At this point I could close my eyes and randomly select a Varmilo keyboard knowing it will be some form of a themed keyboard executed well. This is to say the keyboard brand seems to have a winning formula on its hands on working with artists to get unique themes rendered on its keyboards, keycaps, and accessories alike. This time round we see the Crane of Lure theme that adopts a few different Chinese cultural elements into a cohesive theme which somehow manages to still be clean and attractive rather than busy looking and gaudy. Perhaps its the use of a relatively simple two-tone color scheme for the keyboard itself in the form of a dark green base and off-white alphas, with the five-sided dye sublimation used to get the designs and legends on thick PBT keycaps helping too. There's also the crucial part wherein Varmilo has also improved the base keyboard experience too from the last few times we've examined their themed keyboards. In particular, I do not miss the use of mini USB anymore and we get hybrid wireless connectivity on offer. There are also plenty of excellent electrostatic capacitive and mechanical switch options including an exclusive switch made just for this keyboard as well as manually chosen and tuned stabilizers in addition to using foam sheets to dampen keystrokes.

I will also give a shout out to the use of external AA batteries here which will no doubt interest many. It's a feature from keyboards that were made a few years ago and I can't help but appreciate it from a longevity and ease of use aspect. It may not result in the cleanest looking or thinnest keyboard but then again this is a full-size mechanical keyboard anyway! Ultimately this is just that—a keyboard to type on with minimal gimmicks/features on top. There's no key mapping or any kind, no RGB LEDs or lighting effects, no hot-swappable switches, no OLED screens, no volume knobs—the list can go on! It comes down to whether you like the design of the keyboard and are willing to pay the money for it, which is a fair chunk and then some. In return you will get a statement piece on your desk that can be expanded upon with the matching desk pad and mouse and the keyboard should certainly last for a long, long time with wired or wireless use. I just can't hand out any awards here because nothing really fits and I am not convinced the feature set alone merits a recommendation for everyone reading this review.