Gamakay K87 – mechanical keyboard with unearthly backlighting

I get the impression that the most popular keyboard size among gamers these days is the 80% TKL format. Gamakay in its offer has a certain keyboard proposal for someone who requires a white keyboard with amazing backlighting just in this size. In addition to these aspects, we get great switches from Gateron, which many companies choose to use in their products, including Krux, which hails from the Polish market. Two variants of this keyboard are available, the K87, which is the 80% TKL version (without the number block), and the K66, which is the 60% size variant.

Specification:

Switches: Gateron Yellow, variants with brown, red switches are also available, and it is possible to find black and blue switches.
Hot-swappable: Yes
Number of buttons: 87
Housing material: Acrylic
Housing type: Open construction
Button material: ABS, Doubleshot
Cable: USB Type-C 3.1, Detachable, 1.8m long
Software: none
Backlighting: Switches and all around the case
The ability to change the backlight: Yes, exact shortcuts later in the review.
N-Key Rollover: Ability to activate all buttons simultaneously.
Weight: 810g
Dimensions: 367mm x* 138mm * 30mm
Price: ~300PLN


As for the packaging, it’s a plain brown cardboard small box, with no unnecessary decorations or contents. Inside, besides the keyboard itself, you will find the following:
-USB-A to USB-C cable
-Keycap puller
-Papierrology
-A small brush to clean the keyboard

Design and illumination:

There is no doubt that Gamakay K87 shows us what good backlighting in a keyboard should look like. Not only are the buttons backlit, but they’ve implemented this throughout the keyboard using a translucent material. We get full RGB with a palette of 16.8million colors combined with as many as 18 backlighting modes for the buttons themselves, and 6 backlighting modes for the case, allowing us many combinations.

The RGB itself as far as contrast is concerned I am able to rate at a decent level. Particularly praiseworthy is the fact that the backlighting of this keyboard handles the color white quite well, which is a defect we can find in most keyboards where the white approaches more of a purple color. A pleasant flavor is that the previously used backlight mode does not reset when we unplug the keyboard from the power supply. The LEDs used seem to be durable, due to how long I’ve owned it. It’s been 3 years since I acquired the Gamakay K87, and so far, after hours of sessions, the backlight works like out of the box.

Keycaps:

The included keycaps for the Gamakay K87 are ABS doubleshots. Expanding on this, it is a thermoplastic polymer with a low melting point. This keycap technology is often used and cheaper to produce comparing to PBT technology. Thanks to the ABS solution, keycaps themselves have a smooth surface and look neat. Unfortunately, like everything – they have a certain disadvantage. Because of their softness (due to, among other things, the aforementioned low melting temperature), they are much more prone to abrasion after prolonged use. This leads to “shining” and a slight stickiness of the surface. A good example is macbook users who are affected by this problem. Nevertheless, in my case such a situation did not occur, and the keycaps themselves in the set seem to have a decent build quality and have an appropriate thickness.

Switches:

The manufacturer in the Gamakay K87 decided to rely on Gateron switches, giving the variants yellow, red, brown, blue and black (the latter two are already less common). Personally, I’m glad that they decided to use them in this keyboard. I own the yellow variant at my place. These are linear switches, which means that they have a smooth and consistent action, without the feeling of key presses and a recoil when a key is pressed. Such switches work well in just about any application. Going from gaming to office typing, linear are the most common type of switches, although it should be kept in mind that everyone has different preferences. Here it would already be a good idea to try and compare linear, clicky or tacticle switches yourself. Not a few people nevertheless prefer to feel how the switches press and bounce .

As for my opinion, I really liked their smooth operation, which is especially suitable for longer sittings in front of the computer. The differences between the “colors” are mainly due to the weight of the pressure needed for activation and their volume. Below you will find a table that presents these differences in more detail. On it you can see that the blue variant is not a linear switch, but a clicky one.

Stabilizers:

In this aspect, we enter a slippery slope. The stabilizers here are not among the best, or even average. At this price, you can definitely expect something better. Many competing companies have taken care of the stabilizers in their keyboards noticeably better. In the K87 we can experience Gamakay’s sloppiness right out of the box. The stabilizers themselves crackle and do a poor job of stabilizing the keycaps. Personally, I consider this the biggest drawback of this keyboard. Fortunately, thanks to the hot-swap, we are able to replace them quite easily, should it bother someone a lot. After such an operation we will noticeably improve the experience of using this keyboard. Replacing the stabilizers in itself is not a hard process. An inexperienced person could easily cope with it assisted by some tutorial.

And what does it look like from underneath?

When we turn this keyboard upside down, a practically flat plastic board appears. There are a couple of screws that will allow us to unbolt the keyboard and 4 anti-slip rubber bands. The ones on the back of the keyboard are higher, and the ones on the front are lower, resulting in a marginal tilt of the keyboard toward the user. The entire PCB layout also shines through the acrylic. Nonetheless, should we want to disassemble the keyboard (for example, to replace the stabilizers), access to this is trivial.

Controls and function keys:

To control the backlight, we need to use the following combinations:
Case: FN + Left CTRL
Keys: FN + Ins/Home/PgUp/Del/End/PgDn
Brightness and direction: FN + arrows

Besides these, there are also function keys:
Fn-F1: File Explorer
Fn-F2: e-mail
Fn-F3: Search (in browser)
Fn-F4: New browser
Fn-F5: Music player
Fn-F6: start/pause (Also works with at least Spotify)
Fn-F7: Previous song
Fn-F8: Next song
Fn-C: Calculator
Fn-M: Mute
Fn-‘,”: Mute
Fn-‘,”. : Louden

As you can see, everything on this keyboard is managed by shortcuts. Unfortunately, with the Gamakay K87, we don’t get any meaningful software here, which would at least allow you to assign other desired actions to some key combination. This can also be considered a drawback, although I personally find it unnecessary.

Unpopular offer

When making the purchase of this keyboard, I was actually packing into the unknown. It was not a popular offering on the Polish market. The acrylic, that is, in truth, plastic casing already at the start gives us the idea that the build quality is simply poor. Also, those mediocre stabilizers…. they could have at least done a little better with them. There often has to be a compromise. The acrylic case gives us nice backlighting and presentation on the desk at the expense of a flexible design. And the weak stabilizers? Arguably, this affects the price. Besides, more and more manufacturers are choosing to at least add lubrication to the switches. Here, unfortunately, we can’t expect that, so we have another disadvantage as on a platter. In addition, we do not get any software, the keyboard is based strictly on the plug and play principle. Because of this, we don’t have the possibility to program any macros, or any influence on the expansion of the keyboard’s capabilities. It should also be borne in mind that on a white keyboard all dirt will be much more visible.

To sum up

All in all, the K87 has its pluses, which are nevertheless far fewer than the minuses. The backlighting is simply unearthly. So far I haven’t encountered better RGB among keyboards. I know that by now many people like the lights, so looking through this argument, buying this keyboard is an interesting experience. Another advantage is the gaterony yellow switches, which deliver smooth typing and pleasant use. By themselves, they are quite quiet, so we don’t have to worry about waking up someone in the next room, much less a neighbor. You can always lubricate them additionally to make them even smoother and quieter on their own. The keycaps can be forcefully pulled up under a possible advantage. They are simply ok, although it should be borne in mind that after a long time some may experience abrasion of their surface. The hot-swap feature is also useful. It gives us the possibility to change the switches to other switches. Both 3-pin and 4-pin switches are supported.

Is it worth it?

I think it is always worth asking yourself this question before buying. There have been a lot of keyboards on the market in the past few years. The gaming market has grown incredibly, so the demand for peripherals has also increased. It is known that how many people, so many requirements, and manufacturers provide enough proposals that there is something for everyone. Personally, as a person who likes RGB, I decided to take a risk with the purchase of Gamakay K87. Despite the huge disadvantage of stabilizers, questionable workmanship and having tried more than one keyboard, I decided to stay with it for a long while. Such a white keyboard with an explosion of backlighting decorates my desk nicely, and this was one of the more important aspects for me 3 years ago. In addition, gaterony yellow switches – for such a relatively cheap keyboard, I just consider them a hit. I haven’t used any keyboard so far, especially considering that I spend a lot of time in front of the computer.

If someone is looking for a white, very striking retrofit for their desk, I think the K87 is a keyboard worth considering. At the end of the day, the market for gaming equipment is so vast nowadays that I would definitely find something even better for ~£300, but without such visual impact. If I were to buy a keyboard for my own use again at the moment, I would definitely not consider this one. I would simply look around for something with the same or similar switches. Nevertheless, I consider my acquisition of this keyboard a positive experiment. Finally, such a hint, this keyboard is often on promotions, it is worth following them.

See also: AirPods Pro 2 USB-C – couldn’t this have happened right away?