Review: YUNZII YZ98 wireless mechanical keyboard

Review unit provided by YUNZII

Bottom line

Let me get straight to the bottom line.

The YUNZII YZ98 is a beautiful well made 98% layout keyboard. Typing experience is good though not for extremely fast typists. The Windows-only software can customise macros and shortcuts. The RGB lights are beautiful.

The only main downside is when RGB lights are on all the time, battery life is just two days. If you have the lights off, battery life is at least one month. The other downside is not really a downside but this keyboard has nothing unique that helps it stand out among the sea of keyboards available in the market. It's a good keyboard, but there are many good competing keyboards too.

Price is currently USD 89 on YUNZII website. Free shipping may be included depending on your location. Lowest price I've seen on Amazon is USD 73.

Specifications

• Product: YUNZII YZ98
• Type: Vintage Mechanical Keyboard
• Layout: 98% Layout, 99-Key
• RGB: South-facing RGB and side lights
• Color Choices: White, Black
• Switch Choices: YUNZII Milk Switch
• Structure: Gasket Mounted
• Battery: 5000mAh
• Connection: Wired Type-C/Bluetooth/2.4G Wireless
• Size of Product: 390*147*39mm/15.35*5.79*1.54 inch
• Weight of Product: 970.5g/2.14 lb
• Keycaps: Double-shot PBT Cherry Profile Keycaps
• Hot Swappable: YES
• NKRO: YES

There are three switch options: YUNZII Milk Switch (linear) and Yunzii Cocoa Cream V2 Switch (linear).

The review unit came with the YUNZII Milk Switch with the following specs:

• Type: Linear
• Pins: 3-pin
• Pre-travel: 2.0 ± 0.6mm
• Total travel: 4mm
• Operating force: 45 ± 10gf
• Sound level: low
• LED defuser: No
• Lubrication: Yes

Things included

• Keyboard
• USB-A to USB-C charging cable
• 2x extra switches
• Extra keycaps
• Switch and keycap puller
• Design plates to replace PageUp, PageDown, Home, End keys
• User manual
• Keyboard shortcut card

Design

This keyboard has a somewhat retro design and colour scheme. It's a beautiful design with 98% layout so you get 99 keys including the numpad. One will start flashing red when battery life is low.

This is the black colour option.

This wireless mechanical keyboard uses a gasket-mounted structure. Keys are hotswappable and uses 3 or 5 pin switches. The foldout feet can deploy at two heights.

The keyboard supports Mac and Windows keyboard layouts. There are five connections possible: 3x Bluetooth, 1x 2.4Ghz with the USB-A receiver and cable mode. The keyboard can still be used while it's charging.

There's no right-Opt key with Mac keyboard layout.

The two side lights do not follow the same colours are the backlight RGB lighting. Colours of the side lights are customisable on their own.

The five rubber feet on the back has good grip on the table.

The keycaps are PBT double shot with Cherry profile.

Typing experience is good but this specific linear type switch isn't ideal for fast typists. Typing sounds good and the volume is at medium level.

For design purposes, you can remove the Home, End, PageUp and PageDown keys and replace them with the design plates that are included. I find the keys more useful compared to the design plates which are more decorative than practical.

Software

The YUNZII driver is only available for Windows.

With the driver or software, you can create keyboard shortcuts, function key shortcuts, adjust the lighting effect and create macros.

The keyboard does not need the driver to work, but to customise the shortcuts the driver is needed. Lighting effects can be adjusted with pre-programmed keyboard shortcuts on both Mac and Windows.

Conclusion

The YUNZII YZ98 is a beautiful keyboard that works fine. One main selling point is the beautiful RGB lighting, but using that affects battery life quite significantly.

The main downside is there's no Mac driver which isn't necessary for the keyboard to function anyway.

This keyboard will have a difficult time competing with other keyboards in the market because there isn't any unique feature that really helps it stand out.

Pros and cons at a glance
+ Beautiful design
+ Decent build quality
+ Good typing experience, but not for fast typist
+ Has numpad
+ Certain keycaps can be replaced with design plates
+ Beautiful RGB lights
+ At least one month battery life without the RGB lights
+ USD 89 pricing seems reasonable
- Two days battery life with RGB lights on
- No Mac driver
- No right-Opt key with Mac keyboard layout

Availability

This keyboard is available from YUNZII online store and Amazon (lowest price I've see is USD 73).