Overview

Nuphy has introduced the successor to one of our favorite keyboards ever the Air60. The v2 model went on presale towards the end of 2023 and a lot of customers have started to receive their keyboards just before the holidays. The keyboard is in a small market of what is already a niche space of custom mechanical keyboards. It is a low-profile 60% mechanical keyboard with hot swap switches, RGB backlighting, and QMK/VIA Compatibility ….allegedly.

The Hype

We actually first experienced Nuphy’s low profile keyboards through the Air60 v1 which was a really good keyboard to begin with. It was very similar to the v2 in terms of size and hardware minus a few key differences but all in all, it was a good experience. Nuphy had an entire line of low-profile mechanical keyboards to include the Air75 and the Air90. We opted for the Air60 because it is the smallest of the line-up and the main selling point to us and many other people was the portability of this keyboard.

When compared to other mechanical keyboards even the ones that are 60% keyboards, the Air60 had such a slimmer profile and was very light, hence the name. This made it super comfortable to carry around in a school bag and it didn’t take up as much real-estate as a traditional normal profile mechanical keyboard would. This made it perfect for the on-the-go consumer who wanted to have a nicer than stock typing experience but still wanted to fit other gear in their bag.

For us, the keyboard was perfect it allowed us to leave our full size laptop at home and stuff an 11-inch iPad and this keyboard into a small sling bag and still have room for other accessories when we wanted to work on the go. The only downside was that we owned other mechanical keyboards that were too big and clunky to carry around but had way more functionality in terms of firmware that always left us wanting more out the limited customization options that came with the Air60.

Enter the Air60 v2; We had actually sold the Air60 v1 in order to buy another 60% mechanical keyboard that was a little bit more cumbersome to carry around but it had QMK/VIA support. When the Air60 v2 was announced for presale we noticed it was advertised with QMK/VIA support so we hopped on the pre-order immediately. The QMK/VIA support was the decision maker for us but the keyboard also came with some other notable improvements like better backlighting, greater variety of switches, better adjustable feet, and some performance improvements.

The Reality

The Air60 v2 definitely found ways to improve on what was already a good platform. For the most part everything that was promised was delivered except for one really big oversight… it didn’t have QMK support right away. These keyboards are made and shipped from China so the delivery time to somebody in the United States is about a week or so. As soon as we got the email that our keyboard had shipped we went to go and start building our keymap with QMK, so we fetched the latest updates into our fork and went to look for the Air60 in the keyboard directory and found out that it was not there.

After doing some research we discovered that none of the Nuphy keyboards had been added to QMK. At the time there was a pull request that seemed to be going back and forth between the developers of QMK and Nuphy’s developers. After a while it eventually got no where and the PR was closed. Nuphy released their own fork of QMK with files for their Air75 v2 in the repo shortly after that PR got closed and hope had been restored. It was a sign of good faith and two days before writing this post they finally added the Air60 v2 to the repo.

Since the fork was released we have played around with creating our own custom firmware and flashing to the keyboard. For the most part, compiling and flashing the firmware has been a positive experience. There are still some bugs that need to get work out especially with the wireless compatibility of some of QMK’s features but definitely no deal breakers.

The Negative

For the first rendition of the Air60 we had a lot to complain about, with the v2 not so much. For the most part everything that was not great about the v1 got improved upon with the v2. There is really only one design component that we just can’t get over and aren’t really sure why it is still part of this keyboard and it is the right shift key. This may be a bit of a personal preference but the right shift key is the size of a 1 unit key which isn’t the biggest issue except that sometimes it makes it harder to press accurately. It is definitely something that any one could get used to over time especially if they use the same keyboard everyday which for some people might be their use case. However other than some super custom keyboards, you are pretty much never going to find another keyboard with a shift key like this so there will definitely be a bit of an adjustment period.

That is really it. To be honest, there isn’t really much else to complain about here. The keyboard is not for everyone and honestly we would probably recommend other keyboards over this one as a daily driver. However, if the Air60 v2 and its features really just speak to you and you insist it be your daily driver and/or only keyboard then you won’t be disappointed.

The Verdict

Overall the list of pros vastly outweighs the cons for this keyboard and we really love the typing experience. For us it serves a unique purpose which is to upgrade your typing experience on the go. If you’re in the market for an ultra portable mechanical keyboard with top-tier features then it’s hard to beat the Air60 v2. That being said, it could still serve you well as a permanent daily driver at your home or office as well.