At the beginning of the review there is a joke that this keyboard is the only thing from the “3090” family that you will be able to afford. But taking into account that Akko 3098N Black & Cyan costs a lot, as it is a new product, and RTX 3090 has dropped in price to almost $500 – the joke will go nowhere.
On the other hand, I would recommend the 3098N as your first and only mechanical keyboard. The first, because you will get almost everything you can get from it from an almost full-size mechanical keyboard. And the last one, because the only thing better than it would be to assemble it by hand, and even that – after about the tenth attempt.
Market positioning
The price is at $120. This is NOT the most expensive keyboard I’ve ever had on my desk, but it will be in the top 5 most expensive without a single problem. Which is not surprising, because the 3098N is a boutique model, and Akko is a boutique manufacturer.
Complete set
The keyboard comes with more than enough kit. USB wireless adapter, USB cable, instruction manual – detailed and useful, not like some others. And a bunch, a whole bunch of extra caps. And both standard and… how to put it.
Imagine that you have moulded four caps into a square. Here are a few of these differently shaped “caps”, just like Tetris, included in the kit. No lettering, no punched areas for the backlight – just solid PBT plastic. I’m not really sure what it’s for. But I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.
External appearance
Visually, the Akko 3098N Black & Cyan is extremely remarkable. I will say right away that it lacks structural strength, and it is relatively easy to flex the case – the metal frame is not felt. I don’t see this as a major flaw, or a flaw at all, as I didn’t notice any flexing once during printing.
Everything else about the keyboard is fabulous. Specifically, my review model is called TTC Flame Black-Cyan, according to the colour of the switches and the legend.
The main complete caps are cyan too. You could say that they are turquoise – but not the fact that you would be right. Cyan is a group of colours and turquoise is only one.
The bottom line is that the keyboard is extremely pleasing to the eye. I personally put almost all the extra caps in place almost immediately, and got a straightforwardly extremely luxurious beauty. From the description “ultra-compact” in the online shop, I almost laughed out loud, even though it’s technically a bit smaller than the full-sized one, but all the buttons are in place, as well as Fn for additional functions.
I will go over the caps separately and in detail, because they are double moulded PBT in ASA profile. Profile means the curve of the cap cut, some keyboards have a downward curve, others have a more or less even curve. Specifically in the case of the ASA, they all face slightly away from the fingers, but only slightly. It’s still comfortable, it’s just that someone else will be more comfortable.
Technical specifications
The Akko 3098N Black & Cyan is so far my favourite keyboard of all time in terms of key combinations. Of course, there is no display, but there is support for three Bluetooth channels, 2.4 GHz channel, and wired connection.
The backlight is unbelievable. It is fully customisable, and not only by key combinations, but also via Akko’s proprietary software. Which you have to look for a little bit tricky. Not through Google, but directly on the official website. This programme allows you to set up backlighting, macros, profiles, upload them to the cloud, change button assignments, and even update the firmware.
Switches
This, however, is neither the biggest advantage of the keyboard, nor the most useful chip. The point is that I recommended Akko 3098N Black & Cyan as your first and last model for a reason in the beginning.
It’s about the switches. The switches here are TTC Silent Red, 5-axis hot-swappable, and pre-lubricated. And it is noticeable as soon as you want to replace the caps with cyan ones.
Because the grease is very visible on the stabilisers, it was essentially applied by hand. And you know from my previous reviews how much I love that kind of thing. And if anyone saw the Glarses video about the PewDiePie keyboard – remember the sound of typing on a fully custom keyboard? This one here has 95% of the same sound.
Because the grease is very visible on the stabilisers, it was essentially applied by hand. And you know from my previous reviews how much I love that kind of thing. And if anyone saw the Glarses video about the PewDiePie keyboard – remember the sound of typing on a fully custom keyboard? This one here has 95% of the same sound.
Summary
This keyboard, both in visuals, specifications, and bundling, has set a new standard of flawlessness for me personally. Akko 3098N Black & Cyan contains a dash of hand craftsmanship, which is almost always required of boutique keyboards, but it doesn’t sag in absurdly unnecessary places – the instructions, for example, are in place and fulfil their role. So yes, recommended.
Akko 3098N Black & Cyan video review
You can look at the beauty in dynamics here:
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