Lofree sells a wide range of cartoony keycaps for customizable keyboards, however the Chinese language firm is critical about constructing high-quality mechanical keyboards for devoted typists. The Lofree Flow84 ($159) is an 84-key tenkeyless (TKL) or 75% keyboard—its Flow100 sibling with numeric keypad is $10 extra—with a low-profile aluminum body. It is brief on frills (no quantity curler or USB pass-through) or, for some customers, requirements (no key remapping or macro software program, no 2.4GHz various to its Bluetooth wi-fi). Consequently, many will discover the bigger and extra feature-rich Editors’ Alternative-winning Razer Professional Sort Extremely to be a greater purchase on the identical worth. However the Flow84 remains to be a supremely comfy, responsive, and transportable enter station.Design: Two Colours, Two Change OptionsThe Flow84 is downright diminutive, measuring 1.02 by 12.4 by 5 inches and weighing 1.25 kilos, making it simple to suit if desk house is tight. The NZXT Perform Mini TKL that we referred to as “extra-petite” is 1.5 by 13 by 4.8 inches and 1.5 kilos. The tenkeyless OnePlus Keyboard 81 Professional is 1.9 by 13.3 by 6 inches and 4.16 kilos.
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The silvery aluminum-alloy body is ultra-solid and flex-free. The keyboard doesn’t have adjustable ft for a selection of typing angles—struts on the backside rear prop it at a hard and fast 3.9-degree angle. Rubber footpads hold it from sliding round your desk. In a minor annoyance, your Flow84 shade selection dictates your key swap selection and vice versa. Black keyboards include Kailh Phantom tactile switches that take 45 grams of strain and activate 1.6mm into their 2.8mm journey. White keyboards like our evaluation unit have Kailh Ghost linear switches that take 50 grams of strain and activate 1.2mm into their 2.8mm journey.
(Credit score: Lofree)
In the event you choose a clicky swap, Lofree affords a set of 50g install-them-yourself Wizard switches for $69. All three varieties are crafted from polyoxymethylene (POM) thermoplastic, whose low coefficient of friction and self-lubricating properties make them smoother the extra they’re used or damaged in. Lofree charges them for 50 million keystrokes, 5 instances the lifespan of generic membrane switches.Testing the Flow84: RGB Lighting (of a Type) A USB-C port on the rear edge serves each for a wired connection—the keyboard comes with a 5-foot USB Sort-A-to-Sort-C cable—and for charging if you happen to choose Bluetooth wi-fi mode. The Flow84 has no USB dongle for two.4GHz wi-fi connectivity, only a tiny rear swap that selects USB or Bluetooth (the latter permits you to swap amongst as much as three units) or turns the keyboard off.
(Credit score: Eric Grevstad)
The primary keystrokes it’s essential to make after connecting the board are Fn+N to decide on Home windows or Fn+M for macOS. (The underside-row keys have twin legends reminiscent of Possibility/Win and Command/Alt.) That is barely cumbersome; we choose the bodily Home windows/Mac switches that the Asus ROG Falchion RX and lots of different opponents provide. The Lofree has sweat- and oil-resistant dye-sublimation PBT keycaps with legends in a decidedly small font (no less than for the alphanumeric keys). How small? Twice, I assumed the comma was a speck of filth on the important thing. Urgent Fn+F5 and Fn+F6 controls a single-color white backlight, which shines round as a substitute of via the keys, so in a darkish room, it’s essential to learn the keycaps by the sunshine of your display screen slightly than the backlight, even utilizing the brightest of the Lofree’s 4 brightness ranges.
(Credit score: Eric Grevstad)
Urgent Fn+Left cycles via on, off, and “respiratory” or pulsing settings for a minuscule mild on all sides of the keyboard that casts a slight glow in your desk if you happen to tilt your head to search for it. Fn+Proper cycles via eight colours for the sidelights. Their sensible worth is nil, however they’re minutely cute. Lofree says a single cost of the two,000mAh battery is nice for as much as 40 hours of Bluetooth wi-fi operation; an LED on the entrance edge signifies charging, full, and low battery standing. Like different Bluetooth keyboards, the Flow84 can take a second to wake after an idle spell; I received within the behavior of tapping the Home windows key a couple of times earlier than beginning a piece session.
(Credit score: Lofree)
Since my day job is reviewing laptops, I am accustomed to stabbing the highest proper nook for the Delete key, so I am delighted with the Lofree’s structure. The Fn key groups with the highest row for system features starting from quantity and display screen brightness management to launching Home windows’ Calculator. The Ghost linear switches provide not a stiff, springy click on however a beautiful mixture of a tappy clickety-clack with a silky-smooth typing really feel. In truth, the Flow84 is probably the best-feeling keyboard I’ve ever used.Verdict: Alternate options Value Ready For At $159, the Flow84’s worth matches our general Editors’ Alternative award winner amongst wi-fi mechanical keyboards, 2021’s Razer Professional Sort Extremely, a full-width board with a numeric keypad. Because the Razer comes with not solely a padded wrist relaxation however customization software program, 2.4GHz in addition to Bluetooth wi-fi, and helpful as a substitute of merely ornamental backlighting, the Lofree would not be a part of it as an Editors’ Alternative honoree. However it nonetheless earns an emphatic advice as a fabulously engineered, sensuously comfy keyboard.Nonetheless, even higher Lofree boards would possibly arrive quickly, with the corporate lately saying a Kickstarter for Lite (actually, non-light) variations of the Flow84 and Flow100. Providing a selection of normal or silent 40g linear switches, the brand new boards’ lack of lighting and ABS as a substitute of aluminum frames promise to deliver their costs down, whereas including 2.4GHz wi-fi, a quantity curler, adjustable ft, and Lofree Key Mapper software program. If they will match the originals’ typing really feel, they may be must-buys for mechanical keyboard fanatics.
Professionals
Glossy, low-profile aluminum design
Irresistible typing really feel
Bluetooth or USB-C connection for Home windows or macOS
Minimal white backlight and colourful sidelight
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Cons
No 2.4GHz wi-fi connection
No customization software program
No quantity knob or adjustable-tilt ft
Cannot combine and match colours and switches
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The Backside Line
The amazingly comfy Lofree Flow84 is a compact wi-fi mechanical keyboard that lacks luxuries however is remarkably skinny, mild, and durable.
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About Eric Grevstad
Contributing Editor
I used to be picked to put in writing the “20 Most Influential PCs” function for PCMag’s fortieth Anniversary protection as a result of I keep in mind all of them—I began on a TRS-80 journal in 1982 and served as editor of Pc Shopper when it was a 700-page month-to-month. I used to be later the editor in chief of House Workplace Computing, {a magazine} that promoted utilizing tech to earn a living from home twenty years earlier than a pandemic made it customary follow. Even in semiretirement in Bradenton, Florida, I can not cease enjoying with toys and telling folks what gear to purchase.
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