Mistel SLEEKER MD870 – Review
A Closer Look
Mistels packaging in the past has been fairly simple. The SLEEKER is no different and takes an even more minimalistic approach.
The SLEEKER comes wrapped with a white sleeve. This features the majority of the information about the SLEEKER including the switch type and the fact the SLEEKER is Mac OSX compatible.
This clean box is marred by the tagline “Reaming on your fingertips” which I think was meant to say “Dreaming on your fingertips”
Going inside and you find that there are two parts. The SLEEKER is hidden behind a protective layer of cardboard and also enclosed in a cloth sleeve.
A small box contains the accessories provided by Mistel. These include some replacement Windows Legend only caps, a Mistel keypuller, some raised feet and the keyboard cable.
This cable is a bit different in that it uses a USB-C to USB-C connector and comes with an adaptor to a USB-A style cable.
The cable is of nice quality and I know it is likely USB-C on both ends because the MD870 SLEEKER is primarily aimed at the Apple demographic.
Mistel provide a branded orange and black keypuller , which is slightly at odds with the white theme the SLEEKER follows, but is certainly a nice to have.
After fitting the Windows key caps (because I won’t be using this on a Mac) you can see just how understated the design of the SLEEKER is.
Obviously not like this…
The key caps feature a light grey legend with the secondary features highlighted in a different, brighter, colour.
The whole case is made from two machined pieces of aluminium which are securely sandwiched together.
The switches on this particular keyboard are Cherry MX Brown and because the keyboard is not RGB backlit they do not feature clear shells.
The keycaps themselves are dye-sub PBT keycaps and are pretty thick and they have a nice rough finish which gives them solid feel when typing.
Going underneath you can see that there are four large rubber feet already applied to the base, next to each of feet at the back of the SLEEKER are two threaded holes where you can attach the included additional feet to get a bit of extra height should you need it.
The back of the keyboard is where the aforementioned USB Type-C connector lives. Whilst at one point I would have liked a micro-USB connector, I am happy to see the reversible Type-C finding its way into devices.
The overall minimalistic design is accentuated by a simple Mistel logo just above the arrow keys.
