STYLE: Star White - 4 Stars- The lighting is background only, it does not backlight the key labels. So, in a dark environment, you cannot read key labels.- Included a white USB-C cord, and a white 2.4GHz dongle.STYLE: Black and Red Contour - 3 Stars- The lighting is mainly background; but, there's slight backlighting of the key labels. In a dark or lighted environment, you cannot read the key labels unless a key is backlit. Making all the animations useless during use. *- When key labels are visible, the keyboard has to be set further away from you to read the labels because they're on the front edge of the keys. *- The contour lines overlay the letters, making some of the key labels difficult to discern in certain dark lighting conditions; I, E, for example. This is improved with maximum brightness. **- Included a black USB-C cord, and a black 2.4GHz dongle. ** Likely the same with the Moon Night style** Specific to Black and Red Contour styleBOTH STYLES:- Did not come with a coiled cord as indicated in the product description. Coiled cords remind me of growing up when my sisters would stretch the extra long cord from the wall-mounted, dial, telephone all the way down the hall into their bedrooms, for privacy. My mum hated that. In general I don't like them, so this isn't a great loss.- The old-school higher-profile shape of the keys is not as good for fast typing. Low-profile keys are better in this respect.- I hate the concept of labelling things with text the same color as what the text is on. I see this with black on black very often... but white on white I now know is even worse. This is a factor with the connection mode switch on the back of the keyboard, which I had to use magnifying glasses to read... Left to right from back... 2.4GHz, USB cable, bluetooth.- If the keyboard moves out of range (2.4GHz or bluetooth), the R key will flash green. Took me awhile to figure this out... it's not documented.- I had to research why anyone would want a hand strap on a keyboard. I still don't get it. AI suggested it provides improved stability, ergonomic support, and enhanced control. I'm not sure how.CONFIGURATION SOFTWAREThe "cloud-based software", which I'm not sure has anything to do with cloud, is not documented in the manual - surprising given that its probably the most interesting part of this product. It gives access to full customization (color and animation settings, macro creation, etc). It makes use of the open source firmware Quantum Mechanical Kit (QMK), it's worth researching. Had I not looked again at the product listing, I would never have known it was implemented on this keyboard. To get to it, in a browser, navigate to qmk.top. To use it on Windows requires installation of a driver (iot_driver) which is provided thru the browser access. QMK is very powerful, and adds the flexibility of future firmware updates with new features. I added an additional star for this functionality.CONCLUSIONThese keyboards have a very high quality feel. The keys have very smooth action and there's an obvious improvement over plastic/spring action keyboards. The keyboards have a good weight to them, and sit firmly in place. The flexibility of 2.4GHz, bluetooth, and USB cable connections give you plenty of options to suit your needs.There are expert features for gamers, which I'm not. If you are, maybe some of the concerns I've mentioned don't matter to you. For me, I can't type as fast, and I can't read the labels; so, not too useful a design. But, I am not the target user, and I've taken that into consideration with my rating.If there was an update to this keyboard that had backlit key labels, low(er) profile keys, and it was available in an extended keyboard version (navigation, arrow, and numpad keys) I'd give any of the styles 5 stars and I'd use it regularly when I move away from my main computer and relax on my recliner to watch movies/shows at night.Completely unrelated to the keyboard... the Mambasnake logo/text isn't easily readable... the 'B' looks more like a square with a 'c' in it (like a stylized copyright symbol), or at quicker glance like a 'G'. The box is beautifully designed though.
