This is a review of GMK61 from Zuoya, a budget gasket mount keyboard with a 60% layout. I have been aware of Zuoya for some time now, having ordered some other kits from them, and for the price I had really good experiences, so recently when I saw the GMK61 for around 40 EUR on Aliexpress, I just went for it. It has 3 modes - Bluetooth, 2.4ghz and wired, so for that amount of money I thought it’s at worst a good starting kit, since keycaps, case and switches cost around that usually. As it turns out, the keyboard is fantastic!
Design and Build
First up, the looks! To my knowledge there are two versions of the keyboard, white and black. Both have an inverted colour escape and enter by default, so a white kit has a black escape and enter, and black kit has white escape and enter. Inside the package you get both keys in the same colour as the keyboard if you don’t like the inverted colours, so the whole keyboard can be black/white. Keycaps are marketed as doubleshot PBT, and feel nice to the touch, slightly chalky
As mentioned, this is a Gasket mounted keyboard, on top of the PCB there is a switch pad with a poron foam layered on it, and the plate is POM which adds to the comfy feeling, as it’s very flexible. There is also foam and silicone under the PCB to pick up the unwanted noise, so in the end you get a really crisp click when typing. The typing is very comfortable and the sound is kinda marbly and clicky. The case is made from ABS plastic, on the back side is has the little feet to lift it up if you prefer the tilted position for typing. I also like the added slope in the edge of the case, which makes it comfier to rest your fingers on, instead of the classic 90 degrees cut sound tests incoming
Polling rate
I am awaiting the vendor response on the polling rate, I would guess the wired polling rate is 1000hz and the wireless is 100/125hz, I’m mostly using wireless for the added convenience, and I haven’t noticed any delays or missed keys, and I type reasonably fast. That being said, this isn’t a primarily a gaming keyboard, for non-competitive games you can of course use it without any issues, but for FPS games I would pick a HE board nowadays.
Switches
The switches are Haimu Sea Apricot Linears with 42g force for actuation and 50g for bottoming it out. They have 3.6mm travel with a 22m spring length, the sound is really nice, crisp and clacky, I was truly surprised at how good this sounds at this price tag. I had a friend coming over and gave them the keyboard to try it out, and they actually gasped when first trying it out, knowing how much it costs, it’s that good. When I’m not playing compet games I just use this one since it’s so good to type on, and I don’t have to worry about the wires.
Here is a switch graph showing the switch response
RGB lighting
A pretty neat cosmetic feature is a light strip at the top left corner next to the escape, which cycles through RGB colours. If you turn off the keyboard-wide RGB it has that minimalistic look but still adds a little something, a little je ne sais quoi hand motions with fingers pinched together oui oui Otherwise the keyboard has a global RGB, with south facing LEDs, there are several keybinds by default to switch between the modes, you can set the brightness or turn it off completely.
Connectivity
The keyboard features 3 modes for connecting: wired, 2.4ghz and bluetooth. You get the 2.4ghz dongle together with the keyboard, which is fantastic, I have it plugged under the desk in the computer and I’ve had zero issues with the connectivity. The bluetooth works as any other device, I’ve had no issues with it, and it’s a nice feature to have. The wired mode works rock solid, I rarely use it, mostly I plug it in for recharging.
Software and customization
I have yet to find the software, the seller has listed some drivers, but none of them are for this model and I didn’t want to install 10 different chinese drivers on my computer, so I’m still waiting for the vendor to get back to me. Hopefully I can rebind all the keys, even the ones that have RGB settings on by default.
Battery life
The battery inside the case is 3000mAh and should last around a week with semi-regular use and LEDs turned on, for now it looks really solid, I’ve been using it a lot without any issues. I usually turn off the global RGB since I like the vanilla look, and just enjoy the little RGB strip at the top left