Lighting and Performance

The LUMINKEY Magger68 Pro HE supports N-key rollover USB, which tested successfully using Aqua's test. Switch Hitter confirmed no chatter with these keys either, and seen above are all the functions with dedicated keys on the base layer. This keyboard has 68 keys and the base layer is fairly typical of a 65% keyboard. There is no Fn row thus, and the adoption of Tilde, Delete, Page Up, and Page Down are sensible among the options available. As usual, R. Win is replaced by the Fn key which is used for the Fn layer itself. Going with shorter keys to the right of the space bar also means LUMINKEY was able to fit three modifiers there instead of the two that Varmilo did with the Muse65, thus giving us the extra key here in the form of R.Ctrl.


The Fn layer typically makes or breaks a smaller form factor keyboard, and the LUMINKEY Magger68 Pro HE does it well enough. Hold down the Fn key and now you get all these extra pre-programmed functions on the keyboard, be it the Fn keys on the top row as well as the other missing functions from a TKL keyboard in the form of Insert, Print Screen, Home, and End in addition to various shortcuts to facilitate your quality of life. These include volume and media playback controls, onboard controls over the LEDs, the ability to change over to a macOS layout, lock the Windows key, and even manually recalibrate the switches as needed if you change something and don't want to use the software to do so. There's even a shortcut to do a factory reset of the keyboard, which is always appreciated!


Seen above are some of the available lighting effects accessible via both onboard controls and software, with full 16.8 M RGB per-key lighting on offer. The keycaps being opaque does mean there is no backlighting on offer at all, and the LEDs just shine around the keycaps for accent lighting. As such, there's not much point in testing for light bleed here, and the different color themes also mean the accent lighting will behave differently depending on what you choose. That said, I noticed that going for brighter colors in the white/blue/yellow range made it far easier to see the keycap legends than, say, a dark red. Your mileage may vary on how useful this will be though, especially with those five translucent keycaps shining significantly brighter. I'd probably end up using the keyboard with the lights on in the room anyway, if only to not be distracted by the see-through keycaps. Given that LUMINKEY is marketing this keyboard to gamers, and that a lot of gaming is done in dimly lit conditions, going with opaque keycaps was not the best decision in my opinion. Color fidelity could be better too, with the LEDs set to white having a noticeable blue shade to them.


Magnetic switches have quickly become all the rage for gaming thanks to the inherent advantages they pose. For one, a well-calibrated sensor can detect actuation instantly, and faster than mechanical switches—whether you will perceive that difference is a different matter altogether. Second, since the sensor can detect the stem moving up and down very precisely, you can use the extent of travel to allow for various other functions. While the Magger68 Pro HE does not allow analog control, you can get rapid triggers, set up macros for travel points, and even have per-key control over actuation distance and associated force. This can make magnetic switches "faster" than mechanical switches thus, effectively making the speed switches from yesteryear quite redundant. There's also SOCD and associated functions, although we've discussed before how these may not be very effective in competitive games given how quickly they are being banned by game publishers and clients. Not having SOCD feels like a death sentence for HE keyboards these days though, and I saw interested customers inquire about SOCD on LUMINKEY's teaser social media posts about this keyboard too. Making use of these features is a whole other matter, especially given how most people will find themselves bottoming out these switches more often than not. The Gateron Magnetic Jade Pro switches have a rated initial force of 36 gf at 0.1 mm travel and peak force closer to 55 gf at 3.5 mm when the switch bottoms out, this is also why the actuation range here is limited to 3.3 mm. The actuation force will depend on where you set the actuation distance thus, although overall I would say this is a medium force switch. It's also the best full-size magnetic switch I have tried to date, with reduced wobble, less "sticky" feeling during rebound, and a smoother stem travel, with the typing feel bested only by Gateron's own low-profile Magnetic Jade Pro switches we saw in the NuPhy Air60 HE that have extremely stable switches while still offering an identical actuation range. Regardless, these switches will work quite nicely for FPS games, or just generally where you would have multiple keystrokes quickly, but it's less ideal for daily typing compared to a heavier linear switch, let alone tactile and clicky switches.


As always, the sound of a keyboard is based on more than just the switch type. So when comparing sound clips, consider the keyboard as a whole. In this case, I have provided above an example sound clip of me typing on the LUMINKEY Magger68 Pro HE keyboard sample at ~85 WPM as it comes out of the box with these Gateron Magnetic Jade Pro switches. For context, you can find sound clips from other keyboards here, including those with linear switches. I did bottom out constantly here for reasons aforementioned, and this also helps demonstrate how well damped this keyboard is. These are extremely smooth switches which helps of course, but they are complemented well by the silicone sheets used which make for a decidedly damped sound. The switches having a fully sealed bottom also helps minimize the chatter that a lot of magnetic switches have. There is some scope for improvement in the typing experience with the stabilizers though, I noticed some inconsistency which comes through in the recording too.