Add post: Two-week Review of EvoFox Katana X2 Keyboard

content/blog/katana-x2-review.md

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+title = "Two-week Review of EvoFox Katana X2 Keyboard"
+date = 2024-10-08
+
+[taxonomies]
+tags = ["hardware"]
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+
+First things first: I’m no expert on mechanical keyboards.
+
+In fact, this is my first mechanical keyboard after spending half my life on membrane keyboards and being perfectly happy with them. So while this is not an experienced review, it does come from someone who has been somewhat sceptical of mechanical keyboards.
+
+Many people have told me about their superiority, but last month, a friend finally got into my head and I decided to try out an entry-level keyboard and see how it fares.
+
+![A wired black-coloured mechanical keyboard with its rainbow backlights on](/images/katana-x2-review/katana-x2.jpg)
+
+Spoiler alert: I wasn’t disappointed.
+
+## Buying experience: 3/5
+
+I got myself the tenkeyless variant of EvoFox Katana X2 with blue switches and black colour. They have a white one with full-size layout and red switches, but that’s the only other variant at the time of writing. And on Amazon, this is listed as a variant of older generation Katana keyboards.
+
+So while EvoFox makes good budget products, their cataloguing sucks.
+
+I say good products, because I already have a game controller from them, which works great. So I took a leap of faith despite there being no reviews of this product other than the scant customer reviews on Flipkart and Amazon — which are extremely favourable.
+
+## Build quality: 4/5
+
+The keyboard is sturdy and uses quality plastic. It is neither heavy nor light and can be easily carried in a backpack along with a laptop and a charger.
+
+The keycaps are fairly stable, but not the most stable I’ve seen. It also claims a lifetime of 50 million keystrokes and comes with swappable switches.
+
+## Typing experience: 5/5
+
+### Feel
+
+The tactile feedback is accurate, in that you can feel the exact millisecond the switch clicks. It is what you would expect from blue switches.
+
+### Sound
+
+My more experienced friends have called it somewhat on the thockier side. I’ve felt the thock only on the larger keys like <kbd>Enter</kbd>, <kbd>Backspace</kbd> and <kbd>Spacebar</kbd>, while the other keys sound clicky to me.
+
+### Speed
+
+On membrane keyboards, I used to hit 60 to 70 words per minute depending on which typing tutor I use to measure. With the Katana X2, I was at a good 50 within the first hour of usage, and by the second day, I was at my usual speeds.
+
+After a couple of weeks, I’m hitting 70 to 80 words per minute, which is slightly better than my previous best.
+
+## Other stuff
+
+The keyboard comes with a handy volume control knob at the top right corner. It also lets you control the backlight brightness after a long press.
+
+Speaking of backlight, it has rainbow lighting, with fixed colours for each key. There are a bunch of lighting effects, but I’m not interested in backlights at all, so I have no opinion on that.
+
+## Conclusion
+
+If you’ve never tried mechanical keyboards and don’t want to spend a lot before you know you’re into the hobby, and you’re okay with a wired keyboard, then the EvoFox Katana X2 is for you. It’s a bargain at the price of ₹1799–₹1899.