Keyboard Builders' Digest / Review
GravaStar Mercury V75 Pro HE review
Another masterpiece by GravaStar: the magnetic Mercury V75 Pro HE – hand-painted aluminum alloy case, carbon plate, the hallmark alien legs, and all the Hall-effect features for competitive gamers.
Published June 26, 2025
What the heck?! Before we delve into today's review/breakdown/disassembly of the GravaStar Mercury V75 Pro HE Neon Graffiti edition (wow, almost the length of the name of a Spanish aristocrat), let me tell you that I rarely get excited about keyboards these days. Especially about ones on the more classic side of the layout spectrum – like 65/68% boards or this very 75% layout. To say the truth, owning a 130-strong collection doesn't help either I guess. :)
But I loved the mechanical GravaStar Mercury K1 Pro a lot, and ever since reviewing the concrete grey edition last year, I've been regularly checking back to their shop listing all those cool new color variants, my heart aching for a battle-worn yellow or cyberpunk special edition. Well…
Available starting today, GravaStar is launching their first HE boards, with the flagship GravaStar Mercury V75 Pro HE among them. And I was genuinely excited for the first time in a long while since the review unit I received came with a really cool new design, on par with the cyberpunk one (at least in my humble, non-gamer, non-sci-fi-expert opinion): Neon Graffiti style!
TLDR; With the magnetic Mercury V75 Pro HE there's a new Hall-effect variant of GravaStar's popular K1 available now. Targeted at gamers and streamers, the high-end Pro is accompanied by a mid-range V75 and budget Lite variant. The distinct design language of the Pro with the hallmark alien legs and skeleton frame is pretty much the same as before (K1 Pro), however, the incredible attention to detail was pushed even further. Beyond the great out-of-the-box typing experience – the V75 Pro HE case features hand-painted finish, ensuring premium and unique aesthetics. Carbon plate, first-class lighting, all your favorite Hall-effect features. Another masterpiece from GravaStar. Available from$260$220, use the KBDNEWS coupon code to claim your 15% discount.
Overview
The unique sci-fi appearance was inherited from the K1 Pro, and all the other cool periphery and audio stuff offered by GravaStar.
Cool keycaps, cool legends, the familiar aluminum alloy skeleton case with the unique 270 degree RGB diffuser solution – and of course the hallmark alien legs are back too! The K1 was so surprisingly well tuned with its branded GravaStar switches (I still keep one of those switches on my desk for reference), and the V75 Pro HE doesn't disappoint either.
After the success of the K1, GravaStar could just keep pretty much everything intact and drop a HE PCB into the case. Well, it seems they haven't rested on their laurels: the V75 Pro HE is not simply a Hall-effect variant of the original, but a clear improvement for gamers.
GravaStar
It's been 7 years since Yong Huang – sci-fi lover, hardcore Starcraft gamer, industrial designer, and GravaStar CEO and founder – started sketching and exploring possibilities to merge sci-fi with everyday life, blending futuristic aesthetics with functional design.
GravaStar began with a simple question: what if we could turn our world into a sci-fi wonderland? – Yong Huang.
Since the success of their first speaker, the Mars, GravaStar has released over 50 products, including award-winning mice, and also the Mercury K1 keyboard as already mentioned. Today they kick the door open once again by launching their first HE keyboards: the Mercury V75 with 3 variants.
Today's review unit, this Mercury V75 Pro HE, is the flagship model of the new GravaStar product family of Hall-effect keyboards with magnetic switches – for gamers and streamers.
Disclaimer
As always, I received the review unit for free, which can introduce all kinds of bias – both negative and positive in my experience. So ake everything I write with a grain of salt.
Variants
Just like the K1, the Mercury V75 has three variants too: V75 Pro, V75, and V75 Lite – premium, mid-range and entry level versions, respectively. I put here a link to the collection.
“The V75 Pro is built for gamers who demand both top-tier performance and standout design,” said Yong Huang, Founder & CEO of GravaStar. “It’s our fastest and most responsive keyboard yet – and with the hand-painted Neon Graffiti edition, we’re pushing the boundary between gaming gear and art.”
The alien legs are unique to the Pro, but the V75 and V75 Lite come with aluminum alloy case as well, but the Lite version has plastic bottom case, and it has an extra key instead of the fancy three-way switch. It also lacks per-key RGB.
First impressions, design language
First things first: this is a wired keyboard. I'm stressing this so you're aware of it because the K1 was three-mode wireless.
The design language draws inspiration from popular sci-fi themes, like the iconic movie Alien, but also steel craft and liquid metal as the Mercury name implies.
I was blown away by the original design, and as you may notice, I'm blown away by this one too – even though I'm not a gamer myself and have only a few Hall-effect switches in my ever growing switch collection.
The trend is pretty clear though: HE switches are prevalent today, with some vendors' main focus being more and more this category. The associated features, e.g. 0.005mm precision rapid trigger, per-key adjustable actuation, etc., may be a major selling point for competitive gamers.
As I wrote earlier, the fancy legs are not just a design element but a functional part of the keyboard: you can set the typing angle with them. And they feel freakin' heavy duty, not flimsy or wobbly at all. (However, to be honest, I had to tighten a screw this time.)
In addition, even if I tend to turn off lights on every keyboard after a few minutes of testing, I have to admit that the lighting of the V75 Pro HE, especially the underglow, is spot on again.
Unboxing & Contents
The Mercury V75 Pro HE came in a nice cardboard box with bold, vivid colors:
Pre-built keyboard with keycaps and switches mounted, the familiar but still funky dust cover to accommodate the legs ;), basic black cable, basic combined tool to remove keycaps and switches, quickstart guide, some spare switches, microfiber wipes – and a brush to keep your board clean!
Specs (Pro)
- Layout: 75%, 79 keys + three-way toggle button (volume, mute)
- Typing angle: 7 degrees
- Material: cast aluminum alloy skeleton case (Lite: PC)
- Keycaps: pudding style PBT+PC, dye-sub legends
- Switches: Gravastar x Gateron Jade Gaming HE
- Mount: top mounted
- Plate: forged carbon
- PCB: HE, south-facing per-key RGB
- 270 degrees backlight
- Polling rate: 8000Hz, 0.125ms
- Software support: online, proprietary, closed source
- Dimensions: 415 x 187.6 x 57.6mm
- Weight: 1.66kg
Layout
The layout is the same as the K1: 75%, but not the dreaded crowded one. The arrow cluster isn't offset but is still very easy to locate when touch typing. The extra column on the right having only three keys definitely helps, and to the right of the spacebar there are only two modifiers, plus a gap – so you don't get lost when changing between the home row and arrows. (Users coming from ISO may have to redefine the right Ctrl to AltGr.)
75% means no numpad and no full navigation cluster either. You have arrows and function keys though.
In addition, the V75 Pro HE has a three-way switch in the top right corner, just like the K1. The Lite variant has a regular key in this place.
Only ANSI.
Build quality, structure, case
The Neon Graffiti V75 Pro is the highlight of the series, a special edition featuring a fully hand-painted aluminum frame with bold graffiti-inspired artwork.
Each keyboard comes with its own unique identity number, making it a true collector’s piece for gamers who want to stand out – GravaStar.
Do I have No. 2052? That's a fairly high number given I received this weeks in advance. :)
The unique outer frame is like an exoskeleton for the board. Attached to its inside, there are individual frosted plastic pieces which together act as a giant 270-degree diffuser, giving particular meaning to the backlighting.
The frame, while its base color is black, looks fingerprint-resistant.
The build quality is stunning as usual. While the K1 felt lighter than what you'd expect from an aluminum keyboard, everything feels heavy duty now (the plastic bottom was replaced by a metal one for the V75 Pro). The legs have integrated backlight too, which makes their sturdiness even more commendable.
Typing angle: fixed 7 degrees, with closed legs a bit more.
Keycaps
As it was usual with the Mercury K1, I expect multiple Mercury V75 variants, colorways and special editions in the future. The first one released today is the Neon Graffiti edition, featuring street-style visuals.
The keycap set matches this style perfectly: with bold, vivid colors and graphic design. Pudding style PBT+PC two-shot molding with dye-sub legends – smoky, frosted transparency for the lighting effects, nice texture and legends on top.
With regards to keycap compatibity, the 75% layout should be widely supported if you prefer a different keycap profile and opt for your own keycap set.
Switches
In theory, the V75 Pro is built with Gateron Jade Gaming Hall Effect switches, offering customizable actuation points and a 100 million keystroke lifespan, and, ahem, 0.005mm rapid trigger precision – making it ideal for high-speed, high-volume gameplay environments like FPS, MOBA, and RPG titles.
That said, what I have as Jade Gaming in the switch database looks differently (pale green). Actually, these white/light grey switches coming with the V75 Pro are the closest to Jade Gaming from Gateron's magnetic switch line of products, so they may be a color variant made for GravaStar.
Anyway, according to the official specs, the mid-range V75 variant features Gateron Jade Pro switches, currently the most popular Hall-effect switches on the market – as per the recent switch survey.
HE switches are hotswap by nature (no soldering needed) as they don't have the usual pins of mechanical switches. That means you can easily swap them. Check out all of the best-selling Magnetic Hall-effect (HE) switches if you need some tips. However, HE-switches are also restricted to linears, so you may prefer the mechanical Mercury K1 keyboards if you'd like something tactile or clicky – and can live without the HE features.
I for one tried the brand-new TTC Tai'e Sword HE switches that I liked the best from the brand's samples.
Well, a bit louder, a bit more direct and clacky, and maybe lighter too, they feel somewhat different, however, I have a hard time to differentiate between all the linear HE switches. I couldn't tell which one I like better.
Structure & Mounting
Top mounting with O-ringish gaskets(?). The plate/foam/PCB sandwich is screwed to the top case with glued in silicone washers/gaskets.
Plate(s)
Forged carbon plate for the K1 Pro [PC for the other two variants?]. No flex cuts this time.
Instead of the cool organic pattern of the K1's FR4 plate, we have a nice woven carbon fiber pattern this time.
With plate-mount stabilizers.
PCB
This is a prebuilt keyboard so most of you won't get this far in disassembling it (and let's be honest, it makes no sense at all for the average user), but here it is anyway. Since the PCB is sandwiched between thick layers of foam, you don't see it even if you replace your switches or simply open the case. However, GravaStar still put a lot of effort into the design.
The silk screen's pattern follows the organic and extra-terrestrial concept, and you can spot a cool branded MCU too.
By the way, I had to remove exactly 31 screws to be able to shoot some of these photos. Meaning the V75 wasn't really designed with frequent disassembly in mind. :)
Per-key RGB (V75 Pro and V75) and backlighting (all three variants), plus the decoration piece with the GravaStar logo, located above the right arrow, has RGB backlight too.
Bottom/Weight
The bottom of the Mercury V75 is hefty metal. The intricate pattern of the K1 has gone. To be honest, I wasn't a big fan of that one, it was a bit too much asthetically, and was made of plastic. The new bottom looks much more stylish and feels heavy metal. (Yeah!) Less is definitely more in this case, at least regarding the design. (More is still more considering the weight.)
Sound dampening
Plenty of foam: thick PORON sandwich foam, IXPE switch pad, PET sound dampening pad, plus another thick PORON base foam layer at the bottom filling up most of the empty space in the case.
Lights
As you may know, I'm not a big fan of per-key RGB in general. However, the backlight of the V75 works fabulously with the huge diffuser. Outsourcing the lights to the legs is another nice touch.
The illuminated GravaStar logo, which acts as a mirror with the lights turned off, is another nice touch.
Plenty of colors and patterns, but even more options in the software.
Portability
The Mercury will be the centerpiece of your desk, but If mobility is your main concern, I would choose something smaller and lighter. :) The legs of the V75 Pro may be in the way when packing up and hitting the road, maybe the V75 and especially the plastic V75 Lite would work better in this regard.
Software
Online customizer. Hmm. Click this link.
(You need Chromium based browsers, this could be indicated e.g. for Firefox users.)
I have to say that this is the fanciest online customizer I've ever seen. :) More akin to a game interface.
Select your language preference (Chinese or English) and immerse yourself in the huge range of features like per-key actuation and rapid trigger (RT) – mostly for gamers as you can see. However, I liked playing with the travel test even though I'm not a gamer myself.
Some highlights: Dvorak, Colemak and Workman presets! Yay! Updating/recreating your custom keymap's base layer, compared to e.g. VIA/Vial, is a bit cumbersome, but it works.
However, when I tried this last week I was stuck and gave up. Today it works as expected, so it seems that the interface and functions are still being updated.
Layers are restricted to three FN layers, and while there's a double function tap/hold feature, to recreate SpaceFN functionality, it doesn't seem to work properly.
So for keymap wizards there is SpaceFN with a third-party tool left.
On Windows, I use the age-old TouchCursor to set up SpaceFN and create an additional logical layer activated when I hold the spacebar.
This single layer can be a real game-changer, putting arrows, navigation and numbers under your fingertips.
Conclusion
GravaStar's first HE keyboards, in particular the flagship Mercury V75 Pro HE variant, are another insanely good looking 75% wireless gaming keyboards. The sci-fi-inspired design language with the alien legs still make it stand out of the crowd. It's a heavy and sturdy 75% board in an aluminum alloy case. The cool graffiti style caps and HE switches – both easy to replace for even more customization –, per-key RGB, the even better 270 degree backlight, and the hand-painted case make the V75 Pro a great offer.
A bunch of magnetic features for gamers, but, unfortunately, the software may limit your options if you rock a custom keymap with tap/hold layer switching, at least for now. However, given all the variants and probably future themes, most gamers and keyboard enthusiasts will find their preferred setup.
(If you don't need the HE features, I'd choose one of the awesome Mercury K1 editions for more switch and plate options though.)
Price & Availability
The Mercury V75 Pro HE is available as of today, 26th June. This particular edition in the review costs $260 $221 (pre-order). Don't forget to use the KBDNEWS coupon code for 15% off! But the Lite variant can be yours for $110 $93.
- Mercury V75 Pro HE Neon Graffiti edition product page
- GravaStar
- GravaStar HE keyboard collection
- Mercury K1 product page
Published on Thu 26th Jun 2025. Featured in KBD #194.
Related
GravaStar Mercury K1 Pro review
GravaStar is launching the breathtaking Mercury K1 Pro and other members of their new family of wireless gaming keyboards – with recurring sci-fi motifs, great typing experience, and a lot more!
Froggy75
A 75% hotswap PCB through-hole style that utilises two EC-11 rotary encoders and an Elite-C daughterboard – by flehrad.
Womier ERA75 review
The 75% wireless Womier ERA75 is a very fun build. Nicely cut alu case in six themes, hotswap switches and encoder, double-shot caps, VIA support. The DIY stickers will keep you busy for some time.
NPKC RO75 review
The NPKC RO75, NPKClub's first self-developed model, is a bang-for-your-buck 75% wireless keyboard in a hefty alu case, with cool matching keycaps.