WobKey Rainy 75 Review: A Great Budget Mechanical Keyboard

The Rainy 75 is simply a communal show connected the r/MechanicalKeyboards subreddit, a assemblage that nerds retired astir the thock of a keyboard and, naturally, amusive keycaps. It seems similar each week oregon so, idiosyncratic posts astir their caller acquisition from WobKey, and each time, the statement revolves astir however bully of a fund enactment it is. That's because, for nether $150, the Rainy 75 has each diagnostic you could privation successful a mechanical keyboard today. There are a fewer unusual plan choices, but I yet got my hands connected one, and I’m impressed by this keyboard.

The Rainy 75 is disposable successful 3 flavors: Lite, Standard, and Pro. The Lite retails for $129 and includes HMX Violet linear switches, a polypropylene plate, and a 3,500-mAh battery. The Pro—the exemplary I tested—includes Kailh Cocoa linear switches, an FR4 plate, RGB lighting, and 2 batteries totaling 7,000 mAh for $159. The Standard is successful betwixt and costs $139.

Poppy, Crisp, and Smooth

Typing connected the Rainy 75 feels and sounds fantastic. It has that poppy, crisp typing dependable you spot successful videos online, and typing feels each spot arsenic energetic and enjoyable. I presume the “Rainy 75” sanction comes from the typing sound, since its softer and rounded dependable illustration sounds similar rainfall falling.

The linear “Cocoa” switches are manufactured by Kailh for the Rainy 75. These switches person a comparatively airy operating unit of 45 grams, which is comparable to a Cherry MX Red, and usage a polyoxymethylene stem (POM) and Nylon housing, which helps to make a marbly typing dependable and a creaseless typing feel. The switches are responsive, popping backmost up rapidly aft being pressed, and person hardly immoderate scratch, adjacent erstwhile pressed down slowly. The stems of these switches person small wobble from broadside to broadside oregon beforehand to back, making keypresses consciousness sturdy.

The stabilizers connected this keyboard travel pre-lubed and, contempt being plate-mounted alternatively of printed-circuit-board–mounted, they consciousness fantastic. While I could speech astir however creaseless and quiescent they are, it’s easier to accidental that I didn’t adjacent announcement they were determination erstwhile typing. These stabilizers are tuned perfectly and don’t necessitate immoderate enactment retired of the box. That said, I ideate that, similar astir plate-mounted stabilizers, they volition necessitate a reapplication of lube aft a while.

The gasket-mount strategy holding the keyboard unneurotic is truly impressive. It feels bouncy and brushed without seeming excessively muted oregon mushy. The dampening from the gaskets is accordant crossed each of the keys, lone becoming somewhat stiffer astir the edges.

Finicky Functionality

This keyboard has immoderate quirks that, portion not huge, tin beryllium annoying. Sometimes, erstwhile pressing Alt+Tab connected this keyboard, oregon immoderate different cardinal combinations involving the Tab key, I person to property the operation doubly for it to work. I've resolved these oddities by turning the keyboard disconnected and on.

Typically, 1 of my favourite features connected a mechanical keyboard is enactment for QMK and VIA. QMK, abbreviated for Quantum Mechanical Keyboard, is an unfastened root firmware that allows for astir limitless customization of a keyboard’s layout. VIA is simply a strategy for customizing circumstantial QMK-compatible keyboards utilizing an in-browser interface. These let for elemental and businesslike customization of mechanical keyboards, meaning a QMK-enabled keyboard volition person semipermanent enactment without reliance connected proprietary bundle that whitethorn halt being updated aft a fewer years.