Summary and Conclusion

Prices

• The Epomaker Skyloong GK87 kit comes in black or white and costs $79 from the Epomaker webshop. There is also a GK87S with added Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity for $89.
• The MOMOKA Forest of Elves PBT keycap set costs $69.99 from the MOMOKA store.
• The MOMOKA Matsuri PBT keycap set costs $85.99 from the MOMOKA store.
• The MOMOKA Frog switches cost $58.99 for a boxed version of 108 switches from the MOMOKA store.
• The MOMOKA Flamingo switches are a new release and will cost $63 for a set of 110 switches from the MOMOKA store.

This is not a review as much as a retelling of my own experiences of building a keyboard that is more custom than the typical keyboard purchased from a retailer. There are far more customization options once you get on this slippery slope, and there are more planned in this series, which I hope to be ongoing to cover multiple product combinations.


No matter what you do with your keyboard build, make sure every single switch is working. This is especially important with hot-swappable switches since the metal contacts may be bent if not perfectly inserted into the socket. Simple tools, including those I use for my reviews, will help you test for key rollover and key chatter in addition to key actuation and recognition. For example, this GK87 adopts a standard 87-key TKL form factor with the R.Win replaced by an Fn key, as per usual. Everything else is as expected as well, and there is software support with the Epomaker GK6XPlus drivers for key mapping and macro assignment.


If the PCB supports lighting, as is the case here, it is a great and fast way to visually see whether all the contacts are working. It's also fun to see the individual switches light up, at least until you get to where these keycaps support no backlighting at all. Seen above are a couple of photos and a video of the setup that has the two keycap sets on either end and the two switches in the middle, which is the exact configuration used in the title image on the first page of this article. It also shows off the light diffusion built into the switches and how these keycaps turn the RGB lighting into just accent lighting once installed.

At first look, the entire combination may end up more expensive than buying a pre-built keyboard, but one would argue that gaming keyboards are already expensive compared to your bog-standard OEM membrane keyboard. There are functional benefits to going with a more expensive keyboard offering ergonomics and customization for the typing experience. This route is for those interested in the latter by using different switches, including perhaps on the same keyboard with, say, linear switches on WASD and tactile switches everywhere else. But make no mistake: The main reason for doing so is to customize the aesthetics to your preferences, and custom keycaps are the quickest way of going about it. A standalone case/PCB with different materials and color finishes takes one further down the rabbit hole, one others will now perhaps be tempted to head down as well.

In this case, the primarily goal was to get a better understanding of the MOMOKA Frog switches. It just so happened to coincide with the release of the MOMOKA Flamingo switches, and the company was happy to send along two of its keycap sets as well. The MOMOKA Frog switch is quite unlike your typical linear switch with a delayed actuation point, and the Flamingo goes back to a more typical force-travel curve but amps up the ante with a dual-section spring and three different lube applications out of the box. These are not cheap switches by any means, but the goal is for you to be happy with them and not have to mod further. I have covered more expensive switches in the past, including the Gateron Ink switches, and these do hang with the best of them in terms of material composition and quality control. The keycaps are a different thing entirely, offering two vastly different themes to choose from with the common ground being good build quality. The keyboard kit used here is good value for money in my opinion, and knowing there is a Bluetooth version for $10 more as well as a white version makes it even better. I would have liked to see sound-dampening foam in the case, although page three shows that adding some is fairly easy. Hopefully, this article adds more points of contention for your next keyboard, especially if you decide to go the custom keyboard route.