Why do Redditors hate Epomaker?

[@hyro972]

I got 2 Epomaker boards and enjoy them. My main is the the TH80 Pro, but I also got the DynaTab 75x. Even got a decent PC controller from them.

[@benfromsg]

When it works, it works. The boards they sent me still work fine to this day, albeit me using them very sparingly. But I cannot deny the sheer number of people that have unresolved complaints against them. Seems there's little middle ground, with lots of people either experiencing a lot of good or a lot of bad.

[@FerrerV14]

This is surprising to me. As I have had two keyboards from this brand, the TH66 and TH80 (first one was a kit and shipped from their webpage and the second one was a full keyboard shipped from Amazon), they had around 2 or 3 years, they have both worked great and even texted customer support a couple times for doubts that I had and never had an issue. This is my experience, and I am grateful for you putting on the radar the Kickstarter trouble; didn't know about that. I just bought a Leobog HI75 kit as the reviews were kinda good, hopefully there's no issues with that. I guess I was just lucky with them, knowing all of this. Thanks for putting this in the open. And to you, reading this, in case you forget, always DYOR!

[@hyro972]

The TH80 is my daily board!

[@TAZAKEY]

From one Ben to another, really loved your presentation in this video 🌞

[@benfromsg]

Thanks Ben!

[@techconix]

I own a Epomaker EP84, which I plan to upgrade to TTC Silent Frozen v2 to replace the Gateron Yellows

[@benfromsg]

All power to you!

[@HarryDaRed]

Chinese keyboard lore is crazy lmao

[@nero14xiv]

Thank you for speaking out about this, I have my EK68 that I bought from an Amazon returns seller, and while it still works wired (thankfully), I was frustrated I didn't do my research beforehand because it doesn't work wirelessly on either 2.4G or BT as 2.4G just disconnects right after 10 seconds of use and BT just does light indication for pairing and does not connect at all, thought it was just my unit but I was a little relieved that I wasn't alone in this as reading from subreddits that most had the same issue as well as most of their other keyboards stops working after only few months of working or just have some other issue, since then and to this day it's still the only Epomaker keyboard I own, sad they have to be like this because some of their keyboards legit look nice, I guess it's a gamble you either get a fully working one, or a half-ass one with some issue, or just outright not working at all.

[@benfromsg]

You’ll move on to better things!

[@MultiArthurT]

Soo my first keyboard that i ordered was TH80 (Non pro) and was doing great until after less than a year it started not working on 2.4hz dongle, continued to use it on Bluetooth but afterwards even Bluetooth and wired mode failed. Bought this keyboard on the official Epomaker Aliexpress store, and tried to contact them via support. After writing to the CS, they told me that i need to buy a new keyboard and after some persuasion they told that i can buy just the board from them for almost the same price of the kit version (no warranty, no support whatsoever), but in turn bought a v1 max that i am currently typing on and i am very satisfied with it. TH80 sits on the shelf collecting dust, it can turn on but without any connection it is unusable and i will never ever even look at their keyboards again.

[@MarbsMusic]

I've been pretty deep into this hobby for over 2 years, just getting going when all the KS stuff was happening with Epomaker so I heard a lot of the stories right after they happened. I also do reviews for a retailer and have reviewed quite a number of their keyboard and purchased a few for myself. What I have noticed is the IMHO their keyboards have consistently gotten better in numerous areas. I'll admit I've never had an issue needing to call CS nor done a KS with them... I have done some KS, some were good another others were a nightmare. Many companies have done some pretty shady things and there are few I would "trust." For right now though I've not had any issues the past couple of years and I for one I'm willing to sit back and hope Epomaker continues to do better.

[@benfromsg]

At times I suspect it's the case of disgruntled customers having a louder voice. I looked up Geekhack, which is a forum for seriously enthusiastic keyboard hobbyists, and there was nearly no mention of Epomaker and their deeds, good nor bad. But the biggest sign that something has gone majorly wrong is when Reddit banned them off their site completely. Some people got REALLY pissed off for that to happen.

[@jammies701]

Nice vid mate Astroturfing is abhorrent

[@benfromsg]

They tried 🤷🏻‍♂️ got busted

[@JegsUniverse]

Seeing how many review units are being sent out by Epomaker to keyboard influencers, they appear to care so much about their reputation, other than their customers lol

[@benfromsg]

I disagree, reaching out to influencers is just a form of marketing campaign. And admittedly they do a better job at keeping reviewers satisfied since we are the ones recommending and/or bashing products. It's just that the other aspects of their brand image need work.

[@JegsUniverse]

That’s probably the case. I failed to realize that their marketing campaign is one aspect to look for. Nevertheless, reviewers may be satisfied of the board itself but not the company that white labels and ships them.

[@efflorescenceefflorescence5498]

This is the most simplistic reddit ass take lmao I'm glad Ben addressed you

[@benfromsg]

@@JegsUniverse All’s good! I have to reiterate though, like other reviewers, I’m not a “true” customer of Epo’s boards. The longest period of time we ever use these products are typically, a week to two, a month at best. (Except the Nuphy Nos75 because I’m really loving daily driving it these days, but I digress) Some people have experienced catastrophic issues a year or two later, with no warning at all and support for them has been abysmal. Most reviewers can’t afford and don’t do long term reviews so, please take it that what we say or recommend is only good enough to present a first impression and may not truly reflect the experience of using the keyboard. Therefore, reviewers may even love the keyboard on the moment but they never got to hating it!

[@ambasing69]

By the way, similar thing happened to Velocifire and Weikav about the Dukharo stuff? Velocifire says they will take legal action against brands who is selling the Lucky65, isn’t Weikav the one to blame for breaching the contract?

[@melancholic213]

woah! That's why I am confused to as Weikav has it selling to Orange app market when Velocifire is yet to begin marketing them, and Velocifire's Lucky has its engraving too beautifully but more pricier than the Weikav Lucky in the market which has no engraving to it.

[@benfromsg]

This, I didn't know!

[@Synth3ticGod]

I just bought an Epomaker Keeb the P75, and it was broken right out the box, having over current issues and giving me electricity shocks when I plugged it. The CS response its being pretty lame and I think that they not gonna help me with this issue.

[@ImOnMy116]

I may be getting confused, but I was thinking Akko was an epomaker sub-brand, and they were under fire for making clone keycaps. I’d say relative to all the other things you’ve described here, clone keycaps seem like a relatively mild infraction by comparison. I’ve been in the hobby for a little over four years now, and didn’t know about all the kickstarter drama (though admittedly I’m mostly in a few vendor and designer discords and stay off reddit). I even remember seeing a content creator review of the TH96, but didn’t know about the controversy with KPRepublic. Thanks for compiling and sharing all this, good info for the community for sure! Ultimately just vary grateful there are so many great in stock options for folks interested in joining the hobby, it’s much much harder to get scammed on something that should ship in the next day or two!

[@benfromsg]

Akko is also one of the many brands that Epomaker white labels, like Leobog and Ajazz! At one point Ajazz was also under fire because they were closely linked to Epomaker too at one point in time. And like you said, it's kind of sad in a way that keycap cloning is "mild" by their standards haha. I just hope that newcomers do their research properly because I see plenty of RT100 users complaining on Reddit about the faulty components in that keyboard. It really, really sucks that most times, Epomaker is one of the brands that they will get to know as someone starting out in this hobby and an awful one at that!

[@megadeth8592]

ive literally slammed my th66 against my desk raging and it still works.........ya im sold on Epomaker idgaf what some redditor says

[@benfromsg]

@@megadeth8592 pretty sure you slammed your head somewhere too

[@ambasing69]

If you gonna be loyal to a brand make sure it’s a good one

[@3choblast3r4]

One of my first custom boards was a gk68xs, probably one of the worst buy's of my life. I got the diamond metal case version from ali. But the keyboard was just garbage even compared to my much more affordable k2 v2 at the time. The battery was absolute trash and would drain in no time. Which was made much worse by the fact that it took like 8 hours to charge. I modded it with a bigger 4000mah battery but even then it just never came close to the battery performance of my k2 that lasted for weeks. The bt connection was supposedly 5.1 but clearly wasn't. It would constantly lose connection unlike my k2 etc.

[@benfromsg]

Keychron is has overtaken Epomaker by leaps and bounds at this point.

[@3choblast3r4]

@@benfromsg Saw a girl ask for advice under a keychron review, because she wanted to buy a "cute gaming keyboard for her father" I thought it was so sweet of her to go through that effort, do the research etc. But by the time I had replied to her she had already bought an epomaker. I felt kinda bad knowing the brand from years ago, but they do seem to have really improved upon their past products. And I have no doubt her father will be extremely happy with his new keyboard. But yeah, if you're just looking for a no hassle, mechanical board that you can customize, keychron is the easy answer. Esp to recommend to people who are new to mechanical boards.

[@sazokuotsutsuki8848]

im surprised no one's talking about the GK75 that i think about buying. is it bad? not popular? if so why? i think it's an excellent keyboard. Especially the nine-tailed fox themed keycaps(Skyloong GK75 Optical JIUWEI-Pudding). Im literally new with 0 experience in mechanical keyboards, so im pretty hesitant and $80 is a big amount of money for me to drop on a keyboard. Also having only used laptop chicklet keyboards my entire life, im not used for how high the keys are and how deep they press for mechanical ones. If anyone has any experience with the GK75, pls tell me your opinion about it and if you have any other better recommendations. Also if you know why no ones talking about it lol the video is super informative and explained my confusion not finding the GK75 on epomaker's, only on skyloong's website

[@shadowvampwolf]

this sounds a little like the rainy 75 and wobkey hahaha

[@benfromsg]

@@shadowvampwolf i.e. foamy ahh stuff lol

[@shadowvampwolf]

@@benfromsg the customer service and kickstarter drama XD wobkey had similar issues. Rainy 75 kickstarter had shit customer service and the vendors got their copies before the backers did lol. So ppl who bought off the vendors got their rainy 75 within weeks while backers were still waiting for their units XD

[@benfromsg]

@@shadowvampwolf Wow I didn't know that! I thought Rainy was first fulfilled through KS and then through vendors, or at least concurrently.

[@shadowvampwolf]

@@benfromsg nope haha, I bought from a vendor and had my kb a month or two before local sg backers got theirs haha

[@melancholic213]

You can't rely on KS nowadays. Vendors offer them in an e-commerce market faster. Though, you're still risking the CS to it, but just the same to say it the least.

[@isaachy777]

Ah it all makes sense now. They were acting like a lot of typical corporations and tried to gaslight their way out of it and it didn't work it seems and their reputation is still tarnished.. For now. I've seen a lot of affiliated links of their products on all the major keyboard channels, but I see an overall heavily mixed opinion about their brand and customer experiences. From what I've seen, I won't be looking at any of their products whatsoever as they I take it personal when someone tries to take advantage and acts shady towards customers. Then they try gaslighting, no thanks. I'm not into abusive narcissistic relationships anymore.

[@benfromsg]

I just hope they can change for the better soon because their reach is comparable to the likes of brands like Keychron and they are a poor representation of what the overall hobby is like.

[@alephcake]

really wanted to get the rt100 but i got a varmilo va108m in cmyk, i dont even know if that company is better but im satisfied i guess

[@benfromsg]

The only way is to do research and search out what users say

[@Cyborg_Lenin]

Lstop the presses! A company does shady shit! Like ok, i know what capitlaism is thank you bery much.

[@jedisurfer9591]

Seems like shady business practices. To their credit though, their TH40 is very nice and there is nothing else out there that is easily available, "cheap", 40%, wireless, sounds and feels good, and is light and hence portable. Mine get a lot of use, especially as a portable keyboard when on the move. There were some issues with macros through VIA, but they can be worked around.

[@benfromsg]

Well, a broken clock is right twice in a day. They are bound to get some orders right.

[@KryptLynx]

3:30, eeeh.. I need a good keyboard, not "truly unique experience". Not they type of keyboard I would by, though (I prefer 104 key keyboards) But frankly, their keyboards looks like an average keyboard from Aliexpress, who are those people baking them in the first place?

[@benfromsg]

Most people just want whatever keyboard they use daily, but with a mechanical feel. So I am not surprised you like a near full-sized keyboard. And unsurprisingly, a cheap sub-$100 keyboard on Aliexpress is THE average thing that the majority want. It's also a typical Chinese design board, made with the sole purpose to lower cost of production in mind, nothing else. Hence its plain design.

[@ambasing69]

My cousin was actually planning to buy the shadow x but I told him it’s not that good for the price and I told him you can get an aluminum instead, and he was shocked to hear that the shadow x was made of plastic lmao, he thought it was aluminum

[@megadeth8592]

17 minutes of a nothing burger

[@benfromsg]

@@megadeth8592 fries on the side too

[@SafetyKitten]

and you still left multiple comments on it 👍

[@FEARmeify]

Declaring a value lower than the real one is indeed a favour to the customer and a rather standard practice in stuff I buy from AliExpress. Perhaps you enjoy paying outrageous taxes to import things that take months to get to you and that are simply not available in your country. I do not. Writing this from an Cidoo V75 btw. Love this thing.

[@benfromsg]

@@FEARmeify So you break the law intentionally. Got it.