AULA F99/F75 Keyboard Review

The AULA F99 we bought has a compact (96%) form factor, also known as an 1800 form factor. It has most of the keys of a full-size keyboard save for several navigation cluster keys. It also has conventional spacing between keys, so typing doesn't feel cramped. However, the individual key zones, like the arrow keys and the Numpad, are closer together.

A smaller variant, the AULA F75, is also available. It has a compact (75%) form factor, so it lacks a Numpad but takes up less space on your desk.

These keyboards have decent overall build quality. The case is made entirely of quite cheap-feeling ABS plastic, but the fit and finish make the chassis feel reasonably sturdy. There's considerable deck flex, especially when pressing into the keys. This is partly intentional and due to the gasket mount and flex-cut PCB, but it may feel strangely flexible if you prefer a stiffer construction. The keycaps are made of PBT plastic, and the switches and stabilizers are pre-lubed by the factory. There's some minor wobble on the keys, but they aren't very noticeable when typing normally.

Four rubber feet on the underside do a good job of keeping the board in place while typing, and there are a pair of flip-out feet that provide additional incline options. Unfortunately, these flip-out feet don't feel quite as stable as those on many competing keyboards.

These keyboards are variously advertised with polycarbonate or FR4 plates. We didn't open our keyboard, but from the sound profile, we expect our model to use a polycarbonate plate, which is a bit more flexible than FR-4.

These keyboards have a fairly tall profile. There are a pair of flip-out feet on the underside that provide two additional incline options.

The AULA F99/F75 keyboards are highly customizable. The PCBs are hot-swappable, so you can change the stock switches to 5-pin or 3-pin switches. Note that some users have reported this keyboard is fairly difficult to disassemble as it's held together with plastic clips rather than screws.

The F99 keyboard we bought has South-Facing LEDs, which offer better compatibility with aftermarket keycap sets. However, much of the keyboard documentation and some online retail listings indicate this keyboard has North-facing LEDs, which generally have better RGB visibility through aftermarket keycap sets with standard shine-through legends.

These keyboards have full RGB backlighting and individually lit keys. The configuration software allows you to customize the brightness and effects.

Overall, the backlighting clarity is poor. The stock keycaps don't have shine-through legends, and the PCB has south-facing LEDs. When set to display white-only backlighting, the LEDs cast a slightly cold bluish tint.

You can change the stock keycaps for keycaps with shine-through legends. However, the backlight clarity for illuminating legends in dark rooms remains poor unless you specifically buy shine-through legends designed for South-facing LEDs. For reference, we've taken a photo with several stock keycaps replaced with standard shine-through keycaps.

These keyboards come with a fairly basic rubber cable. It retains kinks from its packaging and is quite stiff.

The AULA F99 has a battery capacity of 8000mAh, but AULA doesn't provide any battery life estimates in their advertising material.

Most users online report a generally good experience with the battery life. Typical estimates from user reports range from up to a few days with backlighting on and up to several weeks or up to a month or two with backlighting off, depending on how often you use your keyboard.

Note that the smaller AULA F75 has a smaller battery size of 4000mAH. Most online reports indicate that the typical battery life experience is similar to that of the F99.

You can't program macros directly on these keyboards, but you can program macros using the configuration software.

There's an RGB bar light between the Backspace and Lock keys that also indicates connection type and power levels. There's also a separate Numlock indicator directly above the Lock key and a Caps Lock indicator on the left side of the keyboard directly next to the Caps Lock key.

The smaller AULA F75 has a volume knob in the top right corner of the board, but the F99 doesn't. The LED light bar is also placed between the Esc and F1 keys on the F75. For a list of supported shortcuts and other details, you can reference an online version of the manual.

On the keyboard's top edge, there's a slot for storing the wireless receiver when not in use.

• USB-A to USB-C cable
• USB-A wireless receiver
• Two extra switches
• Keycap/switch puller
• User documentation

These keyboards offer an excellent overall typing experience. The switches and stabilizers are pre-lubed from the factory, and typing is quite springy due to their gasket mount design. The PCBs also have flex cuts, adding additional springiness that some may like, but if you prefer a stiffer typing experience, you may find it feels too flexible. Unfortunately, all keys wobble slightly in their housing, but it's relatively minor and isn't noticeable while typing.

These keyboards also have several layers of dampening material inside the case, including Poron, IXPE, and PET foam layers. This material provides softer feedback for more forceful typists.

These keyboards are somewhat loud. Despite using linear switches and having several layers of foam inside, the plastic cases are fairly resonant, and the noise may disrupt those around you, particularly in noise-sensitive environments.

The AULA F99 we bought from Amazon has undisclosed switches. Both visually and according to our force curve measurements, the switches don't appear to be an exact match for any of the advertised switch types from most retailers.

The switches carry LEOBOG branding, and our closest match identifies them as LEOBOG Star Vector switches, but we can't confirm for sure.

For a list of the most commonly encountered switch types available, see the Differences Between Variants section.

We bought the AULA F99 with undisclosed switches, which we've identified as LEOBOG Star Vector switches, with moderate confidence.

These are medium-weight linear switches that are pre-lubed from the factory and feel very smooth. Some switches exhibit a small force dip that's especially visible on the return travel, but we didn't notice this while typing.

These keyboards provide remarkably good single-key latency performance, making them well-suited for playing games in any genre at a casual or competitive level.

We tested using the lowest (stage 1) debounce setting available in the configuration software.

These keyboards provide impressive multi-key latency performance. They're well-suited for playing games requiring additional keypresses while keys are already being pressed and maintained.

These keyboards offer excellent data transmission performance. They can send multiple inputs per USB report, and N-key rollover is enabled by default.

They have a maximum polling rate of 1000Hz, and data transmission isn't bottlenecked by other latency components when connected wired or wirelessly via their 2.4GHz receivers. However, using a Bluetooth connection limits the maximum polling rate to 125Hz, which is normal and expected.

These keyboards deliver good overall chord split performance, making them viable choices for playing rhythm games or other titles that demand many simultaneous inputs.

The downloadable software for this keyboard isn't very intuitive. Still, it allows you to configure a range of expected settings, including key assignments, custom profiles, macros, debounce time, and RGB brightness and effects. You can't remap any of the keys on the function row. There's also no visual confirmation when you've rebounded a key, but you can hover your cursor over keys to verify changes.

You can download this software from AULA's website, where it's provided from a Google Drive directory through their AULA international division. This isn't very typical, and we don't generally recommend downloading software drivers in this way if you can avoid it. Alternatively, you can download the same software from Epomaker's website, which is an authorized seller of AULA's keyboards.

That said, we downloaded this software directly from AULA and didn't experience any issues or detect any malware or viruses. We recommend you use your discretion and consider this when deciding whether to buy this keyboard.

While these keyboards are compatible with all major operating systems, the configuration software is only compatible with Windows.