Hey! I'm pretty new to this mech keyboard thing but I'm hooked. A couple months ago I got an Aula f75 and I love it. It sounds sooo nice and buttery... And the linear switches feel awesome to me.
I started looking at cute little 40% boards and thought I'd really like something ortholinear, minimal, where I'd have to use layers and home row mods etc. I got the $40 mk47 from Micro Center (sort of a Planck knockoff), put on some blank caps, learned enough QMK to set up my layers and tapdance and all that, and even switched from QWERTY to colemak-dh. This scratches a number of my neurodivergent itches! And I'm up to 35wpm after a few days. :P ...
Except for two things. It doesn't sound nearly as good as the Aula, and my wrists are starting to hurt. (My daily driver was a split membrane kb for years until this.)
I've been looking at the zsa voyager, and it looks like it could be "the one"-- it's portable (important), well built (can throw in backpack to take to office), etc. But will it satisfy the need for that sound?? So far looking around on YouTube it kinda doesn't seem like it,but it could just be that Voyager reviewers don't focus on such silly things as thocky vs creamy, lol. But this is important! Anyone feel me?
So I've also been looking at Cornes, and whatever other minimalist split kbs out there. I don't want to solder anything myself, which removes some options..
Any recommendations out there? Either for other boards, or "yes the voyager can thock"? Thanks in advance!!
You have a good point... I kind of forgot about that. Thanks.
Well.. Maybe I need the voyager for quiet, and something else (preferably also split) to satisfy the thock...
I recommend getting a switch tester with a bunch of "silent" tactile switches.
They have a muted thock that is much less annoying to be around.
For me I settled on Gazzew Boba U4 Silent Tactile Switches (the 62g clear version) in my moonlander (also using colemak-dh). I've also been looking at the voyager since the thumb clusters look like they're in a much better spot than the moonlander's which can feel like you have to pull your thumb back further than it goes to reach the keys if you don't mod your board (I have no idea what they were thinking with that positioning, it's so unnecessarily far away from the base keyboard compared to their other keyboards).
But definitely get the switch tester, because everyone's preferences are so different and finicky.
Yeah, switch tester is a good idea. Better than settling on something sight unseen.
The Moonlander is such a beast. (yay for colemak btw!) I see what you mean about the thumb clusters vs the Voyager. I have been wondering though, if I get the voyager whether to use a shifted layout, that is, no number row, and using the bottom row as a mod row of some kind. Which is how my current 40% kb is set up. But then the thumb keys would be farther...
If you want to shift your hands around on the voyager, you can only really shift up/down and not left/right because of how steep the middle finger is shifted up (aka how staggered the columns are).
Compare that to the moonlander where the columnar stagger is smaller so it's easier to shift left/right as well.
If you want a left/right shift and you're okay with two close thumb buttons, it might be worth going with the moonlander and add these key caps to "bring" the thumb cluster closer: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4948862
Oh yes, sorry.. I meant shifting upward. That makes sense about not going sideways on the Voyager, but I'm ok with that I think. I'm curious how the voyager stagger will feel compared to the grid I have.
I was just looking at the Piantor. Seems like a contender, but priced like the voyager (if you get the aluminum case), and in that case maybe it's worth going with a more established company.. (I am actually trying not to buy a dozen keyboards, haha!)