Introduction

Epomaker, short for “The Epoch of Makers,” effectively is an entity comprised of several keyboard brands/makers. The Epomaker brand is among them, and to remove any confusion, this review shall cover Epomaker the brand from now on. The brand is based in China, but has been in the public eye across the globe recently by offering a lot of interesting keyboards, especially high quality pre-builds for very reasonable prices. Their latest offering went up on Kickstarter to a resounding success and is going retail in January 2021 to ring in the new year. As such, we want to make sure you are well aware of the GK96S before you decide on whether this is for you. Thanks to Epomaker for sending a review sample to TechPowerUp!

Perhaps the biggest feature of the Epomaker GK96S is the high degree of customization on offer. Indeed, my sample is a completely different board altogether, the GK96LS, where the “L” stands for the left-handed numpad. The standard version has the more familiar 96% form factor with shorter keys on the bottom row and dedicated arrow keys, while the GK96LS foregoes the latter for a more substantial numpad. The company outright states that this is more for those prioritizing ergonomics and number crunching, with the standard version still saving you quite a lot of space compared to a typical full-size keyboard. The other customization options here include a wide plethora of switches to choose from, with the optical switch versions using “SK” instead of “GK” in the name, as well as different keycap colors and composition, which results in an extremely high number of SKUs. This review based on one SKU will aim to discuss the GK96S family as a whole (including the SK96S) and the GK96LS in my specific configuration in detail, beginning with a look at the specifications below.

Specifications