Closer Examination

As with the stock title image, the first look at the Hexgears Gemini Dusk is one of a clean, nondescript keyboard. It is when holding it in hand that you feel the difference from the norm. It weighs over 1 kg, but is low in profile, so much so that it comes in at just ~35 mm tall, making this one of the lowest keyboards that doesn't market itself as one. Calling it a metal case and frame keyboard was also doing it injustice since it's all aluminium alloy and quite thick at that. The Gemini Dusk is black, so keep that in mind if you prefer white, in which case you should go with the Gemini Dawn. Both are TKL form factor keyboards in the US ANSI layout, giving you 87 keys of goodness. Notice also the sandwich construction with a wrap-around plate/frame up top, a plastic diffuser as a layer in the middle, and then the thinner bottom case panel. This appears be a reverse construction pattern to most such keyboards thus, where you typically have a thicker case the keyboard and plate sit on.

Bezels are about average in size and feel smaller owing to the rounded corners. There is no visible branding on the keyboard in use. The keycaps follow the same trend in only having the general legends and no specific ones for other features you might be expecting. This is an open-source-supported keyboard through and through. Single legend placement is in the top center, and secondary legends are placed alongside at the top too. It would be a fair assumption then that we will see north-facing LEDs, and the backlighting will be more uniform at the top as well. The font is clean and well-sized, and these are actually a set of the well-known Tai-Hao PBT doubleshot keycaps, which is nice to see.


Flipping the keyboard around, we see the usual certification sticker in the middle that also tells us the keyboard was designed in Germany and the US, and manufactured in China. Eight screws on the back hold things together, and six long rubber pads on the top and bottom keep the keyboard from sliding around on the desk. There are also two slightly inset magnets at the top corner, and it is at this point that we see how the add-on foot/bar comes into play. You simply align the magnets, which stick together for an added elevation angle with continuous support along the length of the keyboard itself. This works well in practice since the keyboard is otherwise quite slim and flat, and there is no need for a wrist rest, either.


We have not one but two separate USB Type-C ports. Both allow you to connect the provided cable, so it is not an extra port for a USB device. Instead, these are for two cable-routing options depending on whether you are a left or right-handed mouse user, thus putting the keyboard cable further away from the mouse to minimize tangling. The cable itself is the usual 6' long and black to match the keyboard, with durable, braided sleeving. It needs an available USB Type-A port on your computer, and USB 2.0 will suffice for power and data alike.


A look at the side further confirms the low-profile nature of the keyboard, including the flat case profile itself without the add-on foot. The keycaps add to this by using the rarely seen Cherry profile, and the various rows are thus sculpted in a lower profile. They are the floating type owing to the case and frame design, and the included keycap puller works alright, as there is sufficient spacing between keycaps. I still maintain that Hexgears should have included better keycap pullers and switch remover tools, though. The stock keycaps are really good, using very thick PBT plastic (average wall thickness 1.5 mm) with seamless doubleshot injected primary and secondary legends that are associated with the US ANSI layout. The PBT is fairly smooth too, but nowhere near as much as from the likes of Akko and CORSAIR. As seen before, the doubleshot injected legends are backlighting compatible, too. I will mention that there are some spots where the backlighting is almost blocked off similar to the Ducky implementation of seamless doubleshot injection, but to a far less-egregious extent as you won't really notice it unless you get up close. You will see what I mean later on in the review.


The Hexgears Gemini Dusk and Dawn come in three switch options, all of which are Kailh BOX switches. This includes the BOX Red linear switch, BOX Brown tactile switch, and BOX White tactile and clicky switch to cover all three feedback mechanisms. I have the BOX Brown switches here, characterized by the brown cross-point stem for the Cherry MX style keycap compatibility. The BOX in the name is not for the box column around the stem, which merely adds some dust and spill resistance. In fact, the first-gen versions of these were infamous for cracking the inner surface of keycaps because these columns were too thick. Nay, the BOX is because of another reason we will get into on the next page. Larger keycaps still have the support bars from the doubleshot injection, which is kind of an Easter egg to me. They also use plate-mounted Cherry-style stabilizers which are lubed fairly well. The lubrication combined with the thicker PBT keycaps should help mitigate some of that mushiness typically associated with stabilizers of this style.


The Gemini Dusk also supports hot-swappable switches, and the provided tool is handy for removing one for a closer look at the switches and the 3-pin switch socket, as well as the SMD RGB LED associated with each switch for backlighting. Getting a closer look at the Kailh BOX Brown, it is an RGB-compatible 3-pin mechanical switch with a transparent top and opaque bottom housing, as well as a cutout and large diffuser for the LED underneath to shine light through and upward.