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Should you buy the Yunzii RT75?
The latest trend in the world of gaming keyboards is slowly making its way into the budget section of the market. These are magnetic or Hall effect switches. These types of switches have been around in controllers and other products for some time, and keyboards use them in place of a traditional mechanical switch and electrical connection. This technology offers numerous benefits, from durability to speed, and enables modern gaming features like Snap Tap and Rapid Trigger.
Although many keyboards with magnetic switches are expensive, the Yunzii RT75 gives you rapid triggers, Hall effect switches, and adjustable actuation force for less than $100. Very few of the best mechanical keyboards I've tried are this affordable, so the Yunzii RT75 has immediate appeal. After trying it out, I'm still far from convinced. The keyboard does almost everything it promises, including rapid triggering with low input lag. However, the fundamentals and build quality are so far from the norm that it's difficult for me to recommend the RT75.
About this review: Yunzii provided an RT75 keyboard for this test. The company had no influence on this article and did not see its contents before publication.
Cheap magnetic keyboard
Yunzii RT75
Rapid trigger functionality at an affordable price
$90 $120 Save $30
Yunzii's RT75 attempts to combine two of the latest gaming trends in one affordable keyboard: magnetic switches and rapid trigger functionality. To its credit, the RT75 offers both for under $100. However, the poor build quality, unsatisfactory typing experience and poor software make you wish you had spent more – or simply opted for a regular mechanical keyboard.
- Magnetic sensors can be customized with your preferred actuation force.
- The price is right
- Supports Rapid Trigger Play
- The plastic housing is really cheaply built and way too flexible
- Because there is not enough lubricant or dampening agent, the sound and feel are worse than expected
- It smells… we'll explain that later
Prices, specifications and availability
You can buy the Yunzii RT75 for less than $100, but the price may vary depending on where you buy it and what current sales are in effect. Amazon lists the keyboard for $90, while Yunzii's retail price of $95 is also an option at the time of writing. It's a 75% form factor keyboard with 81 keys and a rotary knob, double-shot PBT keycaps, magnetic switches, and customizable RGB lighting. However, there is only one color variant: gray.
What I like
You can purchase Rapid Trigger, low latency magnetic switches, for less than $100
The Yunzii RT75 is a magnetic keyboard, and that means that sensors on the board detect when sensors in the switch enter the magnetic field. This means the Hall effect sensor knows when to activate. The cool thing about magnetic keyboards is that their actuation force can be customized by simply telling the magnetic sensor exactly how sensitive you want it to be. The other nice thing about these switches is that they don't have to return to their original position before they can be operated again. All of these features enable the so-called Rapid Trigger and Snap Tap.
Both features are available on the Yunzii RT75 after a recent software update added the latter feature. And to Yunzii's credit, Rapid Trigger and Snap Tap work well on the RT75. The keyboard has an actuation and sensitivity range of 0.1 to 0.4 mm and can be customized using a web app. In 0.1mm increments you can adjust the actuation force required to trigger a button. A high actuation force can be adjusted to improve typing accuracy on the Yunzii RT75, while a low actuation force enables rapid triggering for competitive gaming sessions.
And to Yunzii's credit, Rapid Trigger and Snap Tap work well on the RT75.
The keyboard also responds well – an input delay of 4-6 ms and a polling rate of 1,000 Hz are reported. Both numbers are more than you probably need, as your cables, monitor, and PC are likely other limiting factors that contribute to overall input lag. Gaming with the Yunzii RT75 compared to other, more expensive mechanical gaming keyboards shows why you should choose it. Rapid Trigger and the magnetic switches opened up new input options, reduced lag, and improved the speed of my actions in the game.
The Yunzii RT75 (above) next to an Alienware Pro wireless gaming keyboard (right).
Considering that the mechanical keyboard I used for comparison is more than twice as expensive as the Yunzii R75, there's reason to be impressed. Additionally, this is the cheapest Hall effect keyboard we've tested at XDA to date. The next level up is the Akko MOD0078B-PC for $150. Despite all of these advantages, I would rather go with a cheap mechanical keyboard than the magnetic Yunzii RT75 for reasons I'll explain shortly.
Which I don't like
The keyboard stinks and the build quality leaves a lot to be desired
Look at how much the Yunzii RT75 flexes when I try to rotate it. That's not normal.
You'll immediately notice that the Yunzii RT75 stinks when you first unpack the keyboard. No, really – the keyboard and accessories gave off an absolutely foul smell when unpacked that almost made me sick and is still with me as I write this review. The USB-C to USB-A cable smelled so bad that I threw it straight in the trash and opted to use my CableMod coiled cable instead. Without going into a chemistry lesson here, I'll explain that the reason for the smell is something called outgassing. This happens when plastics retain their chemical gases and odors long after the manufacturing process is complete, and typically products made from cheap plastic are most affected by this.
After smelling the smell, my hopes immediately faded – which is reason enough for me not to want the Yunzii RT75 in my home. The plastic is just as thin, scratchy and visually unattractive as I expected. It feels like a step ahead of 3D printed material, but not by much. To be clear, some of my favorite mechanical keyboards feature high-quality plastic cases, and this is not one of them. In the photo at the top of this section, you can see how much the Yunzii RT75's deck flexes when I try to rotate it.
The plastic is just as thin, scratchy and visually unattractive as I expected. It feels like a step ahead of 3D printed material, but not by much.
The more I used the Yunzii RT75, the worse it got. The keycaps are made of double-shot PBT, which is excellent, but the typing experience was seriously disappointing. There wasn't much tactile feedback, and while the keyboard was loud, it was also loud in a way that wouldn't please lovers of clicky key switches. To be clear, this is a feature of magnetic keyboards in general because the magnet and switch do not make direct contact with the circuit board. However, I suspect that the overall cheap construction – inside and out – doesn't help.
The only thing I ultimately couldn't forgive about the Yunzii RT75 is that it came with crooked feet, so it couldn't stand completely flat on any surface. There was a wobble on every desk, mat, and table I tried (and yes, that was it). before I gave it a flex test. Not only was this distracting, but it could also affect typing accuracy. This could be a coincidence with my device, although given the thin quality of the plastic, I wouldn't be surprised if there could be some deformation during the manufacturing and shipping process.
The web-only software (which requires driver downloads) is not ideal
One final nail in the Yunzii RT75's coffin is that using the web-only software for the keyboard is a pain. It's simply a website that you have to navigate to every time you want to change a setting, which is often the case when you want to adjust actuation force, lighting modes, or macros. Additionally, it requires a cumbersome driver download, which my Windows PC refused to install for security reasons. And when you finally install it, remember that you have to do it too manually Start the driver program before navigating to the website – every time.
Should you buy the Yunzii RT75?
You should buy the Yunzii RT75 if:
- You need features like Snap Tap, Rapid Trigger or an adjustable actuation force
- You can only spend less than $100
You should NOT purchase the Yunzii RT75 if:
- You want your keyboard to have solid build quality
- You want true hot-swappable switches (this board does not have the required pin holes to connect to aftermarket switches)
- You need a better software solution than a boring web app
For its attractive price under $100, I wanted to like the Yunzii RT75. It is true that it has the switch technology that offers Rapid Trigger and Snap Tap is all you care about. Personally, I want more from my keyboard. After spending some time with the Yunzii RT75, I came to the conclusion that I would rather forego Hall Effect sensors and instead use a traditional mechanical keyboard with a better feel at the same or lower price.
Cheap magnetic keyboard
Yunzii RT75
Rapid trigger functionality at an affordable price
$90 $120 Save $30
The Yunzii RT75 brings rapid triggering, adjustable actuation force, and low input lag to the sub-$100 gaming keyboard market. That's something we like to see, but the keyboard isn't as refined as I'd like.