Whether you’re entering large amounts of data, doing your taxes, or playing Garry’s Mod, a dedicated numpad comes in handy. This one from Magicforce features 21 backlit keys and a removable USB cable Read More
Bought it to use as a “stream deck” for SLOBS, with all the extra keys I can use for scenes and transitions and extra stuff. Tested the switches (Cherry Blues) with osu! with how other member have said rapid presses can be a slight issue, and so far I haven’t run into a issue with rapid key presses (or streams). So far, loving the keypad overall.
One thing I wish about the Numpad however, I would’ve liked it to be USB-C, but that’s a me being a little nitpicky.
Plugged into an iMac out of the box, and tested quick number entry. If you enter numbers slowly, it works fine. As soon as you enter them rapidly one after another, it registers multiple key presses. For example, typing "1", "2", "1" in quick succession yields:
1122121
Entering "9", "8", "7" in quick succession:
989789787
Oddly enough, if the Fn key is held down with my other hand while doing both of the above, the results are normal. However, the "5" key controls the LED settings so keeping Fn down for regular use is a no-go.
After some trial and error, I found that toggling the NumLock key on the magicforce pad fixes the Mac key repeat issue. Unfortunately, when the device is unplugged or loses power, the state of the NumLock key is lost so it has to be hit again before the keypad can be used.
Works perfectly on a Windows PC.
I contacted Varmilo and they had me run a firmware update (an .exe file I had to run in a VM, natch) that semi-fixed the numlock issue; it caused other keys to repeat instead. It's definitely something software-related that I'm not prepared to deal with.
Owing to the interest in this thread, I've done some further troubleshooting. On macOS Mojave, with this keypad, I used a utility called Key Codes to look at what is being sent from the keypad to the host OS.
Plug in the keypad, don't press Num Lock:
Key pressed: [1]
"Key Down" codes received: 71, 83, 71, 71
Key pressed: [5]
"Key Down" codes received: 71, 87, 71, 71
Code 71 corresponds to "Clear" on a standard Apple keyboard's numpad. Code 87 is what the Apple keyboard numpad sends when [5] is pressed. Note that this is different from pressing the [5] on the number row above the alphas (that [5] is code 23). So let's press Num Lock:
After pressing Num Lock:
Key pressed: [1]
"Key Down" code received: 83
Key pressed: [5]
"Key Down" code received: 87
These extra code 71 ("Clear") messages seem to be what's creating the multiple repeats in macOS, but which Windows seems to need to correctly accept the numpad code ranges (82-89, 91,92). In other words, without the code 71 before and two code 71 messages after, Windows doesn't do anything with codes in the numpad ranges, only codes in the number row range (codes 18-29). An Apple OEM keyboard never sends code 71 along with a number entry (of course it sends it if "Clear" is pressed).
The number pad is essential for accounting. I prefer the 10key less keyboard, but because of my work, I have to use the keypad. So, Magicforce 21-key is a very good choice! When you don't need it, you can save space by separating it.
Looks nice and I like it as an external number pad, but I'm using it with a Mac and I really wish the function keys worked out of the box. It feels like something that should be plug and play - not plug and half play. Will have to give Karabiner a shot, but that's a bit of a disappointment.
They numpad works. It's simple and does what I need it to. The calculator shortcut is nice, as is the dedicated backspace key. Overall it was a goof purchase.
I like it in principle, but replaced it pretty quickly
I really liked the idea of a mechanical numpad. This one looked cool, I dug the clicky blues and the backlight, and I was willing to bite the bullet on the wire. I'm taking an accounting class and having a keyboard without a numpad for my chromebook was a pain.
As others have mentioned, the function keys don't work on non-windows machines. That limits its functionality for excel because you don't have an equals or dollar sign. Annoying, but willing to work through it.
The other issue was if I hit two keys in too close of succession I would get duplicates. Like typing "123" all in a row would print "111222333" -- I realized it's because the "click" of the next key would trip the previous key again if it was still semi-pressed. This was very frustrating, though might be limited to the Gateron Blue version.
Those things together with not having a good place to route the wire for where I wanted to use/store it on my desk bugged me enough that I ordered a different external numpad that was wireless with a 28-key layout to get the fn characters I couldn't access. Maybe I'll come back to the mechanical at some point, I do like the feel of using it.
Bought it because my work laptop didn’t have a numpad built in (and i need a numpad). Keycaps aren’t shine through so the backlighting is kinda pointless, but then you shouldn’t really be typing in dim environments anyways. Micro b in 2019 is not great. But it works so can’t really complain.