Introduction

Ever since I first got involved in the world of custom (think anything outside of OEM) keyboards, there have been three companies on my bucket list: Topre from Japan, Varmilo from China, and Leopold from Korea. I came close to the former with a Cooler Master keyboard review, and Leopold almost came through two years ago. Varmilo was a unicorn though, even after having visited them in person at Computex 2018 and Computex 2019. So you can imagine my surprise when I was contacted by them last year about bringing eyes on their latest switches, the electrostatic capacitive version 2 range (EC V2). The company's slogan is "keyboard artist," so there was no way I was covering their keyboards until I was reunited with my full camera setup. Here we are then to take a look at the first Varmilo entry in the TPU review database, and thanks again to the company for sending a review sample.


Varmilo is a Chinese company owned by Shenzhen Zhihaihe Technology Co., Ltd. and founded in 2012. They have within the last few years introduced special-themed designs for keyboards, going all the way from case to keycap and switch design. The company thus sought to showcase their new EC V2 switches on several of their themed keyboards to get the word out. One of these, and a very recent theme too, is Beijing Opera. Varmilo sought to celebrate the history of the Beijing Opera and Hanfu culture here, and this line comes in 65%, 80%, and 110% versions. We have here the TKL 80% (which some companies also call 85% or simply just tenkeyless) and will go through the keyboard and switches in detail in this review beginning with a look at the specifications below.

Specifications

Packaging and Accessories

There are two reasons to start with the shipping packaging, the first of which is that Varmilo also operates a web shop as a primary source of their keyboards for customers around the world. So taking a look at how the keyboard ships is critical, and here, we see a box of nearly the perfect size, with just enough space around the keyboard packaging to house two foam pieces that snugly hold it together from all sides. Secondly, a set of accessories is found here as opposed to inside the keyboard box. We do see the SKU sticker that confirms the keyboard inside, along with a smiley sticker that admittedly made me smile as well.


This unexpected set of accessories contains two replacement keycaps, the first of which is a 1u size keycap that has Scroll Lock on the front in English and "滾動" in Mandarin (Gǔndòng, which is Scroll) to tie back to the Beijing Opera theme. The second is a replacement Caps Lock key, although you would not be able to tell it from the "陰陽" seen here (Yīnyáng, exactly what you think it means). I suppose you can consider capital and small letters to be two sides of the same coin of sorts, but as we will see later, it is a deliberate choice. The legends are dye sublimed onto thick PBT plastic (red, 1.3 mm wall thickness) and have a small cutout with a lens towards the bottom of the top of the keycap to allow for LED lighting to shine through as Scroll/Caps Lock indicators on the keyboard.


We now get to the actual keyboard packaging itself, and begin to see the keyboard artist slogan at work already. Every single themed keyboard gets a unique design for the product box, as do custom versions depending on the size of the keyboard. This means spending resources on nearly every single SKU, which is so impractical that I can't help but be amazed and appreciative. Talk about a premium unboxing experience! There is a plastic wrap on the outside. Removing it, we get our hands on the matte cardboard packaging with the Beijing Opera theme throughout.

There is the typical opera heroine (depicted as the Chinese Element Girl) in a traditional Hanfu dress akin to what I have personally seen in a Beijing Opera performance and a depiction of the Lion Dance others here may have seen before as well. This design was done in collaboration with famous Chinese designer and illustrator Li Huan, with prominent red, white, and black colors, and I expect the same to continue throughout. On the front is written "阿米洛與「中國娘與花旦娘」聯名限定," which somewhat translates to "Amilo and Hua Culture Girls collaboration." The former comes from Varmilo itself, which is "Via Armilo" in Esperanto and means "the unique keyboard customized for you." The latter consists of a series of art works from the aforementioned artist, which include the dancer girl and lion designs. The design continues on the side as well, and the company contact information has been put on the back.


Side flaps and two double flaps in the middle keep the product box folded neatly, and opening them reveals that the design continues even here! At this point, things may start to become a bit more NSFW, but you see the keyboard right away inside a compartmentalized cardboard layer with accessories to the right. There is a tiny QC sticker in English and Mandarin here, and Varmilo also includes a keychain that comes in a soft foam wrap. The keychain with a white fabric lanyard houses one of their new electrostatic capacitive version 2 (EC V2) switches in a see-through housing and a custom keycap on top. The switch, which looks to be an EC V2 Sakura switch (45 gf actuation force, linear feedback) is a neat token to try out even before the keyboard itself. The keycap has the Varmilo logo on front and a performer's face in makeup on top.


We also see a metal-wire keycap puller, which I prefer over the plastic ring that can potentially scratch the sides of keycaps, with a grippy finish on one end that has the Varmilo logo on it. There is also a detachable keyboard cable, all black and with a bulky cap towards the client end. The cable goes from a male USB Type A connector to a male mini-USB connector, which is indicative of the use of mini-USB on the keyboard itself. The connectors are gold-plated for additional resistance to corrosion, and unfortunately, I do feel like this is a letdown in design compared to the rest of the packaging thus far. I would have liked a custom cable here, even if just sleeved in red and maybe coiled for a short section, since this cable feels like an OEM cable from a supplier, which is probably the case.


Underneath the keyboard is a folded bilingual pamphlet that serves as a warranty card and also houses a QR code. The link takes you to this page, and going to page 3 as I write this will take you to the online manual itself. The manual is shared across the Varmilo MA 80/100/110% keyboards, which this MA87M belongs to, and the various instructions in broken English need to be deciphered to figure out what is applicable to which keyboard. Thankfully, it is not too bad and alleviated by the fact that there aren't a lot extras on the keyboard. Speaking of which, the keyboard is housed in a wax paper wrap and has a molded plastic cover on top for further protection during transit. The cover may also be used as an anti-dust cover when the keyboard is not in use.