MOTOSPEED K87S gaming keyboard review – The floor can shine!

Motospeed is a rather unknown gaming brand from China that belongs to the professional PC peripheral manufacturer Mototech. If you take a look at the brand on the Internet, you will find mostly good feedback about the individual products offered.

This is exactly the reason why we want to introduce one of these products to you. It is the K87S, a mechanical gaming keyboard with blue switches. Probably the most striking thing about the keyboard is the RGB lighting, which can be seen from the beginning on the product pictures. This comes predominantly from below through a small translucent bump. How well the keyboard does in our practical test and what else it has to offer, you can find out now!

Specifications

Scope of delivery

The keyboard is delivered in a simple cardboard box. Thereby, a product picture of the keyboard and furthermore the name as well as the logo are located on the front of the cardboard. On the back we find everything that the keyboard has to offer. However, the delivery circumstances were a bit unfortunate – the packaging arrived somewhat compressed. This raised the fear that the keyboard might have been damaged.

However, after we opened the packaging, these fears disappeared into thin air. The keyboard was secured on the sides in the classic way with two pieces of black foam. In addition, the keyboard was wrapped in a plastic foil. We took precautions for such cases and it turned out to be worth it, as the keyboard arrived without any damage. Apart from the keyboard, there was also a warranty card and a plastic keycap puller in the package.

Design & Workmanship

The MOTOSPEED K87S is currently only available with an American layout. A European version is currently not yet in sight since the keyboard is designed for the worldwide market. At one or the other point, therefore, an adjustment is necessary. However, some thought has been put into a compact gaming layout. The layout offers 87 keys, but there are some secondary assignments so that you can use more functions. The keys assigned with two functions are located at the upper edge in two rows of the keyboard. They can be used to address interesting RGB lighting modes in particular – more on that later! Also, the Shift key on the left side of the keyboard is special because of its size.

All keycaps were made of plain white ABS plastic with a slightly rough surface. The font of each letter is milky white and the FN functions were marked with a dark gray. The chosen font looks good, but from our point of view it doesn’t quite fit the overall design of the keyboard – a font that isn’t so “edgy” would have been more suitable to our eyes. You can see on the back of the keycaps that they have been manufactured rather cheaply, as you find smaller casting dots. Still, they were made solid enough and don’t show any flaws on the top.

The keycaps sit on OUTEMU Blue switches. These can be heard with a high tactile click. The activation pressure of the switches is 60 g and after 2.3 mm they are activated. They are comparable to the MX Cherry switches in the blue variant due to their construction and workmanship. The differences are as follows: The OUTEMU switches are a bit cheaper in their manufacture as well as the quality and the sound is a bit different. If you listen closely you can hear the spring in the switch going back with a slightly metallic sound. This can be different for each individual key on the keyboard, with the larger keys not quite making the sound.

Exciting and good-looking is the case of the keyboard. The upper plate, on which the switches are mounted, is covered with an aluminum alloy. However, the aluminum doesn’t have the familiar silver color, but rather goes in a somewhat golden direction. Visually, it looks very nice and noble. The screws seen above are silver and disturb the overall picture a bit. There is an RGB strip in the space between the two housing plates, protected by somewhat too cheap-looking, transparent plastic. However, the workmanship is to be commended, as there are no flaws in the form of scratches, for example.

The transparent plastic is also the underside of the keyboard, with a white foil stuck to the bottom. For slip resistance, there are two larger white anti-slip pads on the bottom corners of the keyboard. On the top, there are two fold-out feet that set the keyboard at a comfortable height. Lastly we have the cable, this is covered in a simple white rubber alloy. Unfortunately, the cable doesn’t have a sleeve, but the length is right and so is the quality.

RGB lighting

To control the RGB lighting of the K87S, the manufacturer unfortunately does not provide us with any software. However, it can already be controlled via the keyboard’s own macro keys. The brightness and the individual predefined modes can be controlled via the arrow keys. The keys above the arrow keys are available to make individual adjustments. Here you can specifically address the keycap illumination or the under-body illumination and adjust it according to your wishes. All the usual modes for the lighting are represented here – no innovation that blows us away.

That said, the K87S looks very good with its lighting! The colors are strong and bright, adding a lot of visual value to the keyboard. The macro functions of the keys 1-5 can also be used to illuminate the required keys for special games. So, if you set the keyboard to “LOL”, all the standard keys you need when playing League of Legens light up. However, it is a pity that this function is only useful for players with the standard keys due to the lack of customizability via software.

The operation via the macro keys also takes a bit of getting used to. When operating them, you first have to click through a bit until you figure out where the modes and what exactly is being addressed. It’s also a bit of a shame how the light on the underside of the keyboard behaves – even if you can’t see it while gaming. The attached white foil is almost completely translucent, which means that a strange light debacle can be seen on the underside. There is also a small deduction here for the quality of the illumination, because one of the LEDs on the front of the keyboard is faulty. It tends to glow red, although it should actually glow yellow.

Ergonomics

The keycaps of the K87S have been adapted for comfortable ergonomics. For this purpose, the manufacturer has opted for a slightly rounded shape towards the center. The lower and upper keys are thus slightly higher. Typing as well as gaming works flawlessly – the keys have a pleasant pressure point and a pleasant feedback, due to the click on the fingers. The clicking makes the keyboard feel like you’re back in the 18th century when people still wrote with typewriters. The larger shift key on the left side is very pleasant, especially in games where you have to sprint for a long time – every little finger is grateful for the relief.

Conclusion

The manufacturer MOTOSPEED has not reinvented the wheel with the K87S gaming keyboard, but has released a solid mechanical keyboard with ups and downs. The installed switches are not the best, but have also proven their strengths. Overall, the design as well as the workmanship makes a good impression, so it satisfies us for the most part. The noise is quite good, but also not for everyone.