Closer Examination

The GamaKay LK75 is a 75% form factor keyboard, although it might well be considered an 80% keyboard given it has 83 keys on board. This is very similar to the 87 keys in the TKL (tenkeyless) form factor of the same US ANSI layout meaning you only lose out on four keys in total—Insert, Print Screen, Scroll Lock, Pause/Break. I'd say this is not bad at all considering what you do get in return and there isn't enough room for an extra column of keys on the right either. This is slightly narrower than a TKL keyboard thus with average-sized bezels throughout aside from that bump above the arrow keys we will get to shortly. The off-white color scheme is complemented by white keycaps but here we see these are clearly designed with Adobe Photoshop in mind. You get the various Photoshop keyboard shortcuts already printed for an easy cheat sheet to increase your editing productivity but this is a very weird choice to go all-in. What about the vast majority of users who couldn't care less about Photoshop? GamaKay would have done better by offering a simpler stock set of keycaps and this as an option for those interested. The orange accents would have worked fine but, combined with all the text and symbols throughout, the keyboard ends up looking quite busy. The standout feature is still the large volume knob on the top right corner which has an integrated screen inside though!


Turning the keyboard around, we see a two-piece ABS plastic case used to house the GamaKay LK75. The mystery about why this smaller plastic case keyboard weighed about the same as some metal case keyboards was also solved as I saw an integrated weight plate on the back with the brand logo and certification stickers. It's not the best use of the surface but makes for a solid feeling keyboard with a feature you typically see in much more expensive products. There are five long rubber pads at the top and bottom to help add friction against the resting surface and GamaKay also provides two sets of keyboard feet at the top, each with rubber bottoms, for a total of three elevation steps to choose from.


Continuing the theme of neat but not perfectly executed, we see that bump above the arrow keys is actually an enclosure to hold the 2.4 GHz USB dongle. Why this was not placed on the back or the side somewhere I have no idea. At least there are magnets to prevent the dongle from escaping and being lost forever since that plastic latch isn't the most secure thing in the world. The dongle is pre-paired to the keyboard and provides one of the wireless connections on offer, with the other being Bluetooth. There is a dedicated on/off switch on the side facing away from the user to help turn on the battery and have the keyboard connect wirelessly with the accompanying USB Type-C port aiding with wired connectivity as well as to charge the battery inside. The cable is thick and has a durable rubber sleeve that somewhat matches the off-white case of the keyboard, is the usual 6' in length, and goes to an available USB Type-A port on your PC where USB 2.0 (USB 3.2 Gen 1) will suffice for power and data alike. The heavy duty connectors are nice though!


A look from the side shows the built-in elevation of the keyboard, which I would classify as medium profile and can maybe benefit from a wrist rest if you are not used to touch typing with hands hovering over the keys at all times. The provided keycap puller helps remove some of the keycaps for a closer examination, without scratching their sides as with the plastic ring-style cheaper keycap pullers I usually see in the price range of this keyboard. Now we find out that GamaKay is using the rarely seen MDA keycap profile here with the six rows contoured accordingly. This is a set of sculpted top surface keycaps similar to the SA profile which allows for your fingers to be more naturally placed in the center of the keycaps for support and to minimize any wobbling when typing. It's not as tall as the SA profile though so I can see this being a good option for those who were curious about sculpted keycaps. The keycaps are made of thick PBT plastic (average wall thickness 1.35 mm) with dye-sublimed legends on the top for durability and longevity alike. These are opaque and thus the LEDs present on the keyboard will be for accent lighting only.


The LK75 has seven GamaKay-branded switches to choose from. Three are silent (Phoenix, Griffin, Pegasus) whereas the other four belong to the GamaKay planet series (Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars). These are different takes on linear and tactile feedback switches so there is no clicky switch in case this is a dealbreaker for you. This review sample comes with the GamaKay Pegasus switch which is a silent tactile switch and they are placed in a south-facing configuration for increased keycap compatibility even if that does mean the wording on the top now faces the other way. Note the silicone sheet as well as a PET positioning sheet placed to better support and dampen your keystrokes. The larger keycaps use plate mounted stabilizers which come lubed well out of the box.


The switch remover tool is handy to remove the hot-swappable switches off the PCB where we see the use of 5-pin hot-swap sockets allowing you to customize the switches on a per-key basis as needed while also providing increased compatibility with all such Cherry MX-style mechanical switches. Removing a switch also gives a closer look at the GamaKay Pegasus switch by itself, which is a 3-pin switch that has a clear top housing to aid with RGB lighting, a light gray opaque bottom housing, and a dark blue cross-point stem that also has columns around it for added dust and spill resistance.