wireless battery life. In day-to-day use, depending on how heavy the usage is, we found that the 5098B scarcely lasted more than four eight-hour working days when connected via 2.4 GHz. Dimming the backlighting and disabling the display would help extend battery life, but that means sacrificing some of the keyboard's hallmark features. Our recommendation is to keep a cable nearby and keep an eye on the battery charge level with the built-in display.
Conclusion
If you can live with the short battery life, the plastic build, and the proprietary Akko driver, the Akko 5098B is worth considering, thanks to its satisfying typing feel and reasonable price.
Transparency
The selection of devices to be reviewed is made by our editorial team. The test sample was given to the author by the manufacturer free of charge for the purposes of review. There was no third-party influence on this review, nor did the manufacturer receive a copy of this review before publication. There was no obligation to publish this review. As an independent media company, Notebookcheck is not subjected to the authority of manufacturers, retailers or publishers.
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