Nuphy Node 75 Keyboard Review

The Nuphy Node 75 Keyboard: Review by Michael Feir Available at: www.nuphy.com Price: $99.95 USD

Introduction:

My quest for keyboard perfection has lasted over a decade now. When I got hold of the Air75 V3 in low profile with Blush silent switches, I experienced a level of perfection I never dared to imagine. It remains my ideal keyboard. However, its aluminium frame makes it a heavier keyboard to carry. Its versatile folio protects it exceedingly well and offers additional capability but adds further weight and bulk while travelling. Also even with the discounts gained by preordering the keyboard, I paid well over $200 Canadian for the keyboard and folio. In contrast, the Node 75 is significantly lighter and much more affordable at $95.99 USD regular price which includes free shipping. The same attention to sound dampening, gasket mounting and other internal details plus the same kinds of switches were used. Due to this, it occurred to me that at the very least, this would serve admirably as a backup keyboard should anything happen to my Air75 V3. I could even use the switches to replace any which eventually failed on that keyboard. Also, being significantly lighter than the Air75 V3, it would carry more easily in my travel sling which already offers more than adequate protection without a folio.

Keyboard Description:

This keyboard is entirely constructed of ABS plastic. The design inspiration was a transistor radio popular in the 1950's. The result is a sturdy minimalist retro feel which harks back to keyboards I remember typing on in school classrooms. Along the top of the keyboard above the keys, there is a dot matrix display and touchpad. This touchpad is near the right end of the top of the keyboard and is bounded by two vertical lines of dots which feel like Braille but aren't. The top frame extends slightly beyond the base providing protection for keys as well as the USB C port, mode and operating system selection switches, and 2.4 GHZ wireless connection dongle found along the back edge of the keyboard from left to right. For the low profile 75% layout version of this keyboard, the over all weight is 659 grams or 1.45 pounds. It is 317.1 millimetres or 12.48 inches long. The distance from back to front is 137.1 millimetres or 5.39 inches. The keyboard is 13.2 millimetres or 0.52 inches thick at the back. This provides a typing angle of 4 degrees when flat on a surface. There are feet which fold out from the bottom rear of the keyboard that allow for 8 or 12 degree typing angles if desired. The positioning of the non-moving rubber feet near the front bottom of the keyboard allows for people to position the keyboard overtop of a laptop keyboard for a better typing experience. The feet go in between the keys of a Macbook so presses on the keyboard shouldn't cause keys on your laptop to be pressed. The two sliding selection switches are easy to feel and well made. At the left is the mode selection switch. Its three positions are wireless, wired, and off from left to right. The other switch lets you choose which operating system, Mac when in the left most position and Windows while moved into the right position. When using an iPhone or iPad, it should be in the left most position for best compatibility. When using this keyboard with a computer running Windows, the switch should be moved into the right position. I don't know which would work better for Linux or Android but would presume the right position might be best. The keyboard layout is ANSI and there are a total of 84 keys. The keycaps are double-shot NSA PBT plastic giving them a slightly rough texture and high durability. They're square or rectangular with slightly rounded corners and shallow concave centres which guide your fingertips.. There are tactile markings on the f, j and up arrow keys. No markings adorn any of the function keys. Because this is a 75% layout, there are no spaces between groups of keys. Markings on the f4 and f8 keys would have been helpful particularly for beginner typists. Due to the dot matrix display extending across the top function row, it would be easy to use stickers or tactile sticky bumps to indicate the fourth and eighth function keys. However, the layout is spacious enough that the function keys are nearly directly above their corresponding numbers. If you reach up to hit an 8, stretching your finger a little further will naturally hit the f8 key. The right shift key is shorter than the left to accommodate the up arrow and page down keys. There is no number pad. People who need this may wish to obtain the Nuphy Node 100 keyboard. Setting the Node 75 directly beside the Air75 V3, the Node 75 plastic frame is slightly higher than the aluminium Air75. The Node series keyboards are available in low or high profile. Low profile is best for travel as the keyboard is slimmer. A high profile version gives you longer key travel and potentially a steeper typing angle. If you opt for silent switches, the high profile version will be more quiet since the switches contain more material to cushion your keystrokes. I've never felt the high profile version. However, reviewers have indicated that the key layouts are slightly different.

The Touchpad:

Rather than the optional knob on the Air75, the touchpad is simply built in at the top of the Node75. No installation is required. Through the use of the Nuphy IO web based customization software, it is possible to change what the touchpad allows you to do with swipes, double and triple taps. By default, it will let you raise or lower volume by swiping a finger across the pad. Double tapping it should pause or resume playback but doesn't seem to work for me. A triple tap skips to the next track. Thankfully, all of these things can be accomplished by using the F7, F8, F9, F11 and F12 keys. While I would have been delighted with more robust default functionality for iOs users, the touchpad is at least a little useful. However, for blind users, the addition to the top of the keyboard is a net negative for people thinking of travelling a lot with this keyboard. Reaching for that touchbar, I've sometimes hit top row keys that I didn't mean to. Low vision users might find the dot matrix display to be useful since it indicates battery level, typing, connectivity, etc. Eliminating that extra top space would have suited me slightly better, but the touchbar is out of your way if you don't intentionally reach for it. People who can make use of the nuphy IO software can derive much more benefit from the touchbar since it's possible to customize the commands it can be used for.

Typing Experience:

As I had hoped, typing on the Node 75 proved to be almost identical to my delightful experience on the Air75 V3. The keycaps are a fraction smaller than those on the Air75. This allows for a slightly shorter length and top to bottom spacing. We're talking about mere millimetres of difference between the two keyboards. Having keycaps contact plastic frames rather than aluminium makes no tactile difference and not much sonic difference either. The Blush silent switches keep the noise down just as effectively. The gasket mounting on the Node 75 works as well as on the Air75 dampening noise and cushioning keystrokes. The Bluetooth connectivity is also just as good with no missed keystrokes or detectible lag.

Box Contents and Different Options:

You can get a Node series keyboard in either a low or high profile form factor. Also, you can choose between a 75% or 100% keyboard layout. This higher precent keyboard layout includes a number pad and the keys will be spaced differently. Three types of switches are available for under your keys. You can choose from red linear, tactile brown, or Blush silent switches. These are Gatteron third generation Nano switches for the low profile keyboards or Max switches for high profile keyboards. These switches aren't interchangeable between high and low profile. The Node series keyboards are hot swappable so you can change to different key switches easily. Also, you can choose between white, grey or pink colours for your keyboard. In the box, you will find a few accessories. These include a USB C charging cable with an adaptor for use in USB A ports. You also get a small ziplock bag containing six extra keycaps. Finally, you'll also find a tool which you can use to remove keycaps or switches in order to try different ones. Use the pincer end to squeeze the sides of switches. Turn them slightly clockwise while squeezing in the sides and gently pull out switches. The other end of the tool with rectangular ends can be used to go beneath keycaps and lift them off the switches. Just be careful not to lose track of keycap orientation since there's no easy way to tell which way the majority of keycaps should face purely by feel.

Special Key Commands:

This section was included for the reader's convenience. Anyone who has read my review of the Nuphy Air75 V3 keyboard can safely skip ahead to the next section. For iOS users, there are a number of useful commands. The function keys offer the ability to summon spotlight search with the F4 key. Also, there are a set of multimedia keys. The F7, F8 and F9 keys skip backwards, play/pause and skip forwards multimedia tracks like music. The F8 key can also serve as the magic tap which does context-sensitive things like answer or end calls. The F11 and F12 keys decrease or increase volume. The key to the right of F12 takes a screen shot. In addition to those, there are the special commands made available by the FN key. This key is the second key to the right of the space bar. Holding down this key and pressing the right square bracket will turn off the keyboard's power saving mode. This will stop the keyboard from going into a standby mode and requiring a key press to wake it up. Presumably, the left square bracket would turn this mode on. Holding down the FN key and tapping arrow keys will change your RGB lighting. There are numerous modes which are cycled through with the left and right arrows. Turn off the lighting by holding down the FN key and tapping the down arrow ten or more times. The function keys will become actual function keys labelled F1 through F12 while you hold down the FN key. Holding down FN and hitting the numbers 1 through 4 will switch between up to four connected devices. F4 is for the wireless dongle or for what you've connected directly using the USB C cable. The other slots are for any other Bluetooth devices. Hold the keys down for over four seconds to put the keyboard in pairing mode for the slot you want to assign. Go into Bluetooth settings on your iPhone and you'll see the ready slot as something like "Nuphy Node 75 lp-1", which would indicate slot 1 is ready to pair. Double tap the item on your iPhone and a pairing attempt will be made. A dialogue should pop up and you need to flick right and double tap on the "pair" button. There are likely more commands which I have yet to learn about. Even more customization and macro commands are possible for Windows and Mac users. However, these will get you started using it with your iPhone or iPad in fine style.

Conclusion:

With such a big price difference between the Air75 V3 and the Node 75, I wondered how much I would end up feeling the differences. This was, after all, an attempt to offer a great typing experience at a more affordable price. Corners would need to be cut somewhere. Adding to this was that the Node 75 wasn't designed as much for travel. No folio is available for it yet. The folio from my Air 75 V2 can rap around and snap closed protecting it during travel. However, because the Node 75 lacks a steel plate on the bottom, it tends to slide around in the folio. The Air 75 V3 feels far more secure in place allowing you to safely use its folio as a stand, lap cushion, or a more grippy alternative to the feet of the keyboard so you don't have them get scraped off of the bottom of the board. One result of this was that I always have that keyboard in its folio because it was so useful. Doing without this accessory saves substantial weight and thickness. That's nice if you have a travel solution such as a tech sling which already offers excellent protection. I hope that Nuphy will eventually come up with a brilliant solution here. An advantage of having a folio is that any impact is spread by the rigid material covering the keys. This keyboard is already an excellent investment for students and with the right protective accessory, it would put very comfortable typing well within financial reach of the most active travellers. There's also the slight difference in key spacing and keycap size. On the Air 75 V3, the keycaps are a little larger. Also, the keys seem a smidgen more spread out. They go more evenly nearly right up to all four edges of the frame. Those millimetres of less key spacing do make a difference leaving an ever so slightly more cramped feel when typing on the Node 75. It's the kind of tiny difference which I would never have taken any special note of had I not first been able to experience the Air75 V3. The low profile Node 75 has a 3000 MAH battery as opposed to the 4000 MAH capacity available in the Air 75 V3. This does somewhat reduce the available time per full charge from the 1200 hours with lights off to something around 1000. If RGB lights are used, you'd get from 60 to 100 hours depending on brightness level. This seems a small price to pay for noticeably less weight and substantially reduced cost. And then, of course, there's the most noticeable tactile difference of plastic versus aluminium. Having that solid metal frame really does make the Air 75 V3 feel more durable and premium. The ABS plastic of the Node 75 feels solid and well put together, but at the end of the day, it's plastic. It's difficult not to have thoughts that a particularly hard bash or especially fearsome squish might not result in broken wreckage. Before you get carried away though, keep in mind that only the top frame of the Air75 V3 is composed of aluminium. The bottom is that self same ABS plastic. In the real world, having an aluminium frame probably wouldn't save you from a wrecked keyboard given a sufficient impact or crush situation. At that point, you are likely to have more pressing problems. The software inside the keyboard is also the same as that in the Air 75 V3. The same key shortcuts, multimedia keys and commands are available. The Nuphy IO software offers just as much ability to customize aspects such as lighting, what the touchbar does, and much more. Blind people will likely need sighted help to use this software. They may also need to have their keyboard connected to a Windows or Mac computer in order to make adjustments. Over all, I'm very happy with the Node 75. It offers an extremely good typing experience in a relatively compact and affordable package. The price is more than fair when you consider how long a mechanical keyboard can last if properly handled. The switches under the keys are designed to endure at least two million keystrokes. That's a heaping lot of typing. The Node 75 offers both wired and wireless connectivity. Even when the battery starts to degrade, it could still be connected directly to your phone or tablet's USB C port. For someone's first mechanical keyboard experience, this would be ideal. The three switch types on offer yield different levels of sound and tactile feedback. There are also different keycaps available. I'll be honest. When I'm at home at my desk, I'll be using the Air75 V3. Internal software aside, everything about that keyboard from the sturdy aluminium frame to the slightly more generous key spacing, is at least a little more premium feeling. However, when I'm travelling, the Node 75 is a far more likely choice to bring along. The sacrifices made for the very noticeable weight reduction and less bulk seem worth-while at least on more casual shorter excursions. On some sort of adventure trek, you might well want to take the Air75 V3 along despite the weight and bulk for sheer durability, prestige and battery power.