In August, Drop introduced its first new in-house mechanical keyboard in fairly some time: the 75% Drop Sense75. On paper, the $349 gasket-mount keyboard looked like a winner, with an understated however stylish design, Drop’s DCX keycaps, in-house stabilizers and its Holy Panda X tactile switches. The ultimate result’s a little bit of a disappointment, although.
Early reviews of the prototypes that Drop despatched out after the primary announcement have been tough. These prototypes sounded hole, the stabilizer rattled and each the switches and the board itself had points with ping noise. Drop took a few of that suggestions to coronary heart and made some adjustments.
The corporate not too long ago despatched me a pre-built overview unit (there’s additionally a $249 bare-bones choice). I didn’t expertise any case ping, and, whereas the board nonetheless sounds a bit hole, the corporate added a second layer of skinny foam that appears to have helped. However I additionally don’t perceive how in 2022, Drop can ship a pre-built board with rattling, dry stabilizers. To make this board sound something like what you’d anticipate from a contemporary mechanical keyboard, it’s a must to utterly disassemble it, lube the stabilizers and reassemble. But when it’s a must to undergo all of that, what’s the purpose of shopping for an costly pre-built? Who’s the viewers for this?
Picture Credit: Drop
The Holy Panda X switches are additionally a bit scratchy out of the field. Some Krytox and break-in time can repair that, however I’m not an enormous fan of tactiles and I want a barely decrease sound, however that’s my private choice. Lots of people love these switches.
In its pre-built model, the aluminum board include an aluminum plate and an aluminum weight beneath (with a small Drop emblem on it). If that’s an excessive amount of aluminum for you, Drop additionally sells a $39 carbon fiber plate and a $25 FR4 plate is presently out there as a preorder. Each ought to make the board a bit extra bouncy, one thing it may use, as a result of regardless of the gasket-mount system, this felt like a reasonably stiff board. Drop says that “it took painstaking care to decide on the right supplies, proportions, and placement areas to create a typing really feel that was neither too mushy nor too stiff — however good.” I’m unsure that labored out as deliberate.
Picture Credit: Drop
As for the RGB, the south-facing sockets are fairly commonplace at this level and the addition of the diffuser ought to make for a pleasant underglow. In actuality, you’ll be able to see precisely the place every LED sits — and if there’s one factor that basically feels low-cost in regards to the Sense75, it’s that diffuser layer, which I used to be at all times afraid I’d break each time I opened the board.
All of this comes right down to the truth that I can’t suggest this board. Certain, after a bunch of labor you can also make it sound fairly good, however there are many different choices available on the market which might be extra inexpensive. The Keychron Q1 is nicely below $200, totally assembled. A bare-bones Akko Mod 007 will set you again lower than $150. A black Sense75 is $350 and a white one $400, with the bare-bones $100 much less. However it doesn’t supply the premium typing expertise you’d anticipate at that worth.
Drop has been listening to suggestions from the neighborhood and I hope they go for a v2 of the Sense, as a result of with some work, it may be a superb board — simply not in its present state and never at this worth.
