Introduction

CIDOO had a strong showing when it debuted on TechPowerUp last year with the ABM084—a rarely seen 80% form factor keyboard that provides one of the lowest entry barriers to smaller form factor keyboards for those who were used to full-size/TKL keyboards. I knew immediately that this was a brand to keep an eye out for even if I was already aware of its heritage then. Indeed, with over a decade of experience designing and making keyboards, CIDOO now had the giant Chinese peripherals retailer Epomaker behind it for marketing and this combination has been working even better than I expected. It’s led to more new CIDOO keyboards already in 2023 than in the years past and today we examine another smaller form factor keyboard from the brand thanks to Epomaker providing a review sample to TechPowerUp.

Such is the state of CIDOO, and really most other Chinese keyboard brands today, that the subject of this review is already outdated to an extent. I admittedly sat on this keyboard for longer than I wanted to but I was still surprised to see the CIDOO V65 get surpassed by the V65 V2. But a closer look at both revealed very minor changes. Both are 65% form factor keyboards with wireless or wired connectivity, a gasket mount structure, and the exact same chassis/keycaps/switch combination for the pre-built versions. Both also come in kit-only forms for those wishing to build their own keyboard, although that’s not what we are doing today. Indeed, the newer CIDOO V65 V2 appears to have a different microcontroller and an updated gasket design but is otherwise so identical that I still decided to put out this review knowing that it’s going to be very representative of both versions. Oh, both are also open-source keyboards with VIA support out of the box. That alone should have got the attention of many keyboard enthusiasts reading this review which begins with a look at the product specifications in the table below.

Specifications