Lifestyle computer peripheral brand, Higround, has launched what it describes as its “most unconventional design” yet. The new BLUR Basecamp 75+ keyboard seeks to recreate a highly stylized retro video game artifact, made real, for your desk (h/t PC Gamer). Don’t be fooled by the potato-mode graphics, though; underneath the hazy and distorted keycap legends, this is a hot-swappable, pre-lubed, dampened, thocky, enthusiast keyboard with customizable RGB.
Coming from a brand which was set up by enthusiasts “unsatisfied with the plain keyboards marketed to us,” Higround is no stranger to strange. The majority of the firm’s prior keyboard designs feature undulating or other abstract etchings atop the keycaps, with the meaningful legends visible on the front face. It looks like there is no such luxury on the BLUR Basecamp 75+, but the character blurring seems to be at the precise level where the glyphs remain distinguishable without too much squinting.
Of course, touch typists and even seasoned hunt-and-peckers only need the occasional glance at their hands, assuming there are finger nubs on the usual F and J home row keys. The keycaps are made from 1.5mm thick PBT with 5-sided dye-sub printing, making them relatively durable.
While the makers mention that the look of this product is inspired by the graphics rendered by Sony’s revolutionary PS1 console, I can also vividly imagine one of the white-coated scientists in Golden Eye on N64 typing on something like this. PC Gamer thought the BLUR Basecamp 75+ looks like something out of Half-Life 1, naturally.
Enough about this input device’s appearance. What do you get under the blurriness? As we mentioned in the introduction, the BLUR Basecamp 75+ build appears to have significant appeal to keyboard aficionados.
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This is a 75% design, reportedly the first of its kind in this form factor from Higround – featuring a full complement of F-Row keys. The keyswitches chosen to drive this design are TTC’s HG Blitz models. We’ve never heard of these, but they are said to be “the ultimate gaming switch” with linear rail-guided travel for smooth actuation at 1.4mm and a bottom-out distance of 3.5mm. If you don’t like these pre-lubed 45g actuation force switches, at least you can quite easily swap them out.
Elsewhere in the specs, we see that the BLUR Basecamp 75+ is built on an aluminum plate, with five layers of ‘Dampening Plus’ materials like poly foam, silicone, and others. This is a wired (USB Type-C) keyboard with a US layout that features customizable RGB lighting, macro programming, and compatibility with macOS.
Higround is selling the BLUR Basecamp 75+ for the not inconsiderable sum of $159.95. It will face intense competition from the best keyboards at that price level, relying heavily on its quirkiness to sell. Customers are restricted to purchasing two units of this “limited drop.”
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