Fantech ATOM Mizu M63 Review: A Great Budget 60% Keyboard for Beginners
Fantech Atom Mizu 63 Mechanical Keyboard
About several weeks ago, I was reviewing a retro styled keyboard from Rexus Retro Rexus KM10 Keyboard Review | Tech Monday. It was pretty disappointing to find that the keyboard was quite low-quality and poorly made. I found out that the words on the keycap disappeared a week after use and somehow while it has the look that I love and the keycaps that I preferred, it was quite unusable after a few weeks. That made me look for another keyboard and I eventually wanted to compare them to Fantech, the uprising local brand that is also available around South East Asia.
Fantech as a brand is mostly catered to gaming accessories and their products are mostly equipped with RGB. I already have one of their mouse and it’s pretty durable for the price that was offered then. At first, I wanted to get the Go MOCHI combo keyboard that is the same style as Rexus KM10 but after some thought, I decided to go with a mechanical keyboard from Fantech.
There were a few products on sale and I decided to get Fantech ATOM Mizu M63 which is a 60% keyboard layout. This series has a few other layouts up to 95% but I decided to get something small and compact for my table which is 60% and I will tell you more the pros and cons about a 60% layout in this blog.
There are several variations to this series but I picked the navy based with yellow and white accents to it. The board is still definitely plastic but given how it was priced just under $50, it’s definitely given that the material of the main board isn’t going to be similar to a $100 keyboard. However, even under $50, this mechanical keyboard has some awesome features such as hot-swappable which is already compatible with 3 switch pin, keycaps with double injection that won’t cause the words to disappear like what happened to the previous keyboard and more importantly it already features anti-ghosting which ensures all the keys you pressed are executed without delay.
Fantech Unboxing
The product comes with the switch puller and keycap puller as well as extra switches. There is also the user manual that has information on the shortcuts that can be done with the keyboard. While the packaging is pretty simple, I certainly didn’t expect the puller would be included. So, this definitely makes it a good mechanical keyboard for a first timer like myself to customize and play with.
Switch Options
Unlike a regular keyboard, a mechanical keyboard has something called switches. These switches produce different sounds. The sound profile of a mechanical keyboard is something that people like me enjoy listening to. This is where switches play a huge role in how different switches are able to produce different ranges of sounds from silent to clacky to hollow and something called creamy and thocky sounds. Technically, they are divided into 3, tactile, linear and clicky. Tactical comes in brown, linear comes in red and blue comes out as clicky. You can refer to more information about switches over here Switches.
This Fantech Atom series only comes in two switch options, red and blue. If you work from home and enjoy the loudness of typing, definitely go with the blue. I definitely choose blue because the sound is a lot more audible, clicky and really fun to hear whenever I am typing. If you wonder how the linear switch would sound, this is where you can listen to it.
Switches are customizable so I could definitely change the switch to linear if I want to create another sound of the keyboard.
The Sound
I uploaded the sound test over X, you can check it out below if you're curious how blue switches would sound like.
https://x.com/skymocaf/status/1832388764490187088
After a week use
Honestly, after a week of use, I am fairly satisfied with it. I haven’t done much to customize it because I am waiting until a month to see if there’s any changes to the keyboard or if I need to tweak something for extra maintenance. Earlier, I mentioned some of the pros and cons about 60% layout. Here we go!
The 60% layout is definitely pretty small. It doesn’t have all the keys such as the one that we normally see on a laptop/computer keyboard. The 60% layout heavily relies on the shortcuts and key combinations. I certainly had difficulty at first such as finding how to use the tilde sign but after a while, I eventually found how to do it. The good thing about 60% of the keyboard is that it’s pretty compact. The size makes it easier for the keyboard to fit into a small table and has a portability too. However, if you’re going to use this blue switch outside of your home, that’s going to generate a lot of noise that other people might find annoying.
Would I recommend this as your first mechanical keyboard? Definitely yes. It’s reasonably priced and a great first timer mechanical keyboard to learn about and get into it.
𝘔𝘢𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢 & 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘳 . 𝘈 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨, 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯! 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘈 𝘳𝘦-𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰. |
I am sorry the had to face this issue with your keyboard. I was actually hoping of getting something like this too because a friend got it recently too, and I fell in love with the way it is and also the design. The keys are very easy to navigate and not hard to type with. I would love to also get it actually.
Not sure if it's available where you are but generally, mechanical keyboard is pretty fun to play around with.
Yeah, I think he got it from AliExpress, so it was delivered to us here..
I need to find a new keyboard and new mouse when we get back home from a holiday. So difficult not to use a mouse while on a holiday. XD
That sounds horrible! I would not use any device without a mouse haha
ooohh... I like it already. But it's wired. I have a thing for wireless keyboards
I have never owned a mechanical keyboard, though. The one I use isn't mechanical, but it doesn't even work any more.
$50 is a very good deal, especially that it is hotswappable. And your keyboard sound very nice. Ever tried moneytype.com?
It's hard to get anything wireless under $50 for a mechanical keyboard. Anything that's wireless typically hovers around $50 above and they are a little more advanced. Honestly, I would prefer wireless too but the budget isn't there haha
if what you meant is monkeytype, yes I use them a lot for fun and to improve my typing speed. I am currently around 90 WPM but I want it to go around 120WPM. What I love about 60% keyboard is that the keys are well-spaced and very small, which makes it a lot easier to learn to type faster.
Budget is the same reason I don't even have either 😁
You're at where I'm trying to be, Mac. I think my ATH is 88WPM under 60 seconds. I'm working on getting to 100 WPM. And I like a good spaced keyboard too. The one I have on my PC is well spaced, but I really prefer mechanical keyboards and key heights.
Sometimes, I share about my touch typing journey and experience in Digital Lifetstyle community. Perhaps if you want to share how you're working up to 120WPM...
Thats why some really invest on a keyboard, especially the expensive one and the most famous one. Coz the cheap copy didn't really last. But still, there are cheap ones that still last really long. I'm sure they exist, I think? Lol. At least your new one is more amazing than Rexus ┏(^0^)┛
haha I really doubt so but I mean there are cheaper ones like the regular keyboard under $10 that could last a couple of years. They are really that simple and has no aesthetic appeals to it. For some of us, this is kind of a hobby and we're also into the aesthetics of it and rest assured anything that has the word gaming on it, definitely is a way for companies to also mark up the price 😂
That's a great little keyboard and a great review. I like the different colour keycaps that make it fun and useful.
I have a DREVO calibur V2 (75% layout) that has colorful and programmable backlights. I was getting bored of it after awhile and was ready to buy a new one, but then I came across the SteelSeries PRISMCAPS, which are made specifically for keyboards with backlights. Fancy lights aside, the feel of the keyboard has vastly improved and makes writing a pleasure. I feel ridiculous for not paying attention to the keyboard experience earlier. 😌 It's also amazing how just changing the keycaps basically transforms a keyboard into a new product.
Changing the keycaps is definitely my go-to customization if I am bored with how it looks. I read I might need to lube the switches too. Seems like it's a lot of work than just regular keyboard. Also, that pudding keycap looks really soft and nice to type on. I am currently wanting to find mint keycaps to change my current one and make them looks even more fitting with the rest of the things in my room.
These keycaps are so smooth and aesthetically pleasing. They're mid-range in price, so I can only imagine what the truly expensive ones feel like. I just can't bring myself to spend hundreds of $$$ on keycaps 🙂
Wow! Those keycaps look amazing for programming. How do they feel to type on? ミ●﹏☉ミ
It feels better than regular keyboard. Helps if you love speed typing since they are properly spaced too.
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