I had a long, deep, complex blog planned but I honestly don’t have the energy. I just want to enjoy typing on my new keyboard. So I figured, why not write a blog about that instead? If you didn’t know, one of my special interests is mechanical keyboards. I currently have five that I rotate between, and this newest one is my first ergonomic board. Though I don’t know if it really makes much difference to my hypermobile wrists.
Less than a paragraph in and I’m annoyed that Grammarly keeps trying to add Oxford commas into my writing.
Anyway, back to keyboards. I remembered I’d written a blog on all the hobbies I’d fallen victim to a few years back. According to that, it was an Instagram post that initially piqued my interest. Of course, after that, I went down the rabbit hole that is YouTube, amongst other things. I went from owning 1 keyboard in 2022 to having 5 on rotation, 1 that has a permanent spot on my wall but never gets used and at least 2 hidden away in their boxes.
Why I think it’s worth it.
In my previous blog about hobbies and rabbit holes, I asked the question: ‘Was it worth it?’ about each of my rabbit holes. Back then, it was too early to say regarding keyboards but yeah, I think it was.
The thing is, in order to fully appreciate the effort I was putting into building these boards, I also put in the effort to learn to touch-type. Something which is rare amongst my generation. I type between 40 and 60 words per minute, depending on how familiar I am with the text. Which means I get a lot of work tasks done quicker than my peers. I also have an awesome display next to my desk of all my boards, which catches everyone’s eye. And my 15-month-old niece, who already sees me as the fun one, loves pointing at and poking my artisan keycaps.
Why I like building custom keyboards so much.
As I said back in 2022, I have a creative streak that I struggle to fulfil. Being autistic, I also appreciate sensory aspects of day-to-day life that others may not. It is very hard to build a board that both sounds and feels good. So, working out what I like and getting to explore it is really cool.
To highlight this, I’m going to delve into some of the specs of my current board. Now, as I said, it is ergonomic, which means it’s shaped like the Batman logo and the keys are split in two. I believe this is meant to give you more natural hand placement. However, as someone who sits terribly at their desk, I’m not sure it really does anything except look interesting. If you’re interested in custom keebs, feel free to read the specs below. If not, skip to the next section. I don’t mind.
Specs
So it’s the QuertyKeys Neo Ergo in Spray Paint Red and all the boards and accessories are in gold. And I used black-on-white keycaps to give it a Gunners vibe. To really bring this home, I’ve set the LED back lights to a bright yellow and separately purchased some navy blue space bars; my white keycaps didn’t come in the right size. I chose the FR4 plate because it’s the most neutral in sound and feel, which meant I could truly customise this board.
I used the clip-in stabilisers that came with the board (the bits that keep longer keys stable) and chose not to lube my stabilisers, as I wanted to get it built as soon as the parts arrived and didn’t have any lubricant on hand. There hasn’t been any obvious scratchiness, though, so that’s ok.
The next bit to choose is the switches, which are essentially made up of four parts: the bottom, the spring, the stem and the top. Now, each of these components has variations that make each switch different. I generally prefer a two-stage spring because it gives more feedback but in this case, I stuck with the aesthetic and chose Invokeys Goji Reserve Switches. I may switch out the springs at some point but generally I like them as they are, even if they’re not as springy as my all-time favourite switches.
And I’ve got an artisan keycap for my layer key, which is actually shaped like a football gacha machine from Jelly Key to really hone in on the theme.
So yeah, it’s quite a quiet board. I’d say it’s definitely on the thockier side but with a bit of clack. I like it and in reality, that is all that matters. The sound profile is due to all the aforementioned aspects of the board, as well as the mods I made, including the tape mod and the addition of poron switch pads.
Conclusion
So, that’s everything to know about my latest keyboard. As I said, this is only one of 5 that I regularly rotate between. Sometimes I want something smoother, sometimes I like some feedback. There are times when I want something pretty to look at whilst I work and others when I want as little distraction as possible. For now, I think I’ve got a board for every occasion. But there’s no doubt I’ll keep modifying the boards I have and eventually fall into the trap of buying another one.
So as always, if you want to keep track of what I’m doing and lots will be happening soon, I promise. Then go ahead and subscribe. All you need to do is fill out the form at the bottom of the page (on mobile the form is off-screen to the side, something I plan on fixing soon). It merely means an automated email each time I upload a new post, nothing else. And if you want to respond, do so on the actual post (comments are also at the bottom of the page) rather than where you see it shared. It builds traffic etc. and helps me out.