Pros:

  • The clickety clack is creamy as hell
  • The dial/knob is very useful already
  • I really like the LED effects when I’m typing.
  • The packaging was superb and it just generally looks amazing

Cons:

  • Shipping (unrelated to keyboard):
    • it took 3 weeks to get here
  • Keys / Spacebar
    • It’s quite a high profile position and I find myself double-hitting the spacebar often which appears to have a hare-trigger
    • The spacebar is needlessly long, and my thumb can’t quite reach the Alt or Win key without contorting my hand.
    • On my laptop, the spacebar begins at C and ends at M. Here it starts at X and ends at ,
  • Customization
    • Modifying it in Linux is proving to be painful.
      • The qmk cli requires a full reflash, but no easy way to set macros
      • VIA has easy macros, but has no cli just a shitty Electron app that requires you to set your keyboard permissions to World Accessible for chrome to detect it (which is creepy).
  • Gaming
    • I knew that some keyboards are better for typing and others for gaming, but I did not think the difference would be so big.
    • The arrow keys could be a lot more responsive
    • I’ve never noticed this issue with a normal keyboard.

I guess I love the look and feel of it, but it’s incredibly frustrating to modify as a linux user and I’m making tons of mistakes with it whilst typing.

Is this all normal? Do I eventually get used to it? Or should I send it back and just use a normal $20 keyboard that I can just type and forget about.

  • daytonah@lemmy.mlEnglish
    2·
    2 days ago

    May I ruin something for you just like something is ruined for me? 😁 Read at your own risk below:

    Getting older now, after my favourite custom keyboard died at my new work due to faulty third party docking stations they were using in the office, I bought a speed silver switchesd on a TKL keyboard, and at some point another stupid Logitech MX keys when my other DAS keyboard died… Only to finally conclude that my hands hurt after long working hours (and I had an rsi a few years ago) and then I discovered ZSA Voyager… Haven’t ordered that yet, just thinking between that and the UHK60… Not haopy to not delve intk ergo keyboards before… Unsure what to get, slightly leaning towards ZSA, although not having to move hands for a mouse with UHK60 might be just the sweet spot!

    • BaconIsAVeg@lemmy.mlEnglish
      2·
      1 day ago

      As a programmer/console Linux chad, I’ve had my Voyager since last April. First off, the Customer Support is top notch! I messed up my address when placing the order and one of their reps helped me out, monitored my order, checked with me after UPS said it was delivered, etc. Incredibly personal touch, can’t recommend them enough.

      Second, it’s really hard to get used to. I’d been using smaller QMK keyboards for about 2 years, but I think the columnar keys were what really made it difficult to adapt to. For the first month or so I had 2 keyboards on my desk for when I needed my typing speed back.

      10 months on though, I can’t imaging typing on anything else. I use it for gaming as well with a separate layer. Home row mods are also fantastic once you get used to it. Your pinky fingers will love you.

    • Brambinag@lemmy.world
      1·
      1 day ago

      I bought a ZSA Moonlander 2 years ago. Best decision ever. After 2 weeks no more pain in my wrists and hands. My poor Das Keyboard now suffers the fate of “stand-by keyboard”…

  • zod000@lemmy.ml
    3·
    2 days ago

    Other than customization, which honestly will always be cumbersome, it sounds like your issues are with the key caps, switches, and layout. I suspect you will get used to the lay out, but I have no patience for switches or caps I don’t like. Normally, I’d say that you should just swap out the key caps and/or switches and most of the problems you mention go away, but the Q1 has a far less common layout so that makes replacing the key caps more of an issue. I am not a fan of the stock caps on the Keychron either and I’d have already had replacement caps lines up if I bought one.

    In the end, the Q1 is expensive enough that if you are not liking it, I’d return it and get something else. There is no way I’d personally go for a “regular keyboard” (by which I assume you mean a cheap rubber dome keyboard), but I’d probably get one that had a more standard layout and maybe something a little smaller since you are used to using a laptop.