I've had experiences with plenty of keyboards. Even recently, I reviewed the Blackwidow V4 75%, the Logitech K65, and my favourite so far, the ASUS ROG Falchion RX. But the Lofree Flow has pleasantly surprised me in numerous ways, while annoying me in plenty of others.
I've started to appreciate the low-profile keyboard market, especially with many offering a smaller footprint to make way for the mountains of tech on my desk. The Lofree Flow offers a sublime typing experience that comes with few caveats, making it a recommended keyboard if you can look past some minor faults.
The Lofree Flow comes in four options - white with ghost switches, black with phantom switches, and both have 84 or 100 key options. For my review, I received the black in 84 keys, but the typing experience should remain the same on the 100 key option, and be familiar on the white.
When it comes to the design, the Lofree Flow oozes style and premium feel - a suave keyboard offering a thin 10mm chassis with an aluminium frame that gives it some weight. All of the keys are locked together as one group, hence the Flow subtitle, all in a gasket mount design.
It can be fairly difficult to get used to the Flow's grouped-up keys. I find myself hitting the key above the Enter more often than I care to admit, but once I find my footing, the typing experience is pleasant. Each key has a satisfying click - not too loud that a room full of people would give me evil stares, but enough that it has some lovely-sounding feedback.
It's a 75% keyboard, meaning you lose the numpad, but you gain a lot of room on your desk. Since reviewing keyboards, I've found that the numpad isn't necessary for me, but for many roles — such as accounting — this may be disappointing. Fortunately, it’s made up for the lack of a numpad by offering all Function keys, as well as hot-swappable switches for additional customisation.
That being said, the options for additional switches are... limited, to say the least. The Flow uses Lofree x Kailh switches, and you can purchase either the Ghost, Phantom, or Wizard switches for a different typing style, but you won't be able to grab any other switches.
The Flow does feature some RGB, but thankfully, they aren't vomit-inducing. It's an ambient-style effect that offers a small amount of colour to the surface that your keyboard is on. Is it spectacularly bright and obvious? Not really, especially in high-light conditions, but it's nice enough as a neat feature.
Additionally, while the Lofree Flow offers wired and Bluetooth compatibility, with the latter offering 40 hours of battery life when using it, there's no 2.4GHz wireless option, which is sorely disappointing. I, personally, prefer to use keyboards wired like the good ol' days anyway, but I know plenty of people who love using 2.4GHz, and a lack of the option could make it a hard sell for some.
Finally, there's also the fact that the Lofree Flow is fairly pricey. My favourite keyboard, the aforementioned Falchion RX, is another low-profile keyboard that offers a bigger battery life, 2.4GHz, and is just a bit more expensive, and unless you're set on some of the Lofree Flow's features, I'd argue that's a better investment.
However, that being said, Lofree certainly has a great blueprint for a future iteration. The Lofree Flow feels amazing to type on, and long-form article such as this are a breeze to write out with the Flow. It looks aesthetically pleasing, with a great design overall, but I hope Lofree makes a second version that adds some must-have features, even if the price becomes slightly higher.
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