Aula F75 Max Review: Worth the Upgrade?

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Huzaifa Haroon

Being a keyboard enthusiast, I specialize in reviewing, modding, and critiquing them for the people. If you’re a Razer fanboy, my only goal is to convert you to the dark side 😈.

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After the legendary Aula F75, the company is back with an upgraded model called the F75 Max. It carries over most of the elements of the first one while adding a new knob and a whole screen. The goal here is to keep what made the original great while adding a few new features to modernize it. 

The F75 Max competes with the likes of the Epomaker Shadow-X and the Ajazz AK820 Max, so it’ll be a tough battle. The F75 Max also gets a $10 price increase over the original and it’s clearly not as popular because if you look it up on YouTube there’s barely any coverage. Therefore, our review will help you make your decision.

Key Takeaways

• The Aula F75 Max is a well-rounded budget keyboard marred by the very features it’s trying to sell. 
• Buy the F75 Max if you don’t care about the screen or volume knob and just want a nice-sounding keyboard.
• Avoid the F75 Max if you’re looking for the very best value in the market, and actually want a usable volume knob and screen.

What Makes The Aula F75 Max Different?

Truth be told, there’s nothing that really sets the Aula F75 Max apart. A few months ago, before the likes of the Ajazz AK820 series, and even the Tecware Spectre 75, I’d have said the combination of a screen, and a volume knob together is unique. 

That’s not the case anymore and even if it were, the F75 has such poor implementation of both that I could never count it as a positive. The build quality and looks, along with the software are all also industry-standard at this point. Worst case scenario, it’s different because it takes a formula that works that somehow tarnishes it in pursuit of an upgrade.

Unboxing Experience

The Aula F75 Max comes in a package almost identical to the rest of the Aula boards, a black and green box following the robot mascot motif introduced in the Aula F81. It also just flaunts the Epomaker x Aula partnership on the front instead of any picture or illustration. There is a single large tab in the center to open the box. 

Once inside, you get the board wrapped in plastic with a dust cover. There is a manual and an instructions card sitting on top. On the top there’s a section labeled “Additional Accessories” which has all the extras you’ll need. 

Here’s everything you get in the box:

• 1x Aula F75 Max
• 1x Keycap/Switch Puller
• 2x Extra Switches
• 1x USB-C Cable
• 1x Manual
• 1x Instructions Card

Design & Build 

The Aula F75 Max is basically just the normal F75 but with a screen and a slightly different knob. The design is very much reflective of this. We have the same two-tone aesthetic seen on the rest of the Aula series. It looks like the bottom case has walls extending up to the top. The entire top perimeter is also chamfered to sort of taper into the bottom. 

This creates a noticeable seam that feels intentional, not cheap. Next to the Caps Lock key is a small LED indicator for it but you can also see it enabled on the screen. Speaking of which, in the top-right corner we have the iconic volume knob but there’s a screen next to it this time. It replaces the F13 key (which was delete) from the Aula F75 so it’s quite small.

The back has a few rubber pads and 2 dual-stage flip-out feet for adjusting the elevation. Without them activated, the front height of the board is 20mm with a comfortable 5-degree typing angle. There is a metallic badge in the center as well showing off the board’s name and logo.

Due to the simple top and bottom cases, the side profile of the Aula F75 Max is boring to say the least. It’s a basic box-on-wedge that looks exactly like its predecessor. Here’s also where you start to notice the build quality of the board. We have a fully plastic construction that feels well-built but the fit and finish is underwhelming.

There are no apparent molding marks but the edges of the plastic, like where the top and bottom case meet in the side profile don’t have the best polish. You’ll see this further reflected in the keycaps who also have, sort of, jagged borders. There is no flex or creak present in the case, and I do want to emphasize that it otherwise feels premium in hand.

Layout & Features

The F75 Max, as the name indicates, is a 75% keyboard with a non-exploded layout, meaning the arrow and nav keys are joined in with the rest, only separated by a blocker. Once again, this is similar to the standard F75. A layout like this keeps the overall footprint smaller and takes only just the amount of space needed on your desk, unlike the Galaxy70.

The volume knob in the corner is slightly different. It has a glossy finish so it’s a fingerprint magnet. The real issue, though, lies in its ratcheting mechanism. The rotary encoder behind the knob is just way too loose. It spins almost freely, which makes controlling the screen or adjusting the volume kind of a nuisance. More on this later. 

The F75 Max is wireless with support for 2.4Ghz radio and Bluetooth connections. It has a nifty magnetic slot to hold the dongle next to the USB port on the left side. The board is also fully hotswap. It has south-facing sockets with per-key RGB that is customizable in the software.

Peering under the hood, the PCB doesn’t have any flex cuts, but the polycarbonate plate does. Aside from that, there’s plenty of foam inside to dampen the sound including the plate foam, PE sheet, PET sheet, bottom PCB foam and a silicone pad at the bottom. 

The Fundamentals

Keycaps

Aula has bundled in two different sets of doubleshot keycaps with the F75 Max. They’re made out of PBT and come in the Cherry profile. There’s a blue and purple colorway which does not shinethrough. We have the other grey set that’s blank and has legends printed on the side for some sleek RGB action.

Unfortunately, these aren’t the highest quality. There are molding marks present on the backside of the keycaps and the thickness of the shinethrough element is way too low. You can also see jagged edges left from the molding process. Usually, higher quality keycaps have this excess plastic removed in a process called “deflashing” but that doesn’t seem to be the case here. 

Keycaps Front & Back

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Regardless, the keycaps have a matte texture similar to any other PBT set. They feel nice to type on and if you’re not looking for the flaws, they look good on the board. I’m not a fan of the font but the RGB is spread evenly. Only the mods suffer from some inconsistency, and you can especially see the dullness in the Caps Lock key where the light doesn’t diffuse properly.

Switches

The switches are a highlight of the F75 Max as the company is using Epomaker Sea Salt linears in the board. These are factory-lubed linears with a 30g initial actuation force and they bottom out at 60g. They have a POM stem while the housing is made from PC & Nylon. The total travel distance is 4mm, but they actuate halfway through at around 2mm.

All this makes for a great sounding switch. There’s minimal stem wobble and the factory lube job is consistent. Upon close inspection, I found the switches were a bit overlubed in fact. The Sea Salts also have a Kailh housing instead of an MX-style one. Most importantly though, they have LED diffusers that help, well, diffuse the LEDs on the PCB to enhance the side-lit effect of the keycaps. 

Stabilizers

This section of the review has started to feel more and more monotonous as time goes on because every board that comes out these days has good stabilizers. In fact, it’s the exception to the rule now to point out any issue. Case in point, the F75 Max has perfect stock stabs out of the box that come lubed from the factory. There’s no ticking or rattling at all.

Stabilizers

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The Screen (+ Knob)

This is arguably the main reason you’d even consider buying the F75 Max over the F75. I’m just gonna come out and say: the screen is bad. Firstly, it’s way too small at just the size of a single key. Secondly, it’s way too dim that even in the lowest of light it’s hard to make out what’s on it. Lastly, it scratches incredibly easily to the point that cleaning it will damage the surface coating.

The Screen in No Light, Low Light, and Normal Light

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I tried a microfiber cloth; I tried tissues; I even tried some diluted isopropyl alcohol as well. Nothing could clean this screen. It already had a hairline scratch out of the box and in the process of trying to remove that it only made everything worse, and the screen genuinely looked like it had gone through war.  

Moving on, the screen can only be controlled with the extremely loose volume knob. This made for an amazing combination where I’d have misinputs 90% of the time. I’d carefully hover over to the thing I wanted and as soon as I tried to click, the knob would just throw off my target. It was borderline comical. 

As for the actual functionality, the screen has a homepage displaying time, battery percentage (nice touch), connection mode and the date. You also have indicators for Caps Lock, Win Lock and Num Lock here. There’s another layer for a custom picture or GIF you can upload from the software. 

Finaly, there’s a bunch of pages for mainly changing the RGB settings like effect, brightness, speed etc. You can also control other things like language and choosing between Win/Mac layouts. You turn the volume knob to cycle between these layers. If you want the knob to simply control volume, you have to first select the volume option on the screen every time, then spin it.

Connectivity & Performance

Being a wireless keyboard, the F75 Max has a 4000mAh battery inside to power everything. On a full charge, it lasted me about 2 days before dying and if I had the RGB (and screen) disabled then the endurance would stretch up to a week. The board has an aggressive standby mode. Every minute of non-usage, it will simply turn itself off, but it wakes up the instant you touch it again.

The Aula F75 Max performs just as well as any other modern Aula board. It has low enough latency that you can even play competitive games wirelessly, but I’d still suggest plugging in for that. During normal use, the board never disconnected or had any random lag issues. It was a smooth ride through and through. 

Typing Experience

All things considered, when it comes to the actual typing experience, Aula once again nails it. This is mostly due to the fact that all the fundamentals are great. The switches feel nice to type on and combined with the sound dampening layers inside, there’s a real impact to each keypress. The sound is satisfying, especially coming when you hit that spacebar each time.

Despite having a thin PCB and a soft plate with flex cuts, the F75 Max is not exactly a bouncy keyboard. You can get some amount of flex if you press really hard, but it’ll feel firm in everyday typing. Anyhow, there’s a real oomph in the acoustics. The board sounds mildly creamy with a lot of depth. It’s not so muted that it becomes quiet either; there’s just enough volume. 

Software

The Aula F75 Max comes with its own proprietary software that you can download from Epomaker’s site. In terms of UI, it looks identical to the Galaxy70 and Tecware Spectre 75 software. Everything is neatly arranged into tabs on the left side. It’s also plenty smooth and didn’t crash on me once during my usage.

You get all the standard settings like custom keymapping, RGB controls, macros, but also a dedicated page for the screen. You can upload your own pictures or GIFs; each frame takes about 1.2 seconds to upload which is on the faster side for these screens. You can also draw or write on any frame. Everything is saved within the software for you to revisit later.

Should You Buy It?

Buy It If:

✅ You prefer understated looks. The blank keycaps with the side-lit keycaps on the F75 Max give it a real sleek aesthetic.

✅ You want a great sounding keyboard that doesn’t break the bank. The factory-lubed stabs and switches offer a great out-of-the-box experience.

✅ You value wireless performance. The F75 Max has great battery life and low enough latency to even play competitively.

Don’t Buy It If:

❌ You want a keyboard with no gimmicks as the screen and even the volume knob on the F75 Max is poorly implemented.

❌ You like high-quality keycaps and don’t mind if they’re not shinethrough. The keycaps you get here have cheap-looking borders.

❌ You’re after the best value in a budget keyboard. The standard Aula F75 still offers more for your dollar and if you want the novelty, go for the Tecware Specter 75.

My Thoughts

The Aula F75 Max is an unfortunate tale of trying to fix something that ain’t broken in the first place. Had the company stuck with the same volume knob and put a better screen onboard, this would’ve been the easiest recommendation of all time. The F75 is already such great value that anything succeeding it has to live up to sky-high expectations, and the Max falls short.

All that being said, the actual core components that comprise your daily typing experience are all just as good as ever. The switches and stabilizers, especially, are really high-quality and if you like the RGB aesthetic, even the keycaps do their job. If you just forget the screen is there, you’d still have to deal with it to use the volume knob and that’s just inexcusable.

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Huzaifa Haroon

I was born and raised around computers only to become the family’s personal IT department. Fast forward a few years and now only two things spark my interest—filmmaking and keyboards. One day you might just see me at the Oscars, but till then stick to my sick custom builds.