Performance

The 1STPLAYER Bullet Hunter MK6 supports N-key rollover USB out of the box, which tested successfully using Aqua's test. Switch Hitter confirmed no chatter with these keys either.

When first connected with the software driver installed and running, the keyboard lights up in a rainbow wave lighting effect as seen above. The transition animation is smooth, and the effect is a good demo to also ensure the keyboard is powered on and working properly. There are also many, many onboard lighting controls to help you get something that will more than make do if you do not have the driver installed, although you can only get precise control over the lighting via the software.


One of the onboard controls enables multi-color static lighting, which came in handy to test for light bleed even without having to touch the driver. As expected, the combination of the floating keys and glossy sides of the keycaps results in a higher amount of light bleed than usual. I then manually set all the keys to white using the software driver to test for color fidelity since RGB LEDs have a hard time depicting white, and it was a weak attempt at best. The red/green/blue channels in the LEDs do not mix well in this case, be it a result of the hardware implementation of the LEDs and switches, the capabilities of the microcontroller on the PCB, or simply color programming done on the device via the software. It is pinker than most RGB keyboards in this test, if not all, and thus color fidelity takes a hit.

Here are some more of the lighting effects demonstrated, for those interested. Everything said on lighting thus far remain valid here too.


The key-assignment options allow users to also go with layouts other than QWERTY, and here, I used the source code from an older keyboard review in a layout tester (courtesy of Patrick Gillespie). The results above indicate that QWERTY is not even close to the most efficient layout for me, and very likely you as well. If you are willing, try out Colemak or Dvorak as they will result in lower finger travel and fatigue overall. As such, the driver offers a significant functional tool if you are willing to devote some time to adopting either Colemak or Dvorak. Here is the link to the full results if you are interested, including a detailed analysis on key presses and distances moved.


As we saw before, 1STPLAYER uses the Outemu Blue (from Gaote Corporation) mechanical switches with the Bullet Hunter MK6 keyboard. The force-travel diagram above shows that these are as close to a Cherry MX Clone as any other. Both are medium-actuation force tactile and clicky switches and, as tested by the Input Club, have similar designs throughout (note that the box version of the switch is functionally the same as far as this section is concerned). The Outemu Blue is rated at a 50 +/-5 gf actuation point with a peak force of 60 gf, and a standard 2/4 mm for tactile feedback and total travel distance respectively as well. Actuation ends up closer to 2.5 mm, and actuation force is harder to quantify because the tactile event occurs before it. For what it is worth, the average actuation force was estimated to be 49.65 cN across twenty random switches I tested, and bottoming out felt just fine as well since nothing in particular stood out. If anything, I would say these feel smoother than most Cherry MX Blue switches.


As always, the sound of a keyboard is based on more than just the switch type. So when comparing sound clips, consider the keyboard as a whole. In this case, I have provided above an example sound clip of me typing on the review sample at ~95 WPM as it comes out of the box. For context, you can find sound clips from other keyboards here, including those with tactile and clicky switches. I did bottom out here, although it is definitely possible to not do so with practice. The bottoming out adds a keycap-to-aluminium plate ping, which affects the sound profile accordingly.