To be honest, I have been waiting to build this keyboard for the longest of time. The IRON165 was one of the first few boards that I laid my eyes on when I started this hobby. To go a step further, I’d say that it is one of, if not the most iconic 65% form factor keyboards with a sleek right blocker. Lots came after, like the Fuji65, Nemui and more recently, the Loki65. Perhaps there were others that came before, but they weren’t as iconic. They probably weren’t marketed as well either, otherwise I would have heard about them (kek).

The iconic right blocker that is found in many keyboards today.

It’s iconic for a couple of things. One, this is the board that uses Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to optimize the board’s design for force feedback. Which other board designer goes that far? None! Most designers take exterior looks, functionality and niche features into consideration but hardly bother about doing things like FEA. As an engineer and research geek, this impresses me more than anything else. Not only because it takes effort to create the FEA simulation, one has to know what and how to change the design in order to utilize it properly. Otherwise, it may as well be a marketing gimmick.

Directly or indirectly, the IRON165 gives a very uniform typing experience from row to row and column to column. Typing force is similar (duh) but more significantly, acoustics don’t vary that much between rows and keys. Usually, the keys at the corners of the board, like R1/arrow cluster/left modifiers are more hollow than the alphas. Some boards, perhaps by chance, have less variance but the IRON165 is one that is designed with this in mind. I have to say though, a uniform typing feel, much like other aspects, is a preference. Maybe you’d like some variance in typing between keys, who’s to say or judge? One thing is for sure. Uniformity in tactile feedback is the IRON165’s character. Many typing tests exist on Youtube, but not all of them impressed. Regardless of switch and plate combinations, majority of the IRON165s sounded very monotonous over the earphones precisely due to its uniformity. As a result, I had pretty low expectations of it and thought that I was deceived by a marketing gimmick. After owning and building this board firsthand though, that cannot be further from the truth. I really enjoy typing on this board!

“One thing is for sure. Uniformity in tactile feedback is the IRON165’s character.”

Second, the IRON series is known for excellent quality control. Unlike some projects (RIP Charue), the anodization is done well and evenly matched. Surface imperfections are kept minimal and at first glance, B stock can be passed off as A stock, as reviewed by many buyers on Discord. It is not ridiculous therefore, that the first round of sales saw them flipped for two to three times the original groupbuy prices. A board well done is a board well sold (or flipped).

Final Thoughts

The IRON165 is a decently good board. Not great, just decently good.

The hobby has advanced plenty over the past few years. Just aesthetics alone, the IRON165 is a little dated. No spectacular curvy profile like the Dolphin or Werk One. But very classic and minimal like the Sonnet and Rama U80, with some cheeky bottoms peeking out the side.

Tuning acoustics on this board has been… meh. I did a build video on Youtube here and tried out a number of switches but I didn’t like a whole bunch of them. Chalk it up to preference of thock/clack but in my opinion, plenty of switches sound similar in pitch and tone on this board, with very subtle differences. While it is nonetheless uniform across the board (no pun intended), acoustics ended up being really narrow. If you are satisfied with this narrow range, then perfect! But for the others, perhaps not so much.

With these in mind, I gave it a solid 8/10.