Visual inspection
The Genesis Thor RX85 Brown is one of the top-of-the-line keyboards of the Genesis brand. Even though this keyboard is not a new model, it still has a lot of value in terms of features and functionality, to make it worth it today.
The design of the Thor RX85 Bown is not simple and has a mix of gaming and modern design mixed into it, with a metal plate on the top side which has a brushed texture for added detail. It is a great design element that does make the keyboard stand out from the crowd.
However, the brushed metal plate has one drawback, the brush texture is a stain and fingerprint magnet and needs constant cleaning to look good.
Other features offered by this keyboard include full RGB LEDs on all keys, a dedicated volume knob and a magnetic wrist wrest.
The Thor RX85 Brown has 104 keys and additional media control buttons with the beforementioned volume dial.
The keyboard has the dimensions: 449 x 210 x 36 mm with a weight of 1009g.
The Thor RX85 Brown uses a basic cable for its connectivity. The length of the cable is 160 and is covered by hard sleeving for added protection. The connector used here is a simple USB 2.0 which is gold plated.
Unfortunately, thanks to the thick sleeving, the cable is not as flexible as it could have been.
The back side of the Thor RX85 Brown is made from a high-quality red plastic, that forms the lower body of the keyboard. On this side, only the rubber pads that act as the feet of the keyboards are found.
The height adjustment offered by this keyboard is basic, with either fully extended or full lowered, no in between.
The Thor RX85 Brown as the name suggests use only a single type of mechanical switch, the Kailh Brown model. These switches have a reputation for reliability and being a solid choice if you want a switch that sits in between blue and black switches.
The Kailh Brown switch has an actuation force of 55g and an actuation point of 2mm.
The lifespan of these switches is over 50 million presses.
The keycaps used on the Thor RX85 Brown are made from double injected plastic, with the legends being split into two segments, up and down. The issue here is that the way the keycaps are molded, means that only the top legends will actually be visible at night, while the lower legends will not be visible at all.
The dedicated media keys are installed on the top part of the keyboard next to the volume dial of the keyboard. What these buttons do is simple, the left one will lock the windows key while the right button will cycle through the LED illumination of the keyboard.
The Thor RX85 Brown has as its highlight feature, the volume dial installed on the top right of the keyboard. This dial has a similar design with the rest of the keyboard, with a brushed texture on the top and a ring of RGB LEDs around it.
The status LEDs are different in design; these are white and have a chromed ring around them. They fit well with the rest of the keyboard and add more depth to the overall look of the keyboard.
The disassembly process with the Thor RX85 Brown is simple but not fast. You need to remove the volume dial first and you do that by pulling on it, which reveals the first two screws, with these silver screws removed you can remove the white tray of the dial and continue the disassembly process.
Holding the metal plate attached to the red plastic body is done with no less than 16 Phillips screws, installed in between the keys. Once those are removed, we get to see the PCB of the keyboard and how it’s built.
The Thor RX85 Brown keyboard is well made; the plastics are in good shape and the same can be said for the PCB. However, the soldering quality could have been better in some parts of the PCB.
At the heart of this keyboard is the Vision VS11K09A1 [HT50F52], a 32-bit ARM Cortex-M0 USB microcontroller which is responsible with the on-board memory of the keyboard. In essence, this is what keeps your settings saved, as well as the software profiles, the LED patterns and so on.
