Page 4 - Conclusion
The Epomaker Shadow-X is a good contender for the rare 70% layout keyboard. The overall build quality is quite rigid despite the plastic build. The appearance is quite nice, offering a unique appearance for your desk setup. Given the four different color designs, I think most users will be able to find a color scheme they like. The lighting settings are quite nice as they shine around the keycap despite not having shine-through keycaps. The included software, Epomaker Driver, was quite fleshed out, giving you the ability to customize your keyboard the way that best fits you. When it comes to typing experience, this is where we have something interesting. I found the typing experience to be on the stiffer side, despite being a gasket mounted keyboard. I will say the sound produced was great even though I was not a fan of the stiffness. The sound offered was on the clacky end, but was significantly dampened by the foam inside, and your preference may vary. Our particular model came with the Gateron Pro Yellow switches, which offered a good typing experience with an acceptable gaming experience. The 2.4 GHz connection was seamless, having no issues and being quite responsive. I found the included cable to be quite interesting, as the Type-C head of the cable actually fell off during usage, indicating a refinement gap. Something I found weird was the knob usage being for toggling between connectivity modes. Most knobs are used to control media, so this implementation felt strange. That being said, despite some flaws in design, I do think the Shadow-X has good modding abilities. At a price of $86 USD at press time, the Epomaker Shadow-X is definitely a good option for anyone seeking out a unique 70% layout keyboard.
Epomaker provided this product to APH Networks for the purpose of evaluation.
APH Networks Review Focus Summary:
8/10 means Definitely a very good product with drawbacks that are not likely going to matter to the end user.
7/10 means Great product with many advantages and certain insignificant drawbacks, but should be considered before purchasing.
-- Final APH Networks Numeric Rating is 7.2/10
Please note that the APH Networks Numeric Rating system is based off our proprietary guidelines in the Review Focus, and should not be compared to other publications.
The Epomaker Shadow-X is a well-built 70% RGB backlit mechanical keyboard with great modding potential.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look - Hardware and Software
3. A Closer Look – Disassembly and Internals
4. Conclusion
