The Omnikeys Bauer Lite, one of my favorite keyboards of the year, is down to just $95 ($25 off) this week as part of Omnitype’s ongoing Black Friday sale. I paid full price for mine earlier this year, and it was a steal. It feels great to type on, it has a great layout, it’s customizable and fun to build, and it’s colorful. What’s not to love?
The Bauer Lite has a plastic case that comes in a bunch of fantastic translucent colors, from clear to atomic purple to bright blue, seafoam, coral, dark red, and my personal favorite: neon orange. This is great news if your brain, like mine, can sometimes be tricked into feeling a little happier by a jolt of fluorescent color.
It comes as a barebones kit, which means you need to supply your own keycaps, switches, and stabilizers, so your actual build will cost more than $95. You also have to put it together yourself, but that’s easy enough, and the kit comes with a comprehensive instruction manual. I used Durock stabilizers and Kailh Deep Sea Silent Islet linear switches on my build, both of which I recommend.
The Bauer Lite does not have lighting (RGB or otherwise) or wireless connectivity. It also only comes in a 65 percent layout, with or without split backspace, and with 1.5u bottom-row modifiers and a 7u spacebar, so make sure your keycaps include those keys.
