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Item: [keyboard] NiZ Capacitive Bluetooth+USB 84-key 45g
Age: 8 months
Price: R1100
Warranty: No info (bought directly from www.nizkeyboard.com, don't see warranty info anywhere)
Packaging: Half of original box, bubble-wrap sleeve.
Condition: Pretty much perfect
Location: Cape Town
Reason: Using NiZ EC 87 30g water-resistant instead
Shipping: Prefer not, but buyer's risk and cost.
Collection: Short range meet-up.
Link: Hot selling Bluetooth & USB EC keyboard 75/84/87/108 PRO keys (Non RGB) – PLUM_NIZ keyboard
Photo below makes it look a bit beige, but it's just yellow home lighting. It's white in daylight.
Some more details:
The provided removable USB-mini cable inner plastic slides out a bit. This is not a problem and the cable is pretty good (braided), so I haven't felt I need to replace it, but since it's a standard USB cable, it can be replaced.
I will include as many 10g springs as I can find. I swapped them in and out a lot in the beginning and "stored" them in a drawer. I never counted, but I think I can find most of them again. Will also include the keycap puller as well as the MacOS command and option keys (1 each) and what looks like 3 spare diodes and 2 extra stabilisers.
The manual that came in the box is a single sheet of paper all in Chinese. Someone translated it, link below, but a PDF version can be found on their website (for the 87 key version though).
Stories:
I used this for about 7 months and loved it, but curiosity got the better of me and I ordered the 87 key black water resistant one as well. I did not expect it to be so different, but I found myself liking this one the most. The 84-key one's bluetooth was nice, but I never used it beyond testing it. I programmed the function layer of the arrow keys to move the mouse cursor and page-up/down to be mouse scroll wheel up/down, which I did on my new one as well and actually use more than I thought I would.
I'd like to convince myself that I will still want to switch between keyboards for variety, but in reality I've completed my keyboard journey and I should not let this gather dust.
Finally, note that the NiZ keys are often just called Topre Clones, but then compared as being "scratchy". I have not felt a true Topre keyboard, but I'd agree that you can call these "not slippery smooth". It's essentially a bit of friction between the key step and housing plastics and is more of a thing of preference than of quality. Each key has a small O-ring for silencing the upstroke and the larger keys have lubricated stabilisers. If you slap a key hard, some of them will make a slight spring-ping sound. This is the capacitive sensing spring possibly landing on the PCB and is not part of what makes the key force - only the rubber dome provides the key force. Links below contain a video of what these look like inside. I have opened up my 87-key one once, but never opened the 84-key one. Needless to say it's pretty interesting, but needs careful work to avoid the springs falling all over the place. Also, do _not_ let a cat be in the same room when you open it up. For the 84-key one you'd need to cut a replacement rubber dome sheet into small parts if you wanted heavier or lighter keys without adding linear force using 10g springs below the keycaps.
Links:
English manual (unofficial translation):
jgilfillan/Niz-Plum-84EC-S-Pro-Ble-Non-RGB-manual
Disassembly (of a different model):
How to replace the rubber dome? – PLUM_NIZ keyboard
Age: 8 months
Price: R1100
Warranty: No info (bought directly from www.nizkeyboard.com, don't see warranty info anywhere)
Packaging: Half of original box, bubble-wrap sleeve.
Condition: Pretty much perfect
Location: Cape Town
Reason: Using NiZ EC 87 30g water-resistant instead
Shipping: Prefer not, but buyer's risk and cost.
Collection: Short range meet-up.
Link: Hot selling Bluetooth & USB EC keyboard 75/84/87/108 PRO keys (Non RGB) – PLUM_NIZ keyboard
Photo below makes it look a bit beige, but it's just yellow home lighting. It's white in daylight.
Some more details:
The provided removable USB-mini cable inner plastic slides out a bit. This is not a problem and the cable is pretty good (braided), so I haven't felt I need to replace it, but since it's a standard USB cable, it can be replaced.
I will include as many 10g springs as I can find. I swapped them in and out a lot in the beginning and "stored" them in a drawer. I never counted, but I think I can find most of them again. Will also include the keycap puller as well as the MacOS command and option keys (1 each) and what looks like 3 spare diodes and 2 extra stabilisers.
The manual that came in the box is a single sheet of paper all in Chinese. Someone translated it, link below, but a PDF version can be found on their website (for the 87 key version though).
Stories:
I used this for about 7 months and loved it, but curiosity got the better of me and I ordered the 87 key black water resistant one as well. I did not expect it to be so different, but I found myself liking this one the most. The 84-key one's bluetooth was nice, but I never used it beyond testing it. I programmed the function layer of the arrow keys to move the mouse cursor and page-up/down to be mouse scroll wheel up/down, which I did on my new one as well and actually use more than I thought I would.
I'd like to convince myself that I will still want to switch between keyboards for variety, but in reality I've completed my keyboard journey and I should not let this gather dust.
Finally, note that the NiZ keys are often just called Topre Clones, but then compared as being "scratchy". I have not felt a true Topre keyboard, but I'd agree that you can call these "not slippery smooth". It's essentially a bit of friction between the key step and housing plastics and is more of a thing of preference than of quality. Each key has a small O-ring for silencing the upstroke and the larger keys have lubricated stabilisers. If you slap a key hard, some of them will make a slight spring-ping sound. This is the capacitive sensing spring possibly landing on the PCB and is not part of what makes the key force - only the rubber dome provides the key force. Links below contain a video of what these look like inside. I have opened up my 87-key one once, but never opened the 84-key one. Needless to say it's pretty interesting, but needs careful work to avoid the springs falling all over the place. Also, do _not_ let a cat be in the same room when you open it up. For the 84-key one you'd need to cut a replacement rubber dome sheet into small parts if you wanted heavier or lighter keys without adding linear force using 10g springs below the keycaps.
Links:
English manual (unofficial translation):
jgilfillan/Niz-Plum-84EC-S-Pro-Ble-Non-RGB-manual
Disassembly (of a different model):
How to replace the rubber dome? – PLUM_NIZ keyboard
Last edited:
