Introduction

ACGAM is a fairly new company that formed up in Asia, with the name a shortening for Action Game, and they decided to focus on PC peripherals for their product line. This is an extremely competitive market in that I alone have experienced keyboards from over 50 different companies thus far already, but based on where most of the action is when it comes to manufacturing and design, they do have a good starting point. I also noticed an aggressive marketing campaign in online communities, including in the western half of the globe, to where I had actually heard of the brand even before they contacted me about a review here. They currently have two each of mechanical keyboards, mice, and mouse pads, and given the other was based off a keyboard design I had covered here already, it made sense to go with their AG6X keyboard. Thanks again to ACGAM for providing us with a review sample.


It was interesting to see a new company go with a full-size keyboard first and a 60% form factor keyboard after that. The former is a safe bet with a vast majority of the customer base used to the form factor, but offering the AG6X 61-key (or 63, depending on the region) keyboard does help them participate in a less crowded market. Indeed, I can count on my hands the number of non-artisan keyboards in this size and even here, a lot go with metal cases and thick PBT keycaps with little to no backlighting. The ACGAM AG6X goes the other route with a plastic case to keep costs low and hopefully pass those savings on to the customer and adds white backlighting to the entire keyboard. There is also a software driver for the keyboard, which aims to provide more customization options that will be quite important on a keyboard with fewer keys than most. So let us begin the review with a look at the specifications below.

Specifications

Packaging and Accessories

Packaging is on the simpler side here and very reminiscent of the Aukey keyboards we saw before. We are greeted by a plain cardboard box with no wrap over it, but, rather, printing directly on the cardboard itself, which is a cost-savings measure. I personally don't mind, noting that this is aimed at a lower price point relative to others, and it does the job as far as protection during shipping and handling goes. The company logo is on the front, along with the number six inside what presumably somehow translates as an X. Regardless, the company contact information and website are on the back along with a confirmation that this was indeed made in China. There are no seals on the box, but side flaps and another in the center help secure the contents inside.


Opening the box, we see the keyboard in a translucent plastic wrap. Underneath is a multi-language manual that goes over the pre-programmed secondary functions which help make this act as a TKL keyboard with the use of layers. I strongly recommend keeping the manual around for at least a week to be sure you know where each keystroke and function is, although the keycaps do a decent job here as we will see soon. ACGAM also includes a mini-CD that contains the installer for the driver, and thankfully, you can also download it from their website as I suspect many do not have a CD drive to use anymore. The other accessories are in a separate compartment of their own on the right, which helps prevent any scratches on the keyboard in case they come loose and the cable connectors goes through the plastic wrap.


Here, we see the removable keyboard cable with a male USB Type-C connector on one end and a male USB Type-A connector on the other. The adoption of the USB Type-C connector was nice to see here, and is one I encourage everyone to go with henceforth. The other accessory provided is a plastic ring-style keycap puller, and here, I would have preferred to see a wire-style puller instead to lower the potential of the keycap's sides getting scratched.