8Bitdo Retro Mechanical Keyboard, Bluetooth/2.4G/USB-C Hot
8Bitdo Retro Mechanical Keyboard, Bluetooth/2.4G/USB-C Hot Swappable Gaming Keyboard with 87 Keys, Dual Super Programmable Buttons for Windows and Android – Fami Editio
8Bitdo Retro Mechanical Keyboard, Bluetooth/2.4G/USB-C Hot Swappable Gaming Keyboard with 87 Keys, Dual Super Programmable Buttons for Windows and Android – Fami Editio
I bought this for my 25-year-old son, who is a computer software engineer and an avid gamer. All I can tell you is he brags on this keyboard ALL the time, and he’s had it almost a year now. He LOVES it. As far as the mechanics go and whatnot, I can’t tell you a thing about it, but he’s very picky about his computer equipment, so if he loves it then I can say with utmost confidence that I would recommend it.
I bought this for my 25-year-old son, who is a computer software engineer and an avid gamer. All I can tell you is he brags on this keyboard ALL the time, and he’s had it almost a year now. He LOVES it. As far as the mechanics go and whatnot, I can’t tell you a thing about it, but he’s very picky about his computer equipment, so if he loves it then I can say with utmost confidence that I would recommend it.
Impressed and Fu
For 8bitdo’s first try on making a keyboard I am impressed. Things I enjoyed while using this keyboard was mainly the fact that it is clicky, but clicky in a good way that is not as annoying. They did the board justice pairing the kailh box white v2s and semi hollowish case to resemble the old clacky boards. Not to mention the retro look is great. Overall impressed with it.
Some heads up, 8bitdo’s ultimate software is ok, but is needed if you want to remap keys. You do need make a profile which will be stored on this board and can be used on any system. There is some sort of delay after remapping or creating a macro and reassigning it. To do this you do need to physically plug in the keyboard. Futhermore to do on the fly macro recording you have to disable the stored profile.
SOLID Keyboard!
I LOVE THIS THING.
This keyboard is clicky in the best way, insanely responsive, and amazing on battery. I love this thing more than anything else I use at my desk.
The colours on the FAMI version come out slightly different, specifically slightly more aged white – which is exactly what I was looking for!
If you’re looking for a well-designed and sturdy keyboard in a retro style, there’s no reason not to get this one.
Looks amazing, sounds and feels even better.
Got the fami edition, and I love it so far! Haven’t found a use for the huge A and B buttons,so I sat them on my desk and clack on them all the time cause it’s just fun. It has a pretty light keypress compared to my last mechanical keyboard (from shurikey) but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as I’m sure the switches can be swapped out.
Connecting it is simple as plugging the adapter into your computer and flipping the switch to 2.4 (or BT if you want to use Bluetooth, then just connect it as you would any other device)
It hasn’t died nor have I charged it once since it’s got here and I’ve used it a LOT so that’s pretty impressive, in my opinion at least.
The colors on the keyboard make it REALLY easy to read, even in a dark room, which I love.
Overall, I love how it looks, I love how it feels, (especially the dials/switches for volume and power), and would definitely recommend!!!!
his keyboard sounds pretty nice out of the box, clicky, makes nice noises (atleast in my opinion).
responsive and does the job. looks very nice. i cant comment about the bluetooth because i dont use it.
i can say if you’re buying this in hopes to mod it, good luck, the screws are under the rubber feet but i’ve had no luck getting them out.. so my only peeve with this is how hard it is to take apart the keyboard.
the space bar sounds a little hollow but i shoved some foam into the keycap and it sounds a little better.
the last thing is the mini controller thing was broken when i got it, which wasn’t a big deal because i didn’t buy it for the controller.
i think itd be nice if a keycap/switch puller was included.
Excellent value for price
I bought this keyboard for a few reasons — Primarily was aesthetic. I love the look of ‘retro’ computers (and I use the term “retro” with great disdain here since this is how computers looked when I was a kid) and I needed a mechanical keyboard because I was using a hybrid mechanical/membrane keyboard and the squeaking of the metal hinges was driving me crazy.
So what do I like about the aesthetics? Well, I don’t care for how all modern peripherals are black, and this is white, so it gets points right off the bat for that. I don’t care for the RGB stuff either, and this has none of that. The LED indicators are suitably old-timey (especially the power indicator) and I really like the color scheme. I also love that it has kana on the keys of the famicom edition, since it allowed me to try out hardware input mode when writing in Japanese (and I can totally understand why nobody ever uses it, lol).
The cons are mostly functionality — Some gaming keyboards have a bunch of programmable buttons, and I was making good use of them on my old keyboard. This doesn’t really have that functionality, the programmable buttons are a bit of a novelty and don’t integrate well with the keyboard (I’ve unplugged it entirely because it’s more trouble than it’s worth for me) and they don’t have quite the same satisfying click that the keyboard keys do. These issues are totally minor and subjective, of course, so YMMV.
Overall, for someone like me, I think it’s a phenomenal keyboard. It does basically everything I need it to do. I do a lot of typing and this keyboard has made it quite enjoyable for me to do so. Highly recommended.
I use this keyboard for writing documents and gaming, and it is a joy to use for both. The switches and keys feel incredibly high quality and satisfying to type on, the finish is amazing, keyboard is very sturdy, and lots of connectivity options. I love the dials too.
I use this keyboard for writing documents and gaming, and it is a joy to use for both. The switches and keys feel incredibly high quality and satisfying to type on, the finish is amazing, keyboard is very sturdy, and lots of connectivity options. I love the dials too.
I bought this keyboard expecting it to be “Good enough” but wow I was impressed.
I bought this keyboard planning to change the switches. I was shocked at how much I like the switches it came with. It really suited the keyboard and they felt very nice. I usually prefer switches with a deeper tone. The ones on this keyboard are clicky and tactile. Even though I usually don’t prefer clicky, I actually like them more than the Epsilon V2s that I ended up switching them out for (I spent $80 on the switches, might as well use them for a little bit lol). So the clicky switches were surprisingly very nice.
Other pros:
– I really like the red and white theme
– Stabilizers were excellently PRE-LUBED
– Various connectivity options (Bluetooth, 2.4 wireless USB, USB-C)
– Input lag is minimal on wireless modes
– Keycaps have a very nice profile and smoothed edges, they feel great
– The extra mega buttons are neat, however I just use them for decor.
– High-quality materials all around.
– Great packaging & unboxing
– Overall excellent product quality and attention to details
Cons:
– Would’ve liked to see a multimedia button. (1 tap pause, 2 tap skip forward, 3 tap skip back)
Buen teclado
Ademas del obvio componente estetico del teclado, este lleva todo lo que se esperaria de un teclado mecanico actual. Es robusto, hot swap y se siente casi como los antiguos IBM. Tengo varios teclados y voy rotando cuando me da la vena, pero con este reptio a menudo.
Absolutely fantastic keyboard. It works flawlessly, holds battery for a really long time, and looks fantastic. I also like that it’s hot swap because although I do like the kinda vintage computer feel that the clicky switches it comes with have, I have a preference for linear keyboards and having the ability to swap in those switches in the future is really nice. As far as downsides, I would say that I wish it would have come with a keycap and switch puller, as I have a keycap puller from another keyboard, but if I wanted to replace the switches in the future I would also have to buy that additional tool. Additionally, I think it’s a little bit steep at the full price considering that the entire device’s build is made of plastic, and that the modular macro buttons have this loud, hollow, and cheap sound to them. If you’re planning to use the extra arcade buttons that are connected to it with a wire, I would heavily recommend modding those buttons with foam so that they sound better. Additionally, I really would wait until this keyboard is on sale. I feel like where I purchased it around the $85 range is probably where I would recommend going for it, as once we get above the $100 range, a more durable build should be expected.
Espectacula
Tiene un tacto para mi perfecto. Equilibrado el sonido con el tacto al pulsar las teclas. Es ms tengo la otra versin de este mismo teclado la versin nes. Y vend un teclado mecnico marca Keychron para comprarme este. Me encanta los botones gigantes, aunque no los uso mucho. Es bluetooth inhalambrico y por cable. Simplemente espectacular. A mi me encanta.
I am typically a fan of much older style keyboards like your IBM Model M boards, and as someone who has been using mechanical keyboards for over a decade, for me this board hits all the right boxes. It looks properly old school even down to the acoustics of the board itself while containing a lot of nice modern comforts like hot swap sockets and pre-lubricated stabilizers. The stock switches it comes with are perfectly good switches, them being Kaihl Box Whites. I liked board stock, but I ended up swapping them for Zeal PC Clickiez and they are a perfect match for this board, with acoustics and feel that match the character of some ALPs boards I've tried like a Northgate Omnikey 101 with white alps. I've been a fan of 8bitdo's products for almost a decade now and they've always been made to an extremely high quality and faithful fullness to the old-school designs they take inspiration from, and that carries over to this board. I hope they either make a version of this board with a numpad, or eventually sell a matching numpad separately because apart from that this board fills all the needs I'd want out of a keyboard.
I am typically a fan of much older style keyboards like your IBM Model M boards, and as someone who has been using mechanical keyboards for over a decade, for me this board hits all the right boxes. It looks properly old school even down to the acoustics of the board itself while containing a lot of nice modern comforts like hot swap sockets and pre-lubricated stabilizers. The stock switches it comes with are perfectly good switches, them being Kaihl Box Whites. I liked board stock, but I ended up swapping them for Zeal PC Clickiez and they are a perfect match for this board, with acoustics and feel that match the character of some ALPs boards I’ve tried like a Northgate Omnikey 101 with white alps. I’ve been a fan of 8bitdo’s products for almost a decade now and they’ve always been made to an extremely high quality and faithful fullness to the old-school designs they take inspiration from, and that carries over to this board. I hope they either make a version of this board with a numpad, or eventually sell a matching numpad separately because apart from that this board fills all the needs I’d want out of a keyboard.
Oh my, this is a dream!
This is all I’ve ever dreamed of!
Wireless – Check
Cool design – Check (and more!)
Mechanical keyboard – Check
Customizable keys – Check (and even more!)
Extra buttons? – Didn’t expect it, double check!
So, where to start…the double wireless standard (bluetooth and 2.4GHz) is just perfect, and can be switched immediately and clearly, unlike other product where maybe you need to long press something, or you don’t know which mode was last selected. This means I can have the dongle connected to my PC, while using the keyboard on my TV/Chromecast and switch between the two as I do different tasks, simply unvaluable.
The design just made me fall in love with it…there’s the NES version, but that dark red of the famicom is just too sexy, they nailed the feeling 99% (my only complaint is about those A B buttons and the directional ones, that black doesn’t fit that much in my opinion).
The keys also feel very good, a bit on the noisy side for a mechanical keyboard but who cares, I got it for the haptic feedback, and it doesn’t let you down on that.
It comes with that big 2-button monstrosity, which I personally love 😀 and can of course be macroes/rebound to any needs. What I did not expect though, is that you can have up to 4 such monstrosities, raising the bar to 8 gigantic buttons that will make you look like a mad scientist…which means you’ll be doing great!
The 8Bitdo software is also very good, it lets you customize EVERY button, which I find super super useful.
Let’s be honest, how many of you use the “Scroll lock” button, or even the “Pause” button next to the print…it’s just great you can rebind them to a macro or just anything else!
Only downside is that it can’t rebind other characters that are not already present on the keyboard. And that comes together with the reason I gave it 4 stars.
It comes with that annoyingly dumb US layout, only that.
Which means, it lacks one button (left of the Z button, other layouts have an extra one) and the enter button is very awfully shaped. Now, the problem is, from the software you can’t remap a button which doesn’t exist, so I can’t recover that missing button (which in my layout gives me the symbol < ) and rebind it to something else...it's a bit complicated to explain but the customer service is aware of it 🙁 hoperfull they'll fix it. Other than that, I'm super happy and couldn't have made a better purchase. I own other 8Bitdo products and they have always the best features for that price!
As someone that’s built a couple of custom keyboards, some in ABS cases and solid aluminum ones, I wasn’t honestly expecting a whole lot coming from this relatively inexpensive package. But in the end, I was quite pleasantly surprised by how much you’re getting here in terms of a quality keyboard and feature set.
The keyboard looks are by far the biggest selling point. I personally dig the retro famicom look and style. The keycaps are PBT, so they have a lightly sanded texture to them, which I personally find to add to the retro feel 8bitdo was going for here. In addition, the keyboard comes with Kailh Box White switches, which I find to be the ideal balance between weight and clickiness for most folks looking to pick up something more retro inspired. These are not at all like your typical MX blue style of switch. These Box Whites use click bars for a more distinct and tactile click. The clicky switches, paired with the somewhat larger and open case design, makes the sound of the keyboard harken back to the older boards of the yesteryear.
The giant buttons it comes with are also a nice touch, and I love that you can program them on the fly without any additional software. These big buttons are NOT the same switches as the rest of the keyboard, however. These are Gateron Green clicky switches, and sadly aren’t nearly as clean-sounding as the box whites. The neat thing though is that these too are also hotswapable, meaning that you can change them to other switches if you’d like.
I took this board just a little bit further and decided to hotswap the switches out with modded Zeal Clickiez, giving the keyboard an even more tactile and deeper click (SEE VIDEO). I was also surprised to know that the stabilizers have been factory lubed and dampened, making it that much more worth its value. The mods have made this keyboard one of my favourites and I’m currently using this one as my daily driver for the time being.
Excellent!
I’m making a return to working from home on a more regular basis so thought I’d use some Christmas gift money to treat myself. I wanted the NES coloured one but could never find stock at the time, so opted for the one in the Famicom colours.
They keyboard is sturdy, looks fantastic and has a great feel to it. It is a lot for a keyboard, especially when you aren’t gaming with it – but I genuinely think it’s worth it.
Semplicemente fantastica
Tastiera semplicemente fantastica. Stile unico, supporta sia 2.4GHz che Bluetooth, la batteria ha una durata assurda e, ovviamente, supporta quei fantastici bottoni per le macro.
Le macro sono semplici da configurare, anche senza aprire il software. Il software lo ho dovuto usare solo per l’aggiornamento del firmware e per configurare dei tasti macro con funzioni non presenti sulla tastiera (come play/pausa). Purtroppo al momento il sfotware supporta solo la comunicazione via USB.
Inizialmente ero preoccupato per il layout, ma devo essere sincero: una volta che ci si fa l’abitudine, il layout americano molto comodo. Abilitando su Windows il layout Americano Internazionale, si possono scrivere molto semplicemente gli accenti, anche per le lettere maiuscole.
I love the feel, the look and the programable buttons are such a time saver through the work day - I use the big ones for copy and paste, and the keyboard ones for cut and screenshot.
I love the feel, the look and the programable buttons are such a time saver through the work day – I use the big ones for copy and paste, and the keyboard ones for cut and screenshot.
works as expected
i’ve heard alot of good things about 8bitdo and after buying their keyboard I’ve gotta say i can see why people are such big fans of them the quality is amazing I’ll just rattle off a few cool things about it real quick
1. super clicky (if that’s something you like its awesome!)
2. unlike most random keyboards you order of amazon this one feels HIGH quality AF
3. 2.4 DONGLE is superb and i haven’t noticed any missed keys or randomly stopping while gaming
4. in wireless mode it seems to sleep after a shortwhile so it doesn’t just leak battery life
if you got the money to spare pick this thing up!
This keyboard comes with lots of features for a fair price
This is my latest 75% mechanical keyboard. replacing Anne Pro 2 (which is also an excellent kb)
I did not connect the big button set, nor setting up any macro (no need)
Pros: Classic Nintendo outlook (too good to be), 75% layout, wireless, well design volume button, programmable A/B keys, power light showing battery level, and many others.
Cons: The switches are a bit clicky and sounds (planning to change them)
Recommended to user who loves Nintendo, or those wanting a full function nice looking wireless keyboard.
muy buen precio para lo que es, pero...
a ver, por 99 euros tienes un teclado mecanico con switches equivalentes a cherry browns (gateron whites, tactiles) y dos botones 100% programables, incluso sin el software de 8bitdo, que son equivalentes a cherry blues (gateron greens, clicky), tanto el teclado como los botones rojos grandes tienen hot swap compatibles con la forma cherry mx, ahora viene el pero, el teclado tiene layout ingles americano, no afecta al funcionamiento si en el sistema operativo lo pones con layout espaol, sigues teniendo la y demas, pero pierdes la tecla “<", aparte de eso no esta retroiluminado, estas dos son las dos pegas mas grandes, hay a gente a la que le dara igual y a gente a la que no, a mi personalmente, me da igual, no soy programador ni nada, lo uso para estar tiradisimo en la silla y no querer incorporarme para usar mi teclado "main" o cuando estoy en la cama, segun lo enciendes se sincroniza al instante con el 2.4g, por el precio que tiene pocas pegas le puedo poner, la verdad
Gli switch sono “Kailh Box White Switches V2,” e la tastiera ha quella sensazione di retro, come se fosse una modello M della IBM, non buona come quella, ma comunque molto buona lo stesso. Su linux inutile mettersi ad usare il bluetooth, se la si vuole wireless meglio usare il 2.4G che non richiede drivers e funziona anche nella schermata del bios. I pulsanti sono buoni per fare macro (tipo alt+f4).
L’unica pecca che Ten Key-Less. Sarebbe molto figo se 8BitDo avesse usato quelle 4 porte dietro, dove puoi collegare i pulsanti per le macro, anche per vendere un numpad, di modo da renderla completa. Non sono tutti fan del TKL.
To start, 8bitdo scores top marks for aesthetics and quality. From the meticulously coordinated color scheme to the retro-style keycap accents to the Japanese characters paying homage to the fact that the Famicom released exclusive to Japan in 1983 – the visual craftsmanship alone justifies the keyboard’s asking price.
“But wait,” they said, dangling your childhood in front of you, “there’s more to it than just classic good looks.” The top left console comprising the dials and pairing/macro buttons are high quality. The connectivity dial snaps with reassuring heft. The volume dial feels premium and confidently notches into place. And there are tiny lights above the pairing and macro buttons to show when they’re in use. Then there’s the classic red power LED at the top right, next to the metallic accent panel overlining the keyboard. Very nice attention to detail.
To give an idea of the value proposition: toward the top right in one of my pictures you’ll see one of my custom keyboards that I built basically from barebones. There’s the Monsgeek M1W lavender chassis, the Morandi linear switches underneath the Cannonkeys Minty keycaps, and the various bits of custom work I did within the chassis to get the sound profile to my preference. The Cannonkeys Minty keycaps alone – just the keycaps – run $70 before tax and shipping. (The overall custom kb runs $260 before tax and shipping.)
So what 8Bitdo offers, as a whole keyboard, is pretty compelling.
And that’s not even touching on the gigantic two-button gizmo they include in the box. It’s built like a brick, with the underside lined edge to edge with high quality rubber. And dude, they factory lubricated underneath the buttons. Seriously. I popped off my buttons (I did a whole switch swap to linear switches because I’m not a fan of clickys) and the buttons are factory lubed where they interface with the lower housing to slide up and down. Bonkers attention to detail at this pricepoint.
A couple caveats (but not enough to remove a star): while the keycaps, dials, and accents are high quality, the chassis *feels* (and sounds) like a $100 keyboard. It’s rather plasticky and ultimately a bit hollow. This is appropriate given….. that’s the MSRP. But coming from the Asus Azoth ($250) and my similarly priced and custom built M1W, this keyboard practically begs to be cracked open and modded. The marketing seems to hint that this can be the case, since hot swappable switches are advertised.
Unfortunately, the assembly design is very unfriendly to experienced keyboard modders. There are 5 screws underneath the keyboard that need to be removed – four of them sit under the rubber feet, which need to be ripped off since they’re fastened with adhesive to the chassis. This is fine, since the feet can be re-attached and reglued neatly and without much fuss. But the 5th screw is maddeningly under the center sticker. So you either need to rip off the sticker, which will feel worse than ripping off the rubber feet, or get a hobby knife for a neater approach like administering a circular cutout around the screw.
Again, for the asking price, what you get is completely justified by the aesthetic design and high quality keycaps, accents, and accessories. The chassis is true to msrp (this is not necessarily a compliment for those who regularly use more expensive custom keyboards), and making the chassis easier to crack open for experienced modders to get in there and get to work making it feel more premium would take this over the top.
Besides, I spent hours blowing on cartridges just to get them working. I spent days and weeks fidgeting with remotes running on years old batteries scavenged from some dusty corner in the garage, figuring out how to get the TV to stop skipping Channel 3. Think some rubber feet and a sticker’s gonna stop me? THINK AGAIN, 8BITDO.
The Good;
The keyboard is fairly cheap considering the specs, and I think it is very impressive considering. The key switches seem to be Kailh box v2 white’s (or a close clone) but not 100% on that, hopefully someone else reviews who can be certain.
The 2.4GHz has no perceivable lag or dropped inputs, I type around 120WPM at 100% accuracy and couldn’t tell anything was off.
Bluetooth was easy to set up and pair, although only got it to work on Windows and Android, I use Linux and it refused any inputs, hopefully a new driver can fix that in future but for now don’t buy it for Linux+Bluetooth unless you can dig deep to find out why.
Binding the macros is easy, the “big buttons” and the two little A and B buttons where the context-menu and right-super/windows key would normally be are set up the same way, just press the bind button at the top and then hold a key combo, for me I set it to CTRL+SHIFT+ALT+J for B and CTRL+SHIFT+ALT+U on A to switch between US and Kana input on Linux, and it works fine for that.
Software hasn’t been released on their site yet, so I can’t report on that, I assume it will be fine as the software is fine for their controllers, e.g. I have an 8bitdo SN30Pro and it easy to use no hassles, but they never make a Linux version anyway so I doubt it’ll come in handy for myself regardless.
The big buttons are fun and feel great to press, they’re clicky and using Gateron Greens under the hood. They are dampened with rubber also. I bound it to semicolon and use it in some games where I wanted to do a specific action, like an ult or something, and I can hit it hard and it’s pretty fun.
The bad;
Legibility on the keycaps could be better, bit fuzzy around the edges, especially noticeable on the red keys like “PRTSC”
The keyboard is light, not super light but light enough to make it sound a bit hollow. I come from a Model M so I’m spoiled here but definitely lighter than even I was expecting.
Linux support, in general, I understand this isn’t a deal breaker but if you are looking for something to work with a Steam Deck then it’s not great. I think 8bitdo really should start considering that market.
There is no height adjustment at all, no pop out legs or anything, it just sits on the desk with its own slight raise, would’ve been nice to have some adjustment options though.
Volume dial isn’t analogue like the standard Volume “roller” on keyboards like the Logitech G710+ has on it, basically there’s small steps on the volume dial that equate to “10%” when turned (at least on Linux it’s 10%). I also find it slightly inconsistent, sometimes it’ll step on each “tick” of the dial, but sometimes I tick and nothing happens, would’ve been nice for a flat 5% on each tick and have it be consistent. Again may be a Linux specific issue but would’ve enjoyed some consistency.
No Numlock light. I understand there’s no numpad but the light would’ve been nice to have for when using an external numpad or remapped (e.g. in Linux I could have the numpad light come on to indicate when I’m in Kana mode vs English)
No backlighting, at all, I don’t really care as I touch type but I know for $100 people often expect that RGB Goodness.
Wrap up;
For the price, it’s a great keyboard considering, the gimmick is actually fun and somewhat useful feature, everything else is fine, nothing spectacular, and Linux support is lacking, more so than some other keyboards, considering basic bluetooth is a non starter in Linux at all. Still, if you’re only gonna use 2.4GHz and don’t need to write macros using the software, then go for it if you like the design, switches, and are OK with the price. Kana is useful if you want to learn to touch type Japanese or just like the option.