YunZii C98 Cake Meow Keyboard Review – Cute But Professional
YunZii C98 is a $119 USD Wireless Mechanical Keyboard with a cute design inspired by cats, Mechanical keyboard base with hot swappable switches, 96% Layout, Full RGB Backlight, 10.000 mAh battery inside and with a Creamy Typing Sound. Today we will review the Yunzii C 98 and see how it generally compares with other keyboards that I reviewed.
Introduction
Yunzii decided to venture into the cute kawaii keyboard market, and created the C98 with the version that I have being the most tasteful, most tame one, as it has a rather pleasing light blue, brown and cream color combo, enough for it to be a great wife keyboard, but not pink and yellow enough to stand out on a desk. YunZii produces and sells a wide selection of keyboards, usually they have much better price performance ratio than the market, and the if you look enough, you are sure to find something that will fit with your needs.
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Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/3RqXxlQ
Aliexpress – https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_c3Zam3Vp
Build Quality – Subjective Usage
Stability – Stability is a bit lower than with other YunZii keyboards, especially as the base is slightly flexible, and the feet are large, but a bit more slippery. A good counterexample, from the same period of time and release series is X98 which I am also reviewing. There’s a stark difference, where X98 is hard, heavy and sturdy, while C98 is made with a softer plastic. It is incredibly heavy, especially in the upper / back part, but you can flex it 5-10 degrees with your bare hands. It does creak but it does not break.
All of this being said, this is not an issue for everyday usage, and it feels well-made, having much smoother and more rounded edges that are softer than most keyboards which make typing on it more fun. Also, the long LED band on the base is made with a matte rubber and the whole keyboard is made with a matte surface that feels super premium.
Ergonomics – With everything being matte, C98 feels really premium, even more so than most YunZii keyboards I reviewed to date like RT75 or RT68. While most Yunzii keyboards so far had a bit of flex, and all of them feel nice, C98 is the nicest so far. It feels natural, and the only thing that I don’t quite feel natural about is where the Del key is placed because this is a 96% keyboard. I don’t quite understand why it is not named C96, but it is an ergonomic keyboard, and the Foam inside does a great job at damping the sound and creating a beautiful sound profile.
KeyCaps – KeyCaps use a MOA profile, which is currently my favorite profile. To be honest, I have MOA profile keycaps installed on all Keychron Q6 keyboards that I use, and it is a standard 9.8mm MOA profile keycap set with PBT construction. While for me it looks beautiful, my wife saw the keycaps and the whole keyboard while I left it in our dayroom, and she immediately said that she wants this keyboard. She is already using a Keychron Q6 MAX with MOA themed keycaps, so I can vouch that yunzii C98 Cake Meow will simply strike the right nerve when you see it. I went for a very nice combination of light blue, cream, and brown which looks stunning in person.
Switches – C98 comes with the Milk V2 Switch, or with the Candy Switch, both being linear. I usually prefer brown or tactile switches, but out of those two, Milk V2 has a lower operating force, but longer total travel, with a similar end force and similar pre-travel. Basically, for most users Milk V2 will feel the most natural and just really natural in general, with an ever so slightly low operating force, a natural total travel distance and natural end force. For my hand, it feels closer to a brown than most keys, but I bottom-out browns and tactiles too. Milk V2 has a different key mechanism that gives each keycap complete stability, as it has both the + in the middle, but also the [ ] parts that stabilize the keycap inside of the switch. It is really stable, sounds thocc, with a bit of ping in the treble region, and in general it is a reliable, fun keycap that feels natural. The switch will return much faster to the position than most aftermarket, so although the spring is not that strong, it is very responsive which is extra nice. Those are some of the smoothest switches ever with zero grain to them, and they are more natural to press and lighter than the HE switches i’ve seen so far from Yun Zii.
Gaming – For gaming, it is perfect as C98 has all the important keys in the right places, and I found that I vastly prefer how the edge of the base feels when I rest my hand on it, making it more pleasing to play for long hours. It also feels really nice because the light gives it a special playful mood. The fact that the keyboard has a smile and a cat theme makes it perfect for gaming. It does not have any special features that would enhance gaming but the keycap and switch combo is just perfect. Response time is as fast subjectively as any other high-end keyboard offers and I cannot tell apart wired vs wireless, as the 2.4 GHz Wireless receiver reacts instantly to input.
Typing And Work – For typing and work it is a different story, because I can type reviews as fast as with my flagships, it sounds nice, but a bit loud, and it responds really well to typing. Battery life is comically long and with a 10.000 mAh battery inside, it goes to sleep in 4 minutes, works 34 days with the backlight off or 62 hours with the light on at the brightest setting. I do not know, but the battery takes 19 hours to charge, it is insanely slow charging. This being said, I had it with the RGB light turned on, used it for 2 weeks, for tying reviews, and it still has not died, which is insane. My KeyChron Q6 MAX dies in around a week of usage in the same style, while Q6 Ultra is still alive also after 2 weeks. The Receiver is shaped like a little fish, which I feel adds to the novelty of the whole keyboard. For work, it is not perfect, because it lacks the PrintScreen button which I sometimes use, and it also has the DELETE key in a wrong position, tall and far away from my hand which makes using it slow and clunky. I prefer having the Delete button in the traditional position, as it is one of the buttons I use the most. In fact, even if I could live without the numpad, I feel like all smaller keyboards get this wrong, because I ABSOLUTELY need the arrow keys, and home / end / delete buttons where I am used to feeling them. This has been one of the biggest reasons I never moved to a smaller keyboard, they are all moving those keys that I actually do use a lot.
Advanced Features – The most advanced features that YunZii C98 Cake Meow has include the cat tail on the back, 3 Modes of connectivity, a CAPs kley light on the base, as a LED, a smile light at the top – center of the base and the 360 degrees transparent LED band that gives the entire keyboard a truly impressive design. Inside the package you will find a USB Cable, a keycap / switch remover and extra keycaps and switches. While playing with the light styles, some things are a bit of a mystery to me, because for the smiley light, you are supposed to use FN + Pause to turn it on and off and FN + Print to charge the light effect, but this keyboard does not have a Pause or a Print Screen button. Through trial and error, I have discovered that you can change the light effect of the LED smile with FN + Alt and you can change the main keyboard light color with FN + Enter. You can also change the main keys light effect with FN + \ . You can turn off the main keyboard light effect with FN + Backspace. Because the lights of the smiley face, RGB band and main keyboard are controlled by different controllers, if you choose a lateral rainbow wave, it will never be in sync.
Overall – I like the C98 keyboard a lot, and it is right now the only one that I tested which does not feel like a toy buty like a proper keb. It has a good typing feel, sounds good, and has a cute, but not cheap design. It feels premium, looks premium and if I didn’t have 4 KeyChron Q6 keyboards, I might have used it more myself. I feel like Mary will love this because regardless how much I customize the Q6, I cannot give it an LED smile or this LED band that makes it a playful mood. Sound quality is a bit pingy, but it still has a deep thocc, while the switches are very smooth and feel lubed.
Value – Conclusion
With the 119 USD price tag, YunZii C98 Cake Meow is a super cute keyboard that is also practical and which has multiple colors available, the best one being by far Choco. It is practical, looks nice, sounds nice and has an insanely long battery life, being a good professional keb with a biot of graphic charm. Compared to the market it has a lower price and a better value, especially thanks to the good switches and nice design.
I did start this review knowing this wouldn’t be a perfect keyboard, but it is a great keyboard and while it is not quite a flagship, it has all the elements of a flagship, including smooth and precise switches, high-quality keycaps that look nice and a base with a large battery inside, beautiful LED ring that goes around the keb, as well as three connectivity modes. YunZii C98 is a fully recommended keyboard in our review today and I hope that you’ll be happy with it if you decide to go for it.
PROs
- Really interesting design, eye candy but not distracting
- Incredibly smooth typing experience
- Stable and clean writing experience
- Thick LED strip all around they keyboard which looks cool
- Smooth switches that feel lubed and have no texture inside
- Rounded shape makes it far more comfortable to use for long periods of times than most keyboards
- Battery life is just insane, similar to a flagship Q6 Ultra
- Lots of hearts and cat themed parts
- Perfect for writing text and gaming
- Some of the best value in the keyboard world
Cons
- RGB light effects are never in sync between keyboard, LED strip and smiley face
- Delete key is moved in the wrong place, very high and the PrintScreen key is missing
- Can flex and bend a bit, although that ios not part of what you would do with it
Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/3RqXxlQ
Aliexpress – https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_c3Zam3Vp
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Full Playlist used for this review
We listened to more songs than those named in this playlist, but those are excellent for identifying a sonic signature. I recommend trying most of the songs from this playlist, especially if you’re searching for new music! The playlists are different for Spotify, Tidal and Youtube, and based on the songs I enjoy and are available on each!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_cjBXGmwSHSdGcwuc_bKbBDGHL4QvYBu
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5J3oloz8Riy9LxEGenOjQ0?si=979ba4f082414be7
https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/330fd544-8e5b-4839-bd35-676b2edbb3d5
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