Closer Examination

The Epomaker EP75 is an 82-key, 75% form factor keyboard using a modified US ANSI layout. This means we get six rows of keys including the Fn row and the vast majority of the functionality of an 87-key TKL keyboard given this is only missing out on Menu, Print Screen, Scroll Lock, Pause/Break, and Insert as far as dedicated keys go. The right side of the keyboard has staggered sections still, although not enough to where R.Shift as well as the three keys to the right of the space bar are shorter than usual. The staggered spacing allows for the arrow keys to be more easily located when touch typing as well as making room to add in indicator LEDs to the left of the Home-Pg Dn column. The keyboard itself is predominantly white in color with a mix of white and blue for the keycaps that are taken from Epomaker's Pampas keycap set, which in turn is inspired from the Argentinian plains and ocean shorelines. It does make for a refreshing colorway in a market full of monochrome keyboards and the larger keycap legends further help visually distinguish the EP75 from the norm. The keycap legends are centrally placed and have secondary legends above the primary ones as applicable. The keyboard uses an ABS plastic chassis with a diffusing section in the middle going all around it for accent/side-lighting, and the smaller-than-average-sized bezels further help with space savings on your desk.


Turning the keyboard around shows more of the ABS plastic case that has three separate pieces in itself. There is a label in the middle with certification info for the keyboard and we see a natural inclination built into the keyboard that gets further options via two sets of keyboard feet at the top. These feet come with rubber pads at the bottom to help prevent them from sliding down easily and the keyboard itself has four more pads at the corners.


A cutout on the back allows access to a dedicated on/off slider switch which is always good to see on wireless keyboards. That said, perhaps the cutout could have been tighter in placement given it currently has room on the right towards off despite the actual switch having come to a full stop already. There is also a push-to-release magnetic holder on the back side facing away from the user which holds a low-profile USB dongle for 2.4 GHz connectivity. This allows for the dongle to always be stored in the keyboard when not in use, and the on/off switch ultimately allows you to go between wired and wireless modes. The expected Type-C port is also placed on the same side facing away from the user and accessed via a cutout in the middle diffuser plastic section. You can use any aftermarket Type-C cable here should the stock one not catch your fancy, although at least it is white in color to better match the keyboard. The stock cable is otherwise on the plainer side using a simple rubber sheath, is the usual 6' in length, and requires an available USB Type-A port on your PC where USB 2.0 will suffice for power and data alike.


A look from the side shows the built-in elevation of the keyboard, which I would classify as medium-high profile without the keyboard feet used. Part of this is due to the use of Epomaker's own new keycap profile it calls ESA, which has an angled and spherical top surface similar to SA although not as tall or aggressively contoured. The spherical nature of the keycaps naturally directs your fingers towards the middle which also helps minimize wobble in use. The provided keycap puller can be useful to help remove the keycaps for closer examination without risking scratching their sides as with a cheaper plastic ring-style puller, and the non-floating nature of the keycaps makes it hard to pull them out with just your fingers in the first place. These keycaps are made of thick PBT plastic (average wall thickness 1.35 mm) with doubleshot-injected legends that are opaque as a design choice. This means that any LEDs present on the keyboard will not be used for backlighting and only for aesthetics via accent lighting. The injection marks are present on the underside and this makes for cleaner looking and feeling keycaps too.


There are three switch options for the Epomaker EP75 in the form of Epomaker's own first-party Flamingo (linear) and Budgerigar (tactile) switches in addition to the Gateron Pro Yellow linear switches I have on this sample. This means that two of three feedback mechanisms are covered already. The larger keycaps get plate mounted stabilizers that are factory lubed to a decent standard. It helps cut down the potential mushy feedback on the space bar key in particular but ultimately the pricing of the keyboard will dictate whether these will be good enough for the money.


The provided switch remover tool allows for easier removal of the switches to take a closer look at both the Gateron Pro Yellow switch as well as the 5-pin switch socket that allows for customers to go with their own Cherry MX-style switches here should these not be to their desire. I would still suggest trying them out, especially given these are deliberately chosen by Epomaker to be used in this keyboard. These are 3-pin RGB switches with a clear top housing and a yellow-colored cross-point stem that gives it the name. The Pro versions are newer and differ from the previous standard yellow and "milky" yellow switches in being factory-lubed while also coming out of molds with tighter tolerances. Examining the hot-swap switch socket also reveals north-facing SMD RGB LEDs associated with each switch.