Given the nature of this pre-production sample, I will not score it at this time. I will also update this article when a retail sample arrives and score it then.

I am not a fan of established brands resorting to online fundraising campaigns to get products developed and sold. If you are not confident about the product being a success by backing it yourself all the way, you should not be doing it at all. This is my personal opinion, of course, and it is a good thing many others seem to disagree with me as the IndieGoGo campaign is doing very well with over 40% funding already and over a month to go as of the date of submission for the article's draft. AZIO is claiming this fundraiser is merely to help them get the production started quicker, to ramp it up, but this is no doubt a very clever way of gauging actual customer interest more than anything else given the campaign will end the same month they estimate product delivery to take place. It is a good business move, and while I can appreciate that, I still do not like it.

On to the product then. I can not speak for the wireless option because that is an entirely different bag with input latency and battery life needing consideration, so I will only summarize my thoughts on the wired Retro Classic here. I personally think it is priced higher than the market will allow for at $190, as you are now entering a whole other realm compared to the ~$100 they were operating at before. Here, you have much higher expectations and a much smaller market if our front page poll with over 6, 500 responses worldwide is anything to go by. The expectations here are also varied to where while some want a gaming keyboard with RGB all over the place, others want ergonomic/split keyboards and yet others want high build quality metal cases with PBT keycaps and their choice of premium switches. AZIO is targeting customers who were previously in a lower price range but wanted more, and time will tell if they are willing to pay up now that they have here a keyboard with features they were asking for.

At the $95 currently asked for in the fundraiser campaign, this is without a doubt what you must go for if you were at all considering the MK Retro. The genuine leather and zinc-aluminum alloy frame are a big reason for the cost of the keyboard at MSRP, and look and feel are excellent here. The keycaps are the same, but you get backlighting on top, and then there is also the new "Artisan" option with copper plating and copper keycap trims that look gorgeous if I say so myself. Since the wireless option has a wired mode as well, I would likely pay the extra $15 and get the wireless version at $110 if I had to choose between the two.

So as reluctant as I am to otherwise support this trend of fundraising what should otherwise be a standard retail product, the 50% discounted prices make this of good value for your money if the aesthetics interest you. The rest of the keyboard is a standard mechanical keyboard with secondary functions tied in, with function keys and good tactile and clicky switches that are the result of a collaboration of AZIO with Kailh to develop the centrally located and diffused LED in each switch, which all ends up making this a good package. Once the campaign ends, time will tell how street pricing and customer demand will play a role in the longevity of the product, and I am definitely curious to handle a finished unit as well, so keep an eye out for that.