Nerdytek’s CYKEY Keyboard Is Ideal For Gamers And Tech Nerds

There are so many mechanical keyboards on the market right now and many of them are aimed at gamers who need a high-performance keyboard that can be customized to give them the edge when playing competitive games online. Many gamers choose wired mechanical keyboards to ensure they have the most responsive performance without the lag that can often dog Bluetooth keyboards.

I am reviewing a German mechanical keyboard from the German company nerdytek this month. This is a wired keyboard without any wireless connectivity. The layout is 81-key, 75% ANSI, with as compact a footprint as possible without doing away with the essential keys gamers need. The CYKEY comes factory-fitted with Gateron G Pro 3.0 Yellow linear switches with south-facing RGB LEDs and shine-thru keycaps.

The hot-swappable switches can be swapped for any MX-compatible switches from manufacturers like Gateron or Cherry. If you want a more clicky sound or a silent feel, it’s easy to change those switches and set the keyboard up to suit you. I like the Gateron Yellow switches, but many gamers love Red, Blue or Brown versions.

The RGB backlights on the CYKEY offer customizable lighting with up to 30 effects, which can alter the animation speed along with brightness levels and color settings. I’m not a massive fan of RGB keyboards, but because the CYKEY can set its LEDs to a single color and given a steady backlight state, I found it very useful for typing in low light levels.

Those Gateron Yellow switches are up there with Cherry for their responsiveness and with a polling rate of 1000kHz, the CYKEY is incredibly agile and responds immediately to key presses with a feeling of absolute precision. However, life isn’t all fun and games and for those who may want to work with this keyboard, the CYKEY has three slope settings, making it perfect for typing documents. The keycaps have a smooth finish but feature sufficient grip to enable accurate touch typing. The keyboard is as good for spreadsheets and documents as for playing games.

The CYKEN has a row of a dozen Function keys, which can also double up as multimedia keys for Macs and PCs. With the CYKEY there’s no need to reprogram the key settings because pressing Fn + 6 or 7 puts the keyboard into Windows or macOS modes. In addition to the multimedia key functions, the CYKEY also has a volume knob next to the F12 key that adjusts the host computer’s sound output and even mutes the speakers when pressed.

At the right side of the keyboard, there is a vertical line of three keys labeled Home/End, Del/Ins and PgUp/PgDn. Any of these keys can be removed and replaced with a second rotary switch and knob that ships with the keyboard. Depending on which key it is used to replace, that rotary switch and knob can provide direct control over screen brightness levels, zooming and even desktop switching.

The precise effect of the second knob depends on the operating system you are using, but I can’t recall ever seeing anything quite like it on any other mechanical keyboard. Plenty of keyboards feature a volume knob, but being able to customize and replace a second keycap and switch with a knob is new to me.

The CYKEY also ships with spare switches, a switch puller, a cable and keycaps with legends for both Windows and macOS computers. I don’t know why all keyboard manufacturers don’t ship keyboards for dual systems. The extra keycaps cost pennies and yet to leave them out excludes lots of potential customers. Let’s see more keyboards with macOS keycaps, especially as Apple’s keyboards are expensive and lacking in choice.

Gamers are notorious for wanting to customize their rigs, so the nerdytek CYKEY keyboard has a QMK chipset onboard. It can be reprogrammed using VIA software or the VIA website with Google’s Chrome browser. Using VIA, you can easily reprogram any key, build macros or assign special functions to individual buttons and program the CYKEY to be a personalized keyboard.

Verdict: The nerdytek CYKEY is a mechanical keyboard that grows on you the more you use it. The CYKEY is a customizable keyboard and the switches and keycaps can be changed to suit your taste. If the legends on the keys wear off or the switches malfunction, they can be changed in seconds. This keyboard could be with you for a long time. The CYKEY’s responsiveness, wide range of lighting effects, and fully programmable QMK firmware make it a natural choice for gamers. There’s very little to criticize about this keyboard and it offers excellent value for money. Recommended.

Pricing & Availability: The nerdytek CYKEY gaming keyboard is available now and costs €129.99 plus shipping.

More info: www.nerdytek.com

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