Page 2 - A Closer Look - Hardware and Software
The Epomaker Shadow-S is a unique keyboard when it comes to appearance. It is important to note this keyboard comes in two different variations, White Brown or Pink White. I will say, having a more standard variant would be appreciated, but both options can be appealing in their own right. Our particular model is the White Brown version. Epomaker opted to use a plastic case with double shot PBT keycaps, which has a consistent appearance across the board. The Shadow-S features a standard high-bezel design, keeping the keycaps almost level with the frame of the keyboard. Epomaker chose to place their written logo on the back of the keyboard, leaving no noticeable branding on the exposed side. I personally appreciate this as someone who likes minimal branding. The knob is very smooth to use and is much more operational compared to the Shadow-X. For those unfamiliar with knobs on keyboards, manufacturers commonly use knobs as a volume dial. The Shadow-S does not come with a wrist rest, but you can use the adjustable feet to create a more aggressive typing angle. I found no issue with typing on this keyboard after adjusting the feet, but your experience may vary.
The Epomaker Shadow-S measures in at 369mm length, 420mm width, and 37mm height. Given the design, this is quite standard for a TKL design. The size makes sense given the layout. In terms of mass, this weighs in at 928g, not including the detachable cord. This might seem quite heavy for a TKL keyboard, but when considering the weight of the battery and the silicone pad inside, everything makes sense. Going into the build quality, the top deck shows little flex when pushing between the small gaps of the keyboard. When pushing into the keys, there is a good amount of flex. This is due to the structure, but we will expand on that more on the next page. I tried to twist the keyboard, and the frame bent ever so slightly. For a fully plastic enclosure, the structure is quite good. I was decently impressed with the build quality, but I have seen better.
The Epomaker Shadow-S comes in a tenkeyless QWERTY ANSI layout. The standard TKL layout typically has eighty-seven keys, but the Shadow-S has eighty-five, as three keys are replaced by a knob and a screen. Instead, they have added a key that is not standard to the TKL layout, but is often referred to as the F13 key, which in this case acts as Print Screen. This squishes all of the function row over to make room for this top row key. The ANSI layout is the standard American layout, which uses a single row Enter key, as seen in some of the earlier images. The keyboard does use a standard bottom row. For those who do not know, 1U stands for a single unit, meaning a 1.25U keycap is 1.25 times wider than a regular one. As such, all of the bottom row keys aside from the space bar and arrow keys are 1.25U. For the average user, the typing experience will feel relatively the same, as the only difference is the number pad.
The Epomaker Shadow-S has full N-key rollover, meaning every single key pressed will register even if they are all pressed simultaneously. This means there will be no ghosting issues, where some keys may not be registered. Gamers and fast typists who have fast actions per minute or words per minute will benefit from this, as it will allow more keys to be recognized at the same time. In reality, people usually only need 6-key rollover, so the addition of N-key rollover is nice for extremely fast typists who can reach about 250 words per minute.
Taking a look at the secondary functions on the F row, arrow, and a few extra keys, the user will have some memorizing to do. None of the secondary functions are labeled on the keycaps, thus the manual will be of use. These can be accessed by holding down the Fn key on the bottom right side before pressing the indicated key. We will break this down into shortcuts, lighting effects, and function key combinations.
First, we will talk about the Windows shortcuts. Starting on the F row from left to right, F1 to F8 control media keys. These keys function to Open Player, Volume Down, Volume Up, Mute, Stop, Previous Track, Play/Pause, and Next Track, in that respective order. F9 to F12 operate Homepage, Calculator, and Search. For Mac users, F1 and F2 is Screen Brightness Down and Screen Brightness Up, respectively. F3 acts as a Task key. F7 to F12 function are the media keys, acting as Previous Track, Play/Pause, Next Track, Mute, Volume Down, and Volume Up, respectively.
For lighting effects, we have the arrow keys. Up and down arrows increase and decrease brightness, while left and right arrows control the Backlight Hue. Backspace will turn off the lighting effects. Backslash will allow the user to adjust the lighting effect. Minus and plus keys will control backlight speed. Square brackets will adjust the saturation. Finally, Page Up and Page Down will toggle the light bar effects and colors, respectively. If you are not a fan of RGB LEDs, then the Fn and Del key are for you as it turns off any backlighting. This is my preference, as these are not shine-through keycaps, and having the lights off will save on battery life.
As for the keycaps, these are made out of PBT plastic or polybutylene terephthalate, as previously mentioned. I personally prefer PBT, as the material is harder and resists shining better. The lettering is printed out on the top of the keycap using a double shot process, which is created by molding two pieces of plastic together. This helps preserve the legends, as the color goes all the way through. The font used is quite standard and consistent with the rest of the board, which is something I personally prefer. Underneath the keycaps, you can see the typical MX stem. This means you can replace the keycaps with another set. This keyboard uses south-facing lights, which is good, as there will be no interference problems using Cherry profile keycaps. In regard to thickness, they are about 1.4mm thick, which is good. The significance of the thickness of a keycap is important for the feel and pitch. To keep things simple, thicker ones have more depth and produce a deeper thock, while thinner ones produce a higher pitch sound.
The Epomaker Shadow-S features the Epomaker Mulan switch. These switches are linear by nature, having a smooth travel from beginning to end. The Mulan switches have a key travel of 3.8mm and an actuation point of 2mm. This is a slight alteration to the standard travel specifications for many mechanical switches opting for a shorter total travel. The total force required to actuate is roughly 47g for operating and 60g for bottoming out. There is no information on the rated lifespan, but as this is a hot-swappable keyboard, this is not as much of an issue.
Even with these specifications, it is quite hard to picture what these switches actually feel like, so I will try my best to explain. For a stock switch, the Mulan switches are more than acceptable. The linear characteristic gives a decently smooth travel. If you have used a standard mechanical keyboard before, it will feel quite normal, aside from the early bottoming out. With that said, the Mulan are good switches.
Moving on to stabilizers, we have plate-mount Cherry stabilizers. If you are unfamiliar, there are two main designs of stabilizers, which are Cherry and Costar. In both cases, these are used to maintain balance in the longer keys and stabilize them, as the name implies. Cherry ones will have stems matching the bottom of most keycaps, while Costar has a wire hooked into a hoop on the keycaps. The main issue with Costar stabilizers is how they are a rattly mess, and there is practically nothing you can do about it. Cherry stabilizers also rattle, but there are ways to reduce the sound, making it the superior choice.
There is also a large difference between plate mount and PCB mount stabilizers. Generally, there are three types of mounting method, including plate mounting, screw-in, and clip-in. The latter two are PCB-mounted. I personally prefer screw-in stabilizers, as they stay in place the best out of the three options, followed by clip-in. Given the keyboard’s design, plate mount stabilizers make a lot of sense, as they are the easiest to maintain and remove. The ease has a caveat that they can also easily fall out. With a small bit of knowledge, anyone should be able to fit them back into place.
Taking a peek at the bottom of the keyboard, we have four rubber feet. The feet on the bottom side are average in size, doing a great job of keeping the keyboard in place. There should be no noticeable unintentional sliding. There is no cable raceway to manage cables, as the Epomaker Shadow-S uses a detachable cable design. This is my personal preference, as it makes swapping between keyboards easier. The included 1.8m USB Type-C cable is greatly appreciated, but the quality is slightly questionable. The head of the Type-C end actually came off unexpectedly. A long, braided cable would be beneficial for durability and usability, but in my use, I found myself using the USB transmitter most of the time. The 2.4GHz connection had no noticeable connectivity issues in my setup, being fast and responsive.
After doing my thorough inspection, I put the Epomaker Shadow-S to use. As these Mulan switches are linear in nature, I made sure to account for this in the typing test. My first observation was a good bottoming out sound with no ping. I should note I am typing on top of a desk mat, which dampens higher pitched sounds. However, the lack of pinging is more due to the dampening within the keyboard. Epomaker has provided a good use of foam to prevent unwanted noise. The smooth linear feel was consistent throughout all the keys, which was nice. As someone who generally enjoys linear switches, I had a satisfactory experience, but would have appreciated pre-lubricated switches. I enjoyed the 2mm actuation point, as I never had any unintentional inputs like I did with Cherry MX Speed Silver switches. The travel distance was good, and I had no issues whatsoever. A sound test of the Epomaker Shadow-S can be found above.
The Epomaker Shadow-S definitely has good lighting effect potential. The lighting effects can only be seen around the keycaps, because these keycaps do not shine through. Despite this fact, the backlighting effects are still nice to have. I personally found the lighting to be absolutely acceptable, as I had no issue with configuring it using software. I do not think any users will have any issues in regard to this, but if you really want the legends to be illuminated, you can swap the keycaps out, as we have standard MX stems and standard bottom row spacing. Twenty-two different lighting variations can be toggled through by using the software I will talk about in a moment.
In terms of software, we have VIA. The keyboard community absolutely adores VIA, so I appreciate the usage here. This software is quite impressive, as many keyboards use it as a standard. I really appreciate having software for the Epomaker Shadow-S, as I personally found the hardware key combinations to be confusing. Starting with the Configure tab, we have Keymap, Macros, Lighting, and Save + Load. The Keymap tab will allow you to remap any key to almost anything you like. Macros allows you to setup your own personal macros. Lighting will allow you to adjust the backlighting on the keyboard as you may expect. The Key Tester tab is useful for figuring out which switch needs replacing. The Design tab is needed for the Shadow-S, as you will have to load the JSON file on the product page for the keyboard to be recognized. Lastly, there is the settings tab to adjust VIA itself.
Additionally, to customize the screen, Epomaker has their Image Custom Tool, which unfortunately I found non-functional. The software itself would open, but it would not actually do anything.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look - Hardware and Software
3. A Closer Look - Disassembly and Internals
4. Conclusion
