the Everest Max keyboard from Mountain the sponsor of this video aims to be the
ultimate solution for your typing and macro needs it features an all-aluminum
design full programmability hot swappable switches and built-in keys
with displays kind of like an Elgato stream deck or that famous Optimus
concept keyboard from 2005. really for gamers though the more app comparison is
the classic Microsoft Sidewinder X6 and given that those are still going for
anywhere from 80 to 90 Canadian dollars on eBay and that's with worn out
membrane keys there is clearly still demand for this type of modular board so
why don't we take a closer look at it
all right
the Everest Max comes in a compartmentalized box that mountain
intends for you to reuse as a useful storage container to help reduce waste
inside it you will find the Everest core and this is the base 10 keyless keyboard
without any of the accessories it's built from CNC milled aluminum and
either gunmetal gray or midnight black and has this kind of two level Edge that
combined with the diffused RGB strip down the center gives it a very
distinctive look it's got a total of five female USBC ports on it Each of
which serves a different purpose the one embedded in the underside of the board
handles data and power for both the board and its accessories with these
handy channels that allow you to Cable manage your desk however you see fit and
the other four are for the modular accessories now a recurring theme in the
reviews on mountains webshop is that they found an excellent balance between
build quality and heft and honestly speaking I agree the magnetic PU leather
wrist rest is lightweight and comfortable and there's almost no flex
to the board deck itself yet it's not so
heavy that it could double as a weapon I mean I think you could conceivably carry
the Everest core around in your backpack at school without ruining your spine The
Branding is subtle so just a small logo
top Center and then another logo on the Escape key and while the key switch is
included with our board are not my
personal favorite Cherry MX silent Reds you can order it configured with a
variety of other Cherry switches or opt for the core Bare Bones and install
whatever you want Mountain includes this handy keycap and key switch puller let's
take a look at how it works if you want to pull off a keycap you just kind of
pop this on and whoop hello there you go pull it off a little something like that
and if you decide you know what hey MX speed not really my thing you pop this
on here Roy there's your key switch
hot swappable we don't even have to power down ladies and gentlemen
and
Cherry MX Browns might be a controversial choice these days but
whatever take this haters laughs
look I like what I'm used to all right and since we're up this close this is a
perfect chance to get a close look at finishing touches like the individually
RGB backlit ABS keycaps and the Machining marks on the plate now many
manufacturers would remove these marks before painting or anodizing but
personally I absolutely love the look
it's also a good opportunity to show the care and attention that goes into each
board the stabilizers which are found on larger Keys like shift and enter are
hand lubed and they have additional foam padding for noise dampening and the
spacebar stabilizer is clipped to all but eliminate Reverb or chatter
if you've ever performed this modification yourself you'll know that
it can be time consuming and a bit of a pain in the butt the board either lies
flat on the desk or it can be elevated with the included magnetic Riser feet
which brings us perfectly into the juicy stuff the detachable numpad Clips onto
either side with a type c USB port and
magnetic guides that make it super easy to both pull off and to install one
really nice touch is this slider on the underside which not only moves the
connector from left to right but also locks in the center if you want to just
Chuck it in your bag and protect the plug while you're transporting it or if
you want to use an extension cable to position the number pad somewhere else
on your desk on that note Mountain warns against
using standard USBC extension cables for this kind of functionality and does not
support plugging the number pad into your computer's Stand Alone the good
news is that they only charge eight US dollars for their own compatible USB
extension so they're not holding you hostage with an extremely high priced
accessory and I guess it kind of makes sense that the interface here would be
proprietary because the hardware to drive the built-in displays is probably
in the core keyboard rather than in the numpad itself so let's take a closer
look at those Mountain has developed their own
in-house Basecamp software that handles configuring macros RGB lighting the
control dial and of course both the functionality and the icons on the
display keys every key on the board is reprogrammable
so if you want to add specific profiles for different setups like maybe a
streaming profile that you use with OBS including the ability to change scenes
insert transition starter stop streaming Etc gaming setup that might have a few
macros or an office setup that lets you execute common programs or functions
that is totally up to you macros are
easy to create you simply record the key presses involved and
that's it or if you need any custom delays then you just add them like this
now I'm just going to change the icon on this display key in a moment
change our image to this
done it should type it right
oh now it does oh I didn't put enter in okay bad macro but the point is look how
quickly I can check out our new and improved spout Lids on our water bottles
these are just five dollars if you've ever bought a water bottle on lttstore.com
now in terms of RGB you've got four options for Speed and brightness of the
various effects as well as changing direction when applicable a nice little
touch is that when you physically type on the keyboard a key press animation
plays in the software as well and it supports Razer chroma RGB
up next is the dock the media buttons function about like
you'd expect though of course like the rest of the keyboard they are fully
reprogrammable if you want them to do something else and the dial clicks
can you hear that for each setting change and the screen can be used to
configure keyboard parameters like macro profiles and RGB lighting to show the
time or display system information like CPU memory and network usage and you can
even get it to show APM if you're a MOBA or OSU nerd and yes you can change the
color of the menus and the screensaver image compared to the display Keys the
display on the dial is noticeably more vibrant and retains color Fidelity much
better when viewed off axis I would strongly recommend high contrast icons
and backgrounds for the display keys because they're quite a bit easier to
see from a normal typing position also included on the dock are LED
indicators for caps lock num lock Etc
and this is notable because in its Everest core form the keyboard doesn't
actually have this functionality at all so as configured with the numpad and the
dock ours is an Everest Max and for you
keyboard nerds by the way it sounds a little something like this
thank you again Mountain for sponsoring this video and sending over some of
these boards to show to you guys they also carry peripherals and accessories
for the ever series like O-rings Lube cables additional Riser feet that you
can stack up if you prefer a steeper incline and stuff like that if you guys
enjoyed this video maybe check out our keyboard key switch comparison where we
took a whole bunch of different key switches for a test drive and decided
which ones in a blind test we actually like best