Womier L98 Review: Can a Smart Display and a Numpad Save Your Desk and Sanity?

I have typed on enough mechanical keyboards in my life to develop very strong opinions about plastic, spring weights, and sound acoustics. Over the years, the mechanical keyboard market has forced enthusiasts into a painful compromise: either buy a full-sized “boomer board” that swallows your mouse pad whole, or go minimal with a 60% board that forces you to use three modifier keys just to press Delete.

Enter the Womier L98.

Womier sent over the L98—a 98% tri-mode wireless mechanical keyboard complete with a customizable TFT screen, a dedicated rotary knob, and an enormous battery—to see if it could balance high-stakes gaming performance with raw spreadsheet productivity.

After putting the Womier L98 through weeks of baseline testing, frantic typing sessions, and competitive gaming in the USA market, I’m ready to dissect what makes this board tick, thock, and flex.

1. What Is a 98% Layout?

Standard mechanical keyboards range from full-sized (100%) to compact (60%). The Womier L98 utilizes a 98% layout (98 keys), which retains full functionality—including a dedicated numeric keypad and arrow keys—by compressing the layout to minimize dead space. Measuring 45.10 × 19.15 × 5.20 cm (approx. 17.76 × 7.54 × 2.05 inches), it offers the utility of a full-sized keyboard with a significantly more efficient desk footprint.

Think of it as the “Goldilocks” of keyboard geometry: it’s not a desk-swallowing plastic monolith from 1995, yet it won’t leave you stranded without a Numpad when it’s time to file your taxes. It’s just right.

The 98% layout emerged as a strategic bridge during the historical shift from the bulky 100% full-size keyboards of the early 2000s to the rising popularity of compact, “tenkeyless” (TKL) layouts favored by the gaming community. As users grew tired of choosing between sacrificing their numeric keypad for desk space or losing critical mouse movement room to massive office planks, a dilemma formed. The 98% layout was specifically engineered to solve this “compact vs. functional” trade-off. By “crushing” the traditional gaps between the main alphanumeric block, the arrow keys, and the numpad, it provides a middle ground that maintains 100% functionality without the wasted, empty space of a standard full-sized board.

2. Under the Hood: The Educational Deep Dive

Womier designed the L98 with a focus on enthusiast-grade features, utilizing a gasket-style mounting system and specific switch choices to differentiate it from standard mechanical boards.

A. Gasket Mount Structure vs. Tray Mount

Traditional mass-market keyboards use tray mounting, where the internal circuit board (PCB) and metal plate are screwed directly onto hard plastic posts attached to the bottom case. Every keypress sends a shockwave down your fingers, resulting in a stiff, hollow typing feel and a clack like tap shoes on ceramic tile.

The Womier L98 uses a gasket-mounted architecture.

• The Concept: Gasket mounting is designed to provide a more cushioned typing feel compared to rigid tray mounts. The internal assembly is intended to flex slightly during heavy typing, which can help reduce finger fatigue and create a more pleasant acoustic profile.

Womier utilizes this gasket structure and internal dampening to create a more muted sound profile; this contributes to a more muted sound profile, though acoustic results will vary depending on your desk surface, keycaps, and typing force.

B. POM Creamy Linear Switches

The Womier L98 comes pre-installed with factory-lubed POM Creamy Linear Switches.

• The included POM Creamy Linear switches have a smooth, non-clicky stroke with no intentional tactile bump. Their exact force curve and actuation force should be confirmed from the switch specification rather than inferred from the material.

C. South-Facing RGB LEDs & Hot-Swap PCB

If you peek under the keycaps, you’ll notice the Womier L98 features South-Facing LEDs.

• North-facing LEDs (common in budget keyboards) point light toward the top of the switch. While this illuminates translucent shine-through keycaps well, it causes the keycap wall to collide with Cherry-profile keycap stems on the home row.
• South-facing LEDs point light down toward the user. South-facing LEDs can improve compatibility with many Cherry-profile keycaps, although clearance still depends on the keycap profile, switch housing, and individual combination.

Furthermore, the Womier L98 features a hot-swappable PCB supporting both 3-pin and 5-pin mechanical switches. You can yank out Womier’s switches using the included puller and drop in Tactiles, Clickies, or Silent Linear switches without touching a soldering iron.

3. Connectivity & Power: The 8,000 mAh Monster

Most wireless mechanical keyboards in the USA market pack a modest 3,000 mAh to 4,000 mAh battery. Womier shoved an extraordinary 8,000 mAh battery inside the L98.

The Womier L98 supports Tri-Mode Connectivity:

1. 2.4 GHz Wireless (1000Hz Polling Rate): Plug the included USB dongle into your PC. During my testing, I noticed no perceptible delay over 2.4 GHz wireless. The keyboard is rated for 1,000 Hz polling in wired and wireless modes, although polling rate alone does not establish identical end-to-end latency.
2. Bluetooth 5.0: Allows you to pair up to three separate devices (e.g., your MacBook, iPad, and work laptop) and cycle through them with simple shortcut keys.
3. USB-C Wired: Plug in for instant connectivity and fast charging.

With RGB turned off, that 8,000 mAh cell allows the Womier L98 to run for weeks on end without needing a cord. Even with the TFT screen blazing and RGB animations dancing, you won’t find yourself tethered to a wall outlet mid-match.

4. The Fun Stuff: TFT Smart Screen & Rotary Knob

Let’s talk about the features that instantly draw eyes: the built-in TFT LCD Screen and the Multifunction Metal Knob.

+—————————+
| [ Womier L98 Display ]   |
| 🕒 10:42 AM  🔋 92%       |
| 📶 2.4G      💻 WIN       |
| [ CUSTOM ANIMATED GIF ]   |
+—————————+

Using Womier’s web-based driver software, you can configure the TFT screen to display real-time telemetry:

• Current battery percentage
• Active connection mode (2.4G, BT, Wired)
• Operating system layout (Windows vs. Mac)
• Custom animated GIFs (yes, you can put a retro pixel-art frog or cat on it)

The Rotary Knob right next to the screen serves a dual purpose. By default, turning it adjusts system volume, while pressing it down mutes your audio. Holding the knob down toggles its mode, allowing you to cycle through lighting modes, adjust RGB brightness, or tweak board settings directly on the TFT display without opening software.

5. Real-World Use Case: A Day in the Life with the Womier L98

To test practical usability, I put the Womier L98 through a typical dual-workload day: 8 hours of remote corporate accounting followed by 3 hours of fast-paced first-person shooter gaming.

Scenario A: The Daytime Data Grind

• The Task: Entering hundreds of rows of financial data into Microsoft Excel while juggling Slack notifications.
• The Experience: On standard TKL boards, missing the Numpad slows down data entry dramatically. The Womier L98 allowed me to blaze through numerical entry on the compact tenkey pad. The factory-lubed POM switches meant my fingers didn’t feel fatigued after thousands of keystrokes.
• The Sound: Thanks to the internal sound dampening foam, typing rapidly sounded like soft raindrops hitting a padded surface rather than a machine gun firing in an office cubicle.

Scenario B: The Nighttime Gaming Session

• The Task: High-APM (Actions-Per-Minute) gaming in Counter-Strike 2 and VALORANT.
• The Experience: During my testing, I noticed no perceptible delay over 2.4 GHz wireless.

6. USA Market, Pricing, & Build Quality

For US buyers, the Womier L98 hits an aggressively competitive sweet spot:

• MSRP: Retail pricing fluctuates around $78.99 to $104.00 USD across official stores and major US retailers like Best Buy and Newegg.
• Shipping & Warranty: Free standard US shipping (7-15 days) on orders over $50 USD directly from Womier, or expedited US retail fulfillment options with a standard 1-Year Limited Warranty.
• Aesthetics: Available in multiple eye-catching USA market colorways including Frog Green, Coral Sea / Kanagawa Black, and Moon Night.
• Keycaps: Premium Double-Shot PBT keycaps mean the legends won’t fade over time, and the key surface won’t develop that greasy shine after months of oily fingertip contact.

Summary Specifications

Who is the Best Customer for the Womier L98?

The Womier L98 is not built for minimalism purists who want a tiny 60% board that fits in a coat pocket, nor is it built for corporate traditionalists who insist on giant gray office planks from 2005.

The Best Customer for the Womier L98 is:

1. The Hybrid Power User / Gamer: Someone who works from home crunching numbers, writing code, or managing data during the day (and desperately needs a Numpad), but wants to clear space for low-DPI gaming mouse sweeps at night.
2. The Customization Enthusiast: Users who love the aesthetic flair of custom animated GIFs, custom keycaps, and hot-swappable switches, but don’t want to spend $300+ custom-building a gasket-mount board from scratch.
3. The Wireless Commuter: Anyone running a clutter-free, multi-device desk setup (Mac + PC) who demands an enormous battery life (8000 mAh) and zero cable mess.

If you want smooth linear acoustics, a cushioned gasket typing experience, full numeric functionality, and a clever little screen to display your favorite custom pixel animations, the Womier L98 delivers unbeatable value in today’s mechanical keyboard landscape.

L98 amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GDWD8Q87

L98 official link:  https://womierkeyboard.com/products/womier-l98-98-wireless-mechanical-keyboard-with-tft-screen-knob-3-colors

Get yourself one a little bit cheaper here. Womier L98

About The Author

Nate Ayers

I have been in the electronics game since 1998. But I have loved it since 1985.
Over the years I have sold, reviewed, bought, Broken and fixed thousands of pieces of tech. My main passion is Mobile technology (Smartphones, Gadgets, laptops, Tablet) and Audio (Headphones, Speakers, Home theatre etc…). My other passion is writing my experience down and sharing it with people who will read it. I am not the best writer in the world but I am honest.

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