Chinese USB Hall Effect Keyboard - Review and Impressions

[lot_lizard]

hahaha.... as I said, "BUSY". Well done, and nice to see it turn into such a refined product. In for an acrylic this time to try the 50g out.

[XMIT]

To be fair you've been pretty busy with your MF project, which I've been looking forward to as well.

[Phenix]

good job!
Still not sure if I want to order one just to try hall effect switches, as Im used to ISO..

[fohat]

Just to verify that I did not miss something:

There is a tactile version coming in the future but not available now?

[XMIT]

Just to verify that I did not miss something:

There is a tactile version coming in the future but not available now?

Correct. The manufacturer did not finish development of the click and tactile leaves in time for the drop. I'll offer these later.

[zslane]

Why, pray tell, does the MassDrop listing say this under "Specs":

• Layout: 104-key ANSI, 87-key ANSI, or 61-key ANSI

[XMIT]

Why, pray tell, does the MassDrop listing say this under "Specs":

• Layout: 104-key ANSI, 87-key ANSI, or 61-key ANSI

We may be offering the 104 key option if the drop is going well.

[zslane]

If you had to speculate, which spring option would it have?

[XMIT]

If you had to speculate, which spring option would it have?

That depends on the data. The plan for now is to keep bamboo and 70g together, and acrylic and 50g together. If sales are strong I'll offer both. If sales are marginal I'll offer whichever one seems like it would be more popular. I don't have that data yet so I can't speculate.

[andrewjoy]

I recommend you try and get massdrop to push it to the tech channels like linus tech tips ( he is not amazing i know but very popular) etc.

Lots of people with disposable income watch that stuff, you know people who waste money on a the titan X for gaming (the new one , but with the same name WTF nvidia)when they know the 1080ti will come out.

[XMIT]

I've already had a bad experience branching out to other forums just to promote the boards. It's generally not welcome. People are only putting up with it here because I have, let's see, 2604 posts. :0

It takes time to reach out to a new community and become known there.

But if /you/ want to reach out... please do!

As for Massdrop I'll mention it to them. They have a pretty substantial "community outreach" team which does just this.

[Virtureal]

I'm excited that it finally dropped, but now I have the problem of deciding between bamboo or acrylic and 60% or TKL.
It seems like Massdrop was a good solution with already 179 purchased especially if it makes your life easier. It also seems like Massdrop has improved their international shipping costs vastly so that's nice.

[zslane]

Why, pray tell, does the MassDrop listing say this under "Specs":

• Layout: 104-key ANSI, 87-key ANSI, or 61-key ANSI

We may be offering the 104 key option if the drop is going well.

What is the criterion for "going well"?

[XMIT]

Why, pray tell, does the MassDrop listing say this under "Specs":

• Layout: 104-key ANSI, 87-key ANSI, or 61-key ANSI

We may be offering the 104 key option if the drop is going well.

What is the criterion for "going well"?

My arbitrary decision.

Getting at least 50 61-key board and 50 87-key board orders is a big factor in that arbitrary decision.

[Virtureal]

Have you seen a 60% bamboo prototype and do you have any pictures or details in how it will look compared to the acrylic one?

[Hypersphere]

Nice to see the keyboard on Massdrop. I am amazed at how quickly this project came to fruition. XMIT has done a terrific job. Clearly a labor of love.

@XMIT: Now I have a pesky question. Is the Fn key hardwired -- i.e., does it not send a scan code? I ask, because I usually use the far right-hand key on the bottom row as my own Fn key and then remap everything to a HHKB-like layout.

Related question -- if the keyboard can become programmable later on, is it likely that the current Fn key could be remapped?

Although I would prefer to have a 61-key model, if the Fn key is locked in, I might go with the TKL model instead, because I could get by without a Fn key and still remap things close to my liking.

[Techno Trousers]

We may be offering the 104 key option if the drop is going well.

What is the criterion for "going well"?

My arbitrary decision.

Getting at least 50 61-key board and 50 87-key board orders is a big factor in that arbitrary decision.

As of now it's showing there are already 187 orders, so I'd say it's going to be a big hit. Do you have visibility into the breakdown by type?

[zslane]

Yeah, I'd say this GB is an unqualified success.

As soon as XMIT pulls the trigger on the 104-key model, I'll probably order one. It doesn't hit all my bullet points for a perfect keyboard product, but I don't expect ABS cases (in white, no less) and a 108-key layout to show up on MassDrop any time in the foreseeable future, and so there's really no pointing in holding out.

[Hypersphere]

Apologies if I missed this in the thread or in the MD description:

+ Which model(s) have a detachable cable?

+ Regarding spring weights and Hall-Effect switches, would you be able to make some rough comparisons to more familiar switches such as Topre or Cherry mx? This sort of calibration would be helpful in making a decision on spring weights.

+ Thanks for the video on the MD site. This gives an idea of the sound of the bamboo board. Could you post one that conveys the sound of the acrylic model? If not, could you describe the difference in sound between the acrylic and bamboo models?

Thanks!

[zslane]

As soon as XMIT pulls the trigger on the 104-key model, I'll probably order one.

I take that back. Looks like the only case option for the 104 is bamboo.

[XMIT]

Apologies if I missed this in the thread or in the MD description:

+ Which model(s) have a detachable cable?

+ Regarding spring weights and Hall-Effect switches, would you be able to make some rough comparisons to more familiar switches such as Topre or Cherry mx? This sort of calibration would be helpful in making a decision on spring weights.

+ Thanks for the video on the MD site. This gives an idea of the sound of the bamboo board. Could you post one that conveys the sound of the acrylic model? If not, could you describe the difference in sound between the acrylic and bamboo models?

Thanks!

In this drop, all models have detachable cables.

The 50g springs are very similar to Cherry MX Red. The 70g springs are very similar to Cherry MX Black.

I'll see what I can do about a side by side comparison! I believe the prototypes are heading back to me soon, so this could be a few days.

[XMIT]

As soon as XMIT pulls the trigger on the 104-key model, I'll probably order one.

I take that back. Looks like the only case option for the 104 is bamboo.

Wow, there is no satisfying you, zslane! Can you articulate exactly what is you do want?

I suggest ordering the 104-key bamboo board. I might be able to offer a few 104-key acrylic boards. The MOQs aren't set numbers - they are an ongoing discussion between myself, the manufacturer, and Massdrop, and are based on logistics, manufacturing realities, and customer demand. (This is true for pretty much any operation as it turns out.)

It's the weekend now. I'll check in with Massdrop on Monday afternoon to see how things are going and if we want to offer another option. The bamboo boards had been outselling the acrylic boards by about three to one when we added the 104 key bamboo option.

There is a cost in terms of time to the manufacturer and the distributor to add more configurations. I bet there is someone out there who is dead set on a solid black acrylic 87-key board with white keys and a mix of 50g and 70g springs. I won't be offering that one any time soon.

[zslane]

What I want is a conventional 104- or 108-key board with HE switches. Conventional to me means an ANSI layout and an ABS case like my Filco Majestouch-2 and my Varmilo VA108 and my Ducky One and, well, you get the idea. Now, I realize that a normal, run-of-the-mill ABS case is not in the cards, so I'll settle for the closest available option in terms of aesthetics, and that's the black acrylic case. I'm not into unusual case styles or exotic case materials (or unnecessary, flashy gamer features like LEDs, but at least those I can turn off so they aren't noticeable), and maybe that means I have to wait for a future group buy that caters to more conventional, classic form factors and aesthetics.

[Hypersphere]

@XMIT: Regarding the spring weights in the HE keyboard,

Hall Effect springs:

50 g: 35 g actuation

70 g: 50 g actuation

Cherry mx:

Red: 45 g actuation; ~ 55 g bottom-out

Black: 50 g actuation; ~ 80 g bottom-out

From these numbers, it would appear that the springs in the HE keyboard are fairly light. My interpretation is that if I find Cherry mx Red too light, I would find the HE 50 g springs much too light. It looks like the 70 g spring would give me something a bit heavier than Cherry mx Red but not as heavy as Cherry mx Black. If this interpretation is correct, I should go for the 70 g springs. Am I looking at this correctly?

[XMIT]

@XMIT: [...] Am I looking at this correctly?

Yes. For you, I think the 70g spring is the best choice.

At some point I'll get more precise measurements for you, but everything you noted agrees with my observations. The 50g are pretty light - and I like that about them.

[XMIT]

What I want is...

What it sounds like you want is a conservatively styled board. A few folks on the Massdrop discussing have brought this up as well.

I've asked the Massdrop admins to offer a 104-key board with a black acrylic casing (like the 61-key) and not the black/clear acrylic casing (like the 87-key). I don't expect them to update the site until Monday evening.

[zslane]

What it sounds like you want is a conservatively styled board. A few folks on the Massdrop discussing have brought this up as well.

One man's "conservative" is another man's "normal", I guess. If I want my keyboard to make an aesthetic statement, I'll put some interesting keycaps on. I prefer to leave the board itself as conventional and unnoticeable as possible, so as not to draw attention away from the keycaps. And if the keycaps are based on a vintage terminal (which most of mine are), then I want the board's aesthetic to match, at least as much as possible given the generally smaller footprint of today's keyboard cases.

I've asked the Massdrop admins to offer a 104-key board with a black acrylic casing (like the 61-key) and not the black/clear acrylic casing (like the 87-key). I don't expect them to update the site until Monday evening.

That would be pretty awesome. There's plenty of time left in the drop; I'm not in a huge hurry.

[Hypersphere]

@XMIT: [...] Am I looking at this correctly?

Yes. For you, I think the 70g spring is the best choice.

At some point I'll get more precise measurements for you, but everything you noted agrees with my observations. The 50g are pretty light - and I like that about them.

Yes, it looks as though the 70 g HE switch would be in the zone for me. As an example, I generally do not like linear switches, but in the Cherry mx world, IMO linear is what Cherry switches do best. However, I've found mx Red too light and ms Black too heavy. In addition, the Cherry switches feel scratchy to me. Recently, I tried Gateron Yellow, which actuates around 50 g but bottoms out at less than 80 g, so it feels a bit heavier than mx Red but a bit lighter than mx Black. Moreover, I found the Gaterons to be smoother than Cherries. So, from what I know of the HE switches, they should be very smooth, and the 70 g spring should be about right (for me).

Now, the main sticking point for me is the layout. If it had been "traditional" with a bottom row consisting of

LCtrl, LGui, LAlt, Space, RGui, RAlt, Menu, RCtrl

with the ability to toggle, say, Menu and Fn, I would have remapped RCtrl as my own Fn key and set up the HHKB-like layout. With this sort of standard layout, I can get by very well without a programmable keyboard, because I can use keyboard remapping software or my Hasu USB-USB converter. Unfortunately, with a fixed Fn key, the layout will not work well for me.

If complete programmability of the XMIT HE keyboard will be forthcoming, and if this will include the ability to remap the Fn key, then I could go for it.

If I were not already drastically overspent on keyboard-related purchases this month, I would buy one or two boards just for the novelty of having a Hall Effect keyboard and to help support this very interesting project.

[zslane]

The inability to remap the Fn key also keeps me from the 60% for now. Maybe when it becomes programmable and I can put the Fn key and the arrow keys (and maybe iPad-compatible media keys) where I want them (i.e., where I have them on all my Pok3rs), then I'll jump in and get one of those as well.

[Elrick]

Why, pray tell, does the MassDrop listing say this under "Specs":

• Layout: 104-key ANSI, 87-key ANSI, or 61-key ANSI

We may be offering the 104 key option if the drop is going well.

PLEASE offer this soon, a keyboard without a Tenkey Pad isn't a REAL Keyboard at all.

Make this happen .