Luminkey Magger68 Review – Is This Stylish Magnetic Keyboard the Gaming Essential You Need?

The PC hardware market has been ever-evolving due to increased demand for PC gaming and consumer support. The same five companies can’t just make the same recycled product and keep a buyer’s interest. The internet has fostered opportunities for many small businesses and personal brands to compete in any market, and Luminkey is ready to tackle the PC gaming and keyboard category.

Luminkey, a brand-new PC hardware company, provides a decent selection of stylish, more personal, simple, and small-form-factor keyboards for all users who want more than your typical black-on-black presentation. In this case, we look at their gaming magnetic keyboard line, specifically the Magger68 Magnetic Keyboard at $119.

Even though I tend to lean towards larger keyboards, I was very intrigued by the visual presentation of Luminkey’s new products and their original color schemes, so let’s jump into the review of the Magger68.

Stylish and Sturdy Build Quality

The Magger68 does not include a wrist rest, although the base’s natural tilt makes it very comfortable over long sessions. I like my keyboard kickstands, or feet, up, and making the keyboard with a lift from the factory is smart, at least for me. I can see the lack of choice being annoying for others, but you can’t please everyone.

The Magger68 contains a unique “sandwich” structure with multiple layers of material, including an aluminum plate layer that limits internal component movement or vibration. This provides a very rigid yet delightful typing feel and can also extend the product’s lifespan.

Unlike PBT plastic-based keys, the Magger68 is built like an absolute tank. The base or frame is anodized aluminum reaching 220 mesh, leaving behind noticeable weight and solidity, a beautiful, long-lasting shine, and a smooth touch. It feels great in the hand, and I always say a little weight makes something feel more premium. In my book, metal is cooler than plastic.

The Luminkey Magger68 delivers both form and function, making it a stylish and solid choice for gamers and everyday users.

The frame appears rectangular but has beveled edges and a smooth touch throughout. Even the keys have a very soft and smooth touch but don’t feel slippery. The rubber stops on the bottom of the Magger68 are small and thin yet effective, leaving a top-to-bottom impression.

Regardless of build quality qualms, such as the caps lock and tab key being the only keys without stabilizers, the Magger68 is a testament to what manufacturing should look like on the hardware side. (Side note: the Caps Lock key does not have an on/off visual indicator, which was another slight disappointment).

The key size and spacing are near perfect, making it super easy to type on this keyboard without looking compared to others. I also didn’t find accidental key presses happening frequently, as I can often tell when my fingers slip to another key. Something unsaid about the grip and shape of the Magger68 just works well.

The design of the Magger68 is relatively simple yet pleasing due to the lack of visual eye sores or too many things to look at. Some outer keys, like shift, windows, alt, and more, have some custom artistic flair, but that’s about it in terms of custom accents. You can also find a small, debossed Magger logo on the top right.

A downside to the Magger68’s overly simple layout is the need for on-key reminders for basic function hotkeys such as RGB brightness, mode, or even the toggle for Windows to Mac, which this keyboard does support. These hotkeys must be referenced from the piece of cardstock provided in the packaging or the Luminkey website. If you are forgetful, this may annoy users, and it certainly annoyed me to a degree. Now I have to keep the Magger68 manual around for quick reminders.

Furthermore, creatively building multi-color schemed hardware, such as the darker gray on the number keys and the minor red key accents, adds the much-needed feeling of personality to your desk. Showing off your personal touch is more in demand than ever, and Luminkey connects with consumers well by adding tasteful color scheme options.

While the customizable magnetic switches enhance gaming performance, the underwhelming RGB backlighting leaves room for improvement.

The cable provided is very rigid and strong, braided, but it is only 1 meter in length. For the price of the package, it could be longer, but I can make it work, or you can use any other USB-C to A cable. It would have been nice if Luminkey had color-matched the cable with a gray or dark gray rather than just another black wire, but I digress. Now, I understand Luminkey’s Magger keyboard line is slightly directed towards gamers. Still none of Luminkey’s products have keycap letter illumination, so if you aren’t a master touch typer or avid PC user, good luck typing in the dark.

You would expect backlighting for all users of their non-gamer products or general keyboards, but that isn’t the case for Luminkey. This is one central area of product development improvement, at least for me, as it would be nice to see a product line that focuses on better backlighting. The Magger68 does have RGB backlighting, but it is simply backlighting without transparency or illumination through the letters. Although ambient lighting can help, those who don’t eat enough of their carrots might find frustration using the Magger68 for office, editing, professional, or tasks other than gaming. I would pay $20 more at this cost to have transparent letters on the keycaps.

Back to RGB, it is also underwhelming compared to most brands on the market. The brightest setting doesn’t scream max brightness in my book, and the color saturation falls a bit due to the lack of nits. I do care about RGB brightness and saturation, but I don’t care too much about RGB setting variety. I like my static colors, as color cycling or reactive effects annoy me the older I get. Call me old, or call me bold; the choice is yours.

Gaming Performance and Magnetic Switches

Hence the name Magger, the Magger68 contains magnetic key switches allowing the user to customize actuation distance, which we will get into later. Being that this keyboard is customizable, make sure when buying switches you look out for magnets included for functionality. It was minorly upsetting to receive only one replacement switch in the box or even a lack of four switches, which would have given my preferred gaming keys a different feel. A few more provisions inside the packaging would have been noteworthy.

Another notable mention is that the Magger68 also comes in a pro version at $149, providing different switches, magnetic Jade pro to be exact, with a bit more design flare on the bottom and edges. The Magger68 standard runs for $119.

It’s not the biggest deal, but changing the key placement on the tilde and deleting keys is a major throw-off for me, as Adobe Premiere is a big sponsor for using these keys. This throws off my workflow as I use the Magger68, but this is more of a personal attack. It’s just bizarre to see the tilde key on the right and the delete key not at the corner of the layout.

User Experience and Software Drawbacks

The worst part about the Magger68 is the software. It is disorganized, lacks heads-up or on-screen information, doesn’t go full screen, and it’s just a pain to work around. It assumes the user is a master at keyboard-provided features or language and is a bit ostracizing to those who may benefit from knowledge refreshers.

Granted, the software does work as intended (sometimes… with minor bugs and quirks such as irresponsive clicks), allowing the user to change actuation distances, RGB color settings, rapid trigger, macros, and more. It was very challenging to figure out how to operate, though, as even someone with vast hours spent in software, working through this review section was quite an annoyance.

With a premium aluminum build and unique color schemes, the Magger68 sets itself apart from the competition.

The Luminkey app is undoubtedly a significant avenue for design and user experience improvements. However, I do not think this stops users from enjoying the keyboard; they just have to hustle through the software struggle first.

I also found the RGB controls, whether controlled through the software or manually through function key presses, to be buggy sometimes. They did not allow me to select and change keys, select keys, etc., correctly. It’s something to look out for since the company is new and most likely working through launch kinks.

Those with little knowledge of troubleshooting might find this keyboard annoying to configure, especially if they need to follow the key calibration process. After updating my firmware, some of my keys stopped responding, and it required a factory reset and recalibration to fix it.

In terms of the gaming experience of the Magger68, it feels great on the fingertips. The keys are lightweight enough while allowing the user to rest comfortably on the surface of the keys without risking an accidental press, unless you diminish the actuation distance too much of course. The keyboard feels competitive yet still contains a sense of everyday charm and satisfaction for all to enjoy.

Side note: Not to brag… but I just got to Diamond on League of Legends again, and this time I was using my new Magger68, so clearly, there are no disadvantageous opinions here.

The Magger68 isnt overly loud or obnoxious either, as some mechanical keyboards can be. Luckily the dense multi-layer construction of the PCB feels like a pillow on every press, leaving those buying this for the typing, office, or everyday use-case in for an oddly relaxing experience. Typing really does feel like zen when using the Magger68.

Conclusion

Ranking the Luminkey Magger68 proved to be a worthy challenge because, when it comes to generalities, I loved my experience with the Magger68 keyboard. It was the surrounding aspects, such as the User Experience in the software, the lack of stabilizers on random keys, and most importantly, neglect towards night users who may need to see the keyboard. Yeah, you can turn on a light, but sometimes I just want the light off at night…okay?

Anyway, the Magger68 remains an affordable premium keyboard with relaxed typing comfort, fantastic build quality, a small form factor, and an overall focus on a modern aesthetic. It also remains competitive with customizable magnetic switches for fast gamer reaction times.

All we need is Luminkey to make some post-brand launch updates to its workflow, product offerings, design, and, most importantly, software, and I can see it being a top contender in the small keyboard niche.