
Gamakay TK75 V2 Silent mechanical keyboard review: Affordable price, plenty of features
Can a quiet keyboard keep up?
The Gamakay TK75 V2 is a $79.99 budget mechanical keyboard with silent switches, a metal knob, and a tiny LCD screen, but does it deliver a satisfying mechanical keyboard experience, or are are there just too many compromises in the name of silence? We find out in an in-depth hands-on review.Julian van der Merwe, 👁 Enrico Frahn Published 🇫🇷 🇪🇸 ...
Verdict - Retro looks, average build, super-powered switch
The headline feature of the Gamakay TK75 V2 is its silent Phoenix V2 switch, which uses small silicone rubber dampers inside the switches to silence both bottom-out and top-out sounds. This leads to an almost-silent typing experience that only suffers from mediocre stabilisers. While the TK75 V2 is gasket mounted from the factory, it also includes screws in the box for an optional top-mount configuration, which delivers a more consistent feel.
The retro colour scheme stands out, and the customisable LCD adds some flavour, but there are some obvious build quality compromises to meet the $89.99 price. Wireless connectivity and decent battery life are also convenient, but the software customisation for key remapping and RGB lighting is limited.
Ultimately, the Gamakay TK75 V2 delivers on its promise of a mechanical keyboard typing feel without all the associated noise complaints, making it a solid option for someone looking for a stealthy keyboard for an office environment.
Pros
Cons
Price and availability
The Gamakay TK75 V2 is available on Amazon for $89.99 or from Gamakay directly at a $10 discount. Both stores offer the keyboard with the Gamakay Phoenix V2 silent linear switches or the Gamakay Pegasus V2 silent tactile switches. Our test unit features the Gamakay Phoenix V2 linear switches.
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Table of Contents
- Verdict - Retro looks, average build, super-powered switch
- Specifications
- Unboxing and accessories
- Case, design, and build quality
- Keycaps
- Typing experience - blissful silence interrupted by stabiliser ticking
- Gamakay TK75 V2 typing sound impressions
- Gamakay TK75 V2 typing sound test
- Epomaker Galaxy 100 sound sample for comparison
- Battery life and wireless connectivity
- Disassembly and internals
- Conclusion
The Gamakay TK75 V2 is a 75% wireless mechanical keyboard with a silent switch design and an aluminium volume knob, and it aims to deliver a typical mechanical keyboard experience without the loud keystrokes that often come with the territory.
Our test unit features the Gamakay Phoenix V2 silent switches, which are silent linear switches with an actuation force of 40 gf, which is neither heavy nor light. The TK75 V2 features dye-sublimated PBT Cherry profile keycaps and an ABS plastic case. It also comes with both Bluetooth and 2.4 GHz wireless connectivity powered by a 4,000 mAh battery.
Specifications
Form factor and layout | 75% exploded layout, 81 keys and 1 knob |
Dimensions | 325 × 136 mm with 20 mm front height |
Case material | ABS case, aluminium knob |
Weight | 840 g |
Plate material and mounting style | Aluminium plate, gasket or top mount |
Connectivity | Bluetooth 5.0, 2.4 GHz wireless, USB type-C wired |
PCB and switch style | 5- and 3-pin hot-swap mechanical switches |
Default switch options | Gamakay Phoenix V2 silent linear (40–45 gf, 3.3 mm travel, 2 mm actuation distance), Gamakay Pegasus V2 silent tactile (45–60 gf, 3.3 mm travel, 2 mm actuation distance) |
Keycap material and profile | Dye-sublimated PBT (polybutylene terephthalate), Cherry profile |
Customisation software | Proprietary Gamakay software |
Backlight | South-facing RGB |
Polling rate | 1,000 Hz in 2.4 GHz and wired mode, unspecified Bluetooth polling (90 Hz or 125 Hz likely) |
Price | $89.99, often $79.99 from Gamakay directly |
Availability | Amazon* or Gamakay store |
Unboxing and accessories
As we've come to expect from budget mechanical keyboards, the unboxing experience of the Gamakay TK75 V2 is rather bare-bones, although not entirely disappointing. The box is a simple white cardboard box, and upon opening it, the keyboard is front-and-centre, with a small accessory box above it. The keyboard is covered by a thin layer of foam, which honestly probably won't do much to protect it during shipping.
On the accessory front, the Gamakay TK75 V2 includes a garden-variety combo keycap and switch puller and a surprisingly nice white, 1.5 m long braided USB type-A to type-C cable for charging and connecting the keyboard in wired mode. There is also a USB type-A 2.4 GHz wireless dongle hidden in a secret compartment in the keyboard.
Case, design, and build quality
The Gamakay TK75 V2 has a full ABS plastic case, which is not uncommon at this price point, although, credit to Gamakay, the plastic is thick, and the case feels quite sturdy, both in the hand and while typing. At 840 g, the Gamakay TK75 V2 is quite light by mechanical keyboard standards, although it's a little difficult to call it portable. The aluminium knob in the top right corner of the TK75 V2 feels like reasonable quality, and it's attached to the stem quite firmly.
While the case is basic ABS — a clear cost-saving measure — there are some nifty considerations in its design. On the bottom of the case, there are two-stage flip-out feet, which can be used to tailor the ergonomics slightly. Under the left flip-out foot is a convenient storage compartment for the 2.4 GHz wireless dongle, which is a nice touch and makes the dongle less likely to fall out and get lost during transport.
The back of the case also features a very large three-way switch for selecting connectivity modes, which makes it very easy to connect and pair the keyboard.
One of the more unique features of the TK75 V2 is its tiny 0.85-inch TFT screen under the navigation keys. While the GIF and JPEG upload functionality are both fun gimmicks, the screen can also be used to show information about the keyboard's current battery charge level, OS mode, and connectivity mode. This comes in particularly useful if you're connected to your PC using 2.4 GHz, which typically does not display battery percentage.
The TFT display can also be used to show CPU temperature and fan speed, but that requires the installation of a background utility, which is not an ideal solution.
Keycaps
The keycaps on the Gamakay TK75 V2 are Cherry profile, which are a nice happy medium that most people find comfortable to use and get used to. The PBT keycaps have a slight roughness to them, which is both an aesthetic choice and made the keyboard easy to type on.
In terms of quality, the keycaps are thick, and the dye-sublimated legends are crisp, and there is some — albeit less — of the same wonkiness we saw on the Epomaker Tide 75 on the Caps Lock and Backspace keys of the TK75 V2. There are also a few keys in the function row that are printed slightly skew, although it's very slight, and the tilt is easy to overlook.
Typing experience - blissful silence interrupted by stabiliser ticking
The typing experience of the Gamakay TK75 V2 is similar enough to that of a regular mechanical keyboard that it is easy to forget you're typing on a silent keyboard if you're going by feel alone. While the silicone dampers in the switches soften the bottom-out feel somewhat, it doesn't come close to the mushiness you'd feel in a rubber dome membrane keyboard. The sensation is closer to that of a heavily damped gasket or leaf spring mount or a soft flex-cut plate, like the one in the Epomaker Galaxy 100 we recently reviewed.
One oddity that came up during the roughly two-week review period for the Gamakay TK75 V2 is that typing on a silent keyboard is actually somewhat difficult, especially when you've grown accustomed to the dulcet tones of a tactile switch on a PP plate. The removal of both the auditory and tactile feedback resulted in decreased typing speeds and an increased error rate. Fortunately, this subsided after a few days of use. It's entirely possible that the tactile Pegasus V2 switches may have required less adjustment for this particular reviewer.
Aside from the adjustment period, the rest of the usage experience was satisfying, with the silent switches basically eliminating any case hollowness that may have otherwise been present. The switches are also consistently lubricated, which is more than can be said for a lot of keyboards in the same price range.
The aluminium volume knob also worked quite well, and the tactile feedback from scrolling and pressing the knob are firm, although it is disappointing that it could not be remapped to something like mouse scroll or screen brightness. You are stuck with the default configuration, which is rotating for volume up and down and pressing the knob for mute.
Gamakay TK75 V2 typing sound impressions
As the keyboard's name suggests, the typing sound of the Gamakay TK75 V2 is silent — at least mostly. The alpha keys and other 1u keys are all very quiet, depending on how hard you hit the keys, to the point where it makes little sense to even do a sound test, because it just sounds like rustling clothing. The stabilised keys, on the other hand, are not quite as quiet.
That said, the stabilised keys are by no means loud, especially compared to a regular mechanical keyboard. The biggest issue with the stabilisers on the Gamakay TK75 V2 is slight stabiliser ticking on the Space Bar, Right Shift, and Backspace keys.
On the plus side, Gamakay has left the stabilisers bone dry, so simply injecting some dielectric grease into the stabilisers should work a treat to quiet them down.
Below are two typing tests taken with the same setup in the same room. First is the Gamakay TK75 V2, with the more conventional Epomaker Galaxy 100 following for comparison. Neither clip's volume or pitch have been edited.
Gamakay TK75 V2 typing sound test
Epomaker Galaxy 100 sound sample for comparison
Battery life and wireless connectivity
Using Bluetooth 5.0, the Gamakay TK75 V2 can connect to up to five separate devices, and in our testing, both the Bluetooth connection and the 2.4 GHz connection were stable, with no missed inputs or repeated characters throughout our two-week testing period. There's a lot going on with the Gamakay TK75 V2 that drains the battery, including the light bar, RGB backlighting, and the TFT display, but with all of that enabled, we found the battery life to be decent, although not impressive.
The Gamakay TK75 V2 only reports the battery life to Bluetooth devices in 10% increments, so our battery life testing is a lot less granular than it usually is. That said, in our testing, the Gamakay TK75 V2 seems to use around 2.5% of its battery life per hour in a worst-case scenario (maximum RGB and display brightness with a GIF playing), meaning it should last around 40 hours on a single charge. With all the bells and whistles enabled, it should last a little longer when connected to Bluetooth, but not by much.
Disabling or dimming the RGB and the TFT screen, however, should net significant battery life improvements. At any rate, 40 hours is acceptable, especially since it charges via USB type-C and only takes around 2 hours to fully charge.
Disassembly and internals
Despite the Gamakay TK75 V2's plastic case that is held together with clips, those clips are easily visible from the outside of the keyboard, making disassembly far easier and less destructive than other keyboards, like the Epomaker TH40. The internals of the Gamakay TK75 V2 are typical of a modern mechanical keyboard, with a PET sheet, IXPE switch pad, and plate foam between the aluminium plate and the PCB.
The bottom of the case is also filled with a sound-damping foam, but given that the TK75 V2 has silent switches, removing the case foam doesn't change the sound at all. Without case foam, though, the TK75 V2's gaskets provide much more cushioning than they do with the foam installed.
Software customisation - Gamakay driver is feature-rich but lacks polish
At first glance, the Gamakay driver software appears to be the typical customisation suite that comes with many Chinese mechanical keyboards, and it kind of is in a sense. Key remapping is quite rudimentary, nothing is explained particularly well, and the software lacks polish. Dig deeper, though, and you find that the display and lighting customisation engines are quite feature-rich, with both offering a degree of customisation you generally don't get with something like VIA.
The Gamakay lighting customisation engine allows you to paint different colours on the keyboard on a per-key basis and assign those different RGB “artworks” to different layers, which makes it an easy way to visually distinguish which layer you're using without having to use the screen. The display customisation is a little confusing, but spending a few minutes getting to know the various options pays off. Gamakay lets you directly load a GIF onto the display fairly easily, but you can also tweak the timing of the frames to tune the smoothness of the GIF.
If you're so inclined, you can also use pixel painting to create your own animations to load into the display, again with the ability to tweak frame timing quite granularly. It would be great to see Gamakay put a little more work into this driver and make it available for other operating systems, perhaps as a web driver, like the Wooting 80HE's, but the Gamakay driver, as it is, surpasses initial expectations.
The most frustrating aspect of the driver software is that it's not entirely clear how to control the light bar. Occasionally, when changing the keyboard backlighting modes via the software, the light bar would also change in sync with the rest of the keyboard, but this was not consistent, and there was no obvious way to independently control the light bar.
Conclusion
While the Gamakay TK75 V2 has some shortcomings in the build quality and software customisation departments, it delivers on its promise of a quiet mechanical keyboard without compromising the typing feel significantly. The value proposition is also enhanced by the optional tray mount, which delivers a very consistent, although stiff, typing feel. Phoenix V2 silent switches are also pleasant and consistent to use, although they offer a softer bottom-out than regular mechanical switches.
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. We never accept compensation or payment in return for our reviews. As an independent media company, Notebookcheck is not subjected to the authority of manufacturers, retailers or publishers.