Introduction

Originative Co. is a very new company to the PC DIY industry, founded in 2012 and with a focus on the enthusiast mechanical keyboard community. But despite having been around for less than five years, it has gone from being a start-up to a trusted name and brand already. The people behind the company started off with keycap sets only and put their own twist on existing ones. It seemed only natural then that this very thought process was applied to their first keyboard as well - take a new product coming up in Asia, work with the developers, put your own twist on it, and sell it as part of yet another project. Enter then the SABER68, which you can also find referred to as the TADA68 (the original keyboard).


The SABER68 is a ~65% keyboard, if I may be so bold as to call it such. With so many different keyboard sizes and form factors coming up this past year, there really is no defined standard when it comes to anything that is not full size or TKL, and even there we have versions that add or remove some keys. The goal behind this keyboard was to develop a competitor to the excellent but rarely available and expensive Input Club WhiteFox, and it is clear where the key layout's inspiration has thus come from. The TADA68 can be purchased from various Chinese retailers, but what Originative Co. has done is to rebrand it as the SABER68, offer some neat accessories, and make it exclusive by offering their own MOD switches which can not be found elsewhere. So let us thank them for providing the review sample before taking a look at the specifications below.

Specifications

Packaging and Accessories

Originative Co. operates a web store in the USA and thus, we begin with a look at their shipping packaging. The keyboard arrived in a well-sized box with over an inch of space on all sides and sheets of bubble wrap on those sides surrounding the product box itself. No complaints here!


The cardboard box is of a simple design - black with golden lettering for the product name. They also make sure you understand this is a project by the company and that the product was not developed by them originally. On the side is a label with checked boxes for the configuration you have, although its available options are not accurate to the choices actually available - missing some and listing a few that aren't available at all.


Open the box and there is a second cardboard box inside which houses the keyboard, and the only accessory provided is the detachable cable that comes in a compartment on top. This particular cable is insulated in plastic, is the usual 6' long, and ends in a male mini-USB connector on one end and a male Type-A USB connector on the other. Granted, it is easier to use a mini-USB connector over a micro-USB one in my opinion, but it is still rated for less connections, so it was weird to see it used. Then again, I do not anticipate anyone connecting or disconnecting this thousands of times either. USB 2.0 will suffice here since there really is not much to power on the keyboard itself.