Introduction

In a recent review of a Redragon keyboard, I had noted how the company uses Hindu deity names for products, and how it was similar to GAMDIAS using Greek gods. That got me thinking about it having been a while since our last GAMDIAS keyboard review with the HERMES P2 RGB over three years ago. One thing led to another, and after browsing the GAMDIAS website and a couple of emails back and forth, here we are resuming coverage of the GAMDIAS brand. Thanks again to the company for sending a review sample to TechPowerUp!


The subject of this review is the HERMES M5, which was what I wanted to take a look at myself. GAMDIAS sent along another keyboard, which will be covered separately, and we can see that the HERMES M5 is a full-size keyboard with a color scheme different from basically anything else you may have expected from the brand. GAMDIAS calls the HERMES M5 a minimalist mechanical keyboard with a refreshing keycap colorway as well as matching backlighting and all on-board controls. Oh, and all this is supposedly at an attractive price too! Let's take a look at these claims in detail in our review that begins with a look at the product specifications in the table below.

Specifications

Packaging and Accessories

Packaging for the GAMDIAS HERMES M5 is quite similar to what we saw before with the HERMES P2 RGB, which is a good thing for brand recognition. It does admittedly look busy, with a lot going on even on the front. It is effectively in two parts, with a black background on the left that has the company logo and a large render of the keyboard and more of the same and the product name on the right, but on a white background. GAMDIAS somehow found even more text to add on the back in multiple languages, with another keyboard render greeting us here. To no one's surprise, there is yet more on the sides, along with a couple of seals that keep the contents in place during transit. There was a tear in the cardboard near the edge on my sample, but the contents inside were absolutely fine.


Opening the box, we see the keyboard inside a foam wrap and held in place between more cardboard on all sides for further protection. The keyboard cable is affixed and tucked away in a separate layer at the top. GAMDIAS also includes a plastic ring-style keycap puller, which is the only bundled accessory. The keycap puller is orange, which the GAMDIAS brand seems to like in general, but it can scratch the sides of keycaps when used. I am a bit confused over the lack of a product manual, especially since there are onboard controls. GAMDIAS does have a PDF of the manual on the website, and linked on the product page, but it is short enough to where I see no reason not to include even a single-page cheat sheet inside.