Many who have skipped to the conclusion would take one look at the price point of the AZIO RCK and dismiss it immediately. It would be easy to do so too, especially considering that we have covered keyboards that do a good job at less than a fifth the price. But this would not be fair to AZIO, who have carved out a niche pretty much to themselves in the realm of bringing out high-end keyboards adopting the typewriter-style keys. Somehow, this is enough to differentiate their Retro Classic keyboards from what Datamancer does, and arguably to a more accessible market given prices are significantly lower compared to the latter. We also get less art and more material design here, with the RCK coming in a variety of leather or wood finishes.

There is no doubt that this niche keyboard is meant to be a high-end experience with the pricing, and everything from the unboxing, accessories, and build quality adds up. You get a lot of small things in here, such as the fine hair brush to clean the keyboard, the matching wooden (or leather) palm rest, extra keycaps for the dual OS support, and, let's not forget, the relatively humongous 5000 mAh battery that allows for the longest wireless mechanical keyboard battery life I have had to date. There is white backlighting as well for when you need or want it, and Bluetooth connectivity worked flawlessly here in a variety of test environments where I took this 75% form factor keyboard along in the cloth bag that also came in the box. Many a comment was passed by people who saw it, and no doubt this is part of the reputation AZIO wants to build.

It is, at its core, a keyboard in the end. A potentially more ergonomic and efficient one, especially with the pre-programmed secondary functions, but an expensive keyboard. I still am not a fan of the relatively flat typewriter-style keycaps employed here, and perhaps your mileage may vary. The provided two spare feet do help somewhat, but there is simply not enough support for my fingers on the keyboard compared to most others, and this remains a common complaint I have had for such keyboards in the past. It may not be for you, in which case that is great since there is definitely a lot to look at here, but that price point does make it hard to recommend for people who want more than just a talking point. There are enough things AZIO has here very few have, to where I will give them our new Innovation award, especially as a result of going with more material options than simply plastic or metal, and also not shying away from adding in a decently sized battery inside!