Closer Examination

As we saw before, the Hexgears Impulse comes inside a foam wrap, but there is another plastic cover on top for further protection to help keep the keyboard pristine and free of dust out of the box. The keyboard itself employs a curved metal plate/frame that allows for a change from the usual blocky rectangular design for most such keyboards, with an especially beveled edge at the front that also has the Hexgears logo facing outward at the top-left corner. The pudding keycaps on this version provide for a contrast against the predominantly black color scheme, and the entire keyboard has a monochromatic finish. This is a standard 104-key ANSI layout keyboard with average-sized bezels overall and smaller bezels on the sides and larger bezels up top and at the bottom.

The indicator LEDs are in the top-right corner, above the numpad. Secondary legends are placed underneath the primary ones in the numpad section and alongside the primary ones in the alphanumeric section, which have keyboard-specific tertiary legends below instead. Single legend placement is top center, and all this hints at LEDs underneath being biased towards the top as well. The legends are doubleshot injected in a looped manner, which has been the norm for all such implementations from everyone but Ducky (and their customers) and CORSAIR. Overall, this is a keyboard that will fit into a variety of environments well, be it at work or home.


Flipping the keyboard around, we see the usual sticker for certification and the serial number in the middle. Two large rubber pads on the bottom corners also add friction against the resting surface and prevent scratches to the plastic case. We also see two feet at the top, each with two optional elevation stages, and each stage has rubber lining on the bottom as seen above. The case also has a built-in cable-routing channel, which is used by default for the non-detachable cable.


This cable extrudes through the middle of the front facing away from the user and attaches to an available USB Type A port on your PC. USB 2.0 will suffice for power and data even with all the lighting onboard, although there really is no lack of USB 3.1 Gen 1 these days. The connector is gold-plated to add oxidation resistance.


The Hexgears Impulse uses the tried and tested OEM profile with the keycaps. It consists of the usual slanted rows and concave surfaces on top, and the provided keycap puller works fine in having a nice base to hold on to when removing individual keycaps for replacement or keyboard maintenance. This particular version comes with the pudding-style PBT keycaps (average wall thickness 1.36 mm) that have a black top surface where the doubleshot-injected legends are seen and the rest of the keycap wall is composed of the white plastic that allows for more diffused light to pass through. This allows for a bigger light show in practice, as seen in one of the test images above. The keyboard-specific legends are unfortunately not doubleshot injected and will wear out sooner than the rest, while also not being translucent to backlighting. This is the only blemish to what is otherwise a really good stock keycap set, with the other option being a two-tone doubleshot PBT set that looks good too.


There are 2–3 switch options with the Impulse depending on which store you go with: Kailh BOX Brown, Kailh BOX White, and Hako Clear (from Kono Store only as far as I can tell). All switches are RGB-compliant, having a clear housing and LEDs underneath for backlighting. This sample has the Kailh BOX White switches at my preference, and Cherry-style stabilizers with wires are used on the larger keycaps, which helps with their removal for cleaning or even swapping for included replacement keycaps. The thick PBT does mitigate that mushy feeling associated with these stabilizers somewhat, resulting in a heavier feel that is great to type on generally. The keyboard design and construction, combined with the use of BOX switches, makes for the IP56 dust and spill resistance rating for some protection against potential mishaps.

Notice also the different switch used on the space bar key? It has a blue stem and outer housing as opposed to the white on the BOX White switches elsewhere. This is in fact a different switch in that it has a slightly stiffer spring, and it is done on purpose to match the same press feel with the heavier space bar key (especially given users tend to use their thumbs with more force for the space bar) compared to the other switches. It is still a tactile and clicky switch, working well in that regard.