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theMillerDave
188
Jan 9, 2019
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This is the closest thing I have found to an “endgame” keyboard. I am somewhere in between a mech enthusiast and a hardcore keeb geek - I own a dozen keyboards, I have assembled/built a few of my own at a low level, and I have heavily modified / hacked / re-written various firmwares. However, before trying my buddy’s CTRL, I never would have considered spending $200 on a keyboard... let me tell you, this thing is worth every flippin’ penny, and it is the bar by which I judge anything else. And can I tell you, I haven’t found anything remotely close for the money: RGB, backlighting, hotswap switch sockets (which really lessens the impact of your choice of switches - if it weren’t for the quality of the caps, I would skip them and go with something more “me”: Kailh box heavy clicks), some really nice doubleshot shine-through PBT keycaps (personally, I love the texture, and they hold up - the extra money is worth it for the keycaps alone as I said in my last parenthetical tangent). On top of all that, the case and plate are high quality and give the board the right amount of heft - plus USB-C ports on either side, and of course: QMK - the firmware to end all firmwares. While the web-based keyboard configurator is probably enough for 90% of the folks out there, so much more functionality is unlocked by opening the hood and digging into the QMK code. I am a software engineer, so I don’t want to come out and say it’s “easy” - but if you have any experience with programming (especially with C based microcontrollers like Arduino), you should be able to make this thing dance just the way you want it. Worst case, the documentation and support community are rich resources to help if you get stuck. The only thing I wish the CTRL came with out of the box: an option for MacOS keycaps (you have no idea how much looking at a Win key irks me, even when I’m using Windows) - maybe go one step further, and pre-flash it with a Mac keymapping for the noobs. At the very least, give us a bonus Command key to swap out the Win key. Some folks complain about the magnetic feet - that they get knocked off when sliding the board on a high-friction surface. Personally, it has never been a problem for me, and I honestly think this is a phenomenon of people who need to find SOMETHING to criticize (which, given this board, ain’t easy. Pick the thing up if you want to move it (isn’t that what your parents yelled at you when you moved the dining room chairs?) In short: the CTRL is the gold-standard TKL keeb, it checks all the top feature boxes, and sets a very high bar for the competition. I will be looking for excuses to give my wife in order to buy another (or maybe an ALT) for work in the near future.
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