Review – Epomaker Mini Cat64

The Epomaker Mini Cat64 is an interesting keyboard. The initial draw is of course the appearance as layered acrylic with the cute bongo cat as part of the upper right corner of the board. The etching is very clean and has lovely detail. However, it also means that the edges of each layer are sharp. It’s the largest flaw out of the box. It can be remedied with some sanding of the edges but that’s not really something that the end user should be responsible for in a ready-to-use product.

The layers also mean the board has more flex of the body than most boards. The layers easily shift and move even with just resting my hands on it. In typing the flex from typing is fairly stiff. It will flex with high pressure, but the strength of the board is in the vertical rather than lateral directions. On mine there is no catching of the keycaps on the body, which is good, but I do worry that over time the layers may become warped and begin to interfere with typing. The most likely area will be the most flexible part of below the space bar. I don’t plan on keeping this keyboard as a daily driver, however, as I see it as more of a gallery piece for occasional use and for special times when I want to show off lighting with switches or keycaps for instance.

Part of that is the overall construction of the board. It’s held together by screws on the left and right edges of the board which is sufficient for now. It’s also a low typing angle. Thankfully it’s not completely flat but I do prefer a generally steeper typing angle of 5-7 degrees rather than the 2.5-3 degrees I believe this board is. It would lend itself to being more friendly to more heavily sculpted keycaps, such as SA or MT3 profile, but that still doesn’t fully account for typing angle itself. It also is the keyboard with the most play I’ve used in recent years due to having only two, small, rubberized feet. The front of the board is simply the edge of the acrylic which is a small and thin strip across the front which is heavily prone to sliding. The small feet themselves are good but add little height for the typing angle and don’t require much force to be overcome and slide away. Even with moderate typing force it is prone to movement, especially if the desk is largely empty of obstacles to help it stay in position.

Also due to the shape of the board it is heavier on the upper rows than the lower. The combination of additional acrylic layers to increase typing angle and the large bongo cat cutout mean it is easy to tip the board onto the feet away from the front. That exacerbates the movement issue and is all the more problematic if you’re typing at certain angles, such as if you are standing. Again, it’s a beautiful design and is aesthetically a very pretty board to see. Combined with transparent, or translucent, switches and keycaps it really pops and looks lovely on your desk.

It’s especially fun given the plethora of lighting effects and how you can make the keyboard itself very bright. Gentle rainbows scrolling across the keyboard look quite lovely with the ebbing and flowing of colors and reflections. I love how the light shimmers and catches in my cloudy, transparent keycaps. They reflect and refract light from the backlights in fun ways and almost appear to flicker and dance slowly to the lighting patterns. In that way this board is beautiful to see and very fun to have in my keyboard collection.

Being able to change up all the settings through a combination of hotkeys and Via software is great from a usability standpoint. I can change the animations, colors, and brightness all through some quick hotkey presses which is nice in a market where an increasing number of keyboards are requiring software to be installed for editing the lighting. You will need Via to change key mapping but that writes to the board’s memory which means that even if you pull it and put it on a computer without the software those settings will be retained there. I like that it uses Via for that as well. It’s cross-platform and works with many other keyboards that it’s a piece of software I keep installed regardless of what keyboard I am currently using as it’s one aspect I try to retain compatibility with all my custom keyboards. It also maintains compatibility with QMK for configuration for those who prefer using that for remapping keys as well. 

The good news is that the default key layout is a largely standard layout so you may not even need to remap keys if you are so inclined to keep them as they are. The only nonstandard keys are the bottom six that make up the arrow cluster, delete, and a 1U right shift. That also helps in finding keycaps for this keyboard as well. Many 60% and 65% sets will work with it as that is a common cluster to have to retain the arrow keys. However, that does mean it is also slightly shifted for the Z row, leaving left shift reduced by 0.25U like many other boards with this layout. Make sure your keycap set covers these exceptions if you do get this keyboard. Epomaker does sell a keycap set specifically for this keyboard that is cat themed as well. I opted to not get it as I have plenty of sets to use with it but it’s good to know that it’s available.

In the end, the backbones of this keyboard have great quality to them for the price. The PCB is well thought out and the case is sufficient for what the keyboard is. It’s relatively comfortable to type on and has a layout that won’t require too much relearning for touch typists. And that’s really where I feel this board ultimately fits in. It’s not one I would recommend as a daily driver. Buying it for someone who is going to use it as their primary keyboard may find it less endearing over time. It’s more of an art piece than a practical keyboard. In that respect it is great as a themed keyboard or testing board as an additional keyboard to your main keyboard.