MelGeek is taking on the French market. The Chinese brand, which specialises in custom mechanical keyboards, opens pre-orders today for its Centauri 80 Dark Edition 001 by Sheshounet, a model whose main claim to fame is being the very first AZERTY ISO-FR keyboard in its catalogue. A highly symbolic arrival for a company that has been present in more than a hundred countries for several years now, but which had never until now offered a proper French layout. And for this first foray into France, MelGeek has chosen to team up with Sheshounet, a content creator with 1.5 million subscribers, who was directly involved in designing the product. The idea clearly wasn't simply to slap the YouTuber's name on an existing keyboard, since he was involved at every stage of the project, from the design right through to the packaging.
A keyboard built for the French market
The Chinese brand had begun sounding out the French market several months earlier, at Japan Expo, where the public could try out its keyboards and give their feedback. The Centauri 80 designed with Sheshounet was then shown at IFA in Berlin. While the collab is a good way of getting noticed, MelGeek is above all looking to stand out with the Centauri 80's spec sheet, which is rather ambitious. The keyboard packs a 1.78-inch touchscreen OLED display running at 368 × 448 pixels, capable of showing real-time information as well as custom images and GIFs. There's also a Super Dock featuring a precision dial and an action button, which do away with the traditional macro keys.
Under the keys, MelGeek has gone for TTC × MelGeek Flip King of Magnetic White Hall-effect magnetic switches, with a stated polling rate of 8,000 Hz and a 0.125 ms response time. Rapid Trigger can be adjusted between 0.01 and 2.5 mm, while Snap Tap and NKRO are also on board. All of that is probably gibberish if you're a mainstream reader, but for the enthusiasts, these are top-tier specs. The keyboard is also fully customisable, since the switches are hot-swappable, with no need to get the soldering iron out. Same goes for the keycaps, which can be pulled off by hand using the supplied tool. MelGeek has also put work into the structure, with a unibody aluminium chassis, an FR4 plate, a leaf-spring gasket mount and five layers of dampening. The Centauri 80 remains a wired keyboard, however, with a USB-C connection.
By Sheshounet, for Sheshounet
For this Dark Edition 001, Sheshounet also had a hand in the art direction. A far more aggressive first version had been sketched out before the project moved towards something more understated, with a black chassis, translucent black and red keys and red lighting. That said, a second keycap set will revive that original art direction, completely transforming the look of the keyboard. The set will be thrown in free with the first 300 orders, before being sold separately for €59. A few details finally serve as a reminder of the collaboration between the Chinese brand and the content creator, notably Sheshounet's trademark "/20" displayed on the OLED screen, several pre-installed animations, six custom keys and the SHESHOUNET × MELGEEK marking on the back of the keyboard.
The MelGeek Centauri 80 Dark Edition 001 by Sheshounet is priced at €359, with pre-orders opening this Friday 18 September at 6pm on MelGeek's website and staying open until 9 October at the same time. The first deliveries are announced for 23 November 2026 at the latest. The first 500 orders will also get a free FEUK mouse mat, while the first 300 will receive the extra keycap set designed for this edition. OUT OF 20!
