You may have noticed Drop offering the “Flesports MK870 TKL” recently:
There are typing tests all over Youtube. You have to watch several to get some snippets of the board’s quality.
e.g.
The above video compared stock silicon foam with no foam, concluding that it felt and sounded better without foam because of the inconsistent stock fit of the foam.
Other videos will give you other tidbits. From one channel, I learned about aftermarket polycarb plates that are available through TaoBao.
The upshot of the whole thing seems to be that this is a decent tray-mount with adequate stock stabilizers, south-facing LEDs, and ships with silicon foam for a low price [$35 USD on Taobao, $54 USD on Drop, $78 CAD shipped on AliExpress.] 5-pin hotswap.
It’s competition for the low-end entry-level, like the Rakk Lam Ang Pro [although it lacks bluetooth] or the XD87. This is newer and possibly better.
There are comparisons to the KBD67 Lite, because of the smoky transparent case colour [also seen on the IKKI68 Aurora], but the KBD67 Lite is quasi-gasket-mount. This is only a tray mount, so the KBD67 Lite likely feels better. Guess we’ll have to wait for a proper KBD8X Lite.
Anyway, I am ordering one, and trying to get a polycarb plate, so we’ll see how that goes. I’m not sure if this is optimal as a dampened keyboard, or a thocky one.
Also, I forgot to take up the funny Drop naming of “Flesports.” It’s actually an “FL ESports.” Usually known as an FL.CMMK MK870.
EDIT:
Some other details of the board
-People find that the stock foam causes a stiffer typing feel. However, it may also create a deeper sound.
-There are examples of people using alternate dampening materials, to better effect.
-The polycarb plate may lead to a deeper sound
-This one is important: the board comes with lubed, plate-mount stabilizers that are reportedly pretty decent. However, the aftermarket polycarb plate may enable the use of screw-in stabilizers.
It’s entirely possible that the MK870 has a sub-optimal RGB setup.
I’m going to mainly run it without RGB, have already picked out the keycaps for it.
About half the videos are people who turned RGB off. A couple of people said that they felt the RGB were ‘subdued.’ They liked this, though. It could be subjective.
Sound tests are the overwhelming focus of the Youtube videos concerning the MK870.
This board is pretty amazing. I did a thing with mine and feel like it is much better now.
Removed all the standoff screws from the plate, and the screws that goes behind the board thus the only screws in the board are the PCB screws from the bottom, as I felt like the case itself gives a tight fit and the sound is more consistent without the plate screws.
So glad to see this topic developing. I have an MK870 with a builder right now.
It’s going to get a polycarbonate plate, PCB-mount stabs, and tape-mod.
Your suggestion is interesting, and I’ll have to think about it. You’re right that the stock board is good. The one that arrived here has a good PCB, attractive case, good sound, and decent factory stabs.
Hey, btw may I know how you efficiently removed the back of the stand-off screws? I’m trying to mod it like how you did it, after getting some other boards this MK870 projected a stiffer typing feels (which I;m not complaining just hoping to get a better version out of it).
I have an mk870 and it’s very solid for the price. The stock stabs are surprisingly good, the pcb supports screw-ins (but only c3 stab will fit with the plate I believe) the sound isn’t amazing, stock or with pe foam and tape mod, but it’s decent enough for the price. I gave mine to my dad and he definitely likes it.
