Computer peripherals have always been a competitive market. For most, competing against the top-notch brands is a norm while some stay simple and try to improve what is already working for them.
With that being said, a brand called HAVIT introduced HAVIT HV-KB395L, their low profile mechanical keyboard. It’s a mechanical keyboard that features low profile keys with a shorter key response distance and smaller key switches. Despite featuring smaller switches, HAVIT claims that this keyboard performs better than any standard blue key switches.
Is the HAVIT HV-KB395L a good keyboard or it’s just another RGB keyboard that sucks the life out of your wallet? Read on!
HAVIT HV-KB395L Low Profile Mechanical Keyboard
Specification:
- 104 Standard FN Keyboard Layout
- Low Profile Blue Kailh Switch
- 1.5 Meters USB Cable Lenght
- 43.6 x 12.6 x 2.28 CM Dimension
- >50 Million Press Life Span Per Keys
- 45 +/- 10G Actuation Force
- All Keys Anti-Ghosting
- N-Key Rollover
- Aluminium Alloy Housing
- ABS UV Coated Laser Engraved Keycaps
- RGB LED Backlighting
- 11 LED Modes with 5 Customized Profile Modes
About Havit:
Founded in 1998 by Ms Lee, a lady who loves and respects technology, HAVIT Group provides a tremendous range of consumer electronics with unbeatable value, fashion-forward and trendsetting design, but what is never compromised is the quality of our products, which were approved by tens of thousands of satisfied customers.Â
Where to Buy:
- Official product link(worldwide shipping):Â http://bit.ly/HAVITKB395L
- Amazon US：http://bit.ly/KB395LUS
- Amazon UK：http://bit.ly/KB395LUK
Unboxing –Â HAVIT HV-KB395L
The packaging of the HAVIT HV-KB395L is outright plain and simple. It comes in a black carton box with a white carton surrounding the main packaging. Preventing it to be opened accidentally or by any means. Which is great for travel or shipment.
The front of the packaging highlights the layout and design of the keyboard. The front also highlights some general info about the keyboard such as support of Windows or MAC PC, ergonomic design, multicolour backlight, and some specification of the keyboard.
The back of the packaging highlights the removable cable feature of the keyboard. As well as the main product specification, serial number, and some certification.
The sides of the packaging doesn’t highlight or say much information other than what you’ve already seen. You’ll mainly see what is already highlighted in the front and back of the box.
Taking out the white carton holding the black box packaging reveals a small phrase from HAVIT and it goes “ENJOY WHAT I HAVE“. A box enticing you with excitement indeed.
Opening the packaging reveals its inner content. The keyboard is inside a plastic, this then prevents any trivial damages such as scratches from travel. It is then held by what seems to be a white paper pulp cushioning made from bamboo. This type of cushioning is common or can be seen in most laptop packaging.
Kudos to HAVIT for opting to use an eco-friendly cushioning and contributing to the welfare of the environment.
A closer look at the white paper cushioning reveals a pattern. When touched, the cushioning feels like a condensed carton that is molded in shape.
Going back to the box, you will find a pull slip plastic. Pulling this takes the keyboard out of the cushioning easily along with the plastic cover. This might look like a gimmick but it does add up to the premium sense of the keyboard.
Taking the white paper cushioning and the keyboard out reveals the content under the keyboard. The cushioning have multiple holes thus giving us the impression that this might be a universal cushioning for all the keyboard products of HAVIT.
Beneath the keyboard is the detachable USB cable and nothing else.
Accessories –Â HAVIT HV-KB395L
After taking out all the contents of the packaging, the HAVIT HV-KB395L mechanical keyboard doesn’t include any accessories at all other than the cable.
The cable is 1.5 meters long and features a standard USB male at one end and a micro USB male at the other.
The USB male ports of the cable are gold plated and it is held by a black rubber band.
The packaging also includes a user’s manual, a tell us your thoughts sheet (x2), and a like paper with some information about HAVIT at the back of it.
If you find the brand HAVIT interesting, you might want to give them a like and visiting their Facebook page for more information about them and their products.
Closer Look –Â HAVIT HV-KB395L
The HAVIT HV-KB395L Low Profile Mechanical Keyboard features 104 keys with FN layout. The design is minimalistic without any gimmick or extra features such as extra USB Hubs, extra key for macro, and multimedia dedicated keys.
At first look, you will get the impression that the keyboard is nothing special and plain ordinary. The HAVIT logo for this keyboard can be seen above the arrow keys. The keyboard exhibits a slim design with a metallic edge accent on its aluminium alloy housing.
With a dimension of 43.6 x 12.6 x 2.28 cm, the body size is just slightly smaller compared to any standard keyboard. Below is the size comparison of the keyboard that I use on a daily basis and the HAVIT HV-KB395L.
The key placements are all in their default location given that the keyboard uses the standard 104 keyboard layout with FN key.
Another feature of this keyboard is that the cable is detachable. Although the cable that is included is of standard cable and not the braided one. Would have been awesome if the cable is braided.
The cable port cannot be moved and the keyboard does not offer any cable management features. That’s one thing to note for those who want their table clean and cableless.
The back of the keyboard doesn’t offer much. It has 4 rubber feet and comes with a height adjustment option.
The sticker on the back of the keyboard highlights the products serial number, model number, voltage, origin, and as well as the brand name and certifications.
The height adjustment feet is standard except for the U shaped rubber. The U shape rubber allows the rubber feet to be always in use no matter if the height adjustment feet is popped-out or tucked in.
Low Profile Keycaps
The HAVIT HV-KB395L Low Profile Mechanical Keyboard comes with a smaller keycap that is 7mm smaller than the traditional size. The keycaps are of ABS material that is also UV coated and laser engraved.
The keycap also uses a different stem. Traditional keycap uses the Cherry MX “+” Stem while the HAVIT HV-KB395L uses a clip-on type of stem.
Compared to traditional keycap, removing the low profile keycap is far easier. You just have to pull the keycap at its side and the keycap will pop off.
Here’s a side by side comparison of both keycaps. Even though the low profile keycap is attached to its switch, it is still smaller than the traditional keycap.
Low Profile Blue Kailh Switch
The low profile blue Kailh switch is the latest addition to Kailh’s current low profile switch line up as of this writing.
The low profile blue Kailh is a 3mm key that is designed to provide a unique and more satisfying mechanical feel than the traditional mechanical keyboard.
This switch features a shorter active response distance of 1.4mm, a lesser actuation force requirement of 45GF, and a smaller overall size.
Performance –Â HAVIT HV-KB395L
For this section, we tested and documented all the niche performance and features of this keyboard. From its LED effect of up to its switches main features.
N-Key Rollover
The HAVIT HV-KB395L features anti-ghosting keys. In lay man’s term, “Ghosting” simply means that some keyboard keys don’t work when multiple keys are pressed simultaneously.
Using this simple application by Microsoft, we can determine if the HAVIT HV-KB395L features anti-ghosting keys or not.
After testing and pressing keys simultaneously of up to 10 keys, we can confirm that this keyboard features anti-ghosting keys.
HAVIT HV-KB395L Tactile Feedback (Low Profile Blue Kailh)
Since the HAVIT HV-KB395L Low Profile Mechanical Keyboard uses blue switches, one should already expect that this keyboard will have a loud tactile feedback or a noisy clicky sound.
After a week of use, the keyboard performs really well. The tactile feedback is strong and I can say that it’s the loudest blue switch we have ever tested. It is also the most satisfying keyboard I have ever used. Here in Back2Gaming, we have tested and reviewed numerous keyboards. From different switches to different brands. In my personal experience, this is by far the best blue switch I have ever put my hands on.
Every type has a strong tactile feedback and I can tell the difference of the response time every press of the keys. I’ve been using a Blue Chery MX switch for the past couple of years so I can pretty much expect and know the performance of blue switches. However, the HAVIT HV-KB395L Low Profile Mechanical Keyboard gave a new standard of blue switches for me.
HAVIT HV-KB395L LED Effects and Modes
The HAVIT HV-KB395L low profile mechanical keyboard features about 11 different LED effects and modes. Including a customized LED setup.
One thing that we noticed is that the brightness and the luminance of the LED are not that bright when compared to other mechanical keyboards. Also, though the keyboard claims that it is RGB but the selection of colour if you wish to have a single colour, is limited to red, blue, green, yellow, purple, and white.
LED Modes:
- Custom LED Setup (FN + F12)
- To do this, all you have to do is press FN+F12.
- F1 to F5 will start blinking. There are the 5 profiles that you can save your custom LED setup. Press any of these keys to save your setup on that profile.
- After that, indicators for num lock, caps lock, and scroll lock will start blinking.
- Press the keys that you want to light up.
- Then press FN + F12 again after.
- Wave, Hedging, and Sweeping (FN + F6)
- Ripple (FN + F7)
- Serpentine and Circular (FN + F8)
- Raindrop (FN + F9)
- Breathing (FN + F10)
- Constant (FN + F11)
- Increase or Decrease Animation Speed (FN + PgUp or PgDn)
- Animation Direction (FN + Arrow Keys)
As of this writing, there are no software support and driver available for this keyboard.
Software
The driver software allows you to change or configure the keyboard. The software driver is very user-friendly and quite easy to use. It allows you to changes the LED animation, colours, macros, turn on and off the game mode and win lock, changes the report rate and response time, as well as create a specific profile for certain situations. Kudos to HAVIT for creating a great software driver support.
Software Driver:Â Download
Final Thoughts…
Overall, the HAVIT HV-KB395L Low Profile Mechanical Keyboard is a wonderful keyboard that is really worth looking into. We think that this keyboard perfectly fits those that aim to have a simplistic desktop setup. It’s minimalistic but elegant looking design will surely catch your attention.
However, it is still far from being the best keyboard. The lack of software and driver support can be divisive. Some prefer to have software support while some prefer without. Despite having a high level of performance, the lack of macro keys indicates that this keyboard is not designed for gaming but for the typist and casual user. Although in my opinion and based on my actual experience, this keyboard is also great for gaming.
The detachable cable is a plus for us. This allows you to use or buy a much cooler USB to Micro USB cable. The aluminium alloy housing gives this keyboard a solid build and premium feel. Though if you’re looking for a removable switch feature, then this keyboard is not for you.
Another worth noting is the LED backlight. The backlight is not as bright as we expected it to be. The brightness is decent and okay but we were expecting it to be at the level of chroma or something that will really show off its RGB feature. With that being said, it is also worth noting that the colour selection is limited to 8 different choices for the LED animations. Namely red, green, yellow, blue, cyan, purple, white, and the mixture of all colours. The LED might actually be a 16M RGB colour but the lack of software support limits the LEDs capabilities.
Considering all of its value, quality and performance, the HAVIT HV-KB395L Low Profile Mechanical Keyboard is worth considering if you’re looking for a brand new keyboard or if you’re planning to jump into the mechanical keyboard world. So we highly recommend this keyboard.
Where to Buy:
- Official product link(worldwide shipping):Â http://bit.ly/HAVITKB395L
- Amazon US：http://bit.ly/KB395LUS
- Amazon UK：http://bit.ly/KB395LUK
