Chilkey ND65 CS HE Mechanical Keyboard Review

Chilkey’s ND75 has a special place in my heart for being an affordable mechanical keyboard that compromised on so very little. It had a sleek little screen, too! Since reviewing it earlier this year, I’ve occasionally come back to using it as my daily driver so I could get that satisfying crispness that emitted from the keyboard’s aluminum body alongside its Gateron EF Dopamine Blue switches. It’s also been top-of-mind when it’s come to recommending an aluminum keyboard that doesn’t break the bank. I know that Kiiboom and Epomaker have made recently released some aluminum prebuilts earlier this year, but Chilkey has won me over in its quality control and uncompromising offerings.

Prior to today, Chilkey only had two keyboards (the ND75 and the Paw65), both of which were truly mechanical keyboards. If someone wanted a keyboard that played nicely with magnetic switches, I had to recommend another manufacturer…until now.

Chilkey’s ND65 CS HE (yeesh, what a name) is their newest 65% keyboard and first foray into the realm of Hall Effect magnetic switches. I would assume that the HE in the name stands for Hall Effect – unsure what CS stands for…not that it really matters, anyway.

I’ve been fortunate to try out several keyboards with hall effect magnetic switches over the past year, but I can totally understand that most readers wouldn’t know what these switches are, what they feel like, or why they’re even appealing. When you and I hear “hall effect” thrown around, we often think of a pro gaming controller such as Sony’s DualSense Edge which prevents the dreaded stick drift from occurring on our expensive controller. Hall effect tech involves magnets, yo!, and has yet to be incorporated in standard consumer electronics.

The harsh majority of mechanical keyboards utilize mechanical switches (linear or tactile) with set actuation points – meaning the position in which, upon pressing down on the switch, the keyboard recognizes an input. Part of the “hunt” of searching for a perfect switch (outside of the THOCK) is looking for the best blend of actuation point, operating force (how hard one needs to push down), and travel distance (the total distance one can push down on a switch). And then there’s the durability question – mechanical switches often last somewhere in the 25million to 50million range of total inputs.

It’s a lot, no doubt.

Magnetic switches do away with much of these concerns. They tend to last far longer, often hitting the 100million mark before needing to be replaced. They have adjustable actuation points on a per-switch basis, meaning that you can set some switches to activate on a light press and other switches to activate on a deep press. They also have additional software enabled features which are arguably considered to be cheating, such as Mod Tap and Toggle Keys. More on the features in a moment, don’t worry.

For gaming, magnetic switches are innately appealing, especially for those who play games and need additional sensitivity on some keys while less sensitivity on other keys. Having the power to customize a switch to one’s liking gives the keyboard user power that other players don’t have. That, dear reader, is what gives a keyboard like the ND65 CS HE an edge over others. The keyboard utilizes these features moderately well, too.

I’ve spent the past few weeks testing out the ND65 CS HE (henceforth referred to as the ND65) and I’m mostly impressed. Compared to some of the other magnetic keyboards I have used, it manages to offer a decent magnetic keyboard experience along with hardware that feels premium. Oh, and even better – it’s the most affordable magnetic keyboard I have reviewed to date.

The ND65 has an aluminum case with an electrostatic coating. I was sent the white variant (it also comes in a black or blue, for those wanting a different color). Like other aluminum keyboards, this keyboard has some heft which is a surprising contrast for a smaller 65% keyboard. It seems to weigh slightly more than the ND75, which is strange because this keyboard has fewer keys and no screen. For reference, the ND75 weighs around 3.7lbs and the ND65 feels heavier than that. It could be that the casing is thick. It has rounded edges and a matted grain instead of a sleek and shiny finish. It’s sturdy, though. Nothing about the ND65 feels flimsy or flexible, so you should expect a solid hunk of aluminum full of magnetic switches!

The ND65 does not have a special backplate or miniscreen. Instead, it has an LED light bar on the back end of the keyboard where you would plug in the USB cord. It’s customizable, too. The default setting had the light bar show a constant white, but I changed it to be a shifting line of color that went from left-to-right. It’s an excellent splash of color to add to a keyboard, and it’s placement makes it so that the color extends above the keyboard rather than just solely existing within the confines of beneath every keycap.

Just like my thoughts with the Chilkey ND75’s keycaps, I enjoy the doubleshot PBT keycaps on the ND65. The legends are readable, they are sturdy, and their cherry profile means that they’re ergonomic. Each different model of the ND65 comes with a split set of colored keycaps that complement each other. The white variant, for instance, has white alphanumeric keys and black modifier keys (e.g., Shift, Ctrl). The complementary colored switches offer a nice aesthetic touch instead of a uniform set of keys.

The ND65 uses Gateron’s KS-37B magnetic switches. These have double rails and are supposedly similar to Keychron’s Dawn, Nebula, and Aurora switches. I did some additional digging and found that the KS-37Bs require 30gf of force, have around 4.0mm of total travel, and boast up to $150million keystrokes which is far more durable than Gateron’s other offerings. They’re not individually sold at this time, though, so don’t expect to find the switches on Gateron’s website.

The switches felt great, but I wasn’t the biggest fan of how they sounded. They had a slight springiness/sponginess to them that felt similar to Epomaker’s Sea Salt silent switches but without the dangerously sensitive actuation point. Thanks to the keyboard’s aluminum construction and gasket mounting, the ND65 has a crisp poppiness to it that is easy on the ears but not the most satisfying. For comparison’s sake, I greatly prefer the Gateron Magnetic Jades’ (KS-20T) acoustics – they really do sound like ceramic tiles despite having a 100million keystroke durability.

Until recently, managing keyboards have required me to download something onto my computer, be it an overarching software suite (like Turtle Beach’s SWARM II which manages their entire current lineup of peripherals) or a keyboard-specific application. My computer has seen many apps installed and uninstalled as I’ve tested keyboards and their software drivers. This time, Chilkey has done something that I am HOPING that other keyboard manufacturers do in the future: a webapp.

I was able to customize my ND65 using Chilkey’s webapp. All I needed was to navigate to the webpage, click the CONNECT button, and I was good to go. It included the standard features like changing the LEDs and creating macros along with the magnetic switch-specific features like Rapid Trigger and “Advanced Key” (meaning Dynamic Keystrokes, Mod Tap, and Toggle Key).

Activating and utilizing the Advanced Key features is far from intuitive. Unfortunately, this has become a trend from most keyboard manufacturers in that features aren’t described well on the driver application (or webapp, for the case of the ND65). To adjust the actuation point for all keys, I had to go into the rapid trigger advanced settings – at least from what I could surmise. I wasn’t able to tell the difference between the default RT Sensitivity and the advanced settings. There was also a weird bug that would emerge after customizing the inputs where a random key would stop working (like the ESC or the T key) and would only fix itself once I hard-reset the keyboard by pressing FN+Backspace. I attribute this to the software being worthy of an update, as I could fix this myself, but the software is not user-friendly.

It’s unfortunate that the ND65 CS HE has a subpar software experience only because the biggest selling points of the keyboard can only be adjusted via software. I’m confident that the software will be improved, though.

For a 65% keyboard, the ND65 is impressive – especially at its selling point of $129. It’s a joy to type on for office work, too. However, one question remains: How does it hold up for gaming?

My prior experience with magnetic keyboards have let me to the conclusion that the switches, when customized to my personal preferences, lead to a slightly easier gaming experience. I won’t go so far as to say that magnetic switches help me win “more,” but they do enough to make some inputs easier and less cumbersome. For some games, magnetic switches are overkill because not all games need hyper-sensitivity.

Here’s the topline, though: Barring the software quirks and having trouble setting up the switches, the ND65 excels as a gaming keyboard, especially for high-intensity games.

We define high-intensity games as those requiring a higher-than-usual volume of inputs, including repetitious inputs, in a precise and/or fast-paced environment. Games of this category include FPS titles like VALORANT, Destiny 2, Apex Legends, and Wild Bastards. When testing the ND65 in these games, I was very easily able to keep up with the high intensity demands of peeking, strafing, and activating abilities. When I set some keys to be more sensitive than others, it made using abilities easier, but I didn’t always succeed with the higher sensitivity inputs. I want to emphasize, again, that I wasn’t a better player with these tools. These tools only highlighted that I needed to improve at things like aiming, timing, and playing in a tactical manner.

For medium- and lower-intensity games…the ND65 was overkill. Playing MOBAs or platformers on this keyboard felt just fine, very rarely necessitating rapid trigger or mod tap. For turn-based strategy and slower-paced adventure games, I wasn’t able to get the satisfying “thock” of a meaningful tap because of how the switches feel like they’re gliding.

Don’t let this fool you, though: Magnetic switches aren’t just worth it for gaming. Their durability and customizability are tantamount to making the perfect typing experience and feeling it last for a long, long time. The ND65 will do just that.

I love the keyboards from Chilkey, and the ND65 CS HE is no different. For the price, you’re getting a compelling keyboard with magnetic switches that is assuredly built to last. If you’re willing to use a smaller keyboard that is solidly built and feels great, then look no further than the ND65 CS HE.