Ajazz AK870 Mechanical Keyboard Review

For the mechanical keyboard curious, Ajazz appears to be a company offering a wealth of products to ease users into the deep, complex world of keyboard customization.

In my review of the Ajazz AK820 Max, I noted the keyboard’s simplistic design belied a canvas for easily swapping keys and switches that would potentially add splashes of color and varying sounds to achieve a person’s optimal idea of what a mechanical keyboard could be. Its small stature, lack of excess, and incredible RGB lighting made an otherwise simple keyboard truly shine.

I’m curious what my impressions of Ajazz’s AK870 would have been were it my initial focus when reviewing the pair.

On sheer optics, the AK820 Max is obviously simpler. The keys are tightly grouped together; there’s virtually no empty space on the board. Whereas the AK870 breaks up the function keys in groups of 4, puts ample space between the directional keys and other utility keys. Plus, it features a small 1-inch screen in right corner of the board.

That screen alone gives it the allure of a premium model, one that has the added flair that users are looking for in a potentially flashy, customizable “gaming” mechanical keyboard. At $99.99, the AK870 is $20 more than the AK820 Max. While certainly not breaking the bank in terms of gaming peripherals, is the added cost a justifiable one?

The question kept creeping up as I progressively used both the AK870 and the AK820 Max.

Similar to its cheaper sibling, the AK870 works as a fantastic entry-level mechanical keyboard with just enough flourishes that make it a base for something potentially greater, if one so chooses. But for someone like myself who is so used to simpler input methods, there were times where I felt like this particular keyboard was a bit excessive with little justification for its additions.

Click here to check out the AK870 at Mechlands!

The 1-inch screen is definitely a sticking point with me. Out of the box, the AK870’s screen displayed the time which was only about 10 minutes off from what the time actually was. It accurately showed the date and the battery life left. Offering the ability to connect through a USB cable, Bluetooth, or a 2.4G wireless connection with an included dongle, a Windows setting, and a Mac setting, the screen indicates which of those features is currently selected, along with Caps Lock, Scroll Lock, and Num Lock. It’s nothing mind-blowing–and certainly features one can’t get from looking at their computer’s task bar or other keyboards that merely light up those indicators–but still a handy enough feature.

But the screen more conveniently allows users the ability to adjust the keyboard’s 20 RGB lighting patterns. Personally, this was the best use-case for the AK870’s screen. By holding down the function key and rotating the volume dial next to the screen, users can change the lighting effect, color, brightness, and speed. These menus and their options can be navigated by turning the knob and selected by pressing down on it. It’s more convenient than holding down the function key and pressing specific keystrokes (which is also an option), a feature that the AK820 Max lacks.

If one so chooses, an Ajazz animation can also be played on the keyboard’s small screen that gives it a bit of company flair. However, the option does exist to assign a bit more of a personal touch to the keyboard. One can place an image on the screen or a small moving loop like a .gif to add more flair and customization, especially something that may match the RGB lighting or the color of your keys or PC tower. That being said, downloading the driver can be somewhat of a pain. Users must navigate Ajazz’s website which does employ English but primarily uses Chinese characters. The specific driver needs to be selected for the right version of the AK870 and after downloading, it seems to function best when the keyboard is connecting to the computer via wired, as a Bluetooth connection did not prompt the Ajazz application to recognize the keyboard was connected.

In terms of overall sound, the AK870 uses Maillard Switches. Again, much like with the AK820 Max, this terminology doesn’t mean much to a newcomer like me. However, like those Sea Salt switches, the Maillards lack a pronounced clack, opting for a sturdy click. There’s little pressure required for a keystroke to be recognized and there is a satisfactory punch as the key pushes into the base with an audible noise and then smoothly rises back up to meet the fingertip.

Visually, the AK870 looks like a traditional keyboard but being a TKL with 87 keys, it lacks the number pad that would add a few inches to its length. Keys are easily identifiable because the letters, numbers, and functions all appear at the top of the key, not on the side. In doing so, I think the AK870 lacks a little bit of personality. In the “Moshan Cyan” or “Black White Green” variant that I have, the “Enter”, “Esc”, and space bar are the only keys that are mint green. All numbers, letters, and two groups of function keys are white. Everything else is black. The colors are fine but I would have opted for more green keys. It’s especially lackluster when compared to the purple-toned version that Ajazz uses for the AK870 product images.

Without the lights and the screen, most would look at the AK870 as just another standard keyboard. And while that may be okay, it stands in stark contrast to the personality that the cheaper AK820 Max had. While the RGB lighting is more intricate and adaptable, more personality will have to be extracted by the user at the cost of wholly new keys. I would rather be thrilled with the visual language of a peripheral straight out of the box rather than having to do it myself. Perhaps if the base of the keyboard wasn’t black–maybe a bright or dark blue–it would make the surrounding keys pop more.

There’s some cute graphics work on the underside of the AK870 but it also gets lost in the black mold of the unit. Heck, even the USB dongle juts out from the perimeter which feels like a step down from the AK820 Max’s clever placement behind the footrest.

For both gaming and regular typing, the AK870’s increased real estate means there’s slightly less adjustment time to allowing the fingers to become acclimated to key placement. During my session with FragPunk‘s closed beta, strafing and backpedaling didn’t find me at risk of incorrectly moving out of cover. The responsiveness of the spacebar allowed me to rest the length of my thumb across it and not worry about hitting the row above. Deciding to try out something different, I booted up The Binding of Isaac, which requires frantic movement of WASD and even the arrow keys. Clamoring for a direction to avoid enemy projectiles, it never felt like an input was lost, or that I couldn’t rapidly raise a finger off one movement direction and land on another in the blink of an eye.

Typing was quite relaxing. It’s incredibly easy for me to adjust to different keyboard landscapes in quick succession but the larger size of the AK870 was more in line of the types of keyboards I’m used to. Because sound is dampened relatively well, the furious clicking of keys was more of a gentle harmony than a nuisance. And really, I can’t express enough how dizzyingly wonderful these RGB patterns are even while typing. It’s the kind of stuff you will look down on and get lost in.

As good as the AK870 is, for my personal use, I think Ajazz’s AK820 Max still edges out a victory. For some, $20 might not be much when considering the better lighting effects and the screen. But right out of the box, I loved the south-facing keys and the way the lighting lit them up. In the long run, the AK870 will likely be a better mechanical keyboard for those wanting more room and space to fine-tune their preferred keys and switches. While I am still very green to this world, the strengths of each are obvious. But more apparent is that Ajazz is a capable manufacturer of mechanical keyboards and they sell a variety of styles and colors that are likely to hit a sweet spot with just about anyone.