Lighting and Performance

The Arbiter Studio Polar 65 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, and seen above are all the functions with dedicated keys on the base layer. As usual, R. Win is replaced by the Fn key which is used for the Fn layer itself.


This keyboard has 68 keys and is intended to give you most of the functionality of a TKL keyboard in a smaller foot print. There is of course a complete row missing at the top where you would have the Fn keys as well as Print Screen, Scroll Lock, and Pause/Break. We also don't have dedicated keys for Insert, Home, End, and Menu to account for the 19 keys not present here compared to the 87-key TKL form factor. All the 68 keys being bunched up together also means some keys are shorter than usual such as R. Shift, R. Alt, Fn, and R. Control—using aftermarket keycap sets would necessitate some due diligence thus. The Fn key is responsible for the Fn layer which gives you back 16 of those 19 keys, among other things such as volume and media playback control. You also have hardware control over the pre-programmed lighting effects and the rapid trigger mode in addition to changing the actuation of the keys in discrete steps although here you should really be using the web app for finer and easier customization.


Seen above are some of the available lighting effects on the Polar 65 accessible via both onboard controls and software, at least as of the time I am testing the keyboard. The keycaps being opaque do mean there is no backlighting on offer at all, and the LEDs just shine around the keycaps for accent lighting. As such, there's not much point in testing for light bleed here although color fidelity was fairly good given the LEDs set to white presented an accurate color. The whiter frame and different color keycaps might make for a brighter light show perhaps but overall I'd say this is not ideal for those who want a keyboard with lots of strong RGB lighting, especially as alternative options these days come with clear keycaps or even a clear case for plenty of side and under lighting too. I can see the LEDs being more used as indicators, such as the Caps Lock key turning white when pressed or even the keyboard having a different light for different profiles.


Given the otherwise straight-forward functionality of the keyboard with its wired-only connectivity and no integrated display or volume knob, the real reason anyone is looking at the Polar 65 is its use of Hall effect switches. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of keyboards that have used magnetic switches properly and Arbiter Studio merits a presence here. You won't be getting analog switches though so Wooting is still the benchmark here but you do get a very solid typing experience that you can make your own based on the actuation point set on a per-key basis from 0.1 mm to 3.8 mm. The rapid trigger mode effectively makes the keys conducive for quick actions such as on FPS games or others that have QTEs but be aware that you still need to press the switches slightly further down before the switch resets. As such, it's actually nice that the Fuji magnetic switch goes from being relatively light at ~36 gf at the top and 60 gf when bottomed out. It's a long enough range combined with the 3.7 mm of active travel to be actually useful, which I had issues with the likes of the Steelseries Apex Pro that also tries to put out a similar feature. I'd also like some sort of double tap multi-functionality added in the future which can be handy for, say, WASD keys you can set to different levels of motion. It won't get to the level of analog switches any time soon but will bridge the gap at least. I will also say the switches themselves are extremely smooth to type on and the keyboard as a whole is one of the better pre-built units even if you don't intend on gaming much.


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 Arbiter Studio Polar 65 keyboard sample at ~75 WPM as it comes out of the box with the Fuji magnetic switches. For context, you can find sound clips from other keyboards here, including those with linear switches. I did bottom out here and it helps test how loud, or not, these switches are as well as the effectiveness of the silicone sheet-based damping system too, and it works very well. This is one of the more damped keyboards on the market with a pleasant sound that is absent of any reverberations or higher frequency pings when the switches hit the plate.