A veritable control station
Mountain is a relative newcomer into the gaming peripherals space, but with the Everest Max keyboard, the company has displayed an impressive ability to innovate and push the boundaries in terms of design and functionality.
The Everest Max has a level of modularity and customisation that I’ve yet to see on a gaming keyboard. For starters, it offers a total of three modular parts that can be attached and detached on-the-fly – a media dock with a display dial, a numpad with customisable display keys, and a plush wrist rest.
You can even choose where you want the media dock and numpad to go, both on the left and right sides of the keyboard. They are also incredibly easy to attach and detach, and once in place, they feel very secure. You don’t need to fumble or peer over the side to look for the USB-C port.
The media dock slides into place effortlessly, and the numpad has helpful magnetic notches to guide it in place. There’s barely any wobble or give once they’re attached, and every bit of this build oozes premium. The cushy wrist rest is topped by PU leather and snaps on magnetically as well, so you don’t have to worry about it not being aligned either.
But that’s not even where the
magnetic fun ends. The keyboard feet can comprise up to three stackable magnets, which is a pretty neat way to adjust the typing angle. The magnets are plenty strong too, and there’s no danger of them falling off, even when readjusting the keyboard on your desk.
The brushed aluminium top plate adds nice structural rigidity as well, and there is hardly any discernible flex to the board.
The customisable TFT IPS display dial on the media dock is really neat. You can turn it to cycle between things like a clock, which you can also tweak to your liking, brightness, volume, lighting effects, system information, and even your APM. It’s a ton of functionality crammed into a single dial, and there’s a nice, tactile feel to every turn. You can even upload a custom jpg image to display, if you wish.
The numpad features five customisable display keys, kind of like what you would get on a stream deck or the old Razer DeathStalker Ultimate keyboard. You can program each key to do nearly anything, from launching a specific web page on your browser to your favourite game or application. The key will then display the corresponding icon, so it’s immediately clear what each one
does. There’s even direct integration with OBS Studio to enable recording, streaming, transitions and more with the push of a button.
The USB-C port is tucked into its own nook at the bottom of the keyboard, but before you complain that this means you can’t use your own custom coiled cables, Mountain has thought of that too. There is a convenient adapter that fits neatly into the cable routing channels, which then allows you to plug in your own USB-C cable.
My review unit came with Cherry MX Brown switches, which offer a gentle tactile bump. If you prefer a different switch type, the PCB is hotswappable, so you can easily remove the switches and put in the ones you want. However, the PCB only supports 3-pin switches, so you’ll have to clip the extra feet off yours if you happen to have 5-pin ones. The Cherry stabilisers have been lubed with Krytox GPL 205g0 lube, which is a thoughtful addition on the part of Mountain to help reduce rattling and noise.
The RGB lighting is bright and even, complete with light rails on the sides for an added dash of panache. You can customise the effects on individual keys in the Base Camp software, down to things like the speed and direction.
At $399, the Mountain Everest Max is incredibly expensive, almost approaching the price of certain custom mechanical keyboards. However, when you think of how much it can do and the creative modularity and customisation available, it starts to make a bit more sense. It’s made for those who want a keyboard that effectively doubles as a do-it-all control station, and are willing to pay to get it.
A UNIQUE KEYBOARD THAT IS UNLIKE ANYTHING ELSE ON THE MARKET TODAY.