The Epomaker Shadow-X is a mechanical keyboard with a compact 70% layout—similar to a TKL design but without the F-keys. It also has a small LED screen, a metal rotary mode dial, and south-facing RGB lights.
The keyboard has a gray and black finish, with some black keycaps to accentuate it. But if you want more color, it also includes eight yellow keycaps in the box to make your desk a bit livelier.
No attribution is required; sourced from Epomaker
URL:https://epomaker.com/products/epomaker-shadow-x?variant=45545081864500
Epomaker Shadow-X 70% Mechanical Keyboard
The Epomaker Shadow-X is a compact 70% hot-swappable mechanical keyboard. Its excellent construction, gasket mounting, and factory-lubed Epomaker Blueberry switches make it one of the best keyboards you can get at this size and price point.
A Premium Keyboard With Premium Accessories
Jowi Morales / MakeUseOf
You’ll find the Shadow-X front and center in its box, protected by an anti-static plastic bag. But what’s more impressive is that you get premium accessories to go along with it.
You’ll get a 185cm (over six feet!) USB-C cable with a braided finish, a well-built keycap and switch puller, eight yellow dual-shot PBT keycaps, and three extra Epomaker Bluebird Switches.
But, of course, it’s the keyboard’s premium feel that makes it stand out among my collection. Although relatively compact at 13 x 37cm (or about 5 x 14.5 inches), it’s not lightweight at 900g (1.98lbs). This makes it 100g (0.22lbs) heavier than myRoyal Kludge RK84but about 170g (0.37lbs) lighter than the slightly largerEpomaker RT100.
A Feast for the Eyes
The Shadow-X will look great on any table, especially if you’re into minimalism. Although it has a plastic face plate, the material and thickness that Epomaker used make it feel like it’s made from aluminum.
Furthermore, the small LED screen shows you the current time, date, and the various functions of the keyboard. You can see whether it’s in Windows or Mac mode, its remaining battery life, and whether you’ve pressed the caps lock button or not. You can also see your connection mode—either one of the three Bluetooth 5.0 connections, the 2.4GHz dongle, or the wired mode. Last, you can see which function layer you’re using, making the Shadow-X a great macro keyboard for different apps.
As said earlier, you get eight yellow keycaps in the box. So, if you feel that the Shadow-X’s black and gray theme is too monotonous for you, you may replace the space bar, esc, enter, backspace, and arrow keys with bright yellow keycaps.
A Symphonic and Satisfying Typing Experience
The Shadow-X has gasket-mounted switches and uses Poron foam to absorb sound and vibration when you’re typing. Furthermore, Epomaker paired the keyboard they sent me with their factory-lubed linear Bluebird switches.
This combination gives the Shadow-X a smooth typing experience and a thocky sound profile. While I like the feel and sound of tactile switches, the beautiful sound profile that Epomaker engineered into the Shadow-X makes me want to change my preference.
The keyboard also comes with bi-level plastic feet that fold into its bottom. This lets you change its angle, ensuring you get the optimal typing position. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have a wristrest, so you must purchase one separately for a more ergonomic typing position.
Quick Connection Switching
If you use your keyboard for multiple devices, you’ll love the Epomaker Shadow-X. Its rotary switch allows you to change devices quickly (but not instantaneously, as it takes the keyboard about three seconds to handshake with the new device).
The Epomaker Shadow-X sports a single USB-C port should you prefer using the keyboard in wired mode. And right below that, you will find the USB dongle for the 2.4GHz connection. you may also connect it to three devices simultaneously via Bluetooth 5.0.
This means you can connect the keyboard to up to five devices and only need to move the rotary switch to toggle between them. It also automatically detects the between Windows and macOS when using it in wired and 2.4GHz mode. Unfortunately, it doesn’t auto-detect the OS in Bluetooth mode, so it defaults to Windows mode, which is annoying if you’re used to macOS.
Aside from looking at the rotary switch, you can also see your current connection mode on the LED screen. Alternatively, if you prefer the Epomaker logo or a photo on the keyboard’s screen, you can see the connection mode on the LED bulb with the Wi-Fi logo.
This bulb is off if the keyboard is off or used in wired mode. But if you’re using the keyboard in wireless mode, it will light up in different colors: white for 2.4GHz mode, red for B1, green for B2, and blue for B3.
Users who prefer wireless mode will also find the keyboard’s battery sufficient. It has a 3000mAh battery, which lasted me more than two weeks of continuous use with the LED screen and RGB lights. I then used it in wired mode, which fully charged the keyboard in about eight hours while I was using it.
Some Memorization Required
The keyboard’s minimalist design means only letters and symbols are printed on its keycaps. And because of its smaller 70% layout, you’re missing several keys like the F-keys and the print screen button.
You’ll find the fn shortcuts required to activate them in the manual. But since they’re not marked on the default keycaps, you must memorize them (or at least have the manual on your desk until you get used to pressing them).
The keyboard also lacks dedicated media keys, so you must use the fn keys to change your music and adjust the volume. Furthermore, the Page Up button is missing—replaced by the rotary switch. It also doesn’t have a function key shortcut, so you must assign a macro for it using the Epomaker Driver software.
Clunky Software
Epomaker is known for its excellent keycaps, switches, and keyboards. However, its Achilles’ heel is its driver app. Before we dive into its weaknesses, let’s first look at its strengths.
The Epomaker driver app is available for Windows and macOS to customize your keyboard regardless of your operating system. Furthermore, you’re able to upload a personalized image to your keyboard screen with the Epomaker driver, making it your own. If you have multiple Epomaker keyboards, you can even create a profile to sync your settings across devices.
However, the Epomaker driver app has several downsides. Its interface isn’t exactly up to modern standards. It uses a serif font, which makes it a bit difficult to read. It lacks the sleek design of recent apps, making it feel dated. Some features on the Epomaker driver app are also not clearly explained, so you have to experiment to figure them out. Nevertheless, once you’ve discovered how to use the Epomaker driver, it’s a pretty powerful tool.
You Won’t Go Wrong With the Epomaker Shadow-X
The only thing that detracts from the Shadow-X is its lackluster driver software. But aside from that, this keyboard is a joy to use. It looks good, sounds nice, and feels great.
If it weren’t for the compact 70% layout, this would’ve replaced my daily driver keyboard—too bad I need the number pad, macro keys, and dedicated media controls for my everyday use. But if you like a keyboard that doesn’t take up space and is a joy to your senses, the Epomaker Shadow-X is the keyboard for you.
