Introduction

SKYLOONG is a Chinese peripherals brand that has been around for over ten years with a specialization in mechanical keyboards. Indeed, this is the brand that has put out most of the small form factor layout keyboards and cases that were then re-branded by others, especially for the western markets, until the company decided to market itself finally. Indeed, if you look through our review database, a good amount of Epomaker-branded keyboards were all made by SKYLOONG including the original GK61 as well as the GK61XS. I am pointing out these two on purpose given the subject of today’s review happens to be a follow-up to both in the form of the new SKYLOONG GK61 Pro.

As the name suggests, the GK61 Pro is a 60% form-factor keyboard which is about as small as most people would realistically go. You still miss out on the dedicated arrow keys, but many find the single bank of keys in an otherwise standard key spacing to work out well for typing with layers in mind. SKYLOONG decided to throw a curve ball here by implementing a split space bar and throwing in a knob in the middle. However, this can be easily changed to a single, longer space bar key and this is just one of many ways to customize the GK61 Pro via hardware and software alike. It also comes in a few different case, keycap, switch, and even connectivity options with SKYLOONG having kindly sent over an aluminium case wireless version to TechPowerUp. This review will otherwise be representative of the other versions too—the image above shows a plastic version version for reference—with any differences mentioned over the course of the article, which begins with a look at the product specifications in the table below.

Specifications