GravaStar Mercury K1 Review
Out of the this world
When it comes to tech products that look out of this world, one company has that niche locked down. Originally known for their alien tech-looking bluetooth speakers, GravaStar has branched out into other avenues of consumer electronics and one of their uniquely crafted products is the Mercury K1 mechanical keyboard. Aside from its extraterrestrial look, does the K1 provide anything else of value?
Disclaimer: GravaStar sent us a unit of the Mercury K1 free of charge to review, but all thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are our own and were not discussed with the company prior to publishing.
Retail Price: $129.99
Premium Build
Immediately out of the box, you can tell that the K1 is a solid keyboard. Made from an aluminum alloy exoskeleton frame, there’s a certain heft behind the board. The backplate is plastic and does feel a bit out of place from the other materials used on the board, but it at least has a meticulously crafted design to it. GravaStar subjects the plastic to imitate machinery that you’d see on a spacecraft like exhaust pipes and cooling ducts. It’s an extremely detailed piece for something that won’t be seen a majority of the time. Nonetheless, I appreciate the individuality behind the look.
The exoskeleton frame made from aluminum alloy
The top side, which you spend most of the time looking at, is interesting to say the least. Dell has an Alienware line, but GravaStar has out-aliened Dell with the Mercury K1. The webbed-through holes along the frame of the board is accented by diffused RGB strips. It looks like some sort of alien spacecraft design. The gradient white version of this board that we were sent looks stunningly clean and outer worldly. The matte white finish feels nice to touch and doesn’t absorb fingerprints either. I personally find the board to be appealing to look at as well as to touch with my fingers.
The touch and feel carries over to the PBT keycaps which harbors a gradient color scheme from white to gray across the board. The symbology is side engraved facing forward to the user and when propped up by the kickstand feet, is perfectly lined up to the user.
It wouldn’t be a gaming keyboard, nor would it be an alien themed product without an abundance of RGB lights. Since the symbology is front side engraved, it only makes sense that the RGB lights are south facing. This illumination across the layout is gorgeous and unified to look at as the lettering is perfectly lit up in accordance to their etched location to the keycap. There really isn’t light bleeding through the edges of the caps and I love the way the keys look in a darkened environment. I wish more keyboard makers would use this combination of south facing RGB switches and side printed keycaps.
I think the proportions of this 75% keyboard are distributed very well across the canvas. There’s a pressable volume roller at the top right of the layout that sits right on top of the Delete, and Page Up/ Page Down keys. The volume toggle is the only piece of the board that I find a bit out of place in terms of build quality. It’s a polished piece of plastic that is made to look like aluminum, but it definitely doesn’t match the rest of the build quality that is pretty consistent throughout the Mercury K1. Still, having a compact dedicated volume control that works just fine will satisfy most users.
Sitting directly below those keys is a GravaStar logo highlighted by rotating RGB colors. It’s an aesthetic touch instead of a functional one that I find slightly tacky and over excessive. In my opinion, the board would have looked a lot cleaner without it there. I’m also not a huge fan of the GravaStar logo stamped smack dab on the center of the frame below the space bar. The GravaStar logo is a bit stale and it just doesn’t look great on an otherwise clean looking board.
Performance
GravaStar uses the Kailh Linear switches to complete their gaming setup. There’s a satisfying “tok” sound behind the keystrokes. Typing is quite smooth to navigate throughout the board. My fingers glide around the keys without much need to input force.
Kailh Linear switches under those PBT keycaps
I’m also pretty accurate when typing on the Mercury K1. With a total of 79 keys, there’s slightly more than the bare necessities for a functioning board. GravaStar says the Mercury K1 strikes for 40g of actuation force and a total travel of 3.5 mm. Each of the six layers of the board contain various foam dampening below the PC plate. The keyboard is hot swappable to support 3 and 5 pin mechanical switches so it will sound however you want to customize it to sound to your preference.
Overall, I enjoyed the somewhat muted yet pronounced sound that came out of the Mercury K1. This is something that I wouldn’t mind using in a shared space as I don’t find it to be distracting or too over the top obnoxious sounding.
There’s also the standard three connectivity options which are through Bluetooth, a 2.4 Ghz wireless USB connection, and through the USB-C port which is also where the keyboard charges. Like many boards out there, the K1 also has a Windows to Mac toggle at the top of the frame. Both of the wireless avenues work perfectly fine without any latency issues that I can see.
As for battery longevity, I was able to sustain the keyboard off one charge for about 3 weeks or so. That’s a good amount of time for the keyboard to be able to stay untethered for charging. Of course if one so desires, a fancy coiled aviator cable could add to the look of the board and keep the Mercury juiced up at all times too.
final thoughts . . .
There isn’t much to dislike about a board that looks unlike anything else out there.
The Mercury K1 certainly has a gamer vibe behind its design. No one can claim that the board looks generic or like anything else out there. GravaStar took a swing for the fences with the design and I think they hit a home run. Of course with anything out of the ordinary, it may not be to the liking of everyone shopping for a semi-high end mechanical keyboard.
Unlike a clean metal slab board that fits with every desk setup, there’s a certain buyer that will appreciate the Mercury. In many ways that’s universal for the GravaStar lineup of products as a company vision. All of their products are unique and in many ways one of a kind. If that suits your style, then the Mercury K1 is sure to be an exciting and satisfying purchase.
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