Tecware Phantom Elite 87 Mechanical Keyboard Review

USER EXPERIENCE

PERFORMANCE

As some of us might not know, the Tecware Elite 87 is actually the exact keyboard as the non-elite version of the Phantom TKL but with an upgraded Kailh (universal) hot-swap socket instead of the Outemu hot-swap. The keyboard default is 6 NKRO but can be unlocked by pressing FN + Pause key to become a full NKRO keyboard.

SWITCHES AND STABILIZERS

What I have here on my desk is the Kailh Speed Silver variant which has an actuation point of 1.1mm, a 40g actuation force but has a 53g bottom-out force. The Kailh Speed Silver is buttery smooth and is very responsive compared to normal red linear switches. This will give you an advantage when you’re playing FPS games since the total travel distance is just 3.5mm instead of the usual 4mm from non-speed variants. Apart from this, the Elite 87 has 4 more other variants (Yellow and Brown Gateron variants are cheaper than the Kailh Speed Bronze and Copper). Cherry, Tealios, and other Cherry MX clones are compatible with the Elite 87.

As for the stabilizers used in the Elite 87, it has unlubed Cherry stabilizers and needs some lubing to lessen the rattle.

KEYCAPS

MATERIAL

The Elite 87 used an ABS keycap material. ABS is short for “Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene”. It shines and becomes oily over time due to everyday usage. In addition to this, it is also cheap in terms of cost.

TYPE

As you can see in the picture, they used a double-shot process for the legend. Unlike printing, this keycap type is produced when two layers of plastic are molded into each other. The legend will never fade, unlike pad printed keycaps.

PROFILE

As shown earlier, the Tecware Elite 87 has OEM profile keycaps, a pretty common profile for mainstream keyboards.

SOFTWARE, LIGHTING AND OTHER FEATURES

Tecware made a basic software that allows you to change the lighting in 19 different modes and can save up to 3 different profiles. In this software also, you can change the report rate and I suggest to set it always on 1000hz. You can set up your own macro as well. More importantly, this keyboard has an on-the-fly command if you don’t like to open the software to change the lighting modes. Here is the manual for the Tecware Elite 87 since this keyboard has no manual in the package. As for the software, you can download it here.

Here is a sound test for the Kailh Speed Silver.