Introduction

So far 2024 is really shaping up to be the year of the Hall effect magnetic switch keyboards. We've seen entries from a lot of brands already, with everyone using these switches to showcase the customizable actuation point and near-instantaneous actuation, in addition to a generally smoother typing feel owing to the absence of moving parts in contact with one other. The great equalizer here is that currently there are very few magnetic switch manufacturers, unlike with mechanical switches that currently boast many factories churning out millions of switches annually. As such, differentiating your pre-assembled Hall effect keyboard can be hard, and you would have to resort to the rest of the keyboard to carve out a unique identity. Varmilo has a lot of experience doing exactly this, thanks to its team of artisans and engineers working together to put out keyboards that often resemble works of art. There are currently two Hall effect keyboards sold by the Chinese keyboard brand, and today we examine its latest.


I first saw the Varmilo Muse65 in person at Computex 2024, although it was mostly a quick visit of the entire booth since the brand seemingly did not have anyone who could speak English and was in the marketing side of things—unbelievable! The people there also seemed to think I was wanting to be a retailer for Varmilo despite my multiple attempts to convince them otherwise, to the point where even emails thereafter did not help. I had almost given up on further Varmilo keyboard reviews thus, but Mechkeys came to the rescue and offered me a pick of the five themes that the Muse65 keyboards is sold in. These five options differ in aesthetics only, with different themes and colorways for the keycaps and case alike. I have the Aurora version here, characterized by its colors aiming to mimic the Northern lights. The Muse65 is a wired-only keyboard that uses a full CNC-machined aluminium case, and aims to be one of the more premium such magnetic switch keyboards on the market today. Thanks to Mechkeys for providing a review sample to TechPowerUp, and we begin with a look at the product specifications in the table below.

Specifications