Closer Examination

As we saw before, the Mistel Q75 comes inside both a plastic hard cover and wax wrap to keep it free of dust and pristine out of the box. Removing it, we get our first good look at the keyboard, and I have the US ANSI version here. Mistel says the Q75 will be available in a few other language options, so that is already more than the typical such keyboard most people will struggle to find a native version for. The other thing to be aware of is that the Q75 comes in two different color options—Gloaming and Bunny—and I have the latter here. The differences are subtle, with a warmer color for the alphabet and no orange keycaps on the arrow keys compared to the Gloaming option, but why these are named such is best asked of Mistel itself. This is mostly a two-tone color scheme keyboard with a single orange accent in the form of the space bar. It would have been nice to see a replacement keycap to make it fully two-tone.

The Q75 is a compact thing otherwise, coming in at 311 x 121 mm and making most TKL keyboards seem quite large by comparison. This comes about by having a single bank of keys, which is because the right side of the keyboard is modified from the standard ANSI layout to allow for arrow keys and a few others from the Ins-Pg Dn cluster to all come together. Notice the smaller R.Shift key, for example, as well as the three 1u-sized keys on the right of the space bar. The 75% form factor adds dedicated Fn keys to the 65% keyboards we have seen recently, and with this also comes space for a couple of extra keys on top. It's about average when it comes to mass for such keyboards due to the high profile ABS plastic case. Bezels are minimal and branding is kept to a minimum with just the Q75 seen on the front facing the user.

A weird gap up top hosts the USB receiver for the 2.4 GHz connection and has three indicator LEDs integrated into the housing. This breaks up the monotony, with the keycaps themselves very well made. We see secondary legends above the primary ones, and all legends, including the single ones, are biased towards the left. There is no backlighting anyway, so this placement is not that practical. The legends contrast nicely with the base, but could have been larger. One thing I would like to see improved is Mistel giving a better clean to the assembled keyboard, which still had some remnants from the keycap molds and even random plastic bits from the case. It takes away from the thus far otherwise good experience, and reminds you this is not a larger outfit.


Flipping the keyboard around, we see the usual certification sticker in the middle, but placed lower and slightly more offset than usual. Four rubber pads along the corners add friction against the resting surface. Surprisingly, there are no keyboard feet to further elevate the keyboard. This means you are stuck with the pre-set elevation built into the case, and there is no real reason not to have keyboard feet with a plastic case. What we do see is a cutout for the dedicated on/off switch of the keyboard in wireless connectivity mode, which is a nice addition.


Instead of going with an integrated Li-ion battery pack, Mistel opted for replaceable AAA batteries in a separate compartment. A plastic cover goes on top to keep things clean, and the two included non-rechargeable batteries work like a peach to get you going. I still recommend going with some NiMH rechargeable batteries if you plan on making the Mistel Q75 your primary keyboard for long daily sessions. We saw the switch on the back handy for the wireless option and now get a closer look at the slot on the front for the USB dongle, which the accompanying cap covers when taken out. I would have still preferred it on the back, but it is a fairly novel implementation for indicator LEDs on the front without just them taking up an entire 1u key spacing.


Wired connectivity comes in the form of a slightly recessed Type-C port on the side facing away from the user. Routing channels have been cut into the case on the back, but somewhere along the way, Mistel lost the plot entirely with the shallow inset not deep enough for the included cable to be tightly bent to fit into these channels. The cable is thus going to have an ugly loop if going with either side channels, and there will be plenty of stress and strain to where I would just go straight out and forget these channels even exist. What a shame, but it's not a deal breaker because of the smaller footprint and there being enough room on the right for the mouse cable to come out and not tangle with the keyboard cable, either. A spare USB 2.0 Type-A port is all you need on your PC—the Mistel Q75 is not demanding on system resources.


As with your average mechanical keyboard, Mistel uses an OEM keycap profile with six sculpted, angled rows. The case is also fairly high in profile, with the bottom still ~23.5 mm tall. This is where the included wrist rest comes in handy, which makes the absence of keyboard feet somewhat more amenable. The included keycap puller works adequately enough, with the top having plenty of grip, but also the potential to scratch the keycap sides. The stock keycaps are quite good, with walls that are an average of 1.48 mm thick and made out of PBT plastic to resist shine from finger oils over time. The legends are doubleshot injected onto the plastic base, and the keycaps look and feel great, but lack backlighting support of course, which is a bit of a shame even if irrelevant on the Q75 as it does not have any backlighting at all. The keyboard doesn't have the highest aftermarket keycap compatibility owing to the form factor, so the stock keycaps go a long way in making the purchasing decision here.


There are seven switch options for the Mistel Q75, all of which are Cherry MX switches in the form of the MX Red, Brown, Blue, Black, Silent Red, Clear, and Speed (Silver). I have the MX Brown switches on my sample, which are the older style with the opaque housing in the absence of any lighting. The larger keycaps use plate-mounted stabilizers and are factory lubed, which mitigates the somewhat mushy experience otherwise associated with these. But the lube is not evenly or uniformly applied, with some cases going overboard. This is once again a case of Mistel going 95% of the way but not fully executing the job.