Average Jenn Tech Reviews: EPOMAKER HE75 V2
Have you ever been researching a new piece of technology, only to be confused by all the tech jargon in the reviews? Have you ever wanted to buy a new laptop or phone but wondered how it would fit into your daily life? Do you ever feel like most tech reviews are written for other techies and not the average Joe? Insert Average Jenn Tech reviews: a regular person writing slightly above-average reviews that fit your above-average lifestyle.
For today’s “average” people’s consumption: the EPOMAKER HE75 V2
As someone with a husband who has the very expensive hobby of building keyboards, I think it’s fair to say I know a little bit about the subject. Mostly from listening to him go on and on for hours about bases and switches and keycaps and whatever, but hey, knowledge is knowledge. On top of listening to this day in, day out, I also happen to very much enjoy keyboards. I like typing, I like listening to the sounds they make, I like the way they feel to type on (unless they’re shit, then none of this counts).
Luckily for me, the EPOMAKER HE75 V2 looks nice, sounds nice, feels nice, and is frickin great to use.
From the second I opened the box, I knew this was going to be a great keyboard experience. Firstly, the keyboard is so pretty. The transparent keycaps let the bright RGB light glow beautifully, and the crystallised RGB strip around the back and sides is like a little strip of crushed gems that light can shine through. This gorgeous design truly blends in with all kinds of aesthetics; whether you like a clean, minimalist set-up or go full rainbow clown like I do (seriously, my set-up looks like Rainbow Brite threw up in my study), this keyboard will fit seamlessly onto your desk.
Customisation is a core value for the EPOMAKER team, and it comes across in every facet of their product designs; in both their hardware and software. I’ve already yammered on about how beautiful I think this keyboard is, but I also love that you can tailor every aspect to you. From the way the keyboard physically looks (the volume knob is hot-swappable to cater to your preferences, and the lights are customisable) to the way it functions, this keyboard will perform the way you want it, with just a few tweaks here and there.
The HE75 V2 comes with ultra-precise Hall Effect switches, which have a really satisfying sound profile thanks to the keyboard’s five-layer gasket-mounted construction. And the software allows you to tweak each individual key to your liking. But what the heck does this mean to someone not in the keyboard knowledge sphere?
Basically, the HE75 software enables you to control how hard you have to press a key before it does what you want it to do. On most keyboards, you need to hit the key all the way in before it registers – but with these switches, you can set it up so the smallest touch will do what you want. Seriously, the sensitivity can get so crazy I could breathe on the keyboard, and the keys would register. This feature is great for competitive gamers and anybody who just wants a quicker reaction time from their keyboard. As a girlie with long nails, it also means I can type quicker and more accurately without having to worry about my nails pressing on other keys – huge win!
All this customisation comes with a price though, and it’s that the software is quite in-depth, and thus, pretty overwhelming. There are so many menus and options and settings, so I spent a while just trying to wrap my head around everything the keyboard can do. This is totally worth doing, because this baby can go the distance, but it’s a lot to take in for a keyboard. If customisation isn’t your thing and you just want a pretty keyboard you can plug and play, this is totally possible. The software is optional, and the keyboard will still function great and look phenomenal without it.
Because this keyboard is such a dream to type on, you’re going to want to be using it all the time, which is why battery life is so important. I used this as my daily driver for three weeks, and I only had to charge it once. You’ll get 20 hours of battery life out of it easily, even with all the lights on. I used it wirelessly and noticed that, as a battery-saving tactic, the keyboard will turn off the lights after a time, and then put itself to sleep after a while longer – which is great for battery preservation, but I found waking it back up to feel quite laggy and unresponsive at times. However, this can all be changed in the software, so it just depends on how you want to balance battery vs wake time.
I’m usually a ‘full-size keyboard’ type of person, but the EPOMAKER HE75 V2 packs so much into this small package that I almost don’t miss my numpad at all. It’s the kind of keyboard that makes you excited about needing to hop on your computer and type up an essay (ok well I don’t think anything could make me excited about doing that, but it does make typing an absolute treat).
The HE75 V2 is truly the kind of keyboard that can slot into your set-up with no effort required. It looks great, it sounds great, it feels great to type on, and you can customise the crap out of it – what’s not to love!
