A community for news, discussion, and showing off your mechanical keyboards
~1500 yen Buffalo US-layout keyboard (Linux/Windows) and a ~15k yen Logi wireless one for the Mac that work makes me use.
For gaming, I want to eventually get a mechanical (or at least something that allows more than like 2 keys near each other to be pressed at once), but they're all too expensive for me to justify it. A 10-key and US layout are musts for me (Japanese layout has a bunch of symbols and stuff in completely different positions) which reduces the pool a lot.
Kinesis Gaming. Good ergonomics, but it's pretty stupid how much they want for risers and like 6 Mac layout key caps on top of an already expensive keyboard. I don't use the RGB or macro features.
Had my baby for over a decade now. Its survived thousands of falls, runs on two double A's, and is comfy to rest on my lap while traveling.
Christ I think I can smell that thing on an airplane.
😂 'that thing' Is called a REAL reliable daily driver. Its probably been so long since you saw one thay you forgot what they look like.
Also TSA won't let me take her with so gotta get a ride with the boys on the old shit-mobile and sneak her past the border on my way to silicon valley meetings.
I really like concave keyboards, and maybe someday I'll invest in one (I previously used a Kinesis 2 but the company kept it when I left).
But besides the brief Kinesis foray, I have used the MS Ergo Sculpt since...2014, I think. It's honestly pretty nice, especially since I don't really care about mechanical keycaps and I value portability. (The only portability downside is that I need to manually put something in the battery compartment to keep it powered off while traveling, because for some reason it has no off-switch.)
My MacBook Air default keyboard
Mattias ergo pro - adjustable, split, and ALPs style switches
I built a “Caldera” using the guide that ex Apollo dev Christian provided and have been extremely happy with it in the past few months I’ve been using it full time.
ZSA Voyager for over a year now, and the other ZSA boards since about 2018.
image (not mine)
I've been really happy with it, and it helps me type fast. I do tend to slam the keys down sometimes but it's held up great. I was able to stop using a mouse- the key-driven mouse motion is intuitive enough for me.
Took me a bit to get used to the reduced key layout, but it's actually turned out to be just enough. I see some people with even fewer keys! Will need to try that out sometime.
Just running a base hardware configuration with Kalih Choc Brown switches and a custom layout that does not use any chording or timing-based layer switching, only holding.
Would like to try building my own someday.
Scylla Dactyl.
Which is what you have under "Dactyl" but the usual Dactyl is much more boxy.
Keychron q10 max Alice layout, so sweet
Keychron K3.
It's low-profile (no twisted wrist!), wireless (Bluetooth), has RGB (though I have it set to white), small enough to drag to work, and with the Keychron Mint keys (there's also a Gateron version) - I've tried all their keys except brown because I never liked browns, ever. Black and red are too light - can't rest my fingers on them without accidentally press them. Blue and orange are too clicky for work, and Mint is what I ended up liking - they're like browns, but the click is way higher, which feels sooo comfy, instead of weirdly squishy.
Been looking at the Kinesis 360 (?), but I can't find low-profile keys for it, and the available options are rather lacking for a 650 EUR keyboard (I kinda want the wireless one).
Me and the homes at work are all sporting the HP slim. https://www.amazon.com/Business-Enhanced-Keyboard-HP-803823-001/dp/B017JP0GS4
I've been using this for a while now, both at work and a home, they're relatively cheap to build and tick almost every box for my usage: https://github.com/mmccoyd/hillside open hw/sw
ZSA Voyager.
The corne 3x6, but you can convert it into the corne 36 by breaking off the edge of the pcb. I have several of them.
Here is what I use.
The split mechanical one is from Keebio. I don't think they stock the PCB I used any more. It's called the Viterbi and I like it a lot. It's just 2 simple 7x5 ortho boards with an option for a 2u spacebar on the bottom inside keys on both halves.
My other keyboard is a Kensington Pro Fit Ergonomic Wired Keyboard. It's about 40 dollars on Amazon. I got it because I was learning Blender and it uses hotkeys on the numpad and other keys I don't have on my Viterbi.
Oh and I built the Viterbi with Gateron yellow switches which are like Cherry red but with a heavier actuation because I tend to accidentally press keys with red switches.
Odin75 with HMX Macchiato switches. No exotic layouts or anything, just a good board
I use 2 keyboards primarily.
SliceMK ErgoDox Lite - I daily drive this keyboard in particular at home. I was surprised how much you can do with the configurator app. The developer is very active and responsive in his discord. Using the config tool I was able to reproduce all the same layers that my Moonlander has and the keyboard works just as well except that it's wireless.
ZSA Moonlander Mk 1 - I use this keyboard daily when working. It's packed with features and feels great to use. My only complaint has always been the 1U modifier keys. I got big hands and it's easy for me to slip up and miss modifiers. Other than that it's a fantastic keyboard and I'd daily drive it if those modifier keys were longer. The Oryx configurator app is really fluid. I like that it's integrated with GitHub for version control of your keyboard firmware. Also really cool that you can turn this keyboard into a mini midi controller
All three of mine are there! I have a Kinesis 360, Moonlander and Glove 80!