SUMMARY: Pros: Heavy aluminum case, easy to solder, good quality PCB, after digging some you the instructions followed make it simple to do the normal flashing of QMK.
Cons: Under-lighting will never be visible, instructions are difficult to track down, not hot-swappable (but read below to see how I made mine hot-swappable). EDIT: Almost forgot, I really wish they also sold some stabilizers with it. Having a really tough time tracking down these weird space bar sized stabs. The angle of the photo exaggerates the spacebar problems but you can definitely see the issue there.
--------- 8 Pictures below all the rambling ----------
The board is really great and everything arrived on time and intact.
The case is quite heavy. Nothing like the super premium stuff, but much heavier than I thought it would be.
It is fully programmable via QMK. I've got an interesting layout that I have been able to fumble through while learning to program with.
I used SIP sockets to make the board hot-swappable.
You can find those over on Digikey.com with part #8134-HC-8P2-SI-ND
Switches are a mix of several different ones while I wait on new switches to ship, though I quite like this setup currently:
Majority of keys are Kailh BOX Thick Clicks (Navies)
Bigger side keys like shift, tab, and enter are Kailh BOX Thick Clicks (Jades)
On to the photos!
PCB (Top side) - Note: SIP Sockets installed
search
PCB (Bottom side) - Note: SIP Sockets installed
You can actually see where I missed the "O" key here in this photo! Third from the left side of the photo.
SasookiLeft shift is 2u which makes the bottom row stagger terrible. Compare where the Z key is compared to Q and W on your keyboard - then look at this one. Bottom row supports 1-1-1-2.75-2.25-1-1-1-1 or 1-1-1-3-3-1-1-1 layouts.
krazyken04hey, do know how much clearance is between the pcb and the case? I wanna get mill max sockets. And im wondering if i need to get a flush one or if getting one that pokes out more will be okay.
tetrisSorry for the crazy late reply! I got the ones that poke out and it worked just fine! No idea on clearance measurements though. That keeb is at the office and they’ve locked us out due to covid
krazyken04Dude that's a brilliant solution to achieve hot-swappable switch installation. Do you see any downsides to this solution? I've long avoided any kits that involved soldering because I suck at it. This may make me finally pull the trigger on a kit. Thank you so much for posting this part #!
SUMMARY:
Pros: Heavy aluminum case, easy to solder, good quality PCB, after digging some you the instructions followed make it simple to do the normal flashing of QMK. Cons: Under-lighting will never be visible, instructions are difficult to track down, not hot-swappable (but read below to see how I made mine hot-swappable). EDIT: Almost forgot, I really wish they also sold some stabilizers with it. Having a really tough time tracking down these weird space bar sized stabs. The angle of the photo exaggerates the spacebar problems but you can definitely see the issue there. --------- 8 Pictures below all the rambling ---------- The board is really great and everything arrived on time and intact. The case is quite heavy. Nothing like the super premium stuff, but much heavier than I thought it would be. It is fully programmable via QMK. I've got an interesting layout that I have been able to fumble through while learning to program with. I used SIP sockets to make the board hot-swappable. You can find those over on Digikey.com with part #8134-HC-8P2-SI-ND Switches are a mix of several different ones while I wait on new switches to ship, though I quite like this setup currently:
- Majority of keys are Kailh BOX Thick Clicks (Navies)
- Bigger side keys like shift, tab, and enter are Kailh BOX Thick Clicks (Jades)
- Anything my weak pinky hits are Kailh Speed Golds
Keycaps: @MiTo's GMK Laser Set- Cyberdeck kit
- Mitowaves
- Blocknet
On to the photos! PCB (Top side) - Note: SIP Sockets installedPCB (Bottom side) - Note: SIP Sockets installed You can actually see where I missed the "O" key here in this photo!
Third from the left side of the photo.
PCB Side View with SIP Sockets
Case Top
Case Bottom
Case with PCB
Weird key combos for my wimpy pinkies