Hands-On With The MelGeek Made68 Pro
With the Power of Water!
Water. Earth. Fire. Air. No this isn’t Avatar The Last Airbender, but heck this might be the closest we’ll get to a premium keyboard based on the elements of the hit show. This is the MelGeek MADE68 Pro Hall Effect keyboard and it sure lives up to the uniqueness of MelGeek’s portfolio as the company says they were inspired by the Greek philosophical concepts of the elements when designing these models. I have the water version, and it is one of the four models you can purchase when it releases on Kickstarter late August.
Kickstarter Early Bird Price: From $99
Element of Water
These “Elemento” designs each have their own unique designs. On this Water board, the box light has engravings of what resembles ocean waves in a Japanese-like format. Those waves also continue over to the side metal plates. It’s an extremely eye-catching, and clean look that is accented well with the navy blue and white, ABS double-shot keycaps. There’s also RGB light effects on the keyboard as well.
This is a wired board that is hot swappable with Magnetic White switches made by MelGeek, but the final variant sold will feature TTC Magneto switches. It’s compatible with macOS, Windows, and Linux.
I wanted to note that MelGeek did send us a prototype version of the MADE68 Pro prior to the August 27th Kickstarter launch, and there may be some enhancements for the final version.
This prototype has a 1000Hz polling rate with 1ms latency while the final version will feature an 8000Hz polling rate with a latency reduction to 0.125ms. Accuracy on this prototype is at 0.04mm but the final variant will be even less at 0.01mm. Also some details with the color theme are also potentially subject to refinement before release.
This is also not a final review as this product has not been released yet. We’re doing a hands-on look at some of the cool selling points that make the MADE68 Pro so interesting prior to the pre-order period so you can see what it's going to be like. And interesting it definitely is.
Let’s start with the Hall Effect design. Unlike mechanical keyboards that require physical input for actuation, this keyboard is aided by a magnetic switch developed by MelGeek to make registering a key press easier. The sensitivity should help with precision and speed thanks to rapid trigger, adjustable actuation points, and 4-in-1 dynamic keystrokes.
DISCLAIMER: MelGeek SENT US A UNIT OF THE Made68 Pro 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. 
The Water light bar is stunning
Customization
I haven’t had a lot of time with the board yet, but one major advancement to MelGeek’s user experience that I’ve immediately noticed is with the new Hive software. If you’ve seen our previous MelGeek keyboard reviews, you might remember KBTools as MelGeek’s software choice. Well the MADE68 Pro uses a new program called Hive and let me tell you, it’s way better.
In Hive, owners of the MADE68 Pro can eliminate switch movement delay through adjusting Rapid Trigger controls on the board by deactivating keys based on travel distance, rather than a fixed key travel.
The software also lets you customize advanced combos in your gaming schemes by combining 4 preset actions into one single tap. MelGeek told us this board will be optimal for games like Valorant, Street Fighter V, League of Legends, and CSGO. We also just received a software update that enables a Snap Tap function that adds the MADE68 Pro to a select group of boards that have this. You might need to be careful what games you can use this on.
The Hive software also makes calibration such an easy process too. While you can manually calibrate the board, the auto-calibration process is literally enabled by a single button. You can also monitor and test the fluctuation levels of the keyboard to obtain a volatility percentage. I have to say that my initial impressions of the new Hive software are pretty high.
Power of the Elements
The MelGeek Made68 Elemento series will come in four configurations: Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water
I gotta say, I really dig the aesthetic vibe MelGeek has given the Elemento. I foresee myself spending a lot of time with this keyboard just because it feels so smooth to type on. While many of the uber pro-gaming features are wasted on a casual like me, I do look forward to exploring how a Hall Effect board can potentially improve my workflow. While they aren’t a new tech or anything, there have been a lot more Hall Effect keyboards hitting the market. Without the potential wear and tear of physical contacts, and more responsiveness from keys, I’m excited to give the MADE68 Pro a go around. Once again, the Kickstarter campaign begins August 27th.
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