Super practical TRI-MODE 98 key, Dareu A98 Mecha Type experience

Dareu launches the A98 series, with 98 keys, three color keycaps: Mecha Type, Industrial Gray, and Riding the Wind and Waves, and TRI-MODE connection. It is both beautiful and practical. Let me briefly share with you this keyboard. .

【Appearance layout】

The keyboard uses 98 keys. Since the keyboard frame is slightly wider, compared to other brands of 98-key keyboards, the A98 has a larger gap between the direction keys and the main keys. In theory, it is less likely to be accidentally touched during operation.

The keyboard uses blue and white two-color keycaps by default, with a blue upper cover and a white bottom shell. The four corners of the keyboard frame are chamfered. The white keycaps use black fonts, and the blue keycaps use yellow fonts. The fonts are centered and upper, and have a closed structure. Compared with the open ones, they are more beautiful and recognizable.

This is the official keyboard structure anatomy diagram. It can be seen that the A98 has made some designs in terms of noise reduction and muteness. There are two silicone pads on the upper and lower positioning plates. Some silencer gaskets were also added around the upper silicone pad. Coupled with Dareu's customized Blue sky switch V3, when typing, the noise is basically close to the effect of a silent switch, but the feel is much better than a silent switch.

The left area of the keyboard is consistent with the conventional 104 and 87 keys. A small screen is added between the ESC key and the F area.

After turning it on, you can see that this small screen actually displays the battery power. The numbers from 0 to 100 show the current remaining power. A small screen will rotate when charging, and the number 100 will be displayed when it is fully charged. The keyboard has a built-in 4000 mAh lithium battery, which lasts for about 45 days when the lights are turned off and about 7 days when the lights are on. It can be used while charging.

The right area has rearranged the traditional nine-square grid, direction keys and numeric keys, shortened the right Shift key, and changed the FN and right Ctrl keys into standard size keycaps. Removed the right Alt key and menu key, The 0 key in the numeric area has also been changed to a standard size keycap, thus inserting the direction keys. The four positions in the upper right corner of the keyboard are assigned to the Del, Ins, PgUp, and PgDn keys. The 7, 9, 1, 3, 0 and dots in the digital area are also given some functions of the nine-square grid. However, it needs to be used through the FN key combination. The Print, Lock, and Pause keys of the traditional nine-square grid are removed. The keyboard has indicator lights arranged in the middle, which are numeric keys, upper and lower case, wireless mode and battery indicator functions.

The Dareu English LOGO is marked on the right side of the keyboard. Older Dareu keyboards generally like to have the LOGO on the front. Later models are basically printed in this mainstream position, which makes it much more comfortable to look at.

As can be seen from the side, the A98 uses OEM height keycaps. Although the keyboard is an inline design, the keycaps are still quite shallow and are basically the same as the upper cover. There is a mode switch on the right side of the keyboard. The front is 2.4G wireless mode, the middle is wired mode, and the back is Bluetooth mode. It is compatible with Windows, Mac, Android and other systems, and can be switched between multiple devices.

The keyboard cable uses a Type-C interface, but the interface is reinforced to enhance its robustness.

The bottom shell of the keyboard is equipped with 5 silicone non-slip pads, and the top is equipped with a three-way wire groove, which can be routed from the left, middle, and right directions to adapt to different desktop layouts.

The keyboard stand adopts a two-stage design and can be placed at three heights: flat, small slope, and large slope. The bottom of the bracket is treated with anti-slip treatment.

[Shaft body shaft cap]

Mine is equipped with Dareu's customized Blue sky switch V3 model, with a transparent blue upper cover, white shaft core, and a semi-open dust-proof fence. The keyboard supports hot-swappable design and is compatible with most three-pin and five-pin switches on the market. The advantage of hot-swapping is that you can change the axis at will, which is equivalent to adding the function of testing the axis. In addition, even if a button breaks in the future, you can directly buy a replacement.

Dareu's customized Blue sky switchV3 is a linear axis, straight up and down, without any sense of paragraphs, and is very suitable for playing FPS shooting games. The operating force of the switch is 40±3gf, and the feel is a little lighter than the Cherry red switch, but the key travel is basically the same.

The long keys of the keyboard adopt a satellite axis design, which is more convenient to disassemble and assemble. The keyboard comes with long white keycaps by default, and the feel is pretty good.

The keyboard keycaps are made of PBT material, which is more wear-resistant than ABS. The default white and blue keycaps use a two-color injection molding process, and the key walls are of medium thickness.

【Actual experience】

When using the keyboard, it is recommended that you use it with a hand rest to make your wrist more comfortable. I paired this keyboard with the previous 87-key handrest. Compared to the 87, the 98-key key is about one key longer, but its functions are comparable to the 104-key key.

When you are equipped with a handrest, you must first measure the height of the lower frame of the keyboard. The actual difference between 1.9CM and 2.1CM is quite obvious. It will be more comfortable if the frame is level with the handrest.

The keyboard supports full-key No conflict. For users who often play games, there is no need to worry about key conflict when operating with multiple fingers.

I tried playing the classic CSGO shooting game. For players who used to use red switches in the past, Blue Sky Switch is quite easy to get started with. You don’t need to adapt to it, you can just use it. The buttons are straight up and down, feel soft, and the sound is very quiet. When playing games at night, the noise is not loud. The long key adopts satellite shaft design. The sound of the steel wire is not obvious either. Jumping out of boxes and other operations are no problem.

[Write at the end]

Personally, I feel that, for non-special industries, there is really no need to stick to the 104 standard allocation. If there is demand for F area, nine-square grid, direction keys, and numeric keys, 98 keys like A98 and 100 keys like A100 can also meet daily use. 98 keys and 100 keys, I personally think the A98 layout is more practical. The button layout is not as compact as that of the A100. The highly used ECS and direction keys can have their own independent operation space. At the end of the article, I will give you a brief summary of the characteristics of the Dareu A98 series for your reference.