Varmilo VA108M Koi

amazon Varmilo VA108M Koi reviews

Varmilo VA108M Koi: In the world of “keyboard players,” Varmilo is one of the emerging names with high-quality keycap products manufactured from PBT plastic and owning unique design themes strangely aesthetic.

The name Varmilo comes from two Esperanto words, “Via” and “Armilo” meaning “Your weapon,” from which the name of the company is associated with “unique” products and “strange” is for gamers who need to “Equipment” for themselves.

Throughout its establishment and development, the company has always constantly launched completely new theme collections, especially keyboard models manufactured by the company with prices even higher than other products from China, but still received many warm welcomes from the gaming community.

The company has launched a set of “Koi” theme products with a full-size keyboard model Varmilo VA108M Koi using eye-catching red tones. Most especially, a limited version using a button model (Switch) Tiffany Blue Tealios V2 is processed by Gateron, one of the “older” of the world’s leading “custom” mechanical keyboard manufacturers.

With a fairly high price, even surpassing a series of expensive mechanical keyboard models for gamers on the market today, will Varmilo’s products be enough to “conquer” users?

As a company “born” from fine art design, it must be said that Varmilo’s products always create a visual vibration, and Varmilo VA108M Koi is no exception.

Catching the eye is a bright red box with a theme image created by famous Hua Culture Girl animator Li Huan, inspired by the image of a carp with a brushstroke based on an embossed version of wood carving. Hokusai’s “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” creates an impressive highlight in both color and art style.

The whole keyboard box is almost just a beautiful decorative picture. There is practically no product description except the Varmilo logo and a few kanji gilded, creating accents interwoven with the color tones. The dominant red color of the box gives a very deep sense of the luxury of a high-end product.

After “unboxing,” Varmilo VA108M Koi impresses users with a red-white tone, a dark red that leans closer to the color of wine, very different from the red-white color on the familiar PBT plastic background belonging to Taihao are very popular in the market.

The second impressive point that Varmilo brings to users in this “Koi” theme collection is a completely different font set from today’s industrial fonts with a bit of traditional Hinaraga style Japanese.

In addition, special buttons such as Enter, Escape, and Space Bar buttons are all decorated with beautiful waves, flowers, and carp-themed drawings. Suppose you have ever played the keyboard versions. In that case, Special decoration from Ducky will feel this style extremely familiar as both brands have collaborated on the Ducky MIYA Pro Koi version in 60% size.

The keycaps are made of high-quality PBT hard plastic instead of ABS plastic like conventional keyboards with heat sublimation printing methods. Helping to create precise and durable lines due to the ink particles “deep” into the surface plastic layer, compared to the shallow ink layer like on traditional inkjet or water-based printing methods.

That also makes the writing or textures on the keys more durable, harder to fade after hundreds of thousands of keystrokes, ensuring a profound aesthetic for the keyboard even after several years of use.

The keycaps are made quite thin, only 1.3mm compared to the thickness of up to 2mm from iKBC keyboards like the iKBC New Poker II that the team has introduced, but Varmilo’s surface treatment method feels much better in hand.

Even with the two thin edges on the F and J keys, they are handled in an extremely thin, compact, and delicate way, making the user not uncomfortable when “fingerprinting” typing, but it does not reduce it. The value of these two edges, so that those who have to type often will feel extremely comfortable when “roaming” with Varmilo VA108M Koi.

The keyboard (case) cover is designed with a hard plastic red tone with laser-engraved ridges that create roughness and textures, sublimation printed images similar to keycaps, ensuring a high degree of accuracy, sharpness of the image, and durability over time of use.

Overall, with visually impressive colors and top-notch machinability on PBT plastic material that brings a tactile vibration to the user right from the key’s first touch, Varmilo makes Varmilo VA108M Koi become a unique and luxurious highlight on your desk.

A little bit specifically about the button (Switch) Tiffany Blue Tealios V2 that Gateron processed on the special version of Varmilo VA108M Koi, creating a very special, different press feeling compared to the mass linear buttons that Gateron is producing.

The switch is produced in cyan, aka Tiffany blue, with a special copper alloy spring with a pressing force aligned at exactly 67g.

At this level of feedback, the experience that Varmilo VA108M Koi brings is extremely “smooth,” very different from the linear Red, Yellow or Black switches that Gateron is producing. The 67g feedback force is also an extremely moderate twist, not too light and not too heavy for normal typing operations, but a bit heavy-handed for fast-paced fans of the action game genre.

In general, Varmilo VA108M Koi gives users a comprehensive experience in design, manufacturing, and user experience, worthy of a high-end mechanical keyboard product in the price range of nearly $230.

Despite possessing a beautiful design, high-class processing capabilities, and a switch like the Tiffany Blue Tealios V2, Varmilo VA108M Koi has a few confusing “weak point” that makes it difficult for users.

The first problem lies in the fact that although it is a modern and high-end product, our mechanical keyboard still only uses the old-fashioned mini USB connection. At the same time, many manufacturers even have given up the more advanced micro USB connection to use USB Type C with many benefits, including the “twin brother” is Ducky Miya Pro KOI.

That means that users will find it difficult to lose or damage the included cable and find a replacement cord because most devices that use the mini USB standard were eventually eliminated from the market ten years ago.

The second problem comes from the two built-in kickstands on the underside of the keyboard that is quite high without intermediate steps like on modern mechanical keyboards being sold on the market, while the standard height of the keyboard case slightly lower than the convenient typing position.

That makes Varmilo VA108M Koi users need to use an extra palm rest to comfortably “reach” to the higher function keys when using the keyboard with a kickstand or to avoid touching the palm. Space Bar key when placing the keyboard in the normal position.

These two problems are quite small, but they also affect the user experience more or less and cause unnecessary discomfort on an expensive and high-end product.

where can you get a Varmilo VA108M Koi online

Varmilo VA108M Koi Full Size – MX Brown: Buy it now

Varmilo VA108M Koi Dye Sub PBT Mechanical Keyboard (Cherry MX Blue): Buy it now