2.4 GHz wins anything speed-sensitive: August 2026 benches recorded 2.6 to 3.8 ms median latency on dongles versus 4.4 to 4.9 ms over Bluetooth. Bluetooth wins multi-device convenience, letting one board hop between laptop, tablet, and phone with a shortcut.
The two radios solve different problems. A 2.4 GHz dongle creates a dedicated point-to-point link with lightweight framing and fast retry cycles. Bluetooth rides a general-purpose profile stack that schedules airtime among every connected peripheral on the host.
Latency measurements quantify the trade. Tri-mode corpus boards ranged from 2.6 ms on the Nord75 Pro dongle to 3.8 ms on the KLP-80 Tide, while boards pinned to Bluetooth, the Kelp60 Reef and M75 Fen, measured 4.4 ms and 4.9 ms respectively.
Device switching remains Bluetooth's home turf. Host keys on tri-mode boards map saved Bluetooth pairings so a single chord moves the keyboard from work laptop to personal tablet; dongle users must physically move the USB receiver or maintain a second link.
Battery cost differences proved minor in practice. Daily drain across wireless corpus boards ran 0.5 to 1.6 percent driven mainly by capacity and backlight policy rather than radio choice, so neither protocol meaningfully shortens charge intervals.
| Spec | Nordkey NK68 Frost | Mossline M75 Fen | Kelpworks KLP-80 Tide |
|---|---|---|---|
| mount | top | gasket | gasket |
| switchFamily | linear | silent-tactile | silent-tactile |
| keycapMaterial | PBT | PBT | PBT |
| connectivity | 2.4ghz-bluetooth-usb-c | bluetooth-usb-c | 2.4ghz-bluetooth-usb-c |
| batteryMah | 4000 | 5000 | 6000 |
| weightG | 760 | 830 | 1040 |
| firmware | QMK/VIA | ZMK | ZMK |
| hotswap | yes | yes | yes |
| caseMaterial | polycarbonate | polycarbonate | aluminum |
| plateMaterial | fr4 | poron-fr4 | poron-fr4 |
| stabilizers | screw-in | screw-in-lubed | screw-in-lubed |
| pollingRateHz | 1000 | 1000 | 1000 |
Last updated: 2026-08-15