I wasn't sure what to expect going into this review of the James Donkey RS2, and came out with mixed feelings at the end. The very first thing you'd notice is the retro color scheme combined with an angular chassis design, and you go in expecting this would be a heavy keyboard only to be surprised at how light it is. Then there's the inclusion of two features that seem to be popping up everywhere now in the form of a volume wheel/knob on the top right corner as well as a gasket-mount design. The former is self-explanatory and works well here with even a pause/play function integrated to go with the other pre-programmed shortcuts on the Fn key layer to improve your user experience.

The gasket mount implementation, however, is less than ideal considering the use of cheap, soft, thick foam that barely holds the plate down with applied pressure and comes out of the inserts too. There's a similar foam insert which James Donkey calls "cotton" between the FR4 plate and the PCB which does a better job in dampening the keystrokes to the point where I don't think you should go in expecting anywhere close to a proper gasket mount implementation here as opposed to just a foam-dampened one. This is one of several compromises along the way, including plastic ring-style keycap pullers, inconsistency in the legend design, no key mapping options, and an odd decision to go with a dedicated Calculator key when there were others more fitting for this 99-key form factor.

Still, the main takeaway here is that $79 makes this a keyboard certainly worth considering. It's quite hard to think of keyboards offering hybrid wireless connectivity at this price, let alone one with the other features listed. Having hot-swappable switches is also nice—especially with genuine Gateron 5-pin sockets and switch options to go—and I'd certainly go for the full keyboard at $79 over the kit at $69. The keycaps may be opaque but fit the keyboard aesthetic very well and even have the board-specific secondary legends printed on them. I also appreciated that James Donkey went and included a matching cable too in a move so many keyboard brands ignore when it comes to themed-keyboards. Overall, I am happy enough to recommend the James Donkey RS2, but you should be aware of the very specific feature set here before making your decision.