Its certainly good value, only around $100 and that includes keycaps and switches. @rpiguy9907 has one coming on its way. We can wait and hear what he thinks about the board.
Mine should be here in a day or two. Tracking says it is a couple of towns over.
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Hereās a pretty good review I found on YouTube of the pink version. Now that Iām seeing it, the only thing I donāt really like about this board is the traditional backspace. Super weird on this layout imo haha
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Same. Curiosity would likely get the better of me if it had a split backspace but Iām also weird with my layout choices.
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Playing devilās advocate hereā¦ full backspace is better because it moves the key for editing (backspace) away from the adjacent key for sumbitting (enter), preventing accidentally submitting with an error. 
Maybe Iāve done this many times while trying to rant in overwatch on HHKB layouts.
If you think having backspace is more ergonomic to move lower on the board (assuming you are using HHKB backspace on the pipe key), would you also advocate for putting escape where the tab key is? Or is this more about having the tilde and pipe key present on the top row? I donāt use the terminal much, but my brother-in-law does, and itās my understanding that he has to use the tilde key heavily in vi.
Perhaps itās just about looks, favoring a more symmetrical layout.
I do use both split and non-split. I do prefer HHKB style blockers with a full backspace and control/function on the caps lock.
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The sound after the mods is really, really good. Typical of a thick acrylic plate. I wonāt get into the religious debate on backspace placement. I used to always insist on 2u backspace, but recently acclimated to backspace above enter. So I can use either.
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Alsoā¦for split, one less set of stabs to tune haha
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Laughing in ortho
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I actually donāt mind hhkb with full backspace since I have to type on a MacBook for work from time to time. But preferences are path-dependent, and most of my keyboards have split backspace, so that is what stopped me from getting this.
By that logic, the people who use steno layout have the last laugh 
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They do.
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The people that use their keyboard to enable voice type have (literally) the last laugh.
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Right, stenographers can have 300 WPM, but voice typers have the literal last laugh
Fair points. For me, itās a few things. The muscle memory for me makes accidental enters quite rare. Whatās more, because Iām so used to it I find that the stretch for a 2u backspace to be a bit much. I tried to get used to it again with a KBD67 Lite but I ended up remapping the pipe key to backspace, which was just dumb. Comfortable for me, but dumb.
I get where youāre going with Esc but I use Backspace FAR more than I use Esc so inevitably something is going to be on the top row and is a bit of a reach unless we drop to a 40%. For my use case, I never use tilde. Ever. Iām pretty sure Iāve not even mapped it. But thatās just me.
And then on just a cosmetic level, the symmetry on both sides is just aesthetically pleasing with the split. Entirely unnecessary but it looks nice, especially when using differently-colored mods.
Full disclosure though, Iād still 100% give 2u backspace another shot with a white Leopold 980C because they look 
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āHow many changes can be made to the HHKB layout before its just a CtrlKeyLess 60% ?ā is an interesting question, I think. How many, and which, aspects of the HHKB layout can be changed and still have the end result be referred to as a āHHKB layoutā? Caps being Ctrl seems pretty important to the design philosophy of the hhkb, in my opinion.
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Akko Acrylic 59 came in the mail today. A couple of pleasant surprises:
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The acrylic case must be cast at this price, but the cast lines are invisible. It looks like it was milled. The quality of the case itself is superb.
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It includes a nice, coiled cable, and the full set of Akko keycaps. Since the keycaps are usually $60 by themselves the price of the keyboard is actually around $50-60.
Some less flattering observations:
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Stabilizers are inconsistent, as you would expect. The spacebar on my unit has a sluggish return so I will have to tune that stabilizer (it also isnāt helped by the light linear switches, your only choice here).
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The plate has very little flex despite being acrylic. It was so stiff feeling I thought it was steel at first. I think the light liners exacerbate the effect because you bottom out hard on the stiff plate.
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Very clacky sound. This can be good if you are into that, but it is too loud for my taste.
Insofar as programability is concerned. Meh. You cannot remap keys. You can record macros Poker style by long pressing Fn+Space followed by Fn+the key you want to trigger the macro. The keyboard will record your macro and execute it whenever you press Fn+ the selected key.
So you cannot remap Backspace or Control and the arrow keys are mapped top Fn + WASD, not the usual HHKB star.
I think with a swap of switches and stabilizer tuning this could absolutely amazing for the money.
If it were more programmable I think it would greatly appeal to enthusiasts given the quality of the case alone. Sadly, because it is not programmable, I cannot categorize this as Kara alternative.
It is HHKB training wheels for the consumer.
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This and the lack of programability is a deal breaker to me
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Good stuff. āIt is HHKB training wheels for the consumerā seems to be a good way to put it given what youāve described haha.
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A handheld chord-based input device I never knew existed. Itās not too unlike a stenography keeb in your hand; with this version also having a very interesting analogue tilt sensor for motion-based cursor control.
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This is the way to type out 1-800-GOT-JUNK
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Ah, a memory emerges from the wild savannah of my youth. The Twiddler!
I remember some of the MIT/GAtech wearables guys using these with their wearables back in Precambrian technology days.
I had a bit of a fascination with wearable tech for a decade or so. I always thought an interesting idea would be tiny accelerometers on finger rings to track typing on a virtual keyboard. Never built it though.
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