Initial thoughts on Epomaker Mini Cat64

Firstly, the setup: Epomaker Mini Cat64, Akko Jelly Black (factory lubed) switches, XVX (subsidiary of Womier) PBT OSA profile transparent keycaps

The Mini Cat64 is a 60% keyboard (Kind of, it’s kind of between 60% and 65% as it has arrow keys, a 1U right shift, and delete to the right of the up-arrow key). It also features a 0.25U reduction on left shift resulting in the Z row shifting 0.25 left as well. Thankfully I’m not noticing a huge curve in redoing muscle memory for that, but we’ll see after I continue to use it more. So, all that is to say that it may present issues for your keycap sets if they don’t offer the shorter Shift, 1U shift, and 1U modifier keys for Fn and CTRL, Super, or ALT (depending on what key you program in down there).

So, initial thoughts:

The build is about what I expected from an inexpensive acrylic keyboard built from multiple layers of frosted acrylic screwed together. It’s by far the most flexible board I own now. Lots of flex, especially when installing the switches into their sockets. The plate is also thin acrylic, with a layer of foam between it and the PCB for some additional rigidity and sound dampening. That makes that the only dampening for the keyboard in stock form.

That makes the sound very plasticky sounding. I don’t find it bad, but it doesn’t have a very dynamic sound to it. It would be a difficult keyboard to dampen more though due to the tight tolerances and because if you want to retain the underside LED backlighting, that really does provide a lovely shine through the acrylic, you’d find even tape-modding a complicated process. I don’t plan to do much more to it as I find that the combination of switches and keycaps that I’ve thrown on it to be pleasant sounding. The only thing I find a less than satisfying is the sound of the spacebar which is simply dull and hollow. It doesn’t echo too much, simply lacking the poppiness or snappiness that I’ve come to enjoy.

I do need to get some grease for the stabilizers. They don’t rattle in as much as they need some lubrication to get rid of some scratchiness, especially for backspace. Space is the rattliest but even it is fairly minor so long as I’m not smashing it heavily and repeatedly. Overall, the stabilizers are sturdy and secure.

Configuring the board with VIA was a breeze. Epomaker has a JSON file for it on their website and after importing that to VIA I was immediately able to reprogram the board as I wanted. In my case I wanted to add page up, page down, home, and end to the arrow cluster and it went as expected and was fast and easy to set up.

I found the stock lighting to be, in a word, intense. Even in a fully lit room it was simply too bright for me. I think this is a good thing however as so many boards, even at highest brightness, are too dim in my opinion. It has all the normal settings on offer: lots of animations, customizable colors, speed, brightness, and the ability to toggle zones for lighting (key backlights, case backlights, and both). I think this is one board that does well to go all in with lighting as it really does pop with all the different rainbow unicorn vomit you can do with it. I don’t have any clear switches yet, but I can tell that they would really pair well with the clear keycaps on this keyboard.

I do have some gripes so far:

Firstly, there is a missed opportunity to have backlighting in the cat on the top of the board to make it stand out. Right now, that is the dimmest part of the board which is a shame as it is also the cutest part of the keyboard. The screws securing the acrylic layers together are not recessed into the acrylic, meaning the heads of them are proud against the frame by about 0.5mm. They aren’t sharp but they do feel rough. The layers of acrylic however are sharp on the edges. There is no buffing of the corners, so they are a stark 90°. I use a wrist rest which means I’m not feeling the edges when I type, and I’d strongly encourage you to do the same if you pick up the board. I find the rest also helps because of the low typing angle of the board. It’s not listed in the specs on the website, but I think it’s 2.5° or 3°. I prefer higher angles but there are no adjustments for this board. You’d have to replace the feet on the board to increase the angle.

Relatedly, because of the larger portion of weight on the top of the board, it makes it easier to tip the board. Typing most likely won’t cause it to tip but if your desk is messy and has things strewn about like mine you may find the board getting tapped when it moves. Also, because all of the acrylic layers are free-floating that means the center portions are most loose. This is most apparent around the space bar and above the number row. The acrylic bows up very slightly in those locations and can be easily moved vertically and laterally. I think additional screws may have helped but would also have increased the likelihood of those thin strips cracking during production when the screw is put in. It also would have meant another screw head standing above the board right where your thumbs will be resting so I can see why it is built the way it is. 

I’ll go more in depth on how I feel about using this board in a while, likely at least a week from now. I have ideas for correcting some of these issues and may try some out. Regardless, it’s an adorable board and having a rainbow bongo cat is pretty fun. I’m enjoying it so far and feel that this will continue to be in my regular rotation for the foreseeable future.