KiiBOOM Phantom 81 V2 Overview
First let’s talk about the colorway we have here for the Phantom 81 V2. We received the Black version of the keyboard, which still has that awesome clear acrylic casing, but the keycaps themselves are see-through black with gold legends and then the top plate and other accents on the board are gold as well. This makes for such a cool and futuristic-looking keyboard. KiiBOOM also offers the Phantom 81 V2 in Pink, Clear, Blue, and Purple colorways.
Talking about the size of the keyboard the Phantom 81 V2 makes use of a 75% layout with a total of 82 keys. This layout is smaller than a tenkeyless (TKL) keyboard, but you retain almost the same amount of functionality. Another way to think of it is a 65% layout with a added function row. This size is extremely popular with gamers as you have quite a lot of functionality, but it takes up less space on your desk.
Here we have an exploded 75% layout where the arrow keys and Home, Page Up, and Page Down buttons are slightly separated from the rest of the keyboard. In that little bit separation space we have indication LEDs for Bluetooth mode, 2.4GHz mode, Caps lock, and battery.
In the top-right corner of the keyboard you’ll find a large volume knob, which is also gold. This knob can be pressed in to mute your music as well.
When it comes to the keycaps themselves as I mentioned they have a sort of smoked or black see-through design with gold legends. This type of design will allow for the RGB LEDs below to shine through nicely, but you won’t get that sort of quality feel like you would get from something like a PBT keycap.
Under those keycaps we have KiiBOOM’s Crystal mechanical key switches. These are a linear switch with an actuation force of 55g, pre-travel of 1.6mm, total travel of 3.6mm, and a bottom force of 60g. This keyboard also has a hot-swappable design so you can easily swap out the switches if you want to.
Looking around the keyboard we can see its acrylic outer shell. The keyboard itself is quite heavy, which speaks to the quality of the materials used.
Looking at the keyboard from the side we can see the keys are set at an angle. There is no further angle adjustment available as there are no pop-out feet on the bottom of the keyboard.
On the top-edge of the keyboard you’ll find a USB-C connection that is used to charge the keyboard up and use it in wired mode as well as switches to go from Windows to Mac mode and from Bluetooth to wired to 2.4 GHz mode.
Flipping the keyboard over we can see the rest of that acrylic shell, which gives us a look at the PCB of the keyboard. There is a large gold inlay with the KiiBOOM logo on it. In the top corner you will find the 2.4 GHz dongle, which is your typical USB dongle.
