This is NOT a Video About Mechanical Keyboards!

Oh dear Lord, it's a new year already, viewers. The Christmas break has definitely not been nearly enough time for me to reenergize from 2020 part two, or as some of you humans call it, 2021. But hey, it's time to Kickstart this new arbitrary collection of 365 days, even if it means pushing it off a cliff all it had barely enough time to put on a flip and parachute. And what better way to do all that in Kickstart 2022 than entering ever deeper into the world of mechanical keyboards? Because there definitely isn't enough content on the topic on the Internet already, not counting on the blog posts and the articles and the YouTube video.

All fuck off. So Keycaps, I am all but certain that we have at least briefly mentioned that you both need them to complete your keyboard build, as well as their different profiles will definitely change how you use your keyboard. Not too different from the TRN BT 30, which is an $80 Bluetooth five two pair of adapters that you can use to turn your wired IMS into wireless one, effectively giving any pair of probably awful sounding IMS that you've got lying around the title of TWS, also known as True Wireless Stereo and not True Wireless Earbuds, as so many of you guys insist on saying it. Oh yes, differently from the KVRS one that we have looked into before times, which let you connect your AMS to your music via Bluetooth but still had a pesky annoying cable going from one ear to the other, usually across the back of your neck or the front.

If you were a weirdo, the BT 30 goes the extra weights on a barbell route by attaching batteries, controllers, and other technological shenanigans to your items directly and having them dangle behind each of your years, but this time no wires involved. It works surprisingly well, with no latency or delay between whatever is playing on each of your ears and your source better. Life is solid, with about six and a half hours of playtime, plus another 14 hours worth of a charge in the case, with each charge taking about one and a half to 2 hours to complete. The actual sound quality and the connection are both pretty good. That's definitely at least on par with basically everything else that we have in the TWS world nowadays, but considering the size of the buggers plus the footprint of the case, that's hardly surprising.

The controls are literally all in one button, so you can play, you can pause, fill with Siri answer calls, and then hang them back up again because it's obviously just another telemarketing pitch, but no volume controls. So if you were fantasizing about not needing to either use voice commands or to reach into your pockets filled with the buttons on your phone, well, you are definitely shed out of luck. Construction is solid, and despite my humilious attempt to imply that these are heavy bits of plastic to hang over your ears. They're actually kind of light, obviously heavier than basically any other traditional cable would have been.

But we're here for the convenience, remember? Speaking of convenience, though, being able to change the earpiece connectors on the adapters without needing to buy an entirely new set of adapters is pretty great. But the carry case, with its hefty footprint, feels like it should be able to carry both the adapters and your Im. But it can't, at least not with the Im still attached, which sort of kills some of the convenience factor and increases the chance of you actually dropping your stuff when you're opening the case. But you can also keep your IMS in your pocket like loose change, because that seems to work fine, too. Still, pretty good implementation, and it kind of does what it's supposed to, so what the hell am I complaining about, right?

And speaking of cool, let's get back to keycaps, because with all the different shapes and sizes and colors, those little plastic bits are all that you need to make your own keyboard that's very much more unique. Which is, Incidentally, exactly how I feel about the AK 61 from Skyloom, a $60 to $75 mechanical keyboard that from the outside, looks tremendously boring and generic. But if life has taught me anything over the years, it's never judge a book by its cover. And I'm so pleased to say that I'm glad I didn't in this case, after I read all the information in the box, obviously, because you see, despite looking blended and appealing and sounding like what I assume sometime in the future will be considered an act of torture because of those damn blue switches, the AK 61s not only has hot swap, which, as convenience goes, is way up there with being able to change your socks without needing to hack off a limb, but the switches in this weirdly lovable keyboard are optical, which in turn kind of almost defeats some of the purpose of having hotspot in the first place, since you most likely don't have a collection of optical switches lying around, considering how rare and sparsely used these things still are nowadays.

But anyway, I digress. Optical switches in and of themselves are pretty damn unique and have potentially enormously longer lifespans and greatly improved durability compared to normal ones, not to mention all the reliability in terms of registering and resetting keystrokes. Granted, these positives are most likely only going to sound like a really big thing to gamers who want the absolutely most reliable gear possible at all times. As to never miss that precisely timed key press in the middle of a deathdefying Fortnite battle, but it's still all unique and pretty interesting tech nonetheless. As for the rest of the keyboard, well, it's basically fine.

White metal plate, white plastic frame, six degree incline, may or may not have Bluetooth detachable, silver braided USB Type C cable, factory loot, plate mounted stabilizers and a black and white keycap set that's a mix of DSA and SA profiles. There's nothing else that's actually noteworthy to say about it, really, aside from the fact that it works and that Skyloom apparently didn't get the memo and didn't learn from everybody else's mistakes. Putting RGB lighting in a board that doesn't have shine through keycaps, which just like a perfect truffle covered in oil with metal shavings, makes things really hard to enjoy. The Truffle and the RGB, I mean.

And also, why does the non Bluetooth version still comes with shortcuts for switching between paired devices? Do you guys enjoy taunting your customers over there? Skylum? Sorry, I don't know what's wrong with me. I just can't seem to stay on topic. Today I was supposed to be talking about mechanical keyboard keycaps and profiles. I'll start again. The Monarch Wireless is the latest in a series of microphones by Ant Lion that aims to enable people with Fancys headphones to also have the convenience of head mounted microphones, as well as not being ostracized by all their gaming headset. Praying friends. Yes, you will still totally have your own headphone cables to contend with, but at least you won't need to apply your nonexistent cable management skills to even more cables dangling from your head while you're talking to providers while gaming.

And let's be honest, that's all you're going to be doing with a mic like this anyway. But for both the sound quality and the convenience of the whole wireless thing, plus, of course, the construction and ease of use, the somewhat steep $140 price tag kind of almost makes sense. Now the trolls among you who want everybody to still be able to hear your loud Blue switch outfitted keyboards in all their glory will be thrilled to know that Ant Lion apparently didn't bring all their brain cells to work that day when they were designing the Monmouth Wireless, so they put in an Omnidirectional mode, but thankfully they didn't completely screw things up and also put in a directional one so the rest of us more well adjusted members of society can properly engage in conversation.

The installation being ridiculously simple, with the included clasps already having three M sticky tape reapplied almost like it's made with Dummies in mind, and the whole thing being held up by pretty strong magnets makes it extremely easy and convenient to both position the microphone move things about as well as putting it all away when you're not using it. And speaking of using one click and you're muted, the charge lasts for about 12 hours, so you're probably going to be okay for long gaming sessions. And when you're done, charging is as easy as plugging the cable into the correct orientation, which shouldn't pose too much of a challenge to you.

Right lads, just make sure to have at least one USB Port that doesn't really know how to make friends because you need the extra space to decide as the dongle that comes with this thing is actually pretty wide or just use the included extension so that you can get the dongle closer and in line of sight with mod mic which is Incidentally the way they suggest you set it all up to begin with. Shit. Hang on. I got confused again. How long have I got left? What 10 seconds? Oh, fuck. Different kicker profiles can provide more comfortable typing experiences. Materials and sizes will affect how they feel and sound and colors are all the way for you to be able to customize your keyboard in your own unique taste and you can find basically anything you could possibly want at drop.com.

Catch you guys in the next one.